Not Sure How to Choose an Answering Service?

Read the Top 5 Matchmaking Tips from Our Customers!

Once you’ve made up your mind to outsource some or all of your calls to an answering service provider, how do you decide which one is the best suited for your needs? We at the Doctors Answer recently did a small survey to understand what some of our customers felt were the most important reasons for choosing an answering service, and we have listed them here to help you choose yours.

1. Specialized Experience: Every single one of our respondents maintained that choosing a niche service provider was important, especially for knowledge-driven industries like medical practices and hospitals. Users did not want their agents alternating Chinese delivery orders with medical prescriptions.
2. Data Privacy and HIPAA Compliance: 85 percent of customers checked for conformance to prevalent privacy norms and guidelines as, otherwise, this could leave them open to potential lawsuits and other liability issues.
3. Flexibility in Call Plans: 80 percent of customers mentioned that they did not want to commit to a fixed outgoing monthly expense and preferred to use and pay as needed. This allowed them to be prepared for surges in call volume without having to bear the cost in low periods.
4. 24/7, 365-days-a-Year Coverage: As many as 60 percent of clients were looking for around-the-clock, across-the-year phone coverage and risk planning and checked on the availability of backup call centers in case of any unforeseen disasters.
5. Free Trial Option: And last but not the least, several clients also mentioned that they wanted the option to try out the service before making a commitment given the huge transaction costs involved.

One other helpful tip that came up in comments was avoiding large-volume impersonal agencies that often subcontract and almost never have the same person or team taking your call twice. For more tips and information, contact us at sales@thedrsanswer.com