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Answer Midwest Earns 15th ATSI Award

We are happy to announce that Answer Midwest, Inc. has earned the Association of Teleservices International Diamond Plus Award for fifteen consecutive years. 

 

“The ATSI Award of Excellence Program recognizes that excellence requires a level of service that considers the caller first in every aspect of the call. The award is earned by a company by judging the handling of calls placed by mystery callers against specific, member-driven criteria.” Says ATSI President Jeffrey W. Zindel, “Companies that earn this award are continuously focusing on delivering first class service to their customers. It is truly an honor!”

 

Independent judges are contracted by ATSI to evaluate message services over a six month period. The scoring criteria includes:

  •  Response Time
  • Courteousness of Rep
  • Accuracy of Call
  • Knowledge of Account
  • Overall Impression of Call

We are incredibly proud and honored to have earned this prestigious award for the 15th year! Answer Midwest takes great pride in our employees and their ongoing excellent service skills. Thank you all for your continued support!

Answer Midwest Newsletter – Volume 5

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Your Business and the Changing Seasons

The leaves are changing, the jackets and jeans are coming out of storage and the phones are starting to ring off the hook. Welcome to fall, the beginning of the holiday season, and the craziest time of year for many businesses. Myriad companies will enjoy record sales through December. The weather makes for a busy time in the plumbing, heating and cooling and contracting industries. The countdown to Christmas has everyone scrambling to purchase gifts from retailers and gift cards from restaurants. This is the time to be fully available to your customers or risk certain social media backlash.
This is also the time that calls for family dinners, holiday celebrations and weekend getaways. We all want to enjoy the extra revenue brought on by the fruits of our labor, but how do we also enjoy our family and friends during this spectacular time of year? How does one resolve both professional and personal urgency? You could hire an extra employee to be on call and watch the extra revenue slip through your fingers. You could spend time with your family by sacrificing excellent customer service, only being available during the hours of 9-5 and weekdays. Then watch as the customer complaints pile up and the referrals stop coming in.
Or you could try hiring an answering service this holiday season. Let the operators be available to your customers every moment of every day. Watch your sales and customer satisfaction go through the roof! And your spouse, grandmother and children won’t know what to do with all of the extra time they have with you.

Answer Midwest Receives International Recognition…AGAIN!

Answer Midwest has once again been awarded the 2015 Award of Excellence by The Association of TeleServices International. ATSI is the international agency that sets the standard for the industry. Our answering service has won this prestigious Award of Excellence for 14 consecutive years, from 2002-2015.

 

This is the greatest honor one can be presented within the answering service community. It is international recognition for the highest level of customer service throughout every aspect of a caller’s experience.

 

The process to evaluate and award recipients is as follows. A panel of independent judges is contracted by ATSI to evaluate. Providers are judged on courtesy, response time, accuracy and overall service to their clients. The award is presented annually to the best telecommunications and call center services in North America and the UK.

 

Congratulations to Our Winner

Congratulations to Tricia Whelan,

Vice President of Lindell Bank!

 

Tricia was the winner of our iPad giveaway.  Lindell Bank is a full service Bank offering all types of loans, merchant card services, remote deposit capture, and cash management services.

 

Thank you so much to all who took time to fill out the Answer Midwest Survey. Your feedback enables us to continue to provide quality service. This also allows us to make changes to better accommodate you and your customers.

 

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Answer Midwest Newsletter – Volume 3

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Spring Forward

Looking forward to Spring and Summer, we would also like to focus on the many businesses that will be “blooming” in the coming months. Many seasonal businesses have a one-chance opportunity to get customers on board to sign a service contract for the rest of the season.  While not all businesses lose a full season from one missed call, every lost customer is lost revenue.

 

Nine out of ten customers will call a competitor if you do not answer your phone the first time. This adds up to an enormous loss of revenue if your business does not have the competitive edge of being on call twenty-four hours a day. Step into Spring with a plan to generate more revenue, to have available a twenty-four hour customer service department and to afford yourself more personal freedom. You can have it all! 

Answer Midwest Wins Best in Customer Service Award Again

Answer Midwest is very proud to announce our third win for Best in Customer Service in the St. Louis area. We would like to thank our knowledgable, highly trained telephone operators for their tireless work. We also credit our management staff for continuing to set such a high standard for customer service in our industry. This award, through St. Louis Small Business Monthly, is a special honor. We greatly appreciate our valued clients, friends and family members for their continued support. Answer Midwest will continue to provide the absolute Best in Customer Service!

 

Click here to see a list of 2015’s winners.

5 Reasons Your Business Needs Answer Midwest

The New Year is upon us again! Many business owners saw great increases in revenue, customer retention and call volume last year. The economy is continuing to do well, consumers are spending money and our heads are spinning from the chaos and long hours required to run a business over the holiday season. Although this should be a time when everyone is full of joy and cheer, the long lines at stores, waiting for service and excessive hold time on phone calls puts consumers on edge. The age old question is how do I keep my customers satisfied without hiring a team of receptionists and customer service agents? Answer Midwest has compiled a list of ways outsourcing a call center can keep revenue and customer retention up indefinitely.

 

1. An answering service makes you available to your customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. With 24 hour service, your customers can rest assured knowing you are there when they need you. 75% of your customers believe it takes too long to get past an answering machine and to a live person.

 

2. You can take a break. You can leave the office early if need be without fear of missing a call from a prospective customer. You can go on a vacation. Many of our clients at Answer Midwest have the ability to do business from overseas, out of state, from their couch. Your customers are greeted with a warm, welcoming voice and our operators give them the assistance they are seeking. We then get the message immediately to you, in whatever form you wish to receive it. Text message, email, voicemail, fax, etc. You have all of the information you need at all times to provide excellent customer care.

 

3. Our services are cost effective. The cost of hiring even one extra person can be overwhelming. With taxes, insurance, vacation, etc., imagine what you would pay to have a receptionist or customer service agent on staff 24 hours a day. Our services are a very small fraction of that cost, with equal payout for your company. Many business owners don’t realize just how affordable an answering service is. Give us a call to get a quote so you can see just how invaluable this service will be for your business. 618-463-2430

 

4. Our agents are highly trained to answer questions and take information regarding your specific industry. We work with you to create a template for exactly how you would like our operators to interact with your customers. Our conversations are always natural and professional. It is like having a customer service professional on site every hour of the day. This makes your customers excited to refer you to friends and family, knowing they are in good hands.

 

5. Repeat customers come back because they receive immediate assistance. They receive answers to their questions, a live person to listen their problems and immediate issue resolve. 3 out of 5 Americans would try a new brand or company for a better service experience. Be the company the customers run to, not away from.

 

80% of companies say they deliver “superior” customer service, while only 8% of their customers agree. Answer Midwest has proven our superior customer service year after year, and we thrive on helping our clients improve theirs. Make your focus on the customer experience in 2015 and see this year be the most productive.

 

AM Fans – Volume 2

The bottom line for business is keeping expenses down and customer satisfaction up. AM Fans know that having dedicated staff always available and completely focused on customer calls is a very affordable service that pays off in big ways. Here’s what Answer Midwest customers say about getting the help you need to grow your business:

“Record keeping is huge in my industry. Answer Midwest is great at this.” Rob Honke with Honke Properties, fan of Answer Midwest for 20 years

At Answer Midwest we document, record and store your phone calls on archival media for 7 years. Our staff is meticulous and detail-oriented when speaking with your customers, ensuring that we deliver accurate information to the correct person every time. Our management staff continually monitors operator calls to guarantee our standards are continually met. 

“It’s not as scary or expensive as you think. I made money off of it from the first month.” Jon Stobbs, principal attorney with Stobbs Law Office, fan of Answer Midwest for 5 years

We are more than happy to put together a program for you that fits your company’s budget. Most people are surprised at how affordable our services are and the return they get on the investment. Having a 24 hour phone service can significantly boost both sales and customer retention. Having a live person available at all times shows potential customers that you will always be there when they need you.

Call Answer Midwest today at 618-463-2430 for more information.

Look out for our next installment of AM Fans coming soon!