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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!
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!
Let the Answer Midwest Difference Help Better Your Company!
As a business owner, you know that some days it’s hard to get work done. Many days, your phone is ringing off the hook all day long and you’re getting constantly inundated with countless emails… and you still have plenty of work to get done! You might be at your wit’s end and exhausted by all these interruptions, but what can you do? You can pick up the phone and call us to help make a difference in your company!
How can the Answer Midwest difference help you make your company even better? See these eight ways we can help you today!
Prompt and Personalized Service – We at Answer Midwest always aim to ensure that you, our client, are taken care of and satisfied with our services. Our owner, Gary Tedrick, takes great care to guarantee that you receive prompt and personalized service through the Answer Midwest operations. You won’t find this kind of service with any of the other guys!
Exceptional Staff – Our operators receive specialized training designed specifically with you in mind! They are trained to answer your calls to your specifications and always with a friendly demeanor. In essence, our operators become an extension of your staff!
Custom-Tailored Services – Our services are second-to-none here at Answer Midwest. Our customization services and our state-of-the-art technology allow us to adapt to any special requirements that your business might need, providing you with exactly the kind of services you need and expect.
Superb Record Keeping – When we take your calls, we don’t just jot down a note, relay the message to you, and then throw away the note. We make sure that we record and retain all of the conversations for 7 years for documentation and future reviewing. We archive our digitized call records on our storage media for 7 years, just in case you might need that information anytime down the road.
Messages Are Never Lost – Tired of having your messages being lost in the shuffle? When you use our services, you’ll never have to worry about missing a call or having any information about the call slip through the cracks ever again! All the calls and transactions are continuously monitored until you receive them yourself. That means you will never lose a call again!
Meticulous Procedures – We make sure that we’re doing our very best to serve you. That’s why we’ve made every single stage of our process to be designed to ensure efficiency and provide accuracy and accountability. That’s how much you mean to us!
We Never Close – With a rotation of exceptional staff, our doors never close! That means we’re open 24/7/365. Now you can feel confident and at ease whenever you close your office doors for a holiday or vacation, knowing that with Answer Midwest at your side you will never miss another call again.
If you still aren’t entirely convinced, feel free to check out these many wonderful testimonials that we have received from our fantastic clients here!
Ready to get started? Want to find out more about us? Just call us at (618) 463-2430 to see how we can help!
Let Answer Midwest Protect Your Business in Unexpected Weather Events!
In life, anything can happen. A few benign snow flurries can suddenly tumble down and stick to the earth in droves, racking up the accumulation numbers. A light summer storm can suddenly become a dangerous flash flood situation, or worse, turn into a severe storm with perilous rotation and the capacity for tornados and damaging winds. Even the daily drive to the office can be filled with surprises when an accident occurs on the highway or road construction suddenly begins for miles on a stretch of the road.
It’s important to be prepared for the worst so that you may plan ahead, but what about when the unexpected happens? Business owners will more than likely worry profusely about who will be at the office to answer the phones and who will serve the customers, even in the event of inclement weather. What happens when a business owner and his or her employees leave the office once the day is done only to have a brutal snow storm throttle the region overnight, rendering the roads to be totally incapacitated and impassable?
That’s where Answer Midwest comes in.
We are here 24/7/365 every single year, no questions asked. On the sunniest of days to the most horrid weather imaginable, we will be there to answer your calls and take care of business. If you are unable to answer the phone for any sort of reason, we will be there to answer as if we ourselves are sitting in your office and attend to your customers’ needs. We will be sure to answer and dispatch all of your calls exactly to your specifications to keep you and your customers happy and well-informed while you are out of the office.
The best part is that you will no longer have to rely on answering machines or automated voicemails to direct your customers into leaving you a message. At Answer Midwest, a real live person will answer every single incoming call that you might have and will serve the person on the other line to the greatest extent of his or her abilities, meaning that your business will still continue and prosper in any sort of weather condition. Answer Midwest will ensure that your customer base will be taken care of when you use our services, guaranteed!
If you haven’t signed up to have Answer Midwest take care of you and your business, please take a moment to call us here at (618) 463-2430 to find out more about us. Put your business in the hands of someone you know you can rely on 100% of the time, no matter what – Answer Midwest!
8 Ways Answer Midwest Will Make Your Business More Efficient
At Answer Midwest, we are here to make your work go smoother! But maybe you’re curious about how we can achieve that. Below we’ve compiled eight ways we will make you and your business far more effective, all without having to go through the costly and time consuming process of hiring new employees.
No Downtime – We pride ourselves on being available 24/7 and we mean that. We know your business can’t afford any downtime, either. As such, we will take any and all calls and make sure they get to you no matter what. Hurricane Sandy is the perfect example of this. When some of the businesses on the east coast lost power because of the storm, those businesses didn’t miss a beat thanks to our service. Your company may face days when the office can’t be open, but that’s no reason to stop serving your clientele. Answer Midwest makes that possible!
Order taking – Say you are the type of business that lives on getting orders from customers by phone. You can’t be expected to stay in the office 24/7, and it can be costly to hire one or two people to work the phones during the graveyard shift. We can help you! With our service, your customers can order your products and services around the clock whether you or your employees are in the office or not.
Our staff can handle any order taking details you need. You can rest easy knowing your customers will speak with representatives of your company who are helpful and knowledgeable. All orders will be sent to you when you want them, and in any format you choose including email, fax, phone, and more. It’s like having your own personal employees!
Medical Emergencies – Are you a doctor? If so, you know how important it can be to get calls when your office is closed. We have been handling medical emergency calls since 1946, so we are very capable of helping you. We will take any medical calls, handle any information accurately, and keep all records for seven years for insurance and legal purposes. Your patients won’t ever know that you don’t have a receptionist 24/7!
Appointment Management – Your calendar is your lifeblood. Your schedule is important to you, and so it is for us, too. Clients, patients, or patrons can call us to make or reschedule any appointments, and we will make sure your schedule is kept up-to-date!
Information Center – Do you need survey results or questionnaire responses in order to help target your marketing program? We can handle that! We will gather any important information from your clients and make sure it gets to you without having to trouble your staff to do it. You’ll get your results without having to miss a beat at the office!
Troubleshooting and Help Desk – Ever find yourself answering the same questions over and over again? We can step in and take those calls for you. If you find that you constantly need to answer certain inquiries, just let us know how you would like us to respond, and we can take those pesky calls off of your hands.
Dispatching – Get the right information to the right person the first time. Instead of forcing your clients and customers to have to wade through a maze of on-hold messages, we will make sure their inquiries get to the right person each time.
Reminders – Do you find yourself forgetting important dates? Our wake-up service will make sure you know where you need to be and when you need to be there. You won’t have to worry about forgetting schedules, medications, appointments, or anniversaries with Answer Midwest at your side!
So, are you ready to kick your business up a notch? Then call us at (618) 463-9093, we’re ready to take your call!