Q: How long have you been in business?
A: Professional Answering Service, Inc. was founded in 1950. We started out offering telephone answering services, and over the years, we’ve expanded our service offerings to include multiple channels. Our goal is to be your one-stop solution for outsourced customer service, and our multichannel approach includes live chat, inbound and outbound phone services, sales support, appointment scheduling, and more.
Q: Are you located in the United States?
A: Yes! We are headquartered in Mentor, OH, and have a second office in Bedminster, NJ. Located exclusively in the USA, we provide 24-hour call center service to all 50 states.
Q: Do you provide 24/7 answering service?
A: Yes! We are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Professional Answering Service, Inc. is here to support your company whenever you need business answering service, including weekends and holidays.
Q: Who answers my calls?
A: All calls are answered by a live agent 24/7/365. Day or night, year-round, we provide live answering service.
Q: How will I receive my messages from your answering service?
A: That’s up to you! We offer several options for message delivery, and we can customize your service to your specific preferences. Professional Answering Service, Inc. provides message delivery by telephone, text, e-mail, or account log-in.
Q: How do you answer my calls?
A: There are two ways we can receive calls for your business: 1. When you set up your phone to forward calls to the designated phone number set up for your account, or 2. When you publish your account’s designated phone number.
Q: How does your agent know how to assist my callers?
A: Unlike basic answering services, we tailor our live answering service to your business’s particular requirements. We’ll work with you to identify what information needs to be collected from callers as well as develop a list of information we can provide to callers. Our programmers will design a screen layout that guides our team members to assist your callers based on your specific parameters.
Q: How do my customers’ incoming calls get allocated to your agents?
A: At Professional Answering Service, Inc., we don’t distribute calls at random. Your account will be handled by team members who are specifically trained on your industry, products and services, scripting, and more. When we receive an incoming call from your customer, we route it to an agent who has specific training in your field.
Q: Can you integrate your 24-hour answer service, live chat, and other options with our existing systems?
A: Yes. Professional Answering Service, Inc. has an experienced IT staff available to implement integrations. This team will review any existing systems you have in place and then create an implementation plan to set up your account to your specifications.
Q: Can you access internal systems (such as order processing)?
A: Yes, if you provide permission. For your convenience, we can access internal client systems, enabling us to transact entirely within your CRM. We are available to work with a number of different systems, including web-based applications and proprietary solutions.
Q: How long will it take before I can go live with your business answering service?
A: Set up and implementation time vary. It can take as little as one day or as long as a week. The length of time it takes depends on your specific requirements, including the extent of your training plan and whether application integration is required.
Q: Are you HIPAA compliant?
A: Yes. All team members who provide medical answering services are trained in HIPAA requirements and receive annual refresher training.
Q: What makes Professional Answering Service, Inc. different from other answering services for businesses?
A: We have more than 67 years of experience, and in our decades in the business, we have provided customer communication solutions to companies in a huge range of industries. At Professional Answering Service, Inc., we utilize integrated technologies and cutting-edge infrastructure to support your business. Additionally, all of our agents participate in ongoing training to ensure we are as up to date as possible with the latest technology. In fact, many of our team members have been with Professional Answering Service, Inc. long term, so we have an in-depth internal knowledge base.
We are here to treat your customers like our own clients, and we put our extensive training to work to be efficient, thorough, and effective for you.
Q: Do you have a high availability strategy and a continuity/disaster recovery plan?
A: Yes. We have both high availability and business continuity plans in place. Professional Answering Service, Inc. has invested in redundant pathways so calls can be routed to an alternate location in case of disaster or power outage. Our servers utilize Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) technology to protect against disc failure. We also use redundant data centers and network nodes, backup generators, backup servers, and other precautions.
Q: What industries do you service?
A: We have in-depth experience with a variety of industries. Professional Answering Service, Inc. provides live answering service, chat support, and other services for clients in the following fields: real estate, education, retail and e-commerce, government, healthcare and hospice, law, insurance, construction, property management, hospitality, financial services, non-profit, funeral homes, and many others!
Q: Do you deliver your own call center services?
A: Yes! Unlike answering services that outsource your calls through business partnerships, Professional Answering Service, Inc. delivers all of our own call center services. For HIPAA compliance, we utilize the Intelco app.
Q: Do you offer live chat?
A: Yes. We provide live chat availability to all of our clients. Professional Answering Service, Inc. is committed to providing solutions to all our clients’ communication needs, and we strive to stay on top of the latest technology to be your one-stop source for call answering, live chat, and more.
Q: Do you offer phone answering services?
A: Yes. Professional Answering Service, Inc. was founded in 1950 as an answering service, and we continue to provide call answering services at a very competitive rate. We are pleased to bring you highly trained agents and the latest technology, combined with a small company feel and outstanding customer service.
Q: Can I forward my cell phone to you? What about my office phone?
A: Yes and yes. We can work with you to develop a call-forwarding plan so your company never misses a call.
Q: Do you provide e-mail and web forms management?
A: Yes. We use pre-approved e-mail responses, e-mail routing procedures, and escalation protocols to manage incoming e-mails. We can also manage your organization’s web form communications.
Q: Can you deliver text messages?
A: Yes.
Q: Can multiple staff members can receive the same message at the same time?
A: Yes. We can deliver the same message to several different recipients. The same message can be sent to multiple recipients at the same time, even across different types of devices.
Q: How are your agents recruited and trained?
A: We have a history of successfully recruiting agents based on our unique client requirements. Our agents are trained at our internal training centers.
Q: How are your team members trained?
A: At Professional Answering Service, Inc., our agents are trained by certified instructors at one of our training centers. We provide hands-on training that enables our trainees use the same hardware, software, and telephone equipment used when supporting clients. Our training centers are networked, allowing students and instructors to share scenarios and best practices via telephone and video conferencing.
Q: How do I get started with Professional Answering Service, Inc.?
A: Just give us a call! We’d love to discuss your requirements. Our team is ready to customize answering services and communication solutions that are designed to meet your organization’s specific goals. Contact us now, and don’t forget, estimates are always free!