There are many reasons for organisations to need their telephones to be answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Some may need to provide sales or support functions over night and at weekends and even the most sophisticated answering machine is not the solution. There is nothing to compare with speaking to a friendly human operator if you have a dental/medical/plumbing or electrical emergency, and nothing more frustrating than getting a machine at the end of the line.
Technicality
Inner and Outer London Borough Councils are obliged to run 24 hour pest control help lines, and many outsource this service overnight and at weekends. A proficient Telephone Answering company is used to provide night-time and weekend cover, under service agreements that include calls being answered within 15 seconds, automatically identifying which London Borough the call is from (using designated DDI numbers) and therefore quoting the correct Borough specific prices for services.
For example, a resident discovering an active wasp's nest in his/her house or garden, is given a specific 24/7 number to call. This allows the Telephone Answering company to identify in which Borough the caller is located, and provide the correct quotation for a technician to call and deal with the problem. If the caller accepts the quote a booking is made for a suitable date and time, and the details are sent in an e-mail to the Borough's chosen pest control company.
Similarly, a comprehensive service can be provided by a proficient Telephone Answering company regarding the issue of stray dogs. Call handlers must be sympathetic to callers who have lost a dog as they are often upset and details of the caller and description of the dog must be taken accurately taken and e-mailed to the dog wardens. Likewise, callers that have found a stray dog need to have their details taken and the enquiry passed on to the Borough's Dog Wardens for collection. Some callers who have found a stray dog may choose to keep it, in which case their details are taken, and an instructional leaflet sent to their home address.
A third Local Authority service that can be provided by the outsourced Telephone Answering company is the booking of Pest Control Officers for the ‘mainstream' pests – rats, mice, fleas and bedbugs to name a few. Accurate details are recorded and a suitable appointment date and time made and e-mailed to the Pest Control Officers. As with the stray dogs leaflets are mailed to the home address of the caller with pre- and post-treatment advice.
Using UK-based Telephone Answering service companies means that calls are handled by highly trained operators, using customised scripts, in a friendly and empathetic manner, in what, let's face it, can be a potentially upsetting or embarrassing situation for the caller.
Outsourcing Telephone Answering Services has never been so flexible or cost effective.