With the complexity of running an Oklahoma City business today, most owners would likely agree: effectively managing customer communications is an ongoing challenge.
Luckily, implementing a trusted answering service can streamline your phone, email, and live chat interactions to boost productivity.
In this article, we'll explore the core benefits of an answering service for Oklahoma City companies, key selection criteria to find the right provider, steps for integration into your systems, and real-world examples of local businesses seeing value.
The Promise of Answering Services for Oklahoma City Businesses
Answering services provide a valuable solution for Oklahoma City businesses seeking to deliver exceptional customer service while streamlining operations. By outsourcing call handling to specialized teams available 24/7, companies can ensure prompt, courteous responses to all inquiries without the overhead costs of hiring additional staff.
Defining Answering Services and Their Core Benefits
An answering service refers to a company that answers and screens phone calls, takes messages, provides information, makes appointments, and more on behalf of client businesses. Key advantages over traditional receptionists include:
- 24/7 availability to never miss a call
- Scalability to handle call volumes as needed
- Reduced labor costs compared to hiring full-time staff
- Customized services tailored to each client's needs
The Challenges of Managing Customer Communications
Oklahoma City businesses often grapple with:
- Missing calls during busy times or off-hours
- Tedious administrative tasks taking up employee time
- Inconsistent or frustrating customer experiences
- Difficulty finding reliable staff to handle communications
How Answering Services Can Overcome These Obstacles
Answering services alleviate these issues by:
- Ensuring prompt call answering 24/7/365
- Handling admin tasks like appointment booking
- Delivering friendly, professional customer service
- Providing flexibility to scale up as needed
Focusing In on Oklahoma City
Factors making answering services valuable in OKC include:
- Many small and medium businesses lacking reception staff
- Customer expectations for fast, seamless interactions
- Tight labor market making hiring difficult
A Roadmap of What's Ahead
Next, we'll explore best practices for choosing and implementing an answering service, including:
- Defining your business needs and goals
- Comparing service providers
- Integrating with existing systems
- Training agents on industry specifics
- Monitoring performance and satisfaction
With the right partner, Oklahoma City companies can transform customer communications and unlock new growth potential.
What is the average cost of an answering service?
The average cost of an answering service in Oklahoma City ranges from $50 to $149 per month, with additional usage-based fees charged per minute or per call. Most providers offer tiered pricing plans based on features and call volume needs.
Here is an overview of common answering service pricing models in Oklahoma City:
- Basic Plans: $50 - $99 per month for basic call answering with limited minutes included. Additional minutes are $0.93 - $1.50 per minute.
- Professional Plans: $100 - $149 per month with more extensive features like call transfers, voicemail transcription, etc. Usually includes 100-500 monthly minutes with per minute overages of $1.25 - $3.09.
- Unlimited Plans: $150+ per month for unlimited inbound minutes. Additional fees per call transfer or other premium features may apply.
Key factors that impact cost:
- Features and capabilities
- Number of users
- Call volume
- Contract length and commitment
Most providers offer month-to-month contracts so you can cancel anytime. Multi-year contracts may offer 10-20% savings but less flexibility.
When evaluating answering services, focus on the features and capabilities needed for your business over absolute lowest cost. An investment in more robust call handling can maximize customer experience and enable staff to focus on high-value tasks.
Do answering services still exist?
Answering services are still very much in demand, providing a valuable service for many Oklahoma City businesses. Companies like AnswerConnect offer live call answering with real receptionists who can provide prompt, personalized customer service around the clock.
Key benefits of using an answering service include:
- Cost savings - No need to hire full-time staff to man phones. Only pay for the call volume you need covered.
- Flexibility - Scale services up or down as your needs change.
- Professionalism - Experienced receptionists represent your brand well.
- Extended availability - Have calls answered 24/7/365, even when you're closed.
So while automated phone menus are common, the value of human interaction remains. An answering service gives small businesses big-company phone coverage without the overhead. This allows Oklahoma City companies, from sole proprietors up to those with a few dozen employees, to focus on core operations rather than phone support.
Bottom line - answering services are an affordable way to ensure consistent, quality customer service. From medical practices to legal firms, many industries still rely on these services for call management. So yes, the need for personal phone reception and message taking is still going strong.
Is an answering service worth it?
Hiring an answering service can provide significant benefits for Oklahoma City businesses looking to enhance customer service and streamline communication workflows. Some of the key advantages include:
More Consistent Customer Experiences
A dedicated answering service ensures every caller speaks to a friendly, professional representative, even after hours or during busy times. This promotes positive brand impressions and happier customers compared to missed calls or overloaded staff. Services like Dialzara use AI and natural language processing to sound convincingly human.
Improved Brand Image
Quality customer service directly impacts brand image. With a 24/7 answering service handling calls, businesses present a reliable, responsive face to customers. This can increase trust, satisfaction, and loyalty. An answering service Oklahoma City, OK businesses choose should align with their brand voice and values.
Expanded Availability
Answering services offer availability during off-hours when staff isn't working, including nights, weekends and holidays. This gives businesses a competitive advantage with 24/7 responsive support. Customers can connect anytime through a recognizable local or toll-free number.
For the relatively low investment of an answering service subscription, the benefits of heightened consistency, improved brand image and expanded availability are well worth it for many Oklahoma City businesses. Key is choosing a reliable provider that integrates seamlessly with existing systems.
sbb-itb-ef0082b
What is the difference between a call center and an answering service?
An answering service and a call center serve similar functions in managing inbound calls for a business, but have some key differences:
- Answering services are third-party companies dedicated specifically to answering and routing calls. They provide live, human receptionists to answer calls, take messages, screen calls, and transfer to appropriate contacts.
- Call centers handle calls but also may provide additional services like taking orders, offering technical support, managing appointments, etc. Call centers use technology like IVRs, complex scripts, and routing to direct calls.
- Cost: Answering services are more affordable since you only pay for call time used. Call centers have more overhead with staff, infrastructure, and technology expenses.
- Customization: Answering services can be tailored to a company's specific needs and workflow. Call centers follow standardized processes.
- Scale: Call centers can handle higher volumes as they leverage technology more. Answering services work better for lower or fluctuating call volumes.
So in summary, an answering service offers live call support in a customized way for lower volumes at an affordable cost. A call center provides higher volume, technology-driven support based on rigid workflows. Small businesses may prefer answering services while larger enterprises benefit more from full-featured call centers.
Choosing the Right Answering Service: Key Selection Criteria
When selecting an answering service provider in Oklahoma City, there are several key factors businesses should evaluate to ensure the service meets their unique needs and integrates smoothly with existing platforms and workflows.
Types of Services Offered by Call Answering Service Oklahoma City OK
Answering services offer a range of capabilities beyond simple call answering, including:
- Email response
- Live chat
- SMS messaging
- Voicemail transcription
- Appointment booking
- Customer support
Multi-channel support enables enhanced customer engagement no matter how inquiries come in. Prioritize services that align with your communication preferences.
Pricing and Contract Terms for 24 7 Answering Service Oklahoma City OK
Common answering service pricing models include:
- Per minute rate
- Flat monthly fee
- Tiered pricing based on features/minutes
Month-to-month contracts offer flexibility while 1-2 year terms may provide better rates. Consider expected call volumes when selecting optimal plans.
Customization and Integration Capabilities
Choose a provider that offers:
- Custom greetings and on-hold messages
- CRM/software integrations like Zapier
- Custom call flows/routing
These features enable answering services to fully embed within existing systems for streamlined efficiency.
Specialization for Your Industry and Location
Industry expertise ensures accurate terminology usage and familiarity with niche needs. Local market knowledge also enables better customer interactions.
Reliability and Responsiveness of Sooner Answering Service
Core answering service capabilities like:
- 24/7 availability
- Quick response times
- Consistent performance
Enable them to truly act as remote receptionists and provide seamless support.
Prioritizing these criteria helps Oklahoma City businesses select optimal answering services to enhance communication workflows. The right provider aligns with organizational needs and preferences for maximized value.
Key Steps for Integrating an Answering Service Into Your Systems
In this section we walk through the nuts and bolts of implementing answering services within your company's tech stack for a streamlined workflow.
Phone Forwarding Setup for Call Answering Service Oklahoma City OK
To enable an answering service to receive your business calls, you'll need to set up call forwarding. This routes incoming calls from your existing business phone numbers to the answering service's system.
Here are the key steps:
- Contact your phone service provider to enable call forwarding. Provide them with the answering service's forwarding number.
- Set your call forwarding to activate outside of standard business hours or whenever you want calls covered.
- You can set up multiple schedules if needed - for example, to route calls differently on weekends.
- Test that call forwarding is correctly set up by calling your business number and verifying the call is received by the answering service.
With call forwarding in place, your customers will seamlessly reach the answering team without any change needed on their end.
CRM Platform Integration
Integrating your CRM platform or other business systems with the answering service enables automatically logging all interactions for streamlined workflows.
Popular options include:
- Zapier: This integration platform connects thousands of apps. It can automatically create CRM records for answered calls.
- Native CRM Integrations: Many major CRMs like Salesforce allow integrating an answering service using APIs or available phone apps.
Benefits include:
- Real-time syncing of answered calls, messages, appointments etc into your CRM.
- Answering team access to customer data like purchase history when on calls.
- Automatic lead assignment to sales reps.
Customizing Scripts and Protocols
You can tailor the answering service experience to match your brand voice, messaging, policies and more.
Customization options include:
- Greeting scripts
- Intake questions
- Data capture forms
- Follow up procedures
- Call transfer menus
This ensures excellent customer service aligned to your standards.
Establishing Reporting Dashboards
Leverage answering service reporting to extract key metrics like:
- Call volume
- Average speed to answer
- After hours coverage
- Customer satisfaction
- Types of inquiries
- Peak calling times
Many providers offer real-time dashboards to monitor effectiveness. API connections allow syncing data to your own BI tools.
Ongoing Optimization
Actively monitor integration to maximize the impact over time through:
- Regular performance reviews
- Agent call sampling for quality assurance
- Seeking customer feedback on service levels
- Keeping apps, call flows and scripts updated
The right answering service integrates seamlessly to elevate customer service. With some planning upfront and ongoing management, it can transform your communication workflows.
Real-World Examples of Answering Services Benefiting Oklahoma Businesses
In this section, we provide concrete case studies of Oklahoma City companies successfully using answering services to enhance operations.
Sooner Law Firm - Legal Intake and Scheduling
Sooner Law Firm is a personal injury law firm based in Oklahoma City. As the firm grew, managing incoming calls became difficult for the small staff. They decided to implement an answering service to help qualify leads, book consultations, and route emergency legal calls 24/7.
The answering service has been invaluable for screening potential clients and scheduling consultations during business hours. After hours, callers connect directly with an experienced legal intake specialist who gathers key details about their case and schedules an urgent callback from an on-call attorney when necessary. This ensures every potential client gets personalized attention even outside normal business hours.
By outsourcing call management tasks, Sooner Law Firm improved lead conversion rates by 35% and reduced consult booking time from 4 days to less than 24 hours.
Okie Home Services - Dispatch Coordination
Okie Home Services provides plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and handyman services to residential and commercial clients across the Oklahoma City metro. As call volume increased, coordinating technicians and appointments became extremely difficult. They implemented an answering service specifically designed for home services companies to address this challenge.
Now when customers call, the answering service collects key details about the requested service and schedules an appointment within a 2 hour window based on technician availability and location. Dispatchers instantly send work orders to techs in the field. This level of coordination helped Okie Home Services double their daily job capacity.
First call resolution also rose from 42% to over 80%, directly improving customer satisfaction.
Thunder Medical Clinic - Healthcare Call Center
Thunder Medical Clinic is a family practice with three locations in OKC. Patient call volume was exceeding 50-100 calls per day across locations, making it nearly impossible for their small staff to handle. They signed up for an answering service to create a healthcare call center for patient access and enrollments after hours.
Patients now connect with friendly agents specially trained in healthcare communications 24/7. Common requests like prescription refills, test result inquiries, appointment changes, and insurance questions are efficiently handled without staff involvement. For medical issues, nurses perform triage services, dispatching an on-call doctor when necessary.
Since implementing the healthcare call center, Thunder Medical improved patient satisfaction scores by 51% and converted 22% more new patients compared to the previous year.
Bricktown Brews Restaurant - Table Management and Reservations
Bricktown Brews is a popular local restaurant and brewery located in the heart of downtown OKC. During peak times, hosts struggled to track table availability and reservations. This resulted in long wait times, even for reservation holders. They signed up with an answering service to take reservations and manage table turnover.
Now callers connect with knowledgeable agents who book tables, take to-go orders, and capture customer data in an online dashboard. The host simply checks the dashboard to seat priority reservations first while walk-in customers wait for the next available table.
This improved organization helped Bricktown Brews reduce average Friday night wait times from 1.5 hours to under 30 minutes. Reservation bookings also doubled after implementing the call center.
Oklahoma Wind Energy - 24/7 Fleet Monitoring
Oklahoma Wind Energy maintains over 500 wind turbines across three counties. Technicians are on call 24/7 to perform emergency repairs. However, coordinating dispatch of the closest available technician proved challenging, delaying response times. They enlisted an answering service dedicated to critical industry dispatch services.
Now when a turbine failure alarm activates, technicians receive automated dispatch notifications on their mobile devices with the location details. The answering service also calls each technician to confirm receipt and provide additional information from the monitoring center. This ensures the closest tech is mobilized immediately to minimize downtime.
Since partnering with the urgent dispatch answering team, Oklahoma Wind Energy reduced the average turbine downtime from 4 hours to under 60 minutes.
Conclusion and Next Steps
We conclude by recapping the benefits of answering services and providing guidance on selecting the right answering service provider for your Oklahoma City business.
Summary of Answering Service Benefits
In this section, we briefly recap the key advantages covered earlier that an answering service can offer Oklahoma City businesses looking to optimize customer experience and workflows:
- 24/7 availability to ensure no calls are ever missed
- Quick response times and callback options to demonstrate reliability
- Professional, customized greetings to represent your brand
- Seamless call transfers and messaging to unify communications
- Appointment booking and intake to capture more leads
Choosing the Best Provider for Your Needs
Here we remind readers of the criteria to evaluate when selecting an answering service tailored to their precise industry, location, use cases, budget and other requirements:
- Industry expertise
- Integration capabilities
- Customizable services
- Scalability options
- Cost structure
- Ease of setup
Carefully assessing providers against these criteria will help find the optimal match for your Oklahoma City business needs and budget.
Beginning Your Free Trial
Finally, we encourage readers to get started with a risk-free trial of recommended answering providers that service businesses in Oklahoma City. Reach out for a custom quote today to experience first-hand how an answering service can benefit your company.
