There’s a lot that goes into a successful business: brand identity, marketing style, product quality, and, perhaps most importantly, customer service. In fact, good customer service is often what separates subpar brands from companies that dominate distinct industries or niches.

In order to thrive and not just survive in the modern market, businesses must grow. More specifically, they must increase how much money they make, their customer bases, and their market dominance across as many vectors as possible.

To keep your business up and running — and to keep your customers satisfied — you must maintain constant communication channels between you and those customers. There’s just one problem. Customer calls don’t always come in during normal work hours.

Companies of all sizes can benefit and cut costs by outsourcing certain roles to an answering service. Top-tier answering services do far more than simply answer phones and provide basic information to customers — they can also act as brand representatives and handle administrative tasks. When professionals handle the lines of communication, you can focus on your business. 

You may be unable to handle every aspect of daily operations when your business starts growing. An answering service can assist customers in relieving your in-house staff. It’s important to hire a call center with the best features that meet your needs.

Let’s review what qualities to look for when hiring an answering service.

Hiring an answering service assists growing businesses meet their customers’ needs. Call center agents can handle increasing demand for inquiries. Outsourcing customer service lets you focus on running your company. Call centers help businesses achieve higher client satisfaction levels and a positive reputation.

The challenges facing small businesses are similar to any other — the difference is, they have to address them with smaller teams and fewer resources. They need to be creative in solving any emerging issues without compromising quality customer service. One of the main reasons some small businesses never reach their full potential is because they neglect customer service; whether you are a team of one or working with a small group, you should be using your time and resources wisely.  

Here are six customer service tips for startup businesses to help them reach their goals.

We are so happy to congratulate Michelle into the “ABA Decennial Club”! Michelle adds her tenure to a substantial list of other wonderful ABA Decennials and we hope to have her with us for many many more.

As a business owner, the phrase "wearing many hats" is something that most likely applies to you — especially if you own a smaller retail business. Not only do you have to run your store but you also have to take care of orders, customer care, online presence, marketing — you name it. The list is never-ending.

Debbie first began as a telephone secretary and has grown with the company over these many years. Always a smart and dedicated woman, she has successfully raised up many employees and also married, had children and is now Debs, grandmother to 3 lovely grandboys. Debbie lived through one big hurricane in Houston tearing up the building we had just moved from and went on to move again our offices into our own ABA Building. We have upgraded and switched out equipment so many times it would be difficult to count. Throughout all these moves, equipment changes, improvements as well as employee movement, Debbie had stood steadfast and kept the Houston office humming right along. So many ABA customers know her well. Debbie and her Houston office have won the ATSI Award of Excellence for over 20 years to add to the long list of her many achievements.