Author: David Bushnaq

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How We Help During the Summer

customer loyalty

As we get closer to summer, the importance of our HVAC unit working as it should, quickly returns to our mind, especially as temperatures start to rise in expectation of Summer.

As a heating and air company, this is an important opportunity for you to build your customer base, and to make sure you have the customers you need to continue through the year.

When your potential customers see your advertisements and recommendations, that little seed is planted encouraging them to call to schedule that maintenance or tune up of their unit.

Say someone sees your commercial on tv at 8 PM, and they decide to call and schedule that tune up, or if their air conditioner isn’t quite cooling as it should. We have 24/7, live agents that can give your customers the correct information and schedule any service calls needed.

Often, when a caller actually reaches someone and hears that their issue is going to be resolved, they tend to stop there. Even if they are made aware that the office will be returning their call, that is enough. Having loyal customers that continue to bring repeat business is great for any company and we can help.

While we are an answering service, we want your customers to get help just as much as you do. We want you to continue to be successful as much as you do. Let us be a part of your team and help you grow.

If you’d ask us if we could help handle the increased call flow before, and during, the summer season? Yes, we can answer that!

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Hiring for a New Line in your Company

hiring

Congratulations! You’ve taken on another line in your factory and now you need people to come in and help handle the increased production. What do you do?

Putting an employment ad online, or with staffing agencies may help, but how do you know the potential employee, or temp, will have all the information? And if going through a staffing agency, how much are they told about the job, and how can you know if what they’re told is accurate? We’ve certainly had cases where people worked for a very short time and they told us “this isn’t what I thought it would be.”

Taking on this extra workload means that your client needs your help, and needs it done correctly, so you can trust that the people who come to work are aware of what they will be tasked with.

As an answering service, we can help in multiple ways: We can be your information courier.  What is the work they will be doing?  What do they need to know in regards to your expectations? Should we go over your attendance policy? Is there anything else you’d like them to know? We are the first point of contact, the receptionist, the schedular, and much more. 

We understand there is a lot of stress in the entire process, and we’d like to help as much as we can. We want to help you fill the space on your assembly line by giving those interested the information they can use to determine if they’d like to go forward with the sign on process. We’d love to say to you “that’s what we can do for you! We can answer that!”

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What We Mean by 24/7/365

we are open

Heating and air issues don’t wait until it’s convenient. Any time, day or night, the fan can stop operating, the pilot light can stop igniting, the air filters can get stopped up, or several other things can go wrong.

Does your company have a reliable, 24/7 service to handle these calls?

Say a storm blows through and a potential customer’s power goes out. When their power returns, their heating and air unit does not, however. They call and try to reach someone for a service call. If no one answers, they’re likely to go down the list until they can find someone who can help, and that’s lost money for your business.

As an answering service, we ensure that any customer that calls, no matter the hour, gets to speak with a live representative that can address their concerns and get the messaged paged to the O/C technician for quick, reliable service.

There are many heating and air companies locally, let alone regionally, so anything that you can do to compete, and possibly exceed your competition is to your advantage, and a part of that is knowing that even at 3 AM on Christmas day, if Brian’s heat goes out and he has family coming over at 9 AM, we’ll be here to take his service request and pass the message to your O/C so Christmas can be saved.

These are the examples that people remember, and by answering the phone 24/7, you have created a loyal customer that will keep returning with any of their heating and air needs.

So, if you’re needing that kind of service from us, so we can give it to your callers, please contact us. We can answer that!

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The Snow Has Ended, Now What?

after the snowstorm

On February 3rd and 4th, a cold snap hit several states even as far as Arkansas knocking out power and iced the roads making them dangerous for multiple days. How did your heating and air company fare during this event?

As an Answering Service we jumped in and assisted our clients with professionalism and accuracy, giving our callers the assistance that they need. Also, our dispatchers were in constant contact with the on calls of each our clients ensuring speedy communication from the callers and the companies.

During this event, Answer Fort Smith did not lose power and was able to help our clients 24/7. This fact is extremely important because as an answering service we can’t let our clients down when they need us most. Reliability is a virtue we strive to maintain.

Extreme weather causes many hvac issues and creates a lot of potential customers.   In cases like those, especially during the winter, your customers need to contact someone so you can give them the heat that will help them get through the cold. Did they reach you?

Said event may cause an increase in your call volume due to general maintenance as well. An ignored unit is an unreliable one, and that’s when emergencies occur. 

Time is money and you want to make sure to get to all of your service calls and maintenance calls quick and efficiently.  We are here to help you separate the calls that make you money from the ones that don’t and we give you the time to take care of your customers and not worry about answering the phones.

Regardless of the reason, we’re here to help, and would love to hear from you. We can answer that, and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach us so we can answer those too.

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Managing Product Recalls

product recalls

A major struggle for any manufacturing plant is recalls on products.

Letters are sent out to customers, but that often leads to an abundance of questions.  Is it still safe? What is wrong with it? Can I fix it myself? What is the return policy? Do I have to pay for shipping? How long will you keep it? Is it a first production set that had the issue or all of them?

These recall letters lead to a lot of customers calling in to have their questions answered.  The increased call volume and potential long hold times can delay productivity even further, resulting in less margin for your company and adds to the customers frustration.

This is where we come in.  If you are a manufacturer, time is money.  You don’t want to overwhelm your team, we can be tasked with calling your customers for you, giving the information you’d like them to know.   We document all the calls and get them to the proper departments so that each call is handled by the correct person and in a timely manner.  This allows you to handle the most important part of your job, manufacturing. 

While we are an answering service, we do so much more than simply answer calls. If you are thinking of using an Answering Service who goes a step beyond, yes, we can answer that- and more.

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What We Did During the Snow Event

severe weather services

One thing we noticed during severe weather was that when employees called out, they didn’t know what the protocol was. Do they call out? Do they not? Is it going to count against them? Can they use PTO so their day is paid even if they can’t come in?

Some companies had automated messages pick up before the employee’s line rang in, others gave us information to give their employees, while others wanted us to follow standard procedure for callouts. Regardless of the directive, Answer Fort Smith was there for each of our clients and documented each call out appropriately.

What about you? We can handle call outs due to bad weather in a number of different ways in order to fit your company’s needs.  Just let our client relations team know and we’ll take care of the rest.

In times like these, communication is extremely important.  Communication between our clients and ourselves, especially in high volume circumstances like these, ensure that your employees know the information that you need them to know.

So as your answering service, we will do our best to give you that communication. We are staffed and capable of handling the call out volume, and any scenario in which you need us to properly relay the information to your staff to ensure maximum efficiency.

We are familiar with all types of call outs, so no matter what you decide, we can answer that!

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The Power of a Good Impression

impression stars

One of the most important aspects of growing your business is word of mouth. With reviews easily found on the internet, that is the first thing people see when searching for a heating and air company. How is your online rating? How many people reviewed your company? Would they refer your company to their friends and family?

When someone finds your company and calls, what will they hear? As your answering service, they will hear professionals who give your callers the respect and courtesy they deserve. We have strict guidelines and procedures we follow, and that is what gives us the ability to say “we can answer that.”

First impressions of your business begin with the very first phone call.  A bad impression on the first call can lead to loss of business, and bad reviews that can also turn away other potential business.  A great impression can build a lifelong customer that will bring you more business through word of mouth.  That all can be decided on the first phone call. 

Our goal is to be your backline and take care of the customer service relations so that you can focus on emergency calls, maintenance, and service calls that are the backbone of your business.

If that’s what you are looking for, we mean it when we say “we can answer that.”

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Automated Messages are Often Not Enough

trouble with automated messages

One of the facts I’ve come to accept is that most people don’t really listen to automated messages, and even if they did, they still want to speak to someone because the message given doesn’t answer all of their questions.

Automated messages can be good for certain situations, but employees calling in have lots of questions. When they realize it’s automated, they may feel like the picture above, that no one’s actually there to help.

Say your plant has shut down due to weather or a major maintenance issue and you leave that message on your voicemail.   How long would the message have to be to give the employees all of the information? 

Can you be sure that even if your message answers every potential question they may have, that your employees will listen to the entire message? It’d seemingly go on forever!

That’s where we come in.  We have live agents that can answer any questions or concerns that your employees may have and that gives you time to handle the daily needs of your customers.

Automated messages tend to add a level of annoyance or frustration to an already stressful situation. They want to know that their questions can be answered as quickly as they can, and voicemails can run out of space and aren’t checked as often as an e-mail, text message, or fax.

That’s one of the things we realized during the winter season. When large numbers of employees called out due to perilous roads, yes, a message was created, but while that helped some, we had many people still wanting to speak to someone.

Let us take care of your employees call ins so you can take care of your customers.  If your company needs that, or if you’d like to know more, reach out to us. We can answer that!

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Need an impromptu meeting? No problem!

meeting

Have you hit your sales quota for the quarter and want to celebrate? Do you need to have a regularly scheduled meeting for your team? Was there an unexpected issue that needs to be solved immediately? Let us know! We can help by taking your calls while you take care of your business meeting.

By forwarding your business’s line to ours, we can take the calls that would otherwise go to your office. We can give your messages to an employee of your choice, ask the caller to call back after your meeting, or even relay information to your callers. After you finish up your meeting, all you need to do is let us know so that we can give you the messages we received. At this time, you can take control of your phone lines again and decide which callers need to receive a return call.

AFS Business Solutions is available at a moment’s notice to take over your calls. If you need us, we will be there for you. In addition to this, you are always in control of the way that we answer your calls and the information that we record.  If you need to set up special procedures for certain periods of time, we can do that!

We understand that impromptu meetings are necessary for a number of reasons, which is why we are always available to take calls for you. Having an answering service to cover your business’s calls during these types of meetings can really benefit your business, especially since new customers can call at any time.

If you choose to utilize an answering service, we would be more than happy to assist your business in any capacity you need. Give us a call to learn how “We Can Answer That!”

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We Can Answer That!

customer service

Have you ever wondered if answering services would be a good fit for your business? Our answering services are a great option for many different types of businesses because our service packages are fully customizable to fit any needs you may have.

At AFS Business Solutions, we answer everything from veterinary clinics to coroner’s offices to home service companies and more! We can act as a call-out line for absences and tardiness or as a 24/7 customer service line. We can even take anonymous, reporting calls!

With the wide range of industries that we answer for, our extensive training, and our overall expertise, you can trust the agents at AFS Business Solutions to accurately gather the information you need to assist your customers quickly and easily. Whether you just need us to collect some basic contact information or you need us to complete the full sales process, you can rest assured knowing that everything will be taken care of with the utmost professionalism and friendliness.

What if your callers have questions directly pertaining to your business? Since you are involved in the training of the agents that take your calls, you decide how much information we should or should not give your callers.

Worried about language barriers? We have bilingual agents who are qualified and willing to assist when necessary. If you need one of our Spanish-speaking agents to return a call, we offer that service as well.

Call us today and let us know how “We Can Answer That!”