Bill Mason cradled his head in his cold hands. Five minutes before, his line supervisor, Mike Wetsch, had rushed into his office reporting that the LM1100 had broken its diamond saw blade, and they did not have a replacement on hand. Bill had just made an emergency call to his industrial blade supplier, and left an anxious message on their answering machine.

At 2 am, Bill knew the chances were that nobody would hear his message before 8 am the following day. Bill also knew that for every hour the machinery was down, he had to idle hundreds of assembly employees. Each hour was going to cost his plant thousands of dollars until he found a replacement blade.

Bill lifted his head and reached for the phone. In desperation, he called supplier after supplier looking for a replacement blade. Unfortunately, his calls were answered by voice mail or answering machines. Finally, he called Pendergast Industrial Supplies. To his surprise, the call was answered by a friendly and sympathetic person. He poured out his story to the comprehending person, who assured him that although Mr. Pendergast was not in the office at that early hour of the morning, he would call Bill back within minutes. Bill hung up the phone, and waited.

What Bill didn't know was that his call had been answered by a professional 24 hour-a-day telephone answering service used by Pendergast Industrial Supplies in order to address emergencies just like Bill's. Immediately, and in accordance with specific instructions, the answering service called Mr. Pendergast at home.

Ten minutes later, the phone on Bill's desk rang. He scooped it up and explained his situation to Ken Pendergast. Ken, an experienced industrial parts supplier, knew how costly a downed machine could be for a plant. He also knew that he had a replacement blade on hand.

The next morning, Ken Pendergast called to share what had happened as a result of Bill Mason’s call. Ken explained how the answering service representative had listened intently to Bill Mason's story, took the information accurately, and contacted him at his home at 2 am with the emergency situation.

Ken proceeded to explain that he had taken Bill's order over the phone, and personally delivered the saw blade to the manufacturing plant. By 5 am, the plant was back in production, and hundreds of the plant's employees were back at work. "What could have been a seven-hour shut down was turned into a 3 hour maintenance operation, all because a real person answered the phone at 2 am," said Ken.

Ken also reported that not only had he been able to get the plant up and running, but he had also secured a $20,000 contract and a new, very satisfied client! "We weren't the first place he called, but a person answered when he did, and that made all the difference," beamed Ken.

Learn more about telephone answering services and discover how the might be able to help you.