Telephone answering service client Jerry Prezler, owner of Commercial Cleaning and Restoration Services, shares how changing his service has helped him improve his marketing results. 

Question: Jerry, you recently made a change in the kind of services we provide to you. Would you share what motivated that change?

Jerry: Well, it's pretty simple. I've been in business about three years, and I have six employees. I started as a one-man operation, so I was never in the office for calls. I found out pretty fast that I needed a reliable voicemail system. That's how I became an answering service customer. The voicemail service was sound and reliable. It gave me peace of mind when I went home at the end of the day. 

Question: Then what prompted you to change?

Jerry: I wanted to find a source of new clients, so I contracted to run some ads in our local newspaper. That's when I learned something the hard way, and I wasn't prepared for it. The newspaper is delivered in the evening. When people saw my ad, it was after regular working hours. People picked up the phone and called in the evening, but by then they just got my voicemail.

Question: So what happened?

Jerry: I had 17 hang ups on my voicemail in the morning and no orders.

Question: And then what?

Jerry: (Grins) I complained that my voicemail wasn't working. Of course it was, but the answering service took the time to check it out and to talk to me about what was happening with my business. That was really the key. They helped me realize that people won't usually place orders with a machine. They suggested some alternative.

Question: So what did you do?

Jerry: Well, I didn't listen; I tried to save money. When we ran an ad, I had the staff take turns staying late to answer the phone. I tried to have them rotate so they wouldn't lose too much time with their families. My service guys didn't seem to think they should have to answer phones and when they did, the results weren't all that good. When my office assistant stayed, she did a great job with the customers, but she has a family and they need her too. Plus, it was costing me a fortune in overtime – almost as much as the ads!

Question: Then what?

Jerry: I finally got smart and realized that my efforts to pinch pennies were costing me sales, overtime, and disrupting my staff. So that's when I made the switch to live answering service. Now, when I come in each morning after an ad runs, I have a queue of customers lined up by the answering service. Plus, all of the orders are emailed to my office assistant who enters them into our computer, but starting next month, the answering service will do that for us as well!

Because she enters the work orders right away, we can keep better track of our cleaning supply inventory. By better managing our inventory, we are actually paying for the answering service. I couldn't be happier. In fact, we are expanding our newspaper advertising into a nearby community. We're growing, we're learning, and we're getting better every day - largely because of our telephone answering service!

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