Chuck Pierson, owner of Pierson Truck Center, credits his telephone answering service for the growth of his business over the past two years. Pierson Truck Center is located just off the exit of a busy four-lane highway, across the street from a popular truck stop.

Because truck drivers work at all hours, Pierson offers 24 hour service for tractor-trailer operators, including brake repair, transmission service, drive shaft, and PTO service, driveline repair and balancing, as well as suspension and steering service. Until two years ago, Pierson relied on a rudimentary paging system to allow truckers to contact his business. Unfortunately, the service was spotty and unreliable.

For Pierson, the consequences were costly. "I was paying guys to work the graveyard shift, but they were relying entirely on drop-ins from the truck stop across the street," he said. The solution was surprisingly simple. Pierson dropped his paging service and switched to a 24/7 answering service. The results, he says, have been dramatic.

"Within weeks our business has jumped by about 30%," said Pierson. "When a guy breaks down, every minute that truck is off the road, he's losing money. Our 24/7 service is a key reason that owner/operators call us. They know we'll get them back on the road fast."

"One of our most important services is that we can call the trucker's dispatcher to notify them of the breakdown. For guys stranded out there on the road, that's a real plus. There is a lot of technical information that we use and the answering service knows what it all means."

"We've also developed a script to see that they ask for all the information we need to prepare for the rig's arrival. The agent is able to tell the driver almost exactly how long it is going to be before the tow arrives and that's important to our customers," said Pierson.

Between the improved service protocols and the location of Pierson's shop, business has been growing steadily. "Being available to customers when they need us has been the key to our success," said Pierson.

"I know that whenever and wherever a driver is, his call is going to get answered quickly and professionally. None of my competitors can say that. The drivers have told me how much they appreciate our availability and responsiveness. Some of them have even wanted to thank the operators at the answering service for being so helpful – you should see the looks on their faces when we tell them that they aren't actually here in the building! Because they are so knowledgeable, drivers assume they are part of our regular staff  – and I guess they are," said Pierson.

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