How do you know that you are answering our phones and not somebody else’s phone?
Each client is given their own unique phone number. This number is a “Direct Inward Dial” number, otherwise known as a D.I.D. number. These numbers do not truly have dial tone but can receive calls on them. In large offices with many employees, they utilize D.I.D numbers, each employee has their own number, but the company doesn’t have hundreds of phone lines that would be outrageously expensive.
How do I get my phone lines to the answering service?
Clients use a feature on their phone called call forwarding. Call forwarding allows you to send your phone calls to a different number. Call forwarding doesn’t need to be used exclusively with an answering service. Some people forward their office line to their cells or their residences. In addition to call forwarding, there is another featured called delayed call forwarding. Delay Call forwarding is a way call centers can back up an office 24/7. The phone is programmed to call forward to a specific number after a certain number of ring. For example if a doctor’s office is busy with patients and the staff cannot get to the ringing phone, after a certain number of rings it will forward to a call center. We are able to back them up throughout the day. Many offices, both medical and non-medical, use this feature. Using delay call forwarding call can eliminate the need to “add one more person” to the office staff.
Aren’t most call centers in India?
This is a question we commonly receive. We are in based in Pleasant Hill, California. We have one operator in Southern California, one in Stockton, and one in North Carolina. All of our remote operators are from California and worked at our Pleasant Hill location for at least 2 years before being given the opportunity to work remotely. Working remotely has allowed Call 24 to retain high quality employees who, without remote access, would not be employees today.
What else can you do for me? Are you just an answering service?
We have worked very hard to get away from being, “just an answering service.” Yes, we are the service and we are not the doctor or the plumber, etc. With that said, we can do a lot for the callers. No one is going to treat an illness or fix a leak over the phone, they are going to gather the information and make a plan. No plumber or doctor will want to answer their phone on the weekend. It’s 7:30 p.m. on a Friday night, your sink is clogged, and you are having a dinner party Saturday night. After two calls to two different plumbers, with only answering machines answering you are getting desperate. You will be very happy to get an answering service on your third call. We will get the information and get it to the plumber who will save the day for you. The question is what can’t we do for you?