The Highest Quality Telephone Answering Service in the United States

Centratel

Telephone Answering Service

A recorder of an automatic attendant that should be replaced with a telephone answering service

Does Your Automated Attendant Have Abandonment Issues?

March 1, 2017
Answering Service
By Sam Carpenter

A friend Diana and I just bought a small business in eastern Kentucky. Twelve employees.

To be diplomatic about it, I’ll say that the administrative department of the business was “not optimal”, and there was one key element that was especially inefficient: it was the automated attendant that was used to capture after-hours calls.

You know what I’m talking about: you call a business and there is no human being on the answering end of the line. Instead, you get a slow-talking recorded voice that assures you of your value, and then – at a snail’s pace – gives you multiple choices of where you can leave a message.

Upon getting access to the auto-attendant of my new business, I downloaded three weeks of messages myself: Here are the statistics:

  • Total messages: 56
  • Total hang-ups: 48
  • Total messages recorded with a name and number left by the caller: 8

Forty-eight hang-ups! Need I explain the ramifications of those lost business opportunities?

In calling a business, people won’t wait around to leave a message on an auto-attendant because they are too busy to hang on, need information immediately, or know there is a good chance a return all won’t be forthcoming any time soon. Why leave a message?

And if you have an HVAC business, it’s all of the above, and on top of that, callers easily deduce – whether it’s true or not  – that you operate a mom-and-pop, low-rent operation…and so they move on to reach the next HVAC business that showed up in their Google search results.

The answer? Employ an answering service to capture your calls!  In our new business in Kentucky, that’s what we did, and we instantly went from an 85% loss of calls, to a 5% loss of calls (that’s a real statistic). If we could go backwards, that would meant that, of those 56 incoming calls, we would have had over 50 messages.

The cost of an answering service? A tiny fraction of the cost of a full time receptionist.

So, stop your abandonment issues today, and watch your business grow!

Getting a Price Quote

For a price quote, fill out the form below (or, alternatively, call us at 800-664-7159, or email us at sales@centratel.com).

If you reach us on a non-holiday weekday between the hours of 7am and 4pm PST (10:00am and 7:00pm EST), a member of our team will respond immediately or do their best to get back to you the same day.

(And note: for a quick orientation on how we operate, maybe take a moment to review one or more of the brief key points listed below.)

Statistically, Centratel is the highest quality telephone answering service in the United States, offering a full 30 days of free service just to prove it.

For a price quote, fill out the form below (or, alternatively, call us at 800-664-7159, or email us at sales@centratel.com).

If you reach us on a non-holiday weekday between the hours of 7am and 4pm PST (10:00am and 7:00pm EST), a member of our team will respond immediately or do their best to get back to you the same day.

(And note: for a quick orientation on how we operate, maybe take a moment to review one or more of the brief key points listed on the right.)

Working with Us

1.
MORE REGARDING THE 30-DAY FREE TRIAL OF SERVICE

Your first month of service is at no charge. Whether you ultimately decide to engage Centratel or not, you will not pay for this first month of service. 

During the free trial, you may choose to keep your current answering service account active, simply forwarding your phone lines to us for the duration of the trial. In the unlikely event that Centratel service is not satisfactory, returning to your original answering service would be just a matter of forwarding your phone lines back to that service. 

After the trial, if you choose to switch permanently to Centratel, we will credit your new Centratel account the monthly base-rate charge billed by your former answering service during the trial.

2.
STATISTICALLY, “THE BEST IN THE U.S.”

Answering service quality is 100% dependent on human action and, in the course of a day, a multitude of human decisions are made by the people who handle the calls: our Telephone Service Representatives (TSRs).

Like any other answering service, because we’re dealing with real, live human beings, occasionally errors can occur.

But note that Centratel’s error rate is light-years ahead of industry standards. Our most recent Customer Reported Error Rate (April through June, 2023) was 1 customer-reported error for every 8,366 message transactions processed.

Here’s a testimonial from a new medical client that just finished their 30-day trial:
Hi Angie,
Of course, I love the “per month” amount as it is pretty close to the amount I was allowed by the president of the company. I did tell him that if we did not continue with Centratel, I would resign as the Director of Customer Service and I meant it. I never make those types of statements unless I am ready to be accountable for both options. It’s a great fit, we have had NOT ONE complaint from a client which, as you know, we received daily (with our former answering service). I love how the reports are being generated by first name. Everyone here is just so happy and I don’t know how you do it, but that daily report is in at exactly 9 am; not 9:01 and not 8:59. I keep each one in my Simple Nursing Centratel folder, and it’s a great review for me to make sure all the calls are going to the correct person, and they always are. That part is certainly difficult because the calls can be vague and could easily be sent to the wrong person.

I love you, Centratel and the price. I’m ready to sign whatever documents you require.

Thanks for the great service, the free month, your reliable calls and your willingness to find easier ways to make me happy.

To a great partnership,

-KB, Phoenix

3.
GETTING STARTED: SIMPLE AND FAST

Getting your new Centratel answering service up-and-running is simple and fast, often accomplished within a 24-hour period.

From the start, know that your Centratel customer service representative will be with you every step of the way, listening carefully to your concerns, answering questions, and offering suggestions. 

4.
NEW TO USING AN ANSWERING SERVICE?

A majority of our current answering service accounts switched to us from another service because of quality problems they were experiencing.

However, if you have not used a service before, you are probably unfamiliar with the options and benefits. For you, it’s uncharted territory.

Our unique-in-the-industry 30-day free trial gives both sides of the equation, you and us, plenty of time to precisely refine your message-taking and delivery protocols — to get things exactly the way you want them to be without any financial risk, undue pressure or obligation. 

5.
PRICING

Starting at $75 per month, our rates are in the mid-range of answering service industry pricing.

We’ll bill your account based on the number of calls we handle per month, not on total minutes/seconds expended like many other billing-by-time answering services (that, knowingly or unknowingly, allow caller and client conversations to drag out, thus increasing cost).

6.
COMPARING ANSWERING SERVICE PRICING

Apples and oranges: comparing pricing from one answering service to another is difficult. There isn’t an industry standard for billing, and each service has its own formula. Also, some services charge by “time,” others by “work units,” while others might combine the two. At Centratel, we charge for the work we do, not by the time we spend.

This is important: at no risk to you, the 30 day free trial will not only give you an idea of the quality of our service, but will provide you an accurate estimate of ongoing monthly costs. But note that, after all is said-and-done, our pricing is mid-range within the industry.

7.
ESTIMATING YOUR COST

In order to provide you with an initial cost estimate for service, it’s helpful for you to provide us the average number of calls you expect Centratel to process in a month.

Please consider that even with this information, the quote will still be “ball park.”

We won’t have a truly accurate estimate of your new account’s monthly costs until we have actually handled your call traffic for at least one month. (And remember, this first trial month is free, with no obligation).

8.
BEWARE: MONTHLY OR 28-DAY BILLING?

Important! At Centratel, we use a “monthly” billing cycle in which invoices are compiled from the first day of a month to the last day of that month. When soliciting quotes from other telephone answering services, be sure to ask if the base-rate charges are billed monthly or on a “28-day billing cycle.”

28-day billing cycles have become popular with many answering services because some customers, without careful consideration, assume 28 days is equal to a month. Customers billed on a 28 day cycle actually receive 13 billings per year and therefore overall costs for service are higher.

9.
NO CONTRACT, SIMPLE TERMS OF SERVICE, FIRST 30 DAYS ARE FREE

We do not ask for a contract for service because we want you to have the opportunity to evaluate us real-time, without contractual restraint.

Our terms of service are simple and straight-forward: You will be billed on a month to month basis. Your first month is free, without obligation.

10.
FREE GIFT FOR CONTACTING US

If you discuss answering service with us, we will send you a hardcover copy of Sam Carpenter’s bestselling book, Work The System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less.

Sam is the founder and, for the last 38 years, the President of Centratel

First published in May 2008 and now just released in its 4th Edition (February 9, 2021), the book is available in all popular formats (hardcover, Kindle and Audible) via Amazon and other booksellers.

There’s more information regarding the book at workthesystem.com.