The Highest Quality Telephone Answering Service in the United States

Centratel

Telephone Answering Service

After a call with an elite quality answering service, HVAC agent working at customer house

An Elite Answering Service Will Lead to Positive Online Reviews for Your HVAC Business

March 31, 2022
HVAC
By Sam Carpenter

Did you know that using an elite answering service for your HVAC business will lead to an increase in positive client reviews? And that positive client reviews lead to more business? Here’s why an elite, experienced HVAC answering service is so valuable.

The Importance of Positive Customer Reviews

Perhaps the single best way to promote your business beyond word-of-mouth referrals is to present an array of positive client reviews. No other marketing approach will give a potential client more peace of mind.

With this fact it comes as no surprise that there is a large online presence of customer review platforms; Google My Business, Yelp, Reddit, along with paid organizations like TrustPilot and FourSquare, to name a few. Private blogs and public social media accounts also make up a large portion of the review landscape where your customers are likely to come across your company information. 

Your HVAC clients now have more ways to share their experiences than ever before. 

If you think these reviews and casual commentaries don’t impact your HVAC business, it really is time for you to reevaluate. There is a direct correlation between the number of positive reviews and actual new business…and higher client satisfaction.

As the research shows, the reach of one client is far, far wider today than it was just 10 years ago. Consider some powerful statistics from professionals who took the time to ask consumers about their decision- making steps when deciding on whether to do business with an organization. 

  • 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business
  • 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations 
  • 72% say that positive reviews make them trust a local business more.
  • 72% say they are unlikely to act before reading a positive review
  • 86% say they are hesitant to engage with a business that has online negative reviews

These numbers reveal that potential clients who investigate your HVAC business almost certainly have vetted your operation through online client reviews first. (Isn’t this what YOU do when checking out a new business?)

HVAC technician helped by his answering service, working while happy customer assists

So, nowadays, first impressions happen online. Most of the phone inquiries and personal visits you receive are from people who have already determined that you are a reliable and trustworthy HVAC…because they’ve read favorable reviews about you online.

So how can an elite-quality answering service produce more positive reviews for your HVAC business? (And equally important, how can a high quality service reduce the likelihood that clients will leave negative reviews?) It’s very simple:

  • Partnering with an elite-quality answering service allows customers to always reach a live person when they call. No frustrating voicemail and delayed responses.
  • Technicians will be less distracted as non-urgent calls are easily screened for later follow-up. This means improved service quality and greater efficiency.
  • After-hours coverage provides complete peace of mind that no calls get missed even in the middle of the night – as emergency calls get routed immediately to on-call staff. 

Literally, tens of thousands of US-based HVACs already use an answering service. But truth is, there is a significant difference between an average quality service and an elite quality service.

A Telephone Answering Service Representative taking calls at Centratel

Centratel is an elite national telephone answering service headquartered in Bend, Oregon. Centratel’s HVAC Answering Service assists hundreds of heating, ventilation and air conditioning businesses, during and after-hours. By a variety of statistics, Centratel is the highest quality answering service available anywhere.

Taking the Next Step

For more specifics on cost, to start the onboarding process, or to just talk to us, fill out this form with your basic information and if it’s during regular working hours (M-F 8am to 8pm EST or 5am to 5pm PST), we’ll get back to you within minutes. Or, during the above hours, you can simply call us at 800-664-7159 or send us an email to inquiry@centratel.com.

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

For more specifics on cost, to start the onboarding process, or to just talk to us, fill out this form with your basic information and if it’s during regular working hours (M-F 8am to 8pm EST or 5am to 5pm PST), we’ll get back to you within minutes. Or, during the above hours, you can simply call us at 800-664-7159 or send us an email to inquiry@centratel.com.

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

Terms of Service

Why Choose Centratel

BY SAM CARPENTER
September 1, 2024

1.CENTRATEL’S UNIQUE 30-DAY FREE TRIAL

Why is this important? Because it will provide you a truly accurate estimate of cost (we bill monthly), it will demonstrate our quality, and it gives both sides of this equation—you and Centratel—the necessary time to refine and perfect operational details.

Here’s a testimonial from a new medical client that had just finished their 30-day trial: “Of course, I love the cost as it is close to the amount I was allowed by the president of the company. I told him that if we did not continue with Centratel, I would resign as the Director of Customer Service, and I meant it. It’s a great fit. We have had NOT ONE complaint from a patient or in-house which, as you know, we received daily with our former answering service. I love you, Centratel, and the price. I’m ready to sign whatever documents you require. Thanks for the great service, and the free month! To a great partnership! -KB, Phoenix“

2.STATISTICALLY, THE BEST IN THE U.S.?

Answering service quality is 100% dependent on human action and reaction, and in the course of a single day a multitude of human decisions are made by the people who process the calls: Telephone Service Representatives, or TSRs. (Some answering services refer to them as “agents.” Others, “operators.”)

Like any other answering service, at Centratel we’re dealing with real live human beings and so human errors occur. But within this labor intensive service industry that is historically known for marginal quality, Centratel’s error rate is light years ahead of established standards. Our most recent Customer Reported Error Rate (April through June, 2024) was 1 customer-reported error for every 6,491 message transactions processed. That statistic is unmatched.

There’s no artificial intelligence manipulation, we do not offshore calls, and we were founded and have always operated within the United States. (Note that since early 2020, the COVID six-foot social distancing mandate drove thousands of small-to-medium sized answering services out of business. Large, foreign-owned multi-nationals, often disguised by the name of the local answering services they acquired, now thoroughly dominate the industry. Hence, an even further decline in general service quality. See this analysis.)

3.CUSTOMER SERVICE EXTRAORDINAIRE

Your concerns and requests will be instantly acted upon. It’s a work ethic that stands out in stark contrast from the general quality decline in human-to-human business-customer communications. You’ve seen it yourself, all around. At Centratel you will know the customer service people you’re working with by name, appreciating their special listening abilities as well as their take-action-now comportments i.e. see the testimonial in point #1 above. ‘Nuff said!

4.GETTING STARTED: IT’S SIMPLE AND FAST

Getting your new Centratel answering service 30-day free trial started is accomplished within 24-48 hours. From the start, your “onboarding” customer service representative will be with you every step of the way, listening carefully to your concerns, answering questions, and offering suggestions.

5.NEW TO USING AN ANSWERING SERVICE?

A majority of our current answering service accounts switched to us from another service because of quality problems. However, if you have not used a service before, you are not familiar with the options, benefits, and pitfalls. As noted, our 30-day free trial provides you—and us—plenty of time to precisely refine your desired message-taking and delivery protocols; to get things exactly the way you want them to be without any financial risk, undue pressure, or obligation. 

6.PRICING

Starting at $89 per month, our rates rank in the mid-range of the industry. We’ll bill you based on the number of calls we handle per month, not on total minutes/seconds expended. (Be careful here as you shop for an answering service: the time-billing formula naturally induces caller/agent conversations to drag out, thus increasing client cost.)

7.ACCURATELY COMPARING ANSWERING SERVICE PRICING IS COMPLICATED

It’s apples and oranges. There isn’t an industry standard for billing, and each answering service has its own formula. Also, as noted above, some services charge by “time” while others charge by “work units.” Others combine the two. At Centratel, we charge for the work we do, not by the time we spend. The raw truth is that the only reliable way to determine monthly cost for a new service is to use that service for a solid month. Most answering services offer a 7-day free trial or no trial at all.

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 services, be sure to ask if the base-rate charges are billed monthly or on a “28-day billing cycle.” There is no good reason for a 28-day billing cycle! It’s bait-and-switch: customers billed on a 28-day cycle actually receive thirteen billings per year and therefore the overall cost is higher.

9.NO CONTRACT AND SIMPLE TERMS OF SERVICE

We do not require a yearly contract for service because we believe you should have the opportunity to evaluate us real-time, without restraint. Our terms of service are simple and straight-forward.

10.VALUABLE FREE GIFT FOR CONTACTING US

If you take the time to discuss answering service with us, on the same day we will ship you a hardcover copy of Sam Carpenter’s bestselling book, Work The System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less, now in its 4th edition…but soon to be released in a 5th edition (August 2024). We’ll send you a copy of this 5th edition, too, when it’s released. (Sam is the founder and President of Centratel. December 1st 2024 marks his fortieth year of ownership.)