The Highest Quality Telephone Answering Service in the United States

Centratel

Telephone Answering Service

A building managed by a property management company that benefits from an answering service

Property Management Companies Benefit From An Answering Service

April 17, 2017
Property Management
By Centratel

How can an answering service improve your property management company?

Your tenants and prospective tenants are greeted by a live person, not a machine. Most people do not like automated phone-answering systems. If you want to stand above the competition, a real person should answer your phone.

And while most property managers initially think of answering services for their after-hour and weekend emergency telephone coverage, the benefits go far beyond just processing emergency calls 24/7. An answering service is on-duty to cover every type of incoming call, thus providing your callers with all-the-time reliable connection to your company.

A property manager on the phone with his answering service collecting tenants messages

Have you thought about your day-time calls?

Your office staff is busy; your personnel may be out showing properties, in meetings, or simply at lunch…there are lots of reasons why you may not be able to answer every call during daytime hours. Having your phone answered promptly by a knowledgeable and courteous representative will contribute to the impression that your business is flourishing.

The property management answering service can handle your overflow calls, capture leads and forward calls. Whether you’re managing rental homes, renting out apartments, managing an HOA or senior living facility, a property management answering service is an ideal solution.

A good service should have highly trained operators to process your calls based on your own definition of what is, and what isn’t, urgent.

A Centratel's infographic about the advantages of using an answering service

You can bet your competitors are doing this, and here’s why:

  • The cost of staff training
  • The cost of maintaining additional office staff to cover phones
  • Hiring & paying employees to provide 24/7 coverage

You have the chance to focus on your business and not be interrupted by client calls which in the long run, will mean that you make more money.  There’s so much the right answering service can do for your image and customer service performance, that it’s definitely worth exploring the option.

A Telephone Answering Service Representative taking calls at Centratel

Centratel is an elite national telephone answering service headquartered in Bend, Oregon. Across the United States, Centratel’s Property Management Answering Service assists hundreds of property management operations handle overflow calls, screen after-hours inquiries, capture leads, and forward calls. Whether you’re managing rental homes, renting out apartments, managing an HOA or operating a senior living facility, an elite-quality property management answering service such as Centratel is the ideal solution. Call us today. Your first 30 days are free.

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.)