August 2026
Dear Property Management Business Owner:
If a phone call to your office is not answered by an actual person, that call goes to voicemail or an AI-based automated attendant. If it’s one of your regular clients or tenants, they’re frustrated…and that’s bad enough. But if it’s someone new, looking for help with their property, and they don’t like talking to machines, they hang up and call the next PM company in their online search. They’re gone forever!
For 41 years, Centratel Answering Service has “captured” calls live, 24/7/365, for elite-quality property management businesses whose owners refuse to send incoming callers to machines. At Centratel, there are no AI robots; no phone trees. Just super-professional receptionists* who are truly part of your team, capturing every single call every single time. No one gets away! Yes, there’s a backlash against automated answering systems. Instantly jump ahead of the crowd by acting now…and capture every single incoming call!
While your competitors chase the latest automated answering gimmick, we provide the one thing that actually “captures” calls: competent, empathetic, U.S.-based human voices.
Your callers don’t want a chatbot! People want to talk to people! No more hang-ups!
There’s this, too: Property management call-handling is our specialty. We know your business, and we’re really good at connecting with your callers, instantly distinguishing between urgent and non-urgent matters, and getting your calls processed faster and more accurately than any other answering service out there.
And we don’t bill our clients by the minute. We bill for the work we accomplish. We’re the only answering service in the United States that maintains this transparent and less expensive billing method. Speaking of cost, we’re almost always less expensive than any other answering service you may use now. Using an automated answering service? We will cost a bit more, but you will land far more new business…
For a great summary, see my short essay located on the homepage of our website at www.centratel.com.
Try Centratel free for 30 days. No deposits. No long-term contracts. Setup is fast.
Call us at 1-800-664-7159, email us at inquiry@centratel.com, or go to www.centratel.com/gettingstarted to apply for service via our online form (and on that page, you’ll find Q&As that provide a great profile of how we operate).
We’ll help turn your property management business into the first-class operation you’ve always wanted, one that precisely caters to your current customers while “capturing” every single new opportunity.
Respectfully,
Sam Carpenter, President and owner, Centratel
*Each of our receptionists is generously compensated per their personal great performances.
April 2026 — Version A
PROPERTY MANAGEMENT ANSWERING SERVICE
“As a property management company, it’s essential that emergency messages are handled quickly, accurately, and professionally. Centratel provides exactly that. Their service has been a tremendous support to our team, giving us confidence that our residents and clients are always taken care of.”
M.C. President, Property Management Company, Ontario, California
Centratel is the highest quality answering service in the United States
In 2020 the answering service industry was eviscerated
With the COVID social-distancing mandates, 99% of human-first independent answering services disappeared. Most were absorbed by a handful of large foreign-owned “mega-services.” But Centratel and just ten other human-first independent services survived.
Property Management Operators’ Choice: CLEAN-SCREEN®
With Clean-Screen service, your caller is never put on hold by our receptionist. It’s fast, simple, and low-cost. The majority of our property managers use this service. (See centratel.com/cleanscreen.)
Buyer beware: how you are billed matters (a lot)
At Centratel, we charge our clients for the actual work performed. This is called “call-unit billing.” Virtually all other answering services charge clients for the time agents spend processing their calls. This is “time-based billing.” It encourages slow call-handling and the employment of inexperienced, low-paid agents. The longer a call takes, the more the client is charged.* Only the answering service owner benefits. With Centratel’s transparent and easy to understand call-unit billing, our super-efficiency benefits the caller and you, the property manager.
*And for some time-billing answering services, the caller’s on-hold time is counted in the monthly billing.
For much more information see the centratel.com home page message.
IN YOUR PROPERTY MANAGEMENT OPERATION:
WHO (OR WHAT) ANSWERS YOUR CALLS WHEN YOU CAN’T?
You know it’s true! People prefer talking to another person rather than a machine!
In your property management operation, whether your caller is in distress, has a simple request, or is a potential new resident, nothing comes close to a cheerful, clear-headed, caring receptionist! Put yourself miles ahead of your competition, while the people you deal with day to day will show new appreciation because of your decision to put people first…
We are a property management-specialized, elite quality, human-first answering service*
We are the highest quality answering service in the U.S.** The Centratel receptionist is a sharp, cheerful, confident, drug-free professional who is highly compensated based on individual performance.***
So think about call control and especially, call-capture℠.
If your incoming phone calls are now routed to a machine — voice mail or artificial intelligence — some potential clients are hanging up and immediately calling your competition. Your “inexpensive” automated system is quietly turning away new customers while alienating your tenants. You know it’s true!
Centratel is different in an important way
Most answering services try to serve every type of business. Centratel specializes in just a handful of select industries, and property management is one of our specialties. You can be confident that we understand your callers’ needs, and can flawlessly meet your exact requirements for message handling and delivery.
Property management answering has been our specialty for 40+ years
* “Human-first” means incoming calls are answered directly by a professional receptionist—not by voicemail or artificial intelligence.
** Our most recent Customer Reported Error Rate (January through March, 2026) was one customer-reported error for every 7,225 message transactions processed.
*** Our receptionists receive the highest wages in the answering-service industry.
START YOUR 30-DAY FREE TRIAL TODAY!
800–664–7159 or email us at inquiry@centratel.com
- All calls answered in the U.S.
- Zero artificial intelligence gyrations
- Career/long-term, drug-free staff
- No expensive “time” billing
- No contract. No deposit
- Your service can be operational within 24 hours…
April 2026 — Version B
LIVE CALL CAPTURE℠ TEAM — SO YOU NEVER MISS A CALL*
“As a property management company, it’s essential that emergency messages are handled quickly, accurately, and professionally. Centratel provides exactly that. Their service has been a tremendous support to our team, giving us confidence that our residents and clients are always taken care of.”
M.C. President, Property Management Company, Ontario, California
Centratel: the highest quality call-capture℠/answering service in the U.S.
After 41 years, we’ve clearly outgrown the descriptor, “telephone answering service.”
Now, we’re a “Live Call-Capture℠ Team” because what we do goes beyond taking and delivering messages. Our professional receptionists cheerfully engage callers, ensuring every message is captured clearly and professionally, satisfying your tenants while securing every possible new business opportunity for you, the property manager. No bots. No AI. Just real people. Callers are never put on hold by our receptionist. Every incoming call is handled by a human, so callers stay on the line and don’t move on to the competition, and so our clients never lose revenue…or the goodwill of their established customers.
In 2020 the answering service industry was eviscerated. With the COVID social-distancing mandates, 99% of human-first independent answering services disappeared. Most were absorbed by a handful of large foreign-owned “mega-services.” But Centratel has adapted and now thrives (and just 10 traditional, independent answering services survive…).
Property Management Operators’ Choice: CLEAN-SCREEN®. With CLEAN-SCREEN® service, your caller is delighted to be on and off the line quickly. It’s fast, simple, and for sure, low-cost. The majority of our property managers use it. See centratel.com/cleanscreen.
Buyer beware: how you are billed matters (a lot). At Centratel, we charge our clients for the actual work performed. This is called “call-unit billing.” Virtually all answering services charge clients for the time agents spend processing their calls. This is “time-based billing.” It encourages slow call-handling and the employment of inexperienced, low-paid agents. The longer a call takes, the more the client is charged.* Only the answering service owner benefits. With Centratel’s transparent and easy to understand call-unit billing, our super-efficiency benefits the caller and you, the property manager.
* Formerly a telephone answering service.
** And for some time-billing answering services, the caller’s on-hold time is counted in the monthly billing.
For much more information see the centratel.com home page message.
WE SPECIALIZE IN CALL CAPTURE℠
MAKING SURE EVERY CALLER REACHES A REAL PERSON
BEFORE THEY MOVE ON TO THE NEXT COMPANY.
You know it’s true! People prefer talking to another person rather than a machine!
In your property management operation, whether your caller is in distress, has a simple request, or is a potential new resident, nothing comes close to a cheerful, clear-headed, caring receptionist! Instantly put yourself ahead of your competition!
We capture every call with a real person – so your callers don’t move on to the next company
We are the highest quality answering service/live call-capture℠ service in the U.S.* The Centratel receptionist is a sharp, cheerful, confident, drug-free professional who is highly compensated based on individual performance.**
So think about call control and especially, call-capture℠.
If your incoming phone calls are now routed to a machine — voice mail or artificial intelligence — some potential clients are hanging up and immediately calling your competition. Your “inexpensive” automated system is quietly turning away new customers while alienating your tenants. You know it’s true!
Centratel is different in an important way
Traditional old-time answering services try to serve every type of business. Centratel specializes in just a handful of select industries, and property management is one of our specialties. You can be confident that we understand your callers’ needs.
For over 40 years, we’ve specialized in Property management
call-capture℠/answering
* Our most recent Customer Reported Error Rate (January through March, 2026) was one customer-reported error for every 7,225 message transactions processed.
** Our receptionists receive the highest wages in the industry.
START YOUR 30-DAY FREE TRIAL TODAY!
877–586–0542 or email us at sales@centratel.com
- All calls answered in the U.S.
- Zero artificial intelligence gyrations
- Career/long-term, drug-free staff
- No expensive “time” billing
- No contract. No deposit
- Your service can be operational within 24 hours…
March 2026
Greetings! I’m Sam Carpenter. For the last four decades I’ve been the owner/CEO of Centratel.
In your property management business, do you use, or are you thinking of using, a human-first* telephone answering service? If so, my bet is that you will find what follows fascinating…
First, a couple of questions: Do you know there are only one dozen human-first answering services in America? In contrast, did you know there were over 20,000 in the mid-1980’s? Some details…
Of today’s remaining dozen or so human-first answering services, Centratel is the only one that does not charge clients by the nefarious elapsed-time method? See the home page essay on our website, centratel.com, for an explanation of this very important point.
We’re the highest Quality Telephone Answering Service in America: Our most recent Customer Reported Error Rate (October through December 2025) was one customer-reported error for every 7,017 message transactions.
We “capture“ your calls. Just like you, your tenants, vendors and potential clients either dislike or outright hate automated services such as voicemail or artificial intelligence. You are losing business as new potential customers go elsewhere (and as your current tenants fume…). And you don’t even know it’s happening!
Your caller is never put on hold with our patented CLEAN-SCREEN receptionist service. Our property management clients use it because it’s fast for callers and inexpensive for them. See centratel.com/cleanscreen.
Exceptionally sharp and reliable telephone receptionists: With up to 40% of compensation tied directly to their individual performances, our receptionists are super motivated and super professional.
Long-term American staff: We have numerous employees who have been with Centratel for 20 years and even more.There’s zero offshoring. Me? I’ve been the hands-on owner of Centratel for 41 years.
No Long-term Contract: We bill month-to-month to give you the freedom to constantly evaluate your arrangement with us; to give you the flexibility to modify or eliminate the arrangement should your circumstances change.
You get a 30-day no-obligation/no-deposit free trial. And, there are no term contracts. See our comprehensive website at centratel.com for all the details. To get started, call 1-800-664-7159, email inquiry@centratel.com, or visit www.centratel.com. Give us a call, and we’ll send you my book** at no cost or obligation.
Sam Carpenter, Owner and CEO
*A “human-first” answering service is one in which incoming calls are answered directly by a human being, not by an automated attendant (artificial intelligence or voicemail)
**My book is Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less, first published in 2008. In hardcover, the 5th edition was published May, 2024. The website is www.workthesystem.com.
January 2026 — Dual Postcard
“HUMAN FIRST”* ANSWERING SERVICE FOR THE
PROPERTY MANAGER
People want to talk to people. Not machines.
In your property management operation, are you directing your after-hours callers into one-way “conversations” with voicemail or artificial intelligence? Probably, and that’s because these mechanisms have seemed to be the only choices available.
But there is another choice! A sharp and cheerful, flesh and blood human being! Here in 2026, a societal resurgence back toward authentic human-to-human dialogue is underway. A super-high quality yet inexpensive “first” telephone answering service is the answer!
Think about it! If your after-hours callers are reaching an automated system there is no question that some of them are hanging up in frustration. Instead, treat your callers to a classic two-way human-to-human interaction. For your PM operation, our service representatives will “capture” every incoming call.
Ask yourself this question: When you call a business, do you prefer a one-way Q&A session with a machine over a concise back-and-forth chat with an intelligent human being? Of course you don’t! And the people who call your office after-hours are no different. People want to talk to people! Yes, it’s always been that way.
*“Human first” indicates an answering service in which incoming calls are answered directly by a human, not by AI or voicemail.
HOW CAN CENTRATEL BE
THE BEST ANYWHERE WHILE
REMAINING INEXPENSIVE?
(see our home page message at
centratel.com to find out how!)
- Serving property managers for over 4 decades
- All calls answered in the U.S.
- Zero artificial intelligence gyrations
- Career/long-term, drug-free staff
- No expensive “time” billing
- No contract. No deposit
30-DAY FREE TRIAL
START TODAY
800–664–7159
OR
inquiry@centratel.com
ARE YOU CURRENTLY USING A “LIVE” ANSWERING SERVICE?
IF SO, HOW IS THE QUALITY? HOW IS THE COST?
Due to COVID’s “6-foot distancing rule” mandated in early 2020, 99% of independent services were immediately snatched up by multinational corporations.*
If you use an answering service for after-hours call handling now, there’s a good chance you are a direct or subsidiary-customer of one of these behemoths. And almost certainly, you are paying-by-the-minute — an expensive, low quality proposition! We charge by the transaction! For more details, see the special message on the centratel.com home page.
Centratel thrives, steadfastly remaining “human-first.” Yes, we’re super high-tech behind the scenes, and we pay our career agents generously per their individual performance.
Call us today!
*For further details regarding this industry upheaval,
see the home page essay at www.centratel.com
“Statistically, the highest quality
answering service in the U.S.”
800–664–7159 or email us
at inquiry@centratel.com
January 2026
Greetings! I’m Sam Carpenter. For the last four decades I’ve been the owner/CEO of Centratel.
It’s a new year, offering a fresh start in your efforts to achieve the growth your property management business is due. No question, making that happen requires maximizing every single customer interaction while improving operational efficiency. So, I ask, do you use a telephone answering service to process your incoming calls? If so, is the quality subpar? And, does it seem expensive? Quietly dragging you backwards, these two negatives are intimately related, and there is good reason…a reason that goes back to the onslaught of COVID-19 almost six years ago. Here, I’ll tell you the story in a simple Q&A format.
What has happened to the answering service industry? It’s been a wipe-out. In early 2020, due to government mandated COVID-6-foot-distancing rules that outlawed small back-to-back agent workstations (“cubicles”), most local independent answering services instantly failed, selling their customers at distressed, liquidation prices to one of a handful of foreign-owned multinational “mega-services.” In January 2020, just before COVID, there were 2,500 independent services in the U.S. Now, there are less than 50. So, chances are, your formally independent local answering service has been quietly acquired–without a name change–by one of these huge mega-services.
OK. So, why exactly is the quality of my answering service now so poor…and expensive? Mega-services, and most of the several dozen remaining independent services, charge clients by “elapsed call time.” That’s the perfect formula for employing low-paid/high-turnover agents because the longer it takes to process a call, the more the client is billed for that call. And inexperienced agents are not just slow, they make errors. Further, the complicated and hard to verify per-minute billing method is susceptible to overcharging. (Here’s a class action lawsuit by customers against their own answering service: Visit centratel.com/timebilling.) Here at Centratel, literally 90% of our newest clients had bad experiences with their previous time-billing/high-staff-turnover service (usually a mega-service subsidiary that still carries the original local service’s name, while calls are routed elsewhere for processing).
So, how is Centratel different? We bill clients for the calls we process, not for the time spent processing those calls. We also reward our agents generously for handling calls efficiently and accurately, with up to 40% of their earnings performance-based. They are mature, career-driven, clear-thinking, highly paid professionals, many with tenures at Centratel of over twenty years. And to keep things especially clean, we frequently drug-test.* Our monthly client billings are straightforward with no room for price gouging. We don’t use AI, nor do we off-shore call processing. Quality of service? We are statistically the highest quality answering service in the United States.**
Cost? Because of our efficiencies, including our recently Trademarked CLEAN-SCREEN® service (centratel.com/cleanscreen), we rank in the low to mid-range of the industry client-cost spectrum. For more detailed information, go to centratel.com/gettingstarted. On that page see “Why Choose Centratel?”
Nationwide, we serve over 300 property management businesses just like yours.To sample our quality and to receive a cost estimate, take advantage of our unique-within-the-industry, no obligation, no deposit, 30-day free trial. To get started, call us at 1-800-664-7159, email us at inquiry@centratel.com, or visit us at centratel.com.
-Sam Carpenter, president and owner
*These days, chronic drug abuse, both legal and illegal, is a major contributor to the poor service-delivery quality that is now commonplace.
**Our most recent Customer Reported Error Rate (July-Oct 2025) was one customer-reported error for every 7,834 messages processed. That’s an unmatchable statistic within our answering service industry.
November 2025
Bottlenecking
Are you, right from the start, bottlenecking your organization?
Truth is, you probably are. Most property management businesses are doing exactly that.
This pertains to potential customers who call your office after hours, as well as those who call during regular business hours. I’m Sam Carpenter, CEO/owner of Centratel Answering Service. In this letter, I’m challenging you to carefully consider something that could be seriously affecting your bottom line.
“Could be” is an understatement…
For your after-hours phone traffic (and during high-traffic business hours), my bet is you fall into one of two categories:
- Callers are greeted with voicemail, artificial intelligence, or…
- They are routed to an answering service
In the first scenario, you are forcing your callers to interact with a machine. For the caller, it’s a one-way “dialog,” and there is no question that some of them are hanging up in frustration and immediately calling one of your competitors. How many? Impossible to measure, but it’s certainly happening. Yes, the automated systems are inexpensive, but you are not “capturing” all the callers who are considering doing business with you. Your current clients? Just like you, they prefer to talk to a real person. In the short term and the long term, automated answering is affecting your bottom line as well as your image.
Instead, via my company, Centratel, allow your callers to have an actual conversation with a sharp, cheerful, intelligent human being. We’ll “capture” your callers before they hang up and go elsewhere.
People want to talk to people!
Or you fall into the second category because you understand the value of human-to-human interaction: you are already using an answering service. But how is the quality? And how is the cost? If quality is not good and the price seems excessive, there is a single very tangible reason. These two less-than-optimal conditions, low quality and high cost, are inextricably entwined. It’s due to a fascinating recent development in the answering service industry. For the full story, see our home page at centratel.com.
We’re the “highest quality answering service in the United States,” and have been in this call-capture business for property management offices for over 40 years. With no obligation and at no cost, I invite you to try us out for a full 30 days. I promise you’ll be pleased!
Quickly remove your bottleneck by calling us at 1-800-664-7159 or emailing us at inquiry@centratel.com.
October 2025
ANSWERING SERVICE FOR THE
PROPERTY MANAGER
PEOPLE WANT TO TALK TO PEOPLE. NOT MACHINES.
In your property management operation, are you forcing your after-hours callers into one-way “conversations” with voicemail or artificial intelligence?
Here in 2025, a societal resurgence toward authentic human-to-human dialogue is underway, and there is a simple step you can take to instantly join this renaissance:
have a real person answer your incoming calls.
If your callers are reaching an automated system there is no question that some of them are hanging up in frustration and are immediately calling your competition. Instead, treat your callers to a classic two-way human-to-human interaction.
Our agents will “capture” every single incoming call!
Proof? Ask yourself this question: When you call a business, do you prefer a one-way Q&A session with a machine over a concise two-way chat with a sharp, cheerful, intelligent human being? Of course you don’t! And the people who call your office after hours are no different. People want to talk to people!
HOW CAN CENTRATEL BE
THE BEST ANYWHERE WHILE
REMAINING INEXPENSIVE?
(see our home page message at
centratel.com to find out how!)
• For over four decades, serving property managers
• All calls answered in the U.S.
• Minimal to no on-hold times
• Zero artificial intelligence gyrations
• Career/long-term, drug-free staff
• No expensive “time” billing
• No contract. No deposit
30-DAY FREE TRIAL
START TODAY
800–664–7159
OR EMAIL US AT
inquiry@centratel.com
ARE YOU CURRENTLY USING A “LIVE” ANSWERING SERVICE?
IF SO, HOW IS THE QUALITY? HOW IS THE COST?
Due to the COVID-19 “six-foot distancing rule” mandated in early 2020, few independent “live” answering services remain in business in the U.S. and Canada. At fire-sale prices, over 95% of independent services were immediately snatched up by gigantic foreign-owned multinational corporations.*
If you are using an answering service for after-hours call handling now, there’s a good chance you are a direct customer or subsidiary-customer of one of these behemoths. (Or perhaps you’ve never used a “live” answering service. If so, see the reverse side of this postcard…)
Centratel Answering Service has not just survived the industry debacle, but more than ever, we offer the highest quality of service available anywhere. How long have we been in business? Over forty years under the same ownership.
Is your current answering service expensive? Error prone?
Investigate our trademarked “CLEAN SCREEN®” service at
www.centratel.com/cleanscreen
For further details regarding this industry upheaval, see the home page essay at www.centratel.com
centratel
telephone answering service
“Statistically, the highest quality answering service in the U.S.”
800–664–7159 or email us at inquiry@centratel.com
September 2025
Finding Great People and Growing Your Property Management Business
By Sam Carpenter, CEO/owner of Centratel Answering Service
These days, more and more small business owners are desperate for smart, clear-thinking, loyal employees. For many, it’s the largest challenge of all. Here’s why:
- A large portion of the new workforce is averse to focused, hard work. There are a variety of reasons for this
- Drug abuse. Cannabis leads the way, making users—and I am being polite here—less than ambitious and mistake-prone. And it’s a prime contributor to #1 above
- Excessive screen time results in reduced attention span and fewer human-to-human conversations. Practiced, patient, refined communicators? Not so much
Can the above be fixed? Don’t hold your breath. But in this moment, is there anything the owner of a property management business can do to find and keep “great people?” Yes!
- Pay your people generously, and pay them by performance. High-output staff equals an increase in the quality of the operation…and the bottom line
- Administer drug tests randomly and regularly. Most small business owners have given up on ongoing drug testing, settling for warm bodies. Not an optimal strategy.
- Encourage real conversations with potential and current clients. For example, voicemail and AI are inexpensive for after-hours telephone coverage, but they are costing you sales as desperate callers get frustrated, hang up, and immediately call your competition. People want to talk to people, not machines!
Boost growth and inspire your team! Go to centratel.com (and consider our inexpensive “live” property management answering service at centratel.com/CLEANSCREEN ®.*)
Call us at 1-800-664-7159 or email us at inquiry@centratel.com to find out about our unique-within-the-industry 30-day free trial and to receive a copy of my book, Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less, recently published in its 5th edition.
*CLEANSCREEN® is a federally trademarked service of Centratel.
August 2025
ANSWERING SERVICE FOR THE
PROPERTY MANAGER
HOW DO YOU TREAT YOUR CALLERS?
The simple key to your property management operation’s growth?
That’s easy. Move ahead of your competitors by providing superb customer service to your clients and potential clients: day and night, have a real, live person answer your incoming calls.
Ask yourself: when you call a business, do you look forward to tedious one-sided conversations with voicemail or AI? Or would you prefer a quick, super-efficient chat with a sharp, cheerful human professional assistant? Trust that 100% of your callers feel the same way…
Remember that one can’t measure the new business lost as first-time callers get instantly frustrated with voicemail, disinterested low-paid agents, and/or infuriatingly long on-hold delays.
ARE YOU USING AN
ANSWERING SERVICE NOW?
HIGH COST? LOW QUALITY?
(go to www.centratel.com to find out why.)
• For four decades, serving property managers
• U.S.-owned and operated. NO offshoring
• Zero artificial intelligence gyrations
• Career/long-term, drug-free staff
• No expensive “time” billing
• No contract. No deposit
30-DAY FREE TRIAL
START TODAY
800–664–7159
OR EMAIL US AT
inquiry@centratel.com
GET THE HIGHEST QUALITY
ANSWERING SERVICE IN AMERICA*
For four decades, we’ve been processing after-hours and daytime overflow calls for property managers. We’re America’s “boutique” live answering service, offering the highest quality service to be found anywhere.*
Compared to 2020, in 2025 the majority of live telephone answering services are—directly or indirectly—provided by foreign multi-nationals, and their quality of service reflects that fact. See our website homepage for the details of this recent answering service industry earthquake: www.centratel.com.
Our telephony and internet foundation is as high-tech and sophisticated as you will find anywhere, yet our aim is to stick to the basics: to provide the highest-quality human-to-human telephone answering service available in the United States.
One error for every 6,161 message transactions processed,
(January through December 2024)
30-DAY FREE TRIAL
START TODAY
800–664–7159
OR EMAIL US AT
inquiry@centratel.com
“Statistically, the highest quality answering service in the U.S.”
centratel
telephone answering service
August 2025
Capture Your Callers
The Renaissance of Real-time Human-to-Human Conversation
By Sam Carpenter, CEO and owner of Centratel
In your property management operation, is it possible you are losing potential new customers due to an inexpensive yet ineffective telephone call-capture protocol? My guess is…yes!*
It’s inarguable! People prefer to talk to a real person, right now! They really, really don’t want to be forced into a one-way chat with non-human voicemail or artificial intelligence. You know it’s true!
After hours, you probably route your business phone number to one of four destinations:
- Voicemail (evolved from the 1960s telephone answering machine)
- Artificial Intelligence. (Just two years old; in this context, it’s simply enhanced voicemail)
- A mobile phone combined with a backup voicemail box
- A human being (“operator,” or “agent “) via a traditional telephone answering service**
For after-hours (and/or daytime overflow call traffic), do you rely on #1 or #2 above? If so, you are forcing every caller to deal with an automated, non-human mechanism: voicemail or artificial intelligence. For any caller, there is a degree of annoyance. But worse, some potential new clients will hang up and go to one of your competitors. And you won’t even know it…
Or perhaps for backup, you use a mobile phone, #3 above? Too often, the person designated to handle those incoming calls is busy, and so the caller hangs up or is sent to voicemail after all…
What about #4 above? Know that due to the COVID-19 pandemic that began in early 2020, the answering service industry has been turned upside down. See the home page of our website (www.centratel.com) for the brutal details. In any case, high-quality “live” answering service is in robust revival: people talking to people, real-time. And via Centratel, this means a well-paid, clear-thinking, drug-free, cheerful human being, usually female, will “capture” your new callers who may have otherwise gone elsewhere. And your current customers? They will be delighted. ***
It’s a renaissance, back to human-to-human conversation! Instantly jump ahead of your local property management competition! Call us at 1-800-664-7159 or email us at inquiry@centratel.com, and let’s get you started on our unique 30-day free trial!
*But know that most of your competitors are also experiencing similar losses for the same reason.
**The first answering service appeared in Boston in 1877, a year after the telephone was introduced.
***Our most recent Customer Reported Error Rate (for the 12 months of 2024) was one error for every 6,161 messages processed. By far, that’s an unmatchable statistic within our industry.
July 2025
Greetings! I’m Sam Carpenter, owner of Centratel Answering Service for the last four decades.
Do you use an answering service for your property management business? If so, how is the quality? Does it seem expensive? These two problems are intimately related. They go together for a good reason…a reason that has everything to do with the emergence of COVID five years ago. Read on, and I’ll tell you the story.
What has happened to answering services? It’s been a wipe-out. In early 2020, due to government-mandated COVID-6-foot-distancing rules that outlawed cubicles, most answering services were forced out of business, selling their customers to a handful of multinational “mega-services,” with at least two of the largest ones foreign-owned. In 2020 there were 2,500 independent services in the U.S. Now? Maybe 100.
Chances are, via a newly purchased subsidiary service, you are a mega-service customer.
OK. So, why is the quality of my current answering service poor…and expensive? Most mega-services charge clients by “elapsed call time.” That’s a perfect formula for employing low-paid/high-turnover agents because the longer it takes for them to process a call, the more the client is billed for that call. And, new inexperienced agents are not just slow, they make errors. Furthermore, the expensive per-minute billing method is prone to overcharging customers. Here’s a class action lawsuit by customers against their own answering service: Visit www.centratel.com/timebilling. Note that here at Centratel, literally 90% of our newest customers had bad experiences with their previous bill-by-time/high-staff-turnover mega-answering service (that still carried the original local service’s name while calls were routed elsewhere for processing).
So, how is Centratel different? We bill clients for the calls we process, not for the time spent processing those calls. We reward our agents for handling calls efficiently and accurately, with up to 40% of their individual wages are performance-based. They are mature, career-driven, highly paid, drug-free,* and super-efficient professionals, many with tenures at Centratel of over twenty years. Our monthly billings are straightforward with no room for price gouging. We don’t use AI, nor do we offshore calls. And we frequently drug-test. Quality of service? We are statistically the highest quality answering service in the United States.**
Cost? Because of our efficiencies, we remain in the mid-range of the industry cost spectrum. Go to www.centratel.com/gettingstarted. On that page see “Why Choose Centratel?” for more detailed information.
To test our quality and obtain a cost estimate, you’ll receive a unique, within-the-industry, no-obligation, no-deposit, 30-day free trial. Keep your current service while you give us a try!
To get started, call 1-800-664-7159, email inquiry@centratel.com, or visit www.centratel.com.
-Sam Carpenter, president and owner
*Today, across the business world, chronic drug use is a major reason for poor employee performance.
**Our most recent Customer Reported Error Rate (December-January 2024) was one customer-reported error for every 6,161 messages processed. That’s an unmatchable statistic within our industry.
June 2025
Greetings! I’m Sam Carpenter.
Last December 1st marked exactly 40 years that I have owned Centratel answering service.
Our specialty? After-hours property management dispatch and message processing.
My bet is that you and I share the same goal: to consistently provide customers with great service quality at a reasonable cost. And, along with a solid bottom line, you and I also want our businesses—and our personal lives, for that matter—to be trouble-free.
Is that what you have today? In too many property management offices…
- it’s day-to-day fire-killing
- there’s much churn in staffing
- bottom-line profitability is not at all what it could be
- internal communications are choppy and frustrating
And what about incoming phone calls after hours? Too often, those calls are handled by a not-so-great outside answering service or (heaven forbid) an automated service. Are there long hold times? Are messages garbled and haphazardly delivered?
Ask yourself this question: When making your own phone calls, are you quietly frustrated by having to endure Q&A with voicemail or artificial intelligence? Wouldn’t you rather reach a clear-thinking, cheerful, intelligent human being? In these automated days, offering a real person is the easy way to please your callers from the start, while dramatically outpacing your competitors.
We are so confident in the quality of our service that we offer a 30-day free trial, with no deposit required. No other answering service in the U.S. offers such an extended length, no-obligation free trial.
Give us the go-ahead, and we’ll have your operation up and running quickly!
Call us at 800-664-7159 or email us at inquiry@centratel.com. Either way, we’ll send you a hardcover copy of my best-selling business book, Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less, now in its updated-for-2025 fifth edition. (See www.workthesystem.com)
Regards,
Sam Carpenter, owner and president
May 2025
PROPERTY MANAGEMENT ANSWERING SERVICE
How is Centratel different?
We bill our clients by the tasks we accomplish, not the time spent processing calls. Our monthly billing statements are simple and understandable. We pay our agents for handling incoming calls efficiently and accurately, and up to 40% of their individual wages are performance-based. They are mature, drug-free, long-term, highly paid, super-efficient professionals, many with tenures of over ten years, some twenty, and others approaching thirty.
30-DAY FREE TRIAL
NO CONTRACT
NO DEPOSIT
• 40 years experience
• US-owned and operated
• No offshoring or AI silliness
• No expensive time billing
• Drug-free, mature, long-term career agents
“Best in the U.S.”
START TODAY
800–664–7159
centratel
telephone answering service
GET THE HIGHEST QUALITY ANSWERING SERVICE IN AMERICA*
One customer reported error for every 6,161 message transactions processed (January through December 2024)
YOUR ANSWERING SERVICE:
HIGH COST? LOW QUALITY?
(go to www.centratel.com to find out why.)
Need assurance that every call is answered by a real person? Our agents become an extension of your office. Let us handle your after-hours/weekend and overflow calls.
An Answering Service that cares.
For 40 years Centratel has been answering for property management offices like yours. Our agents are full time, long term career professionals who take great pride in their work.
No risk, 30-day free trial.
Keep your current answering service during the trial. Simply forward your phones to us to experience the best! We’ll have your office up and running within 48 hours.
No credit card required.
Start your 30-day
FREE trial today
800–664–7159 | centraltel.com/property
inquiry@centratel.com
April 2025
Greetings!
Do you use an answering service for your property management company? If so, how is the quality? Does it seem expensive? These two problems are intimately related. They go together for a good reason…a reason that has everything to do with the emergence of COVID five years ago. Read on, and I’ll tell you what happened in a quick Q&A format.
What has happened to answering services since COVID started? It’s been a wipe-out. In early 2020, due to government-mandated COVID 6-foot-distancing rules that outlawed cubicles, most answering services were forced out of business, selling their customers to a handful of gigantic “mega-services,” with at least two of the largest ones foreign-owned. In 2019 there were 2,000 independent services in the U.S. Now? Perhaps 200.
Chances are, you are a mega-service customer.
OK. So why is my current answering service’s quality poor…and expensive? Most mega-services charge clients by “elapsed call time.” That’s a perfect formula for employing low-paid/high-turnover agents because the longer it takes for them to process a call, the more the client is billed for that call. And new inexperienced agents are not just slow; they make errors. On top of that, the expensive per-minute billing method is ripe for overcharging customers. Here’s an instance of a class action lawsuit by customers against their own answering service: Go to www.centratel.com/timebilling. Note that here at Centratel, 90% of our newest customers had bad experiences with their previous bill-by-time/high-staff-turnover mega-answering service (that still carried the service’s original name while calls were processed elsewhere).
So, how is Centratel different? We bill clients for the calls we process, not for the time spent processing those calls. We reward our agents for handling incoming calls efficiently and accurately, with up to 40% of their individual wages performance based. They are mature, career, highly paid, drug-free,* super-efficient professionals, many with tenures with Centratel of over ten years, some twenty, others approaching thirty. Our monthly billings are simple and black and white, with no room for price-gouging. We don’t use AI, and we don’t off-shore calls. And we frequently drug-test. Our quality of service? We are statistically the highest quality answering service in the United States.**
Cost? Because of our efficiencies, we remain in the mid-range of the industry cost spectrum. Go to www.centratel.com/gettingstarted. On that page, see “Why Choose Centratel?” for more detailed information.
To test our quality and get a cost estimate, you’ll get a unique-within-the-industry, no-obligation, no-deposit, 30-day free trial. Keep your current service while you give us a try.
To get started, call 1-800-664-7159, email inquiry@centratel.com, or visit www.centratel.com!
-Sam Carpenter, president and owner
*Today, across a whole range of industries, chronic drug use is a major reason for poor employee performance.
**Our most recent Customer Reported Error Rate (October through December 2024) was 1 customer-reported error for every 5,470 messages processed. That’s an unmatchable statistic within our industry.
