Answering service or not?

[delany]

How did you go about finding someone locally. I had tried a few times to get some of my stay at home mom friends to do it for a month to average out how many calls we were getting, appts made, time it took etc but they all "got busy" once they got the phone and never answered any calls. I had anticipated taking the phone w me home once I went on maternity leave, but I get spotty coverage at my ranch as well as no internet. grrrr

[wanderlusttan]

Yea finding a Mom was hard for me, so I actually found someone that already had a job from home, ie I knew they could actually work for a living, lol, it's a job where they don't talk to anyone, they are on the computer all day so they can just switch tabs to pull up my calendar when the phone rings. I definitely lucked out. I have service issues at one of my salons that is in the country so I really needed someone. I can get texts while there, but no calls, so it works out much better when a client is running late, I actually get the message now, lol. I used local FB groups I belong to and Craigslist, the key really was finding someone that already worked from home, not someone who just stays home and will find a million other things they would rather do.

[delany]

Gotcha...mind me asking what your flat rate and per call rate is? That is another hard thing to figure out. THanks!

[Island Sun Nola]

We used a call center a few years ago. We explained all of our services several times, had information for the operators, FAQ's ect and they couldnt seem to ever get it right....once I listened to some of the recorded calls that came in, I decided to pull the plug. It was awful!

Our setup now is - call comes into the salon, if no answer by 3rd ring a recorded msg comes on thanking the client/potential client for calling and to plz hold for a member of our staff.
They will wait in queue while listening to a pre-recoded msg with our services, specials, location, tanning tips...during that time the system is ringing the salon, and my managers cell and my cell. It's rare that noone picks up and the system times out(3 min.) and goes to our VM.
Also, I have all calls recorded so I can go back and coach my staff if they didnt follow our proper requirements.
You should always be able to pull a report and call back any missed calls or hang ups.

During tanning season (especially) I am very strict with how everyone handles calls. Getting callers name, phone # (from caller Id) and email if they would like a "coupon" sent to them. I will usually have one girl do call backs if the person has not made it into the salon. This will usually tell us why we lost the client. Was it due to our prices,? Maybe they found a place closer to their house, or our hours..?

Good luck :)