Beware of answering services that employ agents who are pleasant by day, but transform into horrific customer service reps during the night shift.
If you are one of the many businesses that has gone the route of partnering with a telephone answering service, chances are you have listened to at least one of the calls they handled for you. Maybe you heard a bright and chipper woman named Allison give a bubbly “Good Morning!” to your caller as she provided perfectly friendly service that completely satisfied your customer before they hung up and went about their merry day. Kind, compassionate and effective phone etiquette is to be expected from your answering service providers. But when was the last time you listened to one of the calls they handled for you that came in late at night?
If you are trying to provide your callers with the best phone experience possible, you have probably chosen an answering service provider with 100% US-based agents. This would be an obvious choice because it would eliminate the typical conversation speed bumps you get with foreign-based call centers that have agents with less than perfect fluency that can confuse or even irritate your callers. However, this also means that when you are providing after hours or 24-hour phone support using this US-based answering service provider, the agents working the night shift will be on a rotation that doesn’t always sit very well with the natural human sleep schedule.
It’s in these hours, when the sky has grown dark and night sets in, that you should be on the lookout for werewolves answering your phones. Sure, when the sun was bright the other morning, Allison was a model of customer service excellence. But what would happen to her happy-go-lucky personality if she were one of the agents who had to flip her sleep schedule upside down? Instead of easing into her morning with a smooth cup of joe for a pleasant pick-me-up, she may be slipping into the night shift by staining her teeth with the tar from a tall mug of straight, black coffee so thick you could stand a spoon in it.
Just a few shifts on this schedule and that peppy, sweet woman who answered your phones during the day may surprise you with a snarly attitude and customer service that really “bites.” Her warm and welcoming “Good morning!” may take an ugly turn and become just a short and throaty bark of your company name, followed by the uncomfortable silence of indifference. Her enthusiasm to find creative solutions disappears beneath a scruffy layer of irritation that bristles each time she has to help another caller. If the truly unfortunate happens and she is cornered by an unhappy caller, she may just bare her teeth and snap - leaving your caller with a scarred perspective of your brand.
Luckily, there is a silver bullet to protect you from the horrors of werewolf answering service agents that lurk in the shadows of sub-par call centers. That bullet is a professional 24 hour answering service called Sound Telecom.
Our phone agents are an experienced group that is dedicated to customer service. They take pride in their work and make sure that they are part of a team that maintains a fresh, fun and positive atmosphere. Agents are also keenly and constantly aware that they aren’t just representing your company when they answer your phones, but they are also representing their own company. This positive work environment and sense of ownership can be felt in every interaction and acts as a natural immunity that prevents our agents from falling victim to the feral tendencies that other agencies are vulnerable to.
If your company is using an answering service that staffs their call centers with uninspired, unmotivated employees that could turn at any moment, there’s still time to save your callers and your business reputation. Contact us before the next full moon and we’ll help you stop any more of your customers from mysteriously going missing.