Inside a Telephone Answering Service

High Quality and Low Rates: The Reality

High Quality and  low service rates? It can't happen. Here's a portion of my introductory letter from our web site.

Because you may be price shopping, and I don't want you to waste your time, it's important that I say this now: Our service rates are higher than other telephone answering services. I can't imagine advertising, as do many of our competitors, "the lowest rates and the highest quality!" That's simply impossible. A telephone answering service that is charging low rates can't possibly pay answering staff, the largest cost of any service (and, the people who do the actual call-processing!), much more than minimum wage.

In this business, like most others, minimum wage pay equals less qualified people and lots of staff turnover. How could low pay possibly equate with high quality in a telephone answering service, where representatives are handling calls from the customers of literally hundreds of different companies? Processing these calls is tough work, demanding a rare combination of brains, finesse, tenacity and personality: Quality can't happen when the people who take the calls and deliver the messages are not qualified and don't stay with the position long-term.

From the beginning, please understand that Centratel simply doesn't play this no-win game. Our quality is super-high because we do what we have to do to make that happen (and that includes NOT being part of the telephone answering service industry price-war game). Our service rates are higher. By being up-front about this, I offer you a congruent message: Our high quality is supported by believable evidence, not promises that could not possibly be kept. 

Intro letter on Website

Centratel had slogged along for 15 years, just barely making it. Then,  six years ago I got a clue. It took five more years of processing things differently to see our changes have a real effect on income. This last year the company has done everything I had envisioned back at the beginning in 1984: there are real profits;  it's fun to be in the office--surrounded by an awesome staff; and for the first time ever,  I have a life outside of the business.

For a variety of reasons we've been able to create a company that truly offers super high quality.  We're not constrained about pegging ourselves  "the highest quality telephone answering service in the United States." 

I just finished a summary letter in our website that encapsulates how we do what we do.  Go to this link to read it.  When you get there, the numbered items are at the bottom of the letter. Feel free to skip the first part of the letter:  It's long!  I operate a telephone answering service  but this is good hash for any small business.  For what it's worth, I'm writing a book about how we do what we do; It will be published next summer.

Guidelines for Using Voice Mail

It's mid-October here in Bend, Oregon; The days clear and cool. It's Perfect Mountain biking weather. I've been out every afternoon, still able to ride in a light jersey, up through the ponderosas on the west side of town. The hardwoods, sprinkled among the predominantly conifer forest of Central Oregon, are at their peak fall coloring. But, in October, I get a bit homesick for my native upstate NY where the hardwood forests are, without a doubt, beyond spectacular right now. I’ve been in Oregon now for twenty eight years.

It's 6:30am here in Di Lusso as I think about communication within our office. Here's a document we use for internal communications at Centratel. I believe that how we communicate within the company is incredibly important. Whatever communication systems one might use within their company, what's most important is that everyone is on the same wave length, using the same philosophy and methodology. Also, more communications is better communication. Per Tony Robbins: "There is nothing more important than how we communicate with others and with ourselves." Gotta love that guy.

* ANSWER ALL MESSAGES IMMEDIATELY.  If you do not have the information requested by the person asking the question, say so immediately.  Then, tell them when they can expect to hear back from you.  Make a note in Outlook or your PDA to remind yourself to get the answer and to follow through ASAP. Remember that responding to messages is easy: just press the 2 key and follow the prompts. To confirm you received a message immediately upon receiving it (“press A for answer…”), say “I received your message regarding _____” or “…I understand what you need in regards to _______ and I will respond by ______ “, etc.

* Do not store messages in your mailbox!  Delete messages as soon as you have responded to them. Work toward keeping your mailbox empty.   If a message must be “kept”, be sure to transfer the info into Outlook ASAP. This is in keeping with our Point Of Sale strategy

* Run the script of a message through your head before you record it. Don’t ponder the subject while recording the message. Know what you will say before you say it! Your recipient will appreciate that you are considerate of their time.

* State the information once. Spell names and give phone numbers once. Avoid repeating yourself. This takes discipline.

* Give the vast majority of your messages in 15 seconds or less. Be considerate.
* Eliminate 100% of “ummms” and “ahhhs.”

* Be cautious about sending broadcast messages: If your message is of marginal importance you will have wasted the time of many people.

* Speak clearly!

* Generally, when leaving a message to someone outside Centratel, leave information in this order: name, company, number and then message. When leaving a message for a Centratel staff member, just leave the pertinent information without saying your name of giving the time/day.

* If the message is truly urgent, say so.  The question to ask when deciding on whether the message should be considered urgent is this: Is the information time sensitive?   

* When answering a message always begin with “In reference to your message concerning…”

* If you are sending someone a message simply to give them information and it’s critical information, tell them in the message that you want a confirmation that they have received it. Confirmation of message receipt is not necessary for “group” messages.

* “Give” messages when necessary.  Always preface your given message with a comment. However, it is often better to paraphrase the original message and deliver it in your own words. It’s almost always faster for the recipient that way. Always, when sending or giving a message, consider the time factor for the person receiving the message. Be considerate.

* Check for messages frequently.  TSR’s should check a minimum of two times per shift. Administrative staff should be checking at least four times a day.

* If you call someone to speak to them directly but get their voice mail, always leave a message! It’s why the voice mail is there! All communication is about information transfer. Always use the options available to you to keep the information flowing.

* “Simultaneous two-way conversations” are great but the alternative, “sequential two-way conversations” provided by voice mail (or email, for that matter) are a great second choice. In fact, non-simultaneous, sequential voice mail conversations have special advantages including giving the message recipient time to consider carefully what is being said without the pressure of tending to the other party’s expectation of an immediate response. The advantage to the sender is that he or she can compose and deliver thoughts carefully without having to meet the time expectations of the listener.

* For the recipient’s convenience, always generate messages from your own mailbox. Your name is announced at the beginning of the message and the recipient can simply press “A to answer” without having to hang up, remember your mailbox number and go through the process of redialing your mailbox. If you are calling a staff member at home or on their cellular phone and go into his or her mailbox, it’s OK to stay on the line and leave the message (for your convenience!)

* When sending a message to a co-worker from your own mailbox, there is no need to state your name or the time you are leaving the message. This information is automatically provided to the recipient. This also holds true when pressing “A” for answer, responding to a co-worker. Stating your name and or the time of day indicates you don’t understand how the system works. For that matter, any voice mail or answering machine system anywhere gives this basic information: On “outside” systems, be sure to leave your name but you should never have to leave the time/day you are calling. Leaving the time and day marks you as being considerate but not knowledgeable about voice mail.

* Keep your greetings short; don’t self aggrandize, pontificate or go overboard trying to convince your caller how much you care.

Can You Get the Job DONE?

Here's something I sent out to my answering staff some time ago.

Getting the Job Done

Centratel’s success is built around two premises: We employ great people and then we provide them with excellent tools and systems. And, within this success formula is an employee’s “ticket” to advancement within company. The trait I look for is "can you get the job DONE?" Can you decipher what needs to be done and then actually get it done without hand-holding?

So, this is what I want to know: Can you get the job done?

What are the guidelines for someone who is serious about “getting the job done”?

• A task is fully understood and very often described on paper prior to commencement
• Assigned task deadlines are met without excuse. If there is a problem meeting a deadline, the time to speak up about it is when the task is assigned. Once the task and deadline are agreed upon, the manager is expected to deliver. Missing a deadline can be a silent, seemingly non-important issue. That perception is always a mistake.
• If a deadline can’t be met for unforeseeable delays that crop up, the manager who has issued the deadline is informed prior to the deadline. The reason the deadline cannot be met is valid and documented. An alternative completion date is submitted. This should be a rare occurrence.
• A project/task is completed as assigned.
• Projects are developed, delegated and completed by the individual on a regular basis. The staff member doesn’t leave it up to the supervisor to initiate tasks and projects. The radar is constantly working.
• A valuable staff member is aware of tasks that need to be handled and does something. Here’s the crux: It is better to do something and make a mistake than to do nothing at all, waiting for someone else to give direction.

For any leader, it is not easy to find people who have, instilled in their bellies, the kind of self-discipline required to get the job done. But, many times the hesitation to take action is simply the fear of making a mistake. So, a penchant for “getting the job done” and being self-disciplined can be learned characteristics: Remember that making a mistake is better than not taking action. A self-starter has courage.

The people who have a powerful internal understanding of this concept will always be the ones at the top of the organization, earning the highest incomes and enjoying the greatest freedoms. Notwithstanding integrity and loyalty, there simply is no other trait that comes close to the importance of this one.

-Sam Carpenter, President
9/28/2005

Stress Reduction List

Here's the list, with some qualifying points...

...First, the idea is to put your own list together, not copy mine. Mine is here to give an idea of how it could be done, not some kind of a silver bullet solution for the whole world.

Also, my ENTIRE list was applied, not bits and pieces. I did it all.

And, yes, here's the caveat you knew was coming: Once the list is created, one has to DO it. One must make a list and then actually DO what is listed. That's the onerous part. I did it all when I started and now, six years later, I am 95% successful in keeping to it. Yes, I am quite self-disciplined. I fail in a couple of areas now and then but when I fail, I know I am failing. That's important as it keeps the failures from becoming chronic.

One last preliminary point: Although business modification is listed below as just one brief item, it was a major endeavor. I restructured Centratel from the ground up, so it would not "permanently inconvenience" me: that is, kill me. That meant the company philosophy was tangibly re-defined and re-applied; it meant some people were let go and others were added; it meant the entire management was ruthlessly restructured; the office was moved to a better physical location; written documentation of every aspect of the business was undertaken, etc.: I did major cut and fill. It took years to accomplish. Back then, I could have continued to spend my 80 hours per week "doing the repetitive, endless work" of day-to-day business or I could spend those same hours restructuring so the business could operate without me being there all the time. I chose the restructuring.

• Fix my business so that I only have to work 24 hours per week maximum. If this means a total re-structure, then just do it. It will take several years to accomplish this.
• Exercise 4 to 5 times per week (real exercise, not walking). Aerobic and strength. Do not routinely work out too long or too hard but, nevertheless, sometimes make it damn strenuous.
• Yoga 3 or more times per week, alone at home or in group sessions. I refuse to get stiff joins as I get older. This will also help prevent athletic injuries
• 95% reduced caffeine (Yerba Mate is a great substitute)
• No alcohol
• No “mind state altering “drugs of any kind.
• Daily meditation: “I will do at least 5 minutes per day, every day” Anyone can do 5 minutes. After a while I will want more per session.
• Little TV
• Seek quite time daily (no other people, no music, no radio, turn phones off, etc). Before sunrise is a good time for this
• Take care of family but be careful. They can ask for too much and be too critical
• Avoid toxic personalities, friends, family or otherwise.
• Continue to read daily (minimum of one book per week)
• Defuse annoyance/anger before it gets out of hand. Watch it as a third person
• Hang out more with other men. Make more male friends
• Get blood tests once per year. Get a heart scan
• Eat less sugar
• Don’t worry about fat. Low fat foods usually have a lot of sugar: avoid them
• Spend time outside daily. Get at least ½ hour of sunlight every day
• Go to bed early. Get up early
• Do it now (take care of tasks NOW).
• Keep the house clean and organized in order to feel clean and organized
• Never, at any one meal, overeat
• Lose weight (I'm 5’9” and, with my build, should weigh 160-165 pounds)
• Give in all areas of my life. Believe in Karma: give a lot but remember not to give to the point of stupidity or to the point where I am being taken advantage of.
• Major high-altitude climbing expeditions minimum twice per year.
• Learn to sleep and get enough of it. Go to the sleep disorder clinic to get answers and guidelines

To actually make the changes and instill the habits listed below, I can't emphasize enough how important the gun-to-the-head health threat was for me. Attaining better health was critical as all the rest of  the items depended on me having an alert mind and a strong body.

Your Own Stress Reduction List

By 1998, due to stress, I was in very, very bad shape physically and mentally: very, very sick. I was absolutely exhausted, barely able to function and needless to say, not at all happy. I had been sleeping three or maybe four hours a night for months, and my personality was...well...in PC parlance, you could say I was "socially dysfunctional." Truth is, at 49 years of age, I was dying.

My doctor put me on anti-depressants. Not surprising as the latest medical/psychological philosophy is that every unhappy moment  is due to some physical chemical imbalance in the brain and so can be cured by taking a psychoactive drug. If one is not happy and not doing well from day-to-day, one  is chemically imbalanced in the brain and should take drugs to fix that deficiency. So stupid. What happened to psychology or, better yet, just pulling up the boot straps like big boys and girls and taking action to work out one's problems? Have we become a nation of whiners?

I took the anti-depressants for a year before I got a clue that nothing was getting better. I pulled up the boots, took control and instructed my doctor to give me every blood test he could think of. I think there were 40 in all. Yes there were chemical problems but they were in my body, not my brain. These imbalances could be fixed by 1) taking some DHEA supplements (the easy part) and, 2) reducing stress (the hard part).

So, I started the DHEA suppliments and then made up a list of everything I knew that could reduce stress, figuring that when I finished putting the list together, I would pick and choose the items that I wanted to implement in my life. The list was a summary of everything I had heard would reduce stress and then I did some additional investigating. It turned out that, after putting the list together, I decided to implement ALL of the items, no matter what. I was that sick.

Long story made short: I didn't pick and choose but did everything on the list. It took two years to get back to normal (normal means all blood tests are OK and I am fit, feeling good and happy most of the time (it's OK to be unhappy some of the time. That's life!)

Note the boys in the photo. I took this shot in Skardu, in extreme northern Pakistan a couple of years ago. What are the chances that any of them are on ritalin or that they are concerned with their every moment's happiness?

My brother from Tucson, who of course knew all about my situation back then, called me last week and asked did I still have my list? He's doing OK but wants to make some personal improvements physically and mentally. Sad to say, no (If I did have it, BTW, I would have framed it by now). But, for Steve, I pulled the list out of memory and added a couple of  items. It seems to me it might be worth sharing.

What is on my list is totally important to me alone. Steve will make his own list no doubt using some of my items becasue they're pretty generic and universally effective. I suggest you make your own list maybe using my list to get an idea of how it might be done. Again, as always, it's the process, and, it's what you DO that counts. What's going on in one's head is really of little consequence if one doesn't do something mechanical.

If you have been following my blog and maybe looking at Centratel's website,  you know how I am about documenting everything and in focusing energy in one direction. So here's my personal organization strategy designed to help me not die. The strategy starts with getting things down on paper. Then one must do it. I will post my list over the few days. Enough for today.

Dude. It' Ain't Gonna Happen That Way.

Well, this afternoon the Yankees won the A.L. East again. To me, as a former New Yorker, that’s a good thing. I’m sure the huge majority of baseball fans don’t think it’s a good thing. Whatever.

Five years ago, just before I consciously excused myself from telephone answering service industry politics in an effort at self-preservation (it's a long story), I gave a presentation to 60 answering service owners in Las Vegas.

To my audience, I asked the question, "how many of you have written procedures for your answering service?”  One answering service owner gave an anemic wave of her hand (that’s an indication to me that she was thinking about writing up some procedures someday). The other 59 owners sat there silently acknowledging that they had nothing written down. The usual excuse, if one reads between the lines, is "I'm too busy killing fires!"

That’s great, I’m thinking: for Centratel.

People go to these trade meetings looking for the simple-to-impliment silver bullet that will lead them to terrific business success and personal freedom.

Dude. It' ain't gonna happen that way.

I heard something the other day: “The hard thing to do is usually the right thing to do.” I can testify to the acuity of that statement in regards to getting things down on paper. Documenting one's business plan, one's business philosophy, and especially every process that takes place within the business is damn hard work, and it takes a long time, but it is what needs to happen if there is to be gigantic success. I began the process seven years ago at Centratel. It took over five years for the trickle-down effects to take hold and without going into detail, I will simply say that I am a believer. Read these authors and then just DO IT: Steven Covey, Michael Gerber and Jim Collins.