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Home  Money Business Start Your Own Telephone Answering Service
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Start Your Own Telephone Answering Service |
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Page 1 of 2 Organize yourself properly, decide how much money it's going to take
for you to feel comfortably wealthy, and then reach for it with your
own Telephone Answering Service.
Our research has turned up hundreds of husband and wife entrepreneurs
who, beginning with just a couple of thousand dollars in borrowed
funds, and a lot of ambition, are grossing $20, 000 or more after just
a couple of years in the business.
The exciting part is that the door is wide open for you to do the
same! The demand for telephone answering services is
growing!!! The advent of the electronic answering devices is not
even beginning to slow this demand! A great many people are
"turned off" by the frustration of expecting to talk with a "live
person," and having to listen to a recording that advises the caller to
leave a message at the sound of the tone. Exasperation of this kind can
sometimes cost a business person thousands of dollars in lost
profit. Realizing this, today's successful business person wants
the personal touch of a friendly, professional, "secretary" answering
their phones for them.
The professional answering service operator can pass along the proper
messages to the different callers, take messages, get clarifications
and even set up meetings with special customers. In many
instances, businessmen come to think of the operators at their
telephone answering service as vital to their success, and often regard
them with special favors or bonuses when a particularly lucrative deal
is closed because of courteous and efficient service by the people at
the answering service.
To get started properly, you'll need an initial investment of about
$10,000 for equipment and facilities, plus working capital. In the
beginning, with a 2 person operation, you can have your operator
selling by phone while you make in-person sales calls. You might also
want to add a couple of "hungry" commission sales people to help line
up a good list of accounts as fast as possible. These efforts will
take planning and coordination because you don't want two different
sales people calling on the same prospect.
You can begin operating out of a spare bedroom or your garage -
you'll need a leased switchboard from the telephone company - with
plans to move your operation into more formal quarters at a later
date. However, it's quite expensive and time consuming to
have a switchboard moved once it's been installed. Our suggestion
would be to locate a "beginning" small office, and plan on being there
at least 5 years from the start.
Many operations begin in a small 200 to 300 square foot economy
office location, and as their growth warrants, open a second location
with space for eventual expansion to include 3 or more switchboards.
Our research has found that you'll need an average of 85 regular
customers per switchboard in order to realize a minimum profit after
expenses.
Just about anyone with a business card will be a good prospect for
your services. People working out of their homes are very good
prospects, especially those holding down regular jobs while
moonlighting with a part-time businesses of their own. Every salesman
is a prospect, people who work on a 24 hour "on-call" basis, repair
service business owners such as plumbers, electricians, locksmiths and
auto mechanics... There are other kinds of services that will be
interested too, such as ambulance companies, towing services, volunteer
fire departments, survey or ganizations, and customer complaint
departments of virtually every business in your area... By all means,
don't for get the doctors, dentists and other professionals.
A lot of beginners start by providing service only for theses
intermittent users. These people "put out the word" that if they can
be reached at their regular number after 4 or 5 rings, the caller
should dial the number of their answering service. The answering
service, which in this case is just a housewife answering her home
phone, takes the caller's message and either relays it to the customer
or holds it until he checks in with her. Very simple, very easy and
very profitable.
Usually after such a "shoestring" operation has 15 or 20 such
customers, it's necessary to install a phone with multiple incoming
lines. The cost and questions of the phone company can be allayed by
purchasing your own telephone and explaining that
you have several teenagers in the family. However, once you have 35 to
50 customers, it's time to expand into a commercial operation complete
with switch board and hired operators.
The average rates to charge for your service should be about $35
per month for a specified number of calls - usually 70 to 75 - with a
surcharge of 25 cents for each call beyond that number. Other calls
such as "wake-up calls" and reminder calls for appoint
ments, are usually billed on a "per call" basis at about 50 cents per call.
Most telephone answering services provide a variety of other
services to keep their operators busy during the times when there are
no incoming calls. These services range from typing, envelope
addressing, computer input services, envelope stuffing, subscription
soliciting and order fulfillment for mail order operators to reviewing
books for publishing agents. In recent years some have even included
private post office, mail drop and forwarding services. The important
thing is to keep your operators busy doing some kind of work that makes
money for you. When you decide to lease an office and get going,
complete with switchboard - it's important that you try to get as close
to the telephone company's switching or exchange station as possible.
This is due to the mileage charges it will cost you for land lines.
Remember too that each exchange station handles prefixes limited to
customers within a certain radius of that station. What all of this
means that if most of the business in your area have a 234 and 345
prefix, you'll want to locate your answering services offices as close
to the station serving theses prefixes as possible. Basic installation
and set-up of one switchboard will cost close to $4,000...
Generally a metro population of 35,000 people will support a
telephone answering service hoping for $50,000 per year; 75,OOO to
80,000 people will be needed for $100,000, and 150,000 people for
$200,000 per year or more. For more help and further information, it
would be wise to contact the Associated Telephone Answering Exchange,
Inc. This organization, the industry's watchdog group, can update you
on current practices and trends.
Meanwhile in setting up your own facilities, keep your cost in line
with a realistic view of your first year's anticipated income. It
shouldn't be too difficult to find low-cost rental space in an older
building not far from the telephone company's exchange building - the
telephone company is usually just as reluctant to pay high rent as you
are... Locating in an older, less than "beautiful" building should not
detract from your business because few of your customers will ever
actually see your offices. Most will sign up for your services either
through your in-person sales calls on them, or your telephone
soliciting efforts, and send their payment in by mail.
You'll need 125 square feet of space for each switchboard you plan
to eventually install. Also plan for a small reception area which can
also double as a rest area for your operators and general office area
for bookkeeping, billing and other administrative functions. Be sure
there are convenient rest room facilities as well.
Before installation of your first switchboard, the phone company will
require an inspection of your office, mainly to determine if the floor
is strong enough to support the weight of the switchboard. Save
yourself a lot of frustration by explaining this to the real estate
agents or building managers before they start showing you what's
available. The best thing is to ask for certified copies of the
original building blueprints or previous inspection reports, and have
these in hand when you contact the phone company.
Once you are ready to go, consider the attitudes and feelings of the
people who will be working long hours on the switchboards for you -
invest in some cheery paint for the walls, non-glare lighting,
carpeting for the floors and a few wall prints, pictures or other
decorations. Look around for good used office furniture and buy or
lease only what is absolutely essential. A pocket calculator and a
used manual typewriter will work fine until you get the business
running on a dependably profitable basis.
When you order your first switchboard, listen to the telephone
company's instructions, read the operating manual and attend their
training sessions. The more you know about the equipment, the easier
it's going to be to operate it, and the more you'll under stand your
profit potentials.
The traditional telephone company switchboard is known as the model 557
or TAS-100. This board handles 100 incoming secretarial lines and 15
office trunk lines. With this board, you have the capabilities of
receiving incoming calls and making out going calls at the same time.
You also have a business answering line which can be used as your
number for customers wanting to use your number as their business
number and/or for special events such as a special number of survey
replies or telephone orders such as advertised on television for
one-time-only sales promotions.
Even though you have the capabilities of 100 incoming lines, you
shouldn't activate more than 5 or 10 more than your actual customer
list, it's then a simple matter for the phone company to activate or
"tie-in" according to your needs. Your rental/lease payments to the
phone company for equipment includes all maintenance, so when ever you
have a problem or something isn't working properly to suit your needs,
call and ask the phone company to send a repairman.
Some of the extras you can get with your board includes a "secrecy
switch." This feature prevents an operator from listening in if a
customer has already picked up his phone after the operator has
answered. The customer could then request the operator to hang up and
conduct whatever conversation he wants with the caller.
Another feature is the "position-splitting" key. This involves
plugging in a second head set and simply turning the key to enable two
operators to work the same board during an especially busy period.
When your customers want to call to check with you for any messages,
you can have them call their own number if they are calling from a
different number, or pre-designated trunk line. Most answering service
owners experiment both ways until they decide upon the system that
works best for them. Which ever method is finally chosen should be
decided upon with the efficiency of the operators in mind.
In addition to your switchboard, you should install a time clock and
message racks. These are ideally located above or on top of your
switchboard. The operator then takes the call, jots down the message,
punches the time clock and then quickly slips it into the customer's
message box. When the customer calls in for his messages, the operator
retrieves the messages from his message box, reads them to him, again
punches the time clock with each message slip, and drops them into a
"dead message" box.
You should keep these message slips for totaling at billing time, so
it's a good idea to have each operator file them in your customer
folders as they finish their shift on the board. Retention of these
message slips for at least 30 days is not required, but it is a good
policy to practice. You may find a customer will want to check a
message received or double-check his billing against your records.
Basically, your message rack can be either pigeon-hole compartments in
a wooden box designed and built to fit your space, or lazy-Susan clips
similar to what any restaurants use for fast food orders. At any rate,
you shouldn't have any problems in finding what you need on the open
market.
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