The best telephone answering services charge by the minute. It's the most fair and accurate way to account for the work they do for you. In the answering service industry, this is known as work time. Think of them as your staff on demand where you are only paying someone when they are actually working.
This includes when the operator is speaking with callers, documenting information, and relaying that information to you. It also includes the time when updates are made to your account.
50 years ago, answering services used to charge by the call. This was before the technology existed to accurately measure time spent working for you. Nowadays, there is no guesswork, everything is tracked automatically.
How Does a Time Based Answering Service like Ambs Call Center Charge?
Here is exactly what and how we charge:
Like others in our industry, we charge for the amount of time we spend working for you, which is known in our industry as work time. Work time minutes are calculated in 30-second increments and rounded up to the next increment. Work time includes the following:
- Answering the phone and taking messages or information
- Making phone calls to your staff or customer
- Sending email and text messages
- Paging, making account changes or updates
- Account reviews or meetings
- Responding to email or text responses
- Entering on-call information
- Transferring calls
In addition to that, all plans incur a flat $85 one-time set-up fee. Direct connect call patching is billed at 6¢ per minute. To add locations to your plan costs $5/mo/location + one-time set-up charge of $85/location.
Still have questions? Call us at 800.968.1181 now to get more information into our transparent pricing options!
What Work Time Does Not Include
The following items are not aspects that are not charged for as part of work time.
- The time when the caller hears ringing.
- When the caller is on hold.
- Using the web portal to view messages, update on-call status, or run reports.
Tips to Reduce the Amount of Work Time You Use
We’re big fans of utilizing technology to send information in the fastest and most secure manner possible. Can't wake up to a text? Use a text + phone call combo. Having the text and phone call happen at the same time saves you from scrambling for a pen and paper in the middle of the night. The information is already on your phone when you answer the call. This makes life easier and saves you money.
Other ways to reduce your answering service costs include:
- Updating your on-call information using web on-call.
- Screen Routine Calls with a Voicemail Greeting.
- Use Caller ID Match for repeat callers.
- Use a database lookup to fill in known information.
- Make sure the information that the call center is using is up to date.
- Make sure your staff is responding to calls in a timely manner.
- Reduce extraneous information asked of callers.
Check out our 8 surefire ways to reduce your answering service bill for more details about these cost reducing tips.
Aaron Boatin
Aaron Boatin is President of Ambs Call Center, a virtual receptionist and telephone answering service provider. His passion is helping clients' businesses succeed. Melding high tech with high touch to provide the best customer service experience for clients is his core focus.
