5 Criteria to Find the Right Answering Service for Your Computer Repair Shop

When you’re two hours into a complex repair and rebuild and the phone just won’t stop ringing, what do you do? If you take the time to stop and answer every call, you lose valuable productivity and aren’t able to give your existing jobs the focus that they deserve. On the other hand, if you don’t answer the calls, you’re losing valuable leads (and potentially some existing business) because people can’t reach you when they need to. 

The good news is that there is a solution that solves this all without making you compromise a single thing. You can enlist the help of a professional answering service that will ensure that you never miss a beat, no matter how busy you get with repairs. 

Answering services are designed to do everything that you can’t. In addition to answering calls, they can also assist with all kinds of other tasks, from taking messages to scheduling appointments and even screening potential customers or leads. Need someone available during the weekends and holidays? An answering service can do that. 

And that last one is perhaps the biggest feature of having a partnership with answering services or virtual receptionists: 24/7/365 availability. Whether you’re working on repairs, enjoying your weekends with the family, or just busy handling other things, you can guarantee that you won’t miss anything because your answering service will be there. 

In order to ensure that you get the right people for the job, there are some things to consider. Although the specifics of what you need might be a little different, here are five criteria that should be on everyone’s list when it comes to hiring a computer repair shop answering service. 

1. 24/7 availability 

As we mentioned above, you need to embrace the benefits of having someone available to answer calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you’ve been in the repair business for any length of time, you know that computer failures and issues happen at the worst possible moment. You can’t guarantee that people won’t need you on the weekends or during the holidays when they’ve lost their precious work filles. 

When you hire a professional answering service to deliver this kind of availability, you are saving yourself a small fortune on labor costs compared to hiring in-house. Not only that, but you’re also allowing yourself to get away from the phone by tasking someone else with answering the calls that come your way. 

2. Professional experience 

Answering services are not all created equally. You are going to want to take the time to review any company that you consider working with. See what kind of experience they have in the answering service industry and how much work they’ve done with repair businesses and tech companies in the past. They don’t have to be tech geniuses, of course, but they should know the basics so that they can communicate with callers effectively. 

This is a good time to check out their reviews and ratings to see what other people think. Find out how other people rank their service, as well as which areas could use improvement (if any). This insight can help you narrow down your options and make sure that you’re getting the best answering service, no matter what you have in mind. 

3. Customization options

Today, answering services have customization solutions for just about everyone. The most reputable companies will allow you to tailor an answering service solution that fits your needs, no matter what those might be. Perhaps you want a plan that includes custom greetings and voicemails, or you want to include certain services during busy season and then scale back when things slow down—the right answering service will be able to do all this and so much more.

4. Features and services

What features does the answering service offer? Do they just answer phones? Perhaps they handle incoming and outgoing calls, but that’s all. Maybe, if you’re lucky, you’ve found a full-service company that will handle all aspects of your communications and admin so that you can focus your efforts where they are needed: on the computer repairs. 

Today’s answering services have a host of features and services, including everything from lead intake to appointment scheduling, live website chat, payment collection, and even assistance with outbound sales and outreach campaigns. Capitalize on these and other features that you need to benefit from answering services for your repair shop. 

5. Scalability 

If you’re doing things right, your business is going to grow. When it does, you need to have services and partnerships that can grow with you. The best solutions will be those answering services that can scale to suit the needs of your business based on size and call volume, as well as to grow with you over time. If you have slow periods, they should also be able to dial back your services so that you’re not spending more than necessary. 

If you don’t choose a provider that can scale and grow with your business, you’ll find yourself having to seek out new solutions every time your business gets bigger. That can waste a lot of valuable time and resources and it’s completely unnecessary. Stick with a scalable service that can always deliver exactly what you need. 

And speaking of exact, consider the specific perks of a partnership with Smith.ai

You have a lot on your plate with all the repairs that you handle on a daily basis. Add to that customer concerns and queries, support ticket updates, and other details, and you probably have little time to do more than take care of business. Fortunately, you can partner with the virtual receptionists at Smith.ai for 24/7 answering service solutions and so much more. 

At Smith.ai, we can assist with everything from lead intake to appointment scheduling and even outreach campaigns, helping you generate those leads in the first place. And it always comes with a tailored strategy to suit your specific needs and cover every last detail. To learn more, schedule a consultation or reach out to hello@smith.ai. 

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