Q: How long have you been in business?
A: Professional Answering Service was founded in 1982. We started out offering telephone answering services, and over the years, we’ve innovated and adapted our service offerings as technology has advanced. Our goal is to be your all-in-one solution for 24/7 customer support, and our multichannel approach includes live, online chat and virtual receptionist services.
Q: Are you located in the United States?
A: Yes! We are headquartered in Chambersburg, PA, and provide 24-hour call center service to businesses in nearby communities like Harrisburg, Carlisle, Shippensburg, Gettysburg, Haegerstown, and beyond.
Q: Do you provide 24/7 answering service?
A: Yes! Professional Answering Service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Our team is here to support your company whenever you need business answering service, including after-hours, weekends, and holidays.
Q: Who answers my calls?
A: All calls and online chats are answered by a live agent from our team. Day or night, year-round, we provide live answering service.
Q: How will I receive my messages from your answering service?
A: You decide! That’s the beauty of our service. We offer multiple options for message delivery, and we can tailor your service to suit your company’s specific needs. Professional Answering Service provides message delivery by telephone, text, email, or account login.
Q: How do you answer my calls?
A: Basically, there are two ways we can receive calls for your business: 1) When you publish your account’s assigned phone number, or 2) When you set up call-forwarding from your regular phone number to your account’s assigned number.
Q: How does your agent know how to assist my callers?
A: Unlike other, cookie-cutter answering services, we customize our live answering service to satisfy your business’s unique needs. You instruct us on what information we need to collect from callers as well as what information we can give out to callers.
Q: How do my customers’ incoming calls get distributed to your agents?
A: At Professional Answering Service, we don’t randomly or arbitrarily assign calls to agents. Rather, your account will be handled by team members who are specifically trained on your industry, products and services, scripting, and so on. Whenever your phone receives an incoming customer call, we route it to an agent who knows your company well.
Q: Can you integrate your 24-hour answer service, SMS/live chat support, and other features with our existing systems?
A: Of course! At Professional Answering Service, we have a talented IT staff available to implement these kinds of integrations. Our team will assess any existing systems you have in place and then create a sound strategy to set up your account to your specifications.
Q: Can you access our internal systems (for things like order processing)?
A: Yes, as long as you give us permission and access. We can assist customers around the clock by accessing your internal client systems and interacting entirely within your CRM. Our tech-savvy team is able to work with a number of different systems, including web-based applications and proprietary solutions.
Q: How long does it usually take to set up and launch a business answering service?
A: The timeline leading up to launch varies. It can take as little as one day or as long as a week. The timeline largely depends on your specific requirements and the combination of tools you’re using. We’ll also have to account for your company’s training plan and whether we’re integrating with any applications.
Q: Are you HIPAA/HITECH compliant?
A: Yes. All team members who provide medical answering services are trained in HIPAA requirements and receive annual refresher training. Additionally, all of our technology and electronic records comply with HITECH regulations to protect your data at all times.
Q: What makes Professional Answering Service different from other answering services for businesses?
A: Where to begin? First, Professional Answering Service has more than 35 years of experience creating and implementing custom solutions for business communications. Moreover, this experience comes from a wide spectrum of industries. We also have integration capabilities and our own proprietary systems that will support your company with the most sophisticated technology available. Plus, all of our agents go through rigorous, ongoing training to ensure we are totally up to date with the latest technology.
Q: Do you have a high-availability strategy and/or a continuity/disaster recovery plan?
A: Yes, Professional Answering Service has both high-availability and business continuity plans in place. We’ve invested in redundant pathways so there’s no downtime; instead, calls can be routed to an alternate location in case of disaster or power outage. Our servers utilize special technology to prevent disc failure, and we also use redundant data centers and network nodes, backup generators, backup servers, and other precautions.
Q: What industries do you service?
A: Professional Answering Service has advanced experience with countless industries. We offer 24-hour answering service, live chat support, and other services for clients in the following fields: real estate, education, retail and e-commerce, government, healthcare and hospice, law, insurance, construction, property management, hospitality, financial services, non-profit, funeral homes, and many more!
Q: Do you deliver your own call center services?
A: Yes, absolutely! While other answering services might outsource your calls, Professional Answering Service performs all of our own call center services. For HIPAA compliance, we even designed our own, proprietary message-delivery app.
Q: Do you offer live chat?
A: Yes, we provide live chat support to all of our clients who request it. Professional Answering Service can seamlessly integrate our online chat system with your website so you can satisfy all of your customers’ preferred communication styles.
Q: Do you offer phone answering services?
A: Yes. Professional Answering Service was founded in 1982 as an answering service, and we continue to successfully deliver call answering services for all kinds of businesses. We’re staffed by highly trained agents and supported by cutting-edge technology, and we always provide exceptional customer service.
Q: Can I forward my cell phone to you? What about my office phone?
A: Yes to both! Professional Answering Service can help you come up with a call-forwarding strategy so you never miss a call, no matter what.
Q: Can you deliver text messages?
A: Yes, we offer SMS support.
Q: Can multiple staff members receive the same message at the same time?
A: Yes, the same message can be delivered to multiple recipients simultaneously, even across different types of devices.
Q: How are your team members trained?
A: At Professional Answering Service, our live phone agents are trained by certified instructors at one of our training centers. We provide hands-on training to help our agents master the hardware, software, and telephone equipment they’ll use when supporting clients. Our training centers are networked, allowing students and instructors to share scenarios and best practices via telephone and video conferencing.
Q: How do I get started with Professional Answering Service?
A: Simply get in touch with us by phone or email! We’d love to hear what your company or organization requires in terms of phone support. Then, we’ll work with you to customize your answering services and solutions so they meet your requirements and goals. Call now and receive a free estimate!
