24/7 Live Answering Services

Never miss another important phone call with our professional, 24/7 telephone answering services. Perfect for any size business!

Customer Service Rep

Our Average Time To Answer

Less Than 6 Seconds (Less Than One Ring)

Our Average Call Abandon Rate

Less Than 2% Of Callers Disconnect Before We Answer

Our Pricing Automatically Adjusts To The Lowest Rate For You

No additional fees for nights, weekends or holidays.

$30
Per Month

Rates From $1.25 – $1.70 Per Minute
(Based On Your Usage)

Pay As You Go
(No Minimum Usage or Commitment to Minute Plans)

True One Second Billing
(No Rounding Up To The Nearest Minute)

Benefits Included With Every Account:

  • We Never Outsource Overseas. US Customer Service Professionals.
  • Per Minute Rate Auto Adjusts Every Month To Our Best Rate.
  • Download Detailed Call Reports 24/7/365. Full Transparency!
  • Secure Web Portal – Easily Manage Your Account From Anywhere!
  • Free Integration With Most Business Software – Click To Learn About Express API Integrations.

Real People Providing Exceptional Service

Live Call Answering

Message Taking

Appointment Scheduling

Live Call Patching

Software Integrations

Our Answering Services Help Businesses Grow

“AnswerFirst, we cannot thank you enough! We were so overwhelmed with phone calls before you stepped up and took over for us. We appreciate your hard work and support.”

Jen Lockwood, Sol Relief, Inc.

100,000,000+

CALLS HANDLED

25+ YEARS

IN BUSINESS

THOUSANDS

OF HAPPY CUSTOMERS

Get Our Pricing & Info Packet Sent To Your Inbox Now

Learn more about our unique pricing model and the AnswerFirst difference!

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We Have Call Answering Solutions For Every Business

If you need a custom plan or a walkthrough of our pricing, let’s talk!

We’ve Got Hundreds Of 5 Star Reviews

“From the first day we starting using Answer First everyone was friendly and helpful. They picked up all of our calls when we could not and treated our clients with the same care and respect the rest of our staff does. I would definitely recommend this company and Teri Leggett was superb in getting us all taken care of.
Thank you.”

Crystal C.

“I have been a client since April 2021. My calls have been answered professionally and my callers have told me they like my “new receptionist”. Most don’t realize it’s an answering service! Also, I’ve only had a couple of support issues during these months and they were handled quickly, fully and with courtesy.”

Albert B.

“AnswerFirst has been very helpful for our property management company. Their reports in the morning are clear and concise and our tenants appreciate being able to speak with a person any time of day. Our business development specialist, Teri, made set up quick and easy. We highly recommend their service.”

Andrew N.

“We’ve dealt with a number of vendors providing various services, and my experiences with getting set up with AnswerFirst was great. My rep with their company was Teri Leggett, and she was very responsive, as far as helping with my questions, and guiding me through the setup process. It has been an easy process, versus a couple of other similar type companies that I’ve worked with in the past (which is why I’m now with AnswerFirst).”

Chris N.

“Professional. Accessible. Almost immediate return of our calls. Client messages are streamlined and winnowed, which is exceedingly helpful. Prices up-front and over-runs are discussed in detail and ahead of time, with a chance to amend plans if requested. Very satisfied, and our office has gone through at least half a dozen answering services.”

Paul C.

“I’ve been using Answer First for my answering service for nearly 10 years and have never had a single complaint. Their staff is always professional and forward the proper information to my “on-call” tech in a very timely manner. I would very definitely recommend Answer First to anyone that is looking for their type of service.”

Dan L.

“I have been using AnswerFirst for years. They have been a an amazing help for incoming communications across multiple businesses. I have recommended them to others that have had 5 star experiences every time. It is rare to find a company that continues to improve year after year in their service and customer support. I whole heartedly recommend them.”

John C.

“They are consistently professional and I often get clients who remark on how well “my staff” handled their contact with our office. The extended features to review calls are very helpful, as well as knowing the phone number of where the call came from, rather than just the phone number the client left, providing another way to call the client back.”

David L.

“After having dealt with for prior answering service companies, it was a pleasure working with this team through our transition. AnswerFirst accommodated our needs precisely and worked with us to make sure that we got what we wanted. The onboarding process was also very organized and methodical. So far our daily experiences with the company are very good, and we have found the operators to be very professional and friendly sounding. So far very happy customer!”

Gary S.

You’ll Love Our Features And Pricing

100% U.S. Based

No Overseas Call Centers

Our Customer Service Professionals are all U.S. based.

Volume Discounts

Your Rate Decreases As Usage Increases

You are always billed at the lowest rate possible – automatically.

True 24/7/365 Service

No Hidden Fees For 24/7 Coverage

No additional charges for after-hours, weekend and holiday service.

One Second Billing

True One Second Billing

No rounding up to the nearest minute – pay only for what you use.

Trusted by Thousands Of Businesses

We Give Your Business A Professional Presence 24/7/365

If you’re looking for an exceptional answering service company, AnswerFirst has got you covered.

Our live answering services have been proven to increase customer satisfaction compared to businesses that rely solely on voicemail or automated phone call answering systems.

We Work With Businesses In Every Industry

Agriculture

Arts & Entertainment

Construction & Cleaning Services

Corporate Management

E-Commerce

Educations Services

Federal Government

Finance & Insurance

Real Estate, Rental & Leasing

Services (Electrical, Plumbing, Etc.)

Small Business

State & Local Government

Technology

Transportation & Storage

Utilities

Waste Services

Serving Thousands Of Businesses Around The Globe

Why Are Our Answering Services Good For Businesses Of All Sizes?

> 80% Of Callers Who Reach A Voice Mail Will Not Leave A Message

Can you afford to miss opportunities to add new business or support existing clients?

When you partner with AnswerFirst your calls are answered by professionally trained live customer service representatives, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

> 74% Of People Who Have A Bad Experience Will Choose Another Business

90% of companies say they compete on the basis of customer experience.

Things such as not answering calls and communications quickly, burying phone numbers, removing a human from interactions, or just delivering an overall frustrating experience highly reduces the chance of adding a new customer or keeping an existing one.

> Calls To Businesses Are Expected To Exceed 180 Billion Per Year By 2025

These calls are 10-15 times more likely to generate a successful sale or follow-up activity than a digital form submission, which means they are more efficient in generating revenue.

> 61% Of People Call A Business During The Buying Cycle

The majority of respondents will call instead of reaching out online because they are looking to get a quick answer (59%) or talk to a real person (57%).

The numbers only increase as the value of the purchase increases.

AnswerFirst Google Reviews

“I had been with another answering service for twenty years prior to signing up with you. They don’t even hold a candle to you. You are great.”

Steven Kollander

“We are very pleased with the service we have received. The entire team at Answer First has been delightful. We are a small business and do not have a full time weekend staff. This solution allows us to provide service to our clients and callers without the expense of having to staff the office on weekends.”

Tracy Lobertini

“AnswerFirst has been absolutely fantastic to work with! Professional, courteous, and very detail oriented. I’d highly recommend Aimee and her team!”

Matt Lentz

“We have been using AF for a few years now and we love working w/them. They customized our account to fit our special needs from day 1. They respond immediately to any issues and ALWAYS follow through to make sure we are happy w/our service. The staff is professional and we could not ask for better service.”

Teri Bennett

We Provide Reliable & Flexible Phone Answering Services

Our Customer Service Professionals act as your virtual receptionist and can live transfer calls to you just as if they are in your office at a reception desk.

Our team is based in the U.S.A. (we don’t use overseas staff). Our Customer Service Professionals are ready and waiting around the clock, ensuring you never miss a call. We deliver your messages via phone, email, text message, secure messaging (HIPAA & PCI Compliant), fax or pager. You can choose multiple options for message delivery or you can go online to our secure website and retrieve your messages there.

Simple & Affordable Pricing

Our simple 1 Rate Plan means that you pay-as-you-go only for what you use (no unused calls or minutes). We bill in one second increments (no 1 minute rounding) and we only bill you when one of our live Customer Service Professionals actually works on your account. This rate structure provides the highest level of motivation to answer your calls quickly and professionally. You’ll also have access to our free online portal, Client Web Access, to listen to your calls in real-time and review them for proficiency and accuracy. We believe offering this free online transparency enables you to feel confident we are handling your business YOUR WAY.

  • True 24/7/365 Service

  • 100% U.S. Based (No Overseas Call Centers)

  • Pay As You Go with No Contracts

  • Simple & Affordable Pricing

  • Dedication to Customer Service

  • Integration With Your Business Software

Young woman on a call center answering a phone

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Answering Services & How They Work

When customers or potential customers try to contact your business, your availability really matters to them.

If customers are met with a voicemail or placed on hold, it can lead to frustration that ultimately impacts your bottom line.

Professional answering services can address these concerns.

By outsourcing your calls to an answering service, you can make use of flexible and cost-effective methods for being in contact with your customers while maintaining your company’s efficiency.

So it is that many businesses, small and large, use answering services on a regular basis.

Here are 10 things you probably didn’t know about answering services that might be helpful as you consider the benefits of relying on one:

You Can Customize Your Reception

Answering service staff act as a virtual receptionist that answer your calls as if they were part of your regular office staff. The people who call will never know that the professionals they reach are not a part of your in-house staff.

You determine how you want them to personalize their responses to your customers. You can create detailed scripts for receptionists to follow to ensure a sense of consistency.A customized reception means that you ensure how you are represented and your customers will communicate their needs directly with a person.

Each of the answering service professionals will be able to help your customers per your instructions. You will be in complete control of how these services are carried out, so nothing is left to chance. Just because your customers aren’t always dealing directly with your normal staff doesn’t mean that they won’t be able to get what they need from your company.

Answering Services Can Set Your Appointments

The best answering services have functional scheduling platforms that allow them to book appointments for your business on your behalf. These booking notices and appointment changes are delivered straight to your business so your regular employees can stay on the same page.

It is important for businesses to stay organized, and using an answering service can help you do just that. This particular function will save time and effort on a daily basis. Forgetting to schedule an appointment can be costly, but these automated services eliminate the possibility of such mistakes.

They Can Serve As A Fully Functioning Customer Service

For customers who have questions or are seeking information, the answering service can be prepared to answer each inquiry when you or your employees are unavailable. Maintaining high-quality customer support can help grow your business exponentially.

These answering services will guarantee that your customers get the help they need when they need it. The specialized support services your customers receive will provide them with an efficient solution to their problems. Your customers will also be able to get the help they need even after regular business hours.

Live Web Chat Support Is Available

Today’s answering services don’t just answer the telephone. Since so many people now make their purchases online, live chats are the perfect way to encourage website visitors to interact. Answering services can offer live web chat support to make this possible.

The answering services you use can provide your customers with a fast and effective way to get assistance anytime they need it. Businesses of all sizes offer this support option because it is so efficient and convenient for customers.

This form of customer support can increase your sales or business opportunities while improving overall customer satisfaction.

Order Entry Makes Life Easier

Order entry can often require a lot of time and the right CRM program. Qualified answering services can offer these resources for you as an extension of your company. Your customers will be able to place their orders whenever and wherever they want.

If you are not able to take orders efficiently, you will lose out on potential sales. An answering service can interact with your customers to take their orders and put them into the system as they come. This will help your business run efficiently as well as expediting the delivery time of orders. Each of your customers will deal with an actual person when placing an order, and you won’t have to set aside any additional in-house resources. It’s a win-win situation.

Tech Support Can Be On-Hand

There’s nothing more frustrating for customers than having a product breakdown and then being unable to contact tech support to get it resolved. Technical support is essential and a trained answering service can facilitate this process. Business answering services will ensure that your customers get the help they need with velocity.

Answering services can offer access to 24/7 tech support for all of your customers, so they can connect with a real person to get assistance any time of the day or night. These customized solutions will help resolve issues that your customers have quickly and efficiently. Answering services can provide personalized training that meets all of your exact specifications.

Email Response Is More Efficient

Responding to hundreds of emails is time consuming and often difficult to get back to all the customers in a timely manner. Outsourced email response is an integral part of many answering service companies.

The professionals that you hire can guarantee that each email a customer sends to your business gets a prompt response. If you want to keep customer satisfaction high, you need to ensure that each inquiry is handled promptly.

An answering service can send out replies to your customers’ emails 24/7, so none of them are forgotten or neglected. These professionals can also redirect certain customers to your staff members if they are unable to help them for whatever reason. Considering the number of people who still send emails to businesses each day, this service is vital.

Language Options Are Available

Becoming a global company means you need the ability to communicate with people worldwide. To create these relationships with customers across borders, a multilingual answering service is a perfect solution. You can start making connections with people all over the world in many different languages.

Your foreign customers will appreciate the ability to speak with an actual person in their own language. This will make it much easier for each of your customers to get assistance with whatever they may need. Having the ability to help many people in the global market is good for your business’s bottom line.

Your Business Can Be “Available” 24/7

One of the most common reasons for hiring an answering service is the ability to respond to customers, clients, or patients around the clock. This is especially helpful if your business involves people in various time zones.

When your customers no longer have to wait to place an order with your business or get help with an issue, they will be satisfied with how you conduct business. If you simply don’t have the staff to handle customers 24/7, a reputable answering service can definitely make the difference.

Businesses that can respond to customers at any time of the day or night tend to be more profitable overall. It is difficult to sustain a high level of customer satisfaction with limited office hours.

Ditch the Voicemail

Forget the worry of having clients or customers wait on hold or leave multiple messages on voicemail. Having an experienced answering service take each and every call means you can let go of voicemail for good.

On-call answering services can handle high call volumes without your customers having long wait times or being sent to voicemail. If your in-house staff cannot handle the sheer number of calls you receive on a regular basis, it’s time to look into outside help.

If your customers are not able to reach a representative of your business the first time, they may choose to go elsewhere for what they need. When you have the ability to answer every call, you won’t lose customers that need prompt service.

Try Out Our Answering Services

To learn about how our expert live answering services can benefit your growing business, contact us today. We’re sure you’ll be pleased with how much more smoothly your company runs with us on your team.

Download Pricing And Info

BONUS CONTENT: 6 Reasons Why A Live Answering Service Can Increase Your Productivity

Did you know that 34% of small businesses fail after their second year? As a small business owner, you need to take every step to ensure your operation is as productive as possible.

Customer satisfaction is increasingly important in today’s marketplace. With so many ways to interact with customers and quickly provide products or services, it’s crucial you streamline your process.

Woman working in call center

You may have looked at techniques to help increase productivity and may have even implemented a few. However, the key to boosting it may be as simple as an answering service.

If you’re having trouble envisioning how your phones could be holding you back, keep reading. We’re going over six benefits of a live answering service for small business operations.

1. You’ll Never Miss Calls

Live answering services ensure that every call is handled by a professional. This means you and your staff will never miss an important call because you’re in a meeting or otherwise unavailable.

In the past, voicemail was the solution to missing calls. Today, however, most people have stopped leaving voicemails altogether.

A huge benefit to using an answering service is that you can decide what happens to the calls coming in. You can have them forwarded to you or can opt for a live representative to take a message. Either way, the important calls you’re not able to take at the moment are getting to you.

What does this mean for your productivity? You’ll spend less time trying to reconnect with business associates or customers. Instead of a prerecorded, outgoing message handling your calls, a live person can properly manage them.

2. Only Focus on Daily Operations

Handling phone calls is a full-time job in itself, especially if your call volume is high. For a small business, this can become a juggling act.

This is especially true when several employees wear many hats, which is common for smaller businesses. However, implementing a live answering service takes care of this problem immediately.

With the burden of answering calls lifted, you and your staff can concentrate all your efforts on daily operations. Instead of handling phone calls as they come in, turn the responsibility over to an answering service and then set aside time each day to go through any important messages.

You may also opt to have only high-priority calls sent to a specific employee. This ensures calls are going to the right person so the rest of your team can concentrate on other things.

Not only does this boost productivity, it increases the quality of service you’re providing clients or associates.

3. An Answering Service Can Field Questions

Providing quality customer care is important for any business today. Unfortunately, smaller businesses don’t always have the personnel and resources to provide quality service over the phone.

An answering service solves this problem. Giving over the incoming call responsibility to dedicated reps boosts the quality of your service while freeing up your employees.

Plus, when you opt for a live answering service, you ensure that clients are still getting the attention they need. Reps will field questions and help callers get the information they’re looking for. Or, they can filter calls and make sure the more important ones get to you.

In addition to taking this responsibility away from your busy in-house staff, it helps streamline your operation. An answering service provides a more organized way to service incoming questions or requests.

4. Fewer Interruptions

Interruptions of any kind hurt productivity. For an office, a ringing phone can significantly decrease the amount of work a staff gets done.

However, as a small business owner, you can’t risk missing important calls. Doing so could result in loss of business or the staining of your professional reputation.

Using a live answering service kills two birds with one stone. You’ll cut down on interruptions while still maintaining strong communication with clients and associates.

You’ll then be able to concentrate on tasks without interruption. Plus, your answering service gives you peace of mind that high-paying clients are getting the service they need.

5. Become More Organized

One of the most difficult aspects of dealing with phone calls isn’t the actual answering of the phone. It’s the organization that comes with each call.

When you use an answering service, all information is recorded for you. You have dedicated representatives gathering information, taking messages and taking care of client requests.

If you need to respond to calls taken by an answering service, you can do so all at one time instead of throughout the day. This level of organization helps boost the productivity of your entire operation.

You no longer risk losing track of information and will be able to respond to important calls in a timely and organized manner.

6. Save Money

When you use an answering service, you can opt to pay for what you use, as you go. This means you eliminate the need to pay a full salary to someone whose only job is to answer phones.

Freeing up an entire salary (or a number of salaries) allows you to spend that money on making your office more productive. This could mean purchasing necessary equipment or hiring a much-needed team member.

The great thing here is that you already have an idea of what your call volume is. If it’s low, you may not need to spend too much on an answering service.

If you need 24-hour call coverage, you can achieve this without hiring another employee.

Get a Live Answering Service for Small Business

Even with all the automation available today, businesses still need to provide live phone service for clients and associates. The problem smaller organizations run into is the sharp reduction in productivity this causes.

If you’re finding yourself inundated with phone calls and are starting to fall behind on daily operations, consider a live answering service for small business. Then, take advantage of better overall productivity.

We provide a wide range of answering services to help your business. Contact us today to learn more.

We Are More Than “Just An Answering Service”

An answering service is more than just someone answering your calls; to your customer, we are your business.

In this day and age, expectations are high, people have access to information at their fingertips, when a call comes in, you cannot miss that opportunity to interact. Immediate customer service response is paramount. If a person has a question or has concerns about your product or service, you need to be able to offer answers or solutions, or you may very well lose a potential client/customer.

When partnered with AnswerFirst your clients are provided with excellent 24/7/365 live customer service and so are you.

That’s right; YOU too are receiving that same level of service you expect us to provide to your clients. AnswerFirst management is onsite at all times to handle any issues that might arise with your account.

We are committed to providing top-notch service, all the time and every time.

Our phone answering service provides cost effective ways for businesses to handle after hour calls or calls that take place when your staff members are unavailable – live operator phone answering service, virtual office and voicemail service are key components of our call center solutions.

Phone answering service information packet preview

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