Compare Answering Services

Choosing an answering service or call center that’s right for your business is a major decision.

Depending on your business communication needs, you might be sending the majority of your business calls directly to the service and if you select a service that isn’t a good fit or that provides subpar service it could be a costly mistake. Compare our services and features to that of other services and see how they differ by using the list of questions below.

See What Our Existing Clients & Our Employees Say About Us

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Our Average Time To Answer (ATTA)

Less Than 6 Seconds (Under One Ring)

Our Call Abandon Rate

Less Than 2% Of Callers Hang Up Before We Answer

Important Questions To Ask When Comparing AnswerFirst To Other Answering Services

  • Does the service have a solid online reputation including reviews on major review platforms that aren’t paid for or filtered?
    (Many services pay third-party “review” platforms for positive reviews and featured placements)

  • Does the service’s normal rate include 24/7/365 live answering including holidays, weekends & nights?
    (Many services only offer a voicemail option during these times, while others charge additional fees)

  • Does the service bill for all work performed in true 1-second increments?
    (Most services round to the next 6, 15, and even 60 seconds.)

  • Does the service provide a completely redundant platform?
    (Including management, operators and equipment located in multiple geographic locations in the U.S. to address natural disasters and man-made catastrophes)

  • Does the service have adequate staff standing by 24/7/365 to handle your calls during busy times?
    (Many services only have a small handful of operators trained to handle your calls.)

  • Does the service provide true omni-channel support?
    Omni-channel support allows your clients to receive seamless support across all communication channels (phone, email, web chat and social media.)

  • Does the service share its contact center statistics and reports openly?
    (Getting a transparent view of the service’s performance metrics is important. For example, many services answer calls then place them on Hold to improve ATTA – Average Time To Answer but you wouldn’t know that without seeing their call center stats.)

  • Does the service record all calls and make the recordings available via a secure online portal in real-time at no additional cost?
    (Some services don’t make all your call recordings available.)

  • Does the service provide a free online portal where all your account information may be updated and all message & dispatch information is available in real-time?
    (At AnswerFirst, we provide all our clients with free, secure online access to their accounts. Update your on-call schedule from anywhere and at any time.)

Download Our Pricing For A Complete Comparison List

Click the button, fill out the form, and download the AnswerFirst Pricing & Info Packet which includes a Call Center Comparison checklist to help you compare answering services. It’s free!

Clients First

We believe that this consideration is the key added value that enables us to provide our clients, and theirs, first-class service.

We listen.

We make sure that, through questions, conversation, and feedback we really understand what our clients want. And, if we can not give them what they want, we tell them we can’t. We follow that truth with what we can do if there are other ways to meet their needs.

When we make mistakes, we don’t just apologize.

We address our errors with humility, integrity, and honesty. And, we follow up by making the necessary adjustments to limit future occurrences of the same issues. We are humans and humans make mistakes. It’s how we handle our mistakes that makes us different.

Every time we speak with our partners, and their clients, we do so with respect and professionalism in mind.

We envision a world where all companies provide top-notch customer service to all of their clients and we are making our vision a reality by doing our part to provide all of our clients and their clients with the best customer service experiences possible. Every time. All the time.

“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.

A Work Environment That Empowers Our Employees

In turn, our employees provide exceptional customer service experiences to thousands of callers every day. 

The stereotypical call center environment is overcrowded, loud, and uncomfortable – at AnswerFirst, we are anything but a stereotypical call center.  Our call center employees have the most important job – taking care of our clients’ customers. And, that’s why we prioritize taking care of our call center personnel but don’t just take our word for it.

Great Places To Work 2022
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Glassdoor Ratings

“Working here does not feel forced. I love going to work every day. Everything from the way the schedule works to the way the company is run, it’s absolute perfection. I feel like I was adopted into one big happy family, never feels like work. AnswerFirst knows that we are humans and things happen, they are really understanding of my personal situations and never make me feel like I have to put them before my health or family. They have a great staff of managers, that are always there to help. I love seeing how Barbie and Michelle D. stop what they are doing to help with any questions we have when we are busy. Shift leads are great; Jaime is always on top of everything is shocking how she answers questions so fast and how she keeps us all engaged with her trivia and the day’s celebrations. The training staff here is beyond great. Especially Julie; she is always coming up with easy ways for me to be able to pronounce companies’ names. She is really easy to talk to and replies right away whenever I have a question for her. Overall it’s a great place to work. I wish I would have done it sooner.”

– Review Left On Glassdoor By An AnswerFirst Customer Service Professional

Top 5 Bad Call Center Practices

Bad Call Center PracticesNot all inbound call centers are created equal! Many answering services are more interested in getting your money than providing your clients with customer service.

Here is a shortlist of things to look out for while you’re shopping for a new answering service or call center:

  • Billing a full minute for calls that do not last 45 – 60 seconds
  • Charging higher rates for weekends and holidays
  • Charging for calls that land in a hold queue because they weren’t answered by a live agent
  • Not providing full transparency including un-screened access to call recordings
  • Not offering 24/7/365 live support and account updating

Remember, an answering service represents your business to your existing and potential clients.

Ready to learn what AnswerFirst can do for your business?