How to
REDUCE YOUR COSTS for
Answering Service

Phonepower^® offers a broad range of options to help you reduce your answering service costs.

One of the ADVANTAGES of Live Telephone Answering Service is that it provides the human touch.  By having a person answer the phone, the caller gets the message that you care enough to provide personal, one-to-one service.  People trust a person much more than a machine.

However, one of the realities of modern business is that personnel costs are one of the largest line items in any budget.  This is the reason that our services are priced by time, rather than call.  Therefore, we have developed ways to provide high-reliability/lower-cost alternatives for SOME of the processes involved with providing your service.  This means that our Telephone Secretaries will be used where they are most needed, where the professional human touch is most critical.

 Please understand that NONE of these alternatives are REQUIRED.  But we know from long experience that they can in many cases speed up your service, while at the same time reducing your costs dramatically.

Use Express Check-In

When you signed up for service, you were given two important numbers -- the Check-In Number and your special Passcode.  If you are not using the Express Check-In procedure when calling to get your messages, you are using extra Telephone Secretary time.  By using Express Check-In:

• If there are NO MESSAGES when you check in, there is NO CHARGE for the call!  But only if you use the Express Check-In procedure!  If you need more wallet cards, or need some guidance with the procedure, please contact a Supervisor.
• If there ARE messages, you can save about 15 seconds per call by using the Express Check-In procedure.  The more calls we take for you, the more you will benefit from using the proper procedure.
• This procedure is especially helpful during busy periods -- the times when you are likely to be put on "hold" when checking in.  There is nothing worse that sitting on "hold" for a minute or two during a busy Check-In, only to learn that there are "no messages"!  By using this procedure, you would totally eliminate the entire answer-hold-search-"no messages" process.

More information on Express Check-In can be found at www.ppower.com/welcome.htm, click "Check-In Procedure".

Use Automated Message Relay

There are three options for automated relay

1. Email Delivery.  Your full list of messages (both routine AND urgent messages which were already relayed using your Emergency Procedure) can be sent to you by Email, one or more times a day.  There is NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE for this service!  By using this method you are totally eliminating the cost of talking to a Telephone Secretary.  [Please understand that it is NOT that we want to avoid talking to you.  But it does cost far less to have messages handled automatically, without human intervention -- and we want to pass that savings on to you.]
1. You determine the schedule, timing and frequency.  Your messages can be sent by schedule at 8:35 AM Monday through Friday/Saturday (or every day), OR immediately upon receipt, OR just about any schedule in-between.
2. A sample of Email delivery in either Word or PDF format can be obtained at www.ppower.com/welcome.htm. 
2. FAX Delivery.  Similar to Email delivery, with the following exception:
1. Up to 35 faxes per month at no additional charge.  There is a modest charge for faxes beyond the 35 included.
2. A sample of FAX delivery in either Word or PDF format can be obtained at www.ppower.com/welcome.htm. 
3. Voice Mail Relay. 
1. The call WILL be answered live, just like all other calls.  Then, AFTER your caller hangs up:
2. Each of your non-emergency messages would be recorded (by our Telephone Secretaries).
3. When you check in, you will be routed to the voice mail system (if you have messages), instead of to a Telephone Secretary.
4. This method has the advantage during busy Check-In periods of NEVER putting you on "hold"!  You go straight to the voice mail, retrieve your messages, erase them, and disconnect.
5. Voice Mail Check-In is priced at a small fraction of the cost of talking to a Telephone Secretary.

For EMERGENCY Relay, use Text Messaging, instead of talking to a live Telephone Secretary.

If you are being paged via DIGITAL Pager (you see a telephone number to call), you are paying for [1] a brief period to call the pager and enter the number to call, AND [2] for the time it takes to give you the message on the phone.  The total of these two processes results in about ONE MINUTE of billable time for each Emergency Relay.

TEXT PAGING saves you money, because you do not pay for the time to Page or the time to Deliver the message!  There is NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE to receive your messages via Text Messaging.  The page is sent automatically, and no Telephone Secretary time is involved.  [Note that if you do want to verify with the answering service that the page was received, you would be billed for only one or two TENTHS of a minute, instead of the much longer time it would take to relay the entire message.]

There are two basic methods of receiving text messages:

1. Alpha Pagers, and
2. Cell Phone Text Messaging

Paging companies usually charge about $5 more per month for Alpha service as compared to Digital service.  A small portion of the savings of the answering service costs would be used to pay for that service.  The rest would be pure savings each month.

Cell Phone providers usually provide Text Messaging service as a NO ADDITIONAL COST feature with your wireless service.  If this service is available in the areas where you would be "paged", it could represent a significant savings.

In addition, you can receive Text Messages directly from your friends and family who can use other 2-Way Text Messaging devices, Email, Web Pages, or special low-cost paging software to deliver their greetings to you.  Some help in determining how to send messages for YOUR carrier may be found at www.ppower.com/text_paging.htm. 

Phonepower^®, can provide Paging devices and service, if you wish, to most areas where our subscribers are located in the United States.  [One advantage is to have both your Paging and Answering Service charges on ONE INVOICE.]  In addition, we can provide Cell Phones and service in many parts of Pennsylvania and Maryland.  Please contact your Customer Service Representative for details and pricing.

Reduce (or eliminate) Patch Time

Calls are "patched" when we connect you directly to your caller, by "patching" you together through the Answering Service system.

[One common reason for "patched" calls is when the caller is calling from a pay phone.  Most pay phones cannot receive incoming calls (this is the reason there is usually NOT a phone number displayed on most pay phones).  The only way to speak to the caller is to be connected via the Answering Service.)

This is the ONLY time you are billed at live Telephone Secretary rates when there is no Telephone Secretary connected on the call.  [This is required because the call uses TWO of our lines for the full length of the call.]

Please inform your employees that you are being billed for the full length of the patched call.  In that way, they will reduce the unnecessary elements of the call, and keep the patch time to a minimum.  An alternative would be to get a number where you can call the caller at a later time, eliminating the charge for the patch.

Reduce connection time at Check-Out

If you are currently communicating important information during Check-Out (when you forward the calls at the end of the business day), you may want to consider other, less Telephone-Secretary-intensive alternatives.

Under Time Billing, you WILL be charged for the brief time when you tell the Service that you are leaving for the day.  Normally this takes only one or two tenths of a minute.

HOWEVER, some subscribers also consume time to give us the On-Call Schedule, changes to the On-Call Schedule, changes to account information or procedures, contact information for new personnel, and other such information, during the Check-Out period.  INSTEAD, it would be most helpful, and less costly, if you would communicate this information to us BEFORE CHECK-OUT, either via Email, FAX, or even by Mail.  This eliminates taking time during Check-Out, and avoids the charge for Telephone Secretary time.  [It also provides a "paper trail" that both you and Phonepower can refer to.]  If you MUST communicate last-minute changes by phone -- please do so DIRECTLY TO THE SUPERVISOR and preferably BEFORE 3 PM on the day that the change takes place.

Additional information about updates can be found on our Welcome Page at www.ppower.com/welcome.htm.

Reduce "Time-Waster" Calls with Pre-Screen

If your account receives a large percentage of time-wasting calls, you may want to consider filtering them out with our Pre-Screen feature.

Examples of time-wasters for some of our subscribers would include:

• Will-Call-Back (WCB) calls.  These are usually people who were hoping to catch you before your office closed for the day (or who call shortly before the office opens), but do not want to leave their name or a message.
• Caller Hung Up (CHU) calls.  These are very often wrong numbers, OR they may be WCB calls who do not stay on the line long enough to tell us that they will call back.
• Appointment calls.  Unless you specifically want us to take appointments for you, these people simply need to be advised to call back during regular hours.
• Personal calls.  These are often a variation of WCB or CHU calls.
• "Hours" calls -- people who simply want to know your hours.
• There may be other "time-waster" call types that relate specifically to your business or profession.

The Pre-Screen feature would answer your line with a BRIEF message (probably recorded by your receptionist -- whose voice may offer some familiarity for your callers) that could say something like:

"Thank you for calling XYZ Associates.  Our office hours are 8:30 to 4:30, Monday through Friday.  If this is an emergency please press <0> or remain on the line".  If you are calling regarding an appointment, please call back during office hours.  Thank you for calling."  [At this point, if the true Emergency Caller (or other category that you had defined as worthy of being taken) had not already pressed <0>, they would be directed to a Telephone Secretary.]

The BENEFITS of using Pre-Screen include:

• Most "time-waster" callers will hang up without consuming unnecessary Telephone Secretary time, and
• Pre-Screen minutes are priced at a small fraction of what Live Answering Service minutes are charged.  [The above example would probably cost you a nickel or less!]
• Your Emailed, Faxed or regular voice delivery list of messages (during Check-In) would be significantly shorter.
• Callers who learn that the Answering Service is ONLY to be used for Emergency or "mission critical" calls will be far less likely to call back.
• You would still be getting all of the IMPORTANT calls, without wasting time (or money) on the "time-waster" calls.

Some subscribers have realized as much as a 30% to 70% reduction in their "live minutes", depending of course on their unique mix of calls.  If you are receiving a significant number of time-wasting calls, this option may be worth considering.

The Bottom Line:

Your Customer Service Representatives and Operations Supervisors are ready to help you to make your Answering Service most cost-effective.  Please do not hesitate to call.

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Last modified: September 29, 2005