Answering Services -Why Time Billing  

Is time billing right for you? Clients looking for call center services have always faced a myriad of differing rate plans. Which is best for you? How can you tell what the bottom line will be? Are there holiday fees, paging charges, night fees, charges archiving your messages, charges for voice logging (recording calls to your account) and so on? At AnswerFirst, our philosophy is to keep things as simple as possible. This is the primary reason we offer time billing, you pay for what you use. What could be more fair? If your business is slow one month, you don't have to worry about paying for calls or messages you didn't receive. You no longer need to monitor your rate plan each month to make sure that you are not on too small or too large a plan.

We never:

Charge fees for holidays, nights or weekends
Charge fees for paging
Charge fees for e-mail
Charge fees for archiving messages
Charge for voice logging (recording conversations)

Below are some questions potential clients commonly ask:

Q.  How can I gauge what my bill will be with time billing ?
A.  It's pretty simple really - how much work are we doing for you? If you have a simple messaging account - name, phone number, what the message is regarding - you can calculate each call will last 30 - 45 seconds on average. To figure your monthly costs, multiply the number of calls by 30 - 45 seconds.

Q.  How do I know your operators won't pad the time by keeping my callers on hold or dragging the conversation out?
A.  That is why you hire a professional. First, you are never billed for hold or ring times, only operator time. Second, our operators are professionals, we are a busy call center and our operators are trained from day one to move quickly, efficiently and courteously through calls. Third, all your calls are voice logged and are available for your review.

Q.  What if someone calls and says "Sorry, I dialed the wrong number" ? Does that mean I will be billed for a minutes worth of time ?
A.  No, a call must last for a minimum of six seconds to even start the clock running. Even if it takes the caller longer than six seconds to figure out they have reached the wrong number, you are only billed for the time used. Calls are billed in one second increments, we never round up to the minute.

No matter the rate plan offered, the bottom line always comes back to service. Give us a try and you too will see the AnswerFirst difference.

You may also contact us by using our Service Request Form