The January 2016 Issue of TAS Trader

Startel

What Are You Looking Forward to in the New Year?

By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD

Do you set annual goals for yourself or your business? I think everyone should. I don’t mean the New Year’s resolution type of wishful thinking, but a strategic plan for the upcoming year.

Author Peter Lyle DeHaan

When you set goals for your answering service for the next twelve months, what do they look like? Are your goals along the lines of surviving, of hunkering down and getting by? Or are your goals forward thinking and growth-oriented?

Put another way, is your cup for 2016 half-empty or half-full?

I see similarities between my industry (publishing) and yours (telephone answering service). Both are experiencing rapid changes and an uncertain future. With both we have ample reason to worry and fret. Yet with these changes come opportunity.

These opportunities are a reason to celebrate. I need to remind myself of this as much as I feel I should encourage you to do the same.

We have much we can look forward to in the New Year. And even if we can’t see the end clearly, may we move forward with bold confidence to pursue it.

Having something to look forward to is the surest way to realize it.

Happy New Year!

Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD, is the publisher and editor-in-chief of TAS Trader. Check out his latest book, Sticky Customer Service.


Classified Ads:

Help Wanted: Northwest Indiana telephone answering service seeks to add an operations manager to our team. We want someone with experience in the telephone answering service industry and are willing to relocate the right candidate. Salary range $50,000-$70,000. For consideration please email your resume and salary history to adam.berkson@teleservicesdirect.com.

Equipment For Sale: Full CMC Cabinet with SCMC/TP (version 9.0) plus Dispatch Server, Voice Processor, 4-U SDB (the KVM doesn’t work). The lower cabinet has 14 DID/Loop Start cards and the all the standard processor cards to function. Components/spares include: 1 Data Multiplexer / OP Interface card; 1 Switch / ACD Gen card; 2 BICs; 1 BIC CPU Master; 1 BIC CPU Slave; 1 SWC CPU; 2 Power Supplies; 3 spare DID/Op Con Cards; 13 OpCon Boxes. Contact Andy at 612-490-7150 or etzelandy@gmail.com.

Seeking Acquisitions: Reputable TAS, in business since 1967 and still owned by the founding family, seeks a small TAS acquisition in the USA. Ideally, you’re billing under $50k per month. Smaller is better. We’ll treat you right, and your employees and customers. Let’s talk. Contact Doug at 888-693-7935 or douganswerphone@gmail.com.

Seeking Acquisitions: Cash is king! Solid, 45-year old TAS looking to grow. We keep staff and business in place. All conversations confidential. Contact Susan at 908-770-3779 or SEMH0429@yahoo.com.

Mastar.com…for in/outbound stand-alone TAS systems since 1986. Startup as low as $1,500 per station and you own it. Contact 541-606-9272 or rodmastar@gmail.com

Seeking to Acquire TAS: Looking to purchase an answering service or call center. Please contact me if you are selling! gm@answerally.com.


No Matter What, You’re Always Marketing

By Russell Trahan

Public relations executives recognize that their brand and its associated image are the lifeblood of their professional identity, and any blemishes incurred can derail the potential for lucrative returns.

In the same vein that a PR firm would continually promote their services as results-driven and effectual, small businesses, such as telephone answering services, must utilize around-the-clock marketing to promote their goods and services through a scope of success and viability, safeguarding against any possible harm to their reputations.

Whether you’re a telephone agent on the front lines of customer support or the owner representing the company at the local chamber of commerce meeting, your actions or inaction can throw a monkey wrench into the gears of your vision and goals. There is never a moment, on or off the clock, that you are not representing your company.

Maintain your marketing vigilance in order to grow and succeed.

Russell Trahan is president of PR/PR, a boutique public relations agency specializing in positioning clients in front of their target audience in print and online.


Telephone Answering Service News

A Better Answer Earns Re-Certification

A Better Answer, Inc. of Dallas, Texas, has been awarded the Gold 24/7 Call Center Certification by the Association of Teleservices International (ATSI) for the third time, originally qualifying in 2009 and becoming the first call center certified in Texas. Founded by Dee Hawkins in 1971, A Better Answer Call Centers (ABA) is nationally recognized for its excellence as an award-winning bilingual telephone answering service. ABA has also earned ATSI’s Award of Excellence annually for the past seventeen years. The company’s home office is in Plano-Dallas with offices in Ft. Worth and Houston, and serves business professionals’ messaging and order entry needs globally, nationally, and locally throughout Texas.

Direct Line Tele Response Exceeds Industry Standards For Business Continuity

Direct Line Tele Response has been recertified as a Gold Level 24/7 answering service by ATSI. This certification is a result of completing and successfully passing a comprehensive business continuity audit, which investigates key areas so a TAS can provide uninterrupted service for their clients in the event of any type of disaster or emergency. “It’s nice to be acknowledged for our efforts by this confirmation of excellence. We have a wide variety of clients, including the American Red Cross, that require us to have a robust business continuity plan intact,” said Ken Goldenberg, president of Direct Line.


Quotes for the Month

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.” -Jimi Hendrix

“Whatever you fear most has no power – it is your fear that has the power.” -Oprah Winfrey

“Frustration is trying to find your glasses without your glasses.” –unknown

Save