TAS Case Study
Dale Meissner understands there’s nothing as important to his clients as the comfort of knowing his staff is available to serve them 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Dale owns a commercial HVAC company that serves hospitals, schools, apartment and condominium complexes, and shopping malls.
“We have to be available when customers call,” said Dale. “In this part of the country, the weather can be unpredictable. Last year a storm knocked out the power for up to a week in some areas. Our crews worked hard to keep everyone up and running.”
Although he now employs thirty-three people, Dale’s business started small. “Service set us apart. From day one, that was my number one priority. That’s how people know us now, and that’s the way I want it to stay.”
For Dale, the telephone answering service is an indispensable part of his company’s identity. “I used to print my home number on my business cards and in our ads.”
He quickly discovered he couldn’t continue to take the evening calls himself and manage his growing business. Dale found it was nearly impossible to sound professional when those after midnight calls came in.
“After working all day, it would take me a few minutes to get my bearings. By the time I woke up, I was already off the phone. By the second year, we hired an answering service to handle our evening and weekend phone calls – and give me some rest. Our answering service triages all our calls based on our criteria. For emergencies we guarantee being on site within one hour.”
It has proven a good decision for Dale and his growing business, as well as for his customers. “Last month, we were called out when a client reported smelling gas. It turned out that in one of the older parts of the building an old propane pipe had corroded.
We realized that the diameter of the old pipe was too small for the needs of the building. Even though we had to replace an entire section, we had them back in operation by the next morning.”
In another case, the carbon monoxide alarm went off in an apartment building, shutting down the heating system. The call came into the answering service. The agent asked the caller a series of specific questions that Dale had set up.
The answers met the pre-established criteria for an emergency. They immediately contacted the lead on call technician. “Fortunately, it was a bad sensor, so the residents were never in danger,” said Dale. “We replaced the part in no time.”
There simply is no substitute for good customer service. Existing customers refer most of Dale’s new clients. “Because people know they can trust us for quality work and a fair price, along with a quick response, we get a lot of recurring business through no-bid contracts.”
According to Dale, earning customer loyalty has been the single-best source of new business for him, and it all started with his answering service.
Read more in Peter Lyle DeHaan’s book The Profitable Answering Service.
With over three decades of industry experience, Peter is the publisher and editor-in-chief of TAS Trader, covering the telephone answering service industry.