Answering Service Begins Answering 24/7
Jack Doll jumped as the ringing of his telephone woke him from a deep slumber. He looked at the clock as he fumbled for the phone. It was 4:35 a.m. Whoever it was, it couldn’t be good.
“Hello?” Jack said.
“Mr. Doll? This is Sergeant Kirk Bendickson from the police department. There is a fire at 5136 Main Avenue. Are you the owner of that property?”
“My store,” Jack said. “What’s going on?”
“Approximately 30 minutes ago, a passing motorist reported a fire. Our firefighters are on the scene. The fire department has the property registered as containing hazardous chemicals. We need you to report to the scene to help the firefighters identify areas in which they may find hazardous, explosive, or flammable materials.”
“I’ll be right there,” Jack said.
Seated in his pickup truck, half a block away, Jack watched seven years of his life go up in smoke. He’d built his commercial paint store from the ground up, starting in his garage. He specialized in shipping specialty coatings to commercial building contractors.
At dawn he called his four employees and told them about the devastating fire. They had been with him for years and had families to support. Then, Jack called his answering service, explaining the situation. He was surprised to learn they could help keep his business running despite the fire.
By 9:00 a.m. he had switched his answering service coverage from after-hours to 24/7. He told them what types of calls to expect during the day and how to handle them. They even set up a form to take orders over the phone.
Jack’s employees worked from their homes to track purchase orders and coordinate efforts with the answering service.
In the meantime, Jack took care of his losses, working with firefighters about potential chemical hazards and dealing with his insurance agent.
When he called the answering service after lunch, he was surprised to discover that not only were they taking orders and serving customers, but he had a slew of calls from well-wishers in the community.
For two weeks, that’s how they worked; Jack’s employees worked from home on procurement and logistics while the answering service handled orders, transferred urgent calls, and took messages.
By the third week after the devastating fire, Jack had a temporary location, and the retail portion of his business was back in operation.
“Without my telephone answering service,” Jack said, “we would have been out of business on day one. Instead, they kept us operating and gave me a chance to rebuild.”
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.