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Telephone Answering Service

Tips for Running a Successful Answering Service

By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD For all my adult life writing was something I did, but it meant nothing more. Then about eight years ago I began to take writing more seriously, wondering if it might be my next career. (It is, but it’s a part-time career. No worries, I will continue to publish TAS […]

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Telephone Answering Service

Lessons From Cars, Computers, and Software

By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Since I work at home, I don’t do much driving. I sometimes wonder if I really need a car. Couple this with my preference to invest in a product and use it as long as I can. As a result, my higher-end car was nineteen years old and pushing a […]

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Healthcare Call Centers

Finish the Year Strong and Set Goals for Next Year

By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. In the last issue of Medical Call Center News, I encouraged you to work hard so you could finish 2016 strong. I hope that was the case and you were able to complete projects and tick items off your to-do list. Though I accomplished much as the year wound down, […]

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Telephone Answering Service

On Earth Peace and Good Will Toward Men

By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD This month I’m not going to write about the telephone answering service industry or customer service or any of the things I typically address in TAS Trader. Instead, I have a seasonal thought—sort of. In considering our society as a whole, the past several months have been rough: divisive news, […]

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Telephone Answering Service

How Well Do You Pay Your Answering Service Operators?

By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Long ago, perhaps in graduate school, I read a management guru who advocated that a company’s highest-paid employee should ethically make no more than seven times the lowest-paid employee. Of course, I can’t find that source now, but I remember it well. For a telephone answering service, the two people […]

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Healthcare Call Centers

Don’t Coast: Finish This Year Strong

By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. Is seems that 2016 is flying by. Before we know it, we’ll be turning our calendars over to 2017 (metaphorically speaking at least, since few people use paper calendars anymore). Halloween has just past, Thanksgiving will soon be here, followed by Christmas and then New Year’s. January 1, 2017, looms […]

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Telephone Answering Service

How Well Do You Know Your Answering Service’s Clients?

By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD I recently read a fiction book set in the late nineties. In a small but pivotal part of the story stood a telephone answering service. The author was mostly accurate in describing how an answering service functions, though his depiction of the industry highlighted several negative stereotypes as the norm. […]

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Telephone Answering Service

Is Your Answering Service Glass Half-Full or Half-Empty?

By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD As I talk with owners and operators in the telephone answering service industry, some have concerns and others share the excitement. I understand those who are pessimistic. After all, there is much to worry about. I also understand those who are optimistic. They see ongoing changes to the industry, as […]

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Healthcare Call Centers

How to Provide Quality Service

By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. Growing up, I heard a radio commercial with the tag line, “Service sold it.” Even as a young child I grasped the concept that quality service was great for business. Over the years, I have heard this mantra repeated, either verbatim or conceptually, by various companies, medical answering services included. […]

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Telephone Answering Service

The Dark Side of Acquisitions

By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Having bought more than a dozen answering services in my day, I understand the allure of chasing the sale, negotiating fair terms, closing the deal, and taking control of the acquisition. Yet the real value comes after the sale when the acquired accounts are optimized. Yes, you inevitably lose some, […]