It’s Time to Take a Counterintuitive Look at Hourly Pay By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD The biggest expense for telephone answering service is payroll. You know that. You strive to hold down payroll costs to control expenses and stay in business, hopefully, to turn a profit. Scheduling too many people to answer phone calls drives […]
Category: Telephone Answering Service
Telephone answering service articles by Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD
This Thanksgiving Seek Effective Ways to Show Appreciation to Your Front-Line Employees By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Thanksgiving will soon be here. For many people that means a four-day weekend. There may be a grand feast with family, watching a parade or football game, and perhaps a nap. Then there’s Christmas shopping on Friday—or Thursday […]
5 Key Contributors to Answering Service Success By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Over the years I’ve seen some answering services get larger, while others didn’t. Before we attribute the difference to bad timing, being in the wrong place, or poor luck, let’s consider some characteristics that can contribute to answering service success. This isn’t a […]
Receiving Independent, Third-Party Feedback Is the Most Valuable Information You Can Get By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD As a writer, I’m a big fan of constructive feedback. Sometimes it’s affirming and other times it’s discouraging, but when it comes from a credible source it’s always beneficial. The same applies to the answering service industry. Receiving […]
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The Power of No
Learning to Say No Opens the Door to Yes By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD By nature, I like to help people. I enjoy diving into exciting projects. And I relish variety. As a result, I tend to say “yes” to opportunities that come my way. And the more I say “yes,” the busier I get. […]
When Historical Data Can’t Predict Call Traffic, We Need to Guess By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Last week we celebrated Independence Day in the United States. With it happening on a Wednesday, it threw a lot of people off. I included. When July Fourth occurs on a weekend, there’s little impact on normal business activity. […]
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Welcome to Summer
Be Intentional to Make the Most Out of the Summer Season By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Even though summer hasn’t officially begun, for most of us in the United States it effectively started after Memorial Day. It feels like summer, and I, for one, act like it’s summer. Though it’s been a while, here’s what […]
Mishandling Leads Will Result in Lost Sales By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Over a decade ago, in my article “I Want To Buy Some Shoes,” I used my experience buying a pair of sneakers to talk about the TAS industry. Now, I’ll do it again. With my wife serving as my accomplice, she guided me […]
Though serving clients is the goal, what we call ourselves does matter By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Asking if you’re an answering service or a call center isn’t a matter of semantics, it’s a matter of perception. And since perceptions drive behaviors, this is an important discussion to have. First, let’s cover some definitions to […]
Effective leaders take time to get input from their employees By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD One of my goals when I ran an answering service was to provide the best possible headsets for my staff. After all, they spend all day on the phone, so voice quality, ease-of-use, and comfort are critical. To pursue this, […]