By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Many years ago in another industry, my boss shared his grand suggestion to save money and boost productivity. It was insightful but had a critical flaw that would render it unworkable. He was enough removed from the day-to-day workings of our operation that he was unaware of the hole in […]
Category: Telephone Answering Service
Telephone answering service articles by Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD It seems that subscription services surround us: from Dollar Shave Club to HP Instant Ink, to Microsoft 365. For the record, I’ve passed on all three, though I recently questioned that decision as I made another trip to the office supply store to purchase printer ink. Nonprofits also embrace this […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Having a professional website is essential for any telephone answering service that wants to grow. The emphasis is on the word professional. Though collectively our industry websites are much better than a decade ago, too many TAS websites still aren’t professional looking or professional sounding. Here’s how to develop a […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD I recently talked with a lady who had sold her answering service and was now getting back into the business. My first thought was to congratulate her, but I know from experience that celebration might not be in order. Indeed I have talked with too many who were forced back […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD In reviewing my past five columns in TAS Trader I see a trend in what I’ve written. I can best summarize this theme as embracing change. Indeed I wrote about looking forward to the new year, re-envisioning ourselves as information processors, asking is our industry shrinking, looking at our changing […]
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. When you set goals for your answering service for the next twelve months, what do they look […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Although it’s not my intention to relabel the answering service industry, it is my goal to redefine it to better understand the potential that exists. Instead of calling yourself an answering service, let’s adopt the mindset that we are “information processors.” So stop thinking calls and start thinking communication. Yes, […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD It doesn’t require much of a look at the telephone answering service industry to know that the number of answering services has been dramatically decreasing in recent years. While I don’t have an exact number and doubt that anyone does, I think everyone agrees that we have fewer players in […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD By classification, a telephone answering service is a call center, a centralized place from where calls are made and received. Yet many of today’s call centers are neither! They are not centralized, nor do they deal with just calls. The label contact center more accurately reflects the current reality of […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD There is nothing wrong with being a generalist, but if you are a broad-based telephone answering service, you might decide to grow your business by pursuing strategic niches. But how do you determine which niches to pursue? Look at the types of accounts you currently handle. Do you see any […]