In our industry there are a common set of frequently asked questions, things like what patching fees are, and how an IVR works - but there are three questions that go beyond frequently asked; these three questions are asked by everybody, every time.

These questions are asked every time because, for a lot of customers, every one of these is a must-have, a non-starter of sorts. Once an answering service can prove they have all three of these things, conversations about pricing and packages can begin to happen.

The Canadian Answering Service Question

It’s easy to tell that we are located in Canada, but the question on everybody’s mind is “are your agents located in Canada”? The short answer is yes.

The long answer is, yes – our team spans all across Canada as a matter of fact. The majority of our team work at our Newfoundland headquarters in St. John’s, but we also have team members in other provinces like Ontario and British Columbia.

We’re proudly Canadian and are as friendly as advertised.

The 24/7 Availability Question

We are as 24/7 as 24/7 gets. That means we are open every hour of every day, all year long. We do not close for storms, we do not close for holidays (American or Canadian) and of course, evenings and weekends. Additionally, you pay the same rate for Monday through Friday weekday service as you would for evenings and weekends. We make availability easy.

The English as a first language question

Our agents all speak English as their first language. Telelink agents are trained customer service specialists, not pesky telemarketers. There is a huge difference between inbound customer support, and outbound cold calling and sales calls; for that reason, we focus on inbound customer service support. We hire people with the attributes of great customer service representatives: empathetic, compassionate, and friendly.

Hopefully these “always asked questions” help you make more informed decisions about finding an answering service to partner with. If you’re a Canadian organization, these likely resonate strongly.

PS. A great “hack” for testing out an answering service is to call their 1-800 number. It’s less of a hassle than any free trial, and you can really get a sense of the service level and helpfulness of the agents who will be servicing the account simply by calling and having a short interaction with them. Go ahead, try a test drive!