For more information on our answering service / call center including pricing and plan details, please fill out the contact form below and a representative will fax / e-mail you the requested information.

Home | Services | Free Trial | Delivery | Contact

Call Center Industry Insider News

Answering service industry perspective: The following article is courtesy of Connections Magazie (http://www.connectionsmagazine.com). The article was written by Steve and Chris Michaels and published in the January 1999 issue. Please check back often for more articles.

Now is an exciting time to start a Telephone Answering Service business, whether it be a new start-up venture or a full-fledged, seasoned operation. The opportunities are endless in this ever-changing, multi-faceted business.

Besides the conventional message taking that the industry is noted for, the Telephone Answering Service business has branched out into paging, voice mail, fax broadcasting, order entry and its latest innovation of Interactive Web Response (IWR). IWR integrates a web site with a live operator for answering questions or taking an order while you are both on a particular web site looking at your computer. In fact, the TAS business is quickly emerging into the contact center of tomorrow.

But in talking about starting a Telephone Answering Service (TAS), there are several starting points that one may consider: The first would be an Entry Level answering bureau. This would be a start-up business from scratch that would require a small capital investment. It would utilize a paper-based system for answering calls (hand written messages versus typing them into a computer) and offer a basic answering service.

The second type would be someone who has an existing business such as a paging or alarm monitoring company who would like to complement his or her business with telephone answering. Let's call this type of start-up venture Start-Up II.

The third type of starting point would be someone who is buying an existing service. By the way, it is always cheaper to buy a service than to start one from scratch. These buyers are divided into two groups:

1. Existing Owners, who are buying TAS accounts only for impact and rolling those accounts into an existing bureau: and

2. New Buyers, who purchase the business as a going concern and either wish to run the business themselves, or operate it as an absentee owner or add new technology to become web-enabled.

So let's address these different areas:

Entry Level
Start Up
Buying Accounts Only
New Buyers to the Industry

Steve and Chris Michaels operate TAS Marketing, a business brokering company focusing on assisting clients buying and selling telephone answering services and outsourcing call centers. Contact them at 800-369-6126 or TAS@tasmarketing.com

Home | Call Center Directory | Free Trial | Delivery | Nationwide Answering Service | Resources | Answering Service | Glossary | Articles 2 | FAQ | Affiliate Program | Spanish | French | Answering Message Service | Answering Phone Service | Answering Service | Answering Service Business | Business Answering Service | Answering Services | Call Answering Service | Internet Answering Service | Live Answering Service | Phone Answering Service | Professional Answering Service | Telephone Answering Service | Small Business Answering Service | Advanced Call Center | Call Center | Call Center Outsourcing | Call Center Services | Call Center Solutions | Inbound Call Center | Outsource Call Center | Telemarketing Call Center | Medical Answering Service | Medical Call Center | Physician Answering Service | Bilingual Answering Service

Specialty TAS News Feed: Resellers & Affiliates, - Check out our New Free Affiliate Program

Answering Service, Call Center: Instant Answering Service is a nationwide inbound call center and answering service for all industries.