| Target marketAn answering service business serves | | | | customers believe they are calling the actual business |
| a variety of customers. It is used by individuals like | | | | office; order taking service, where customers call in |
| doctors, plumbers or electricians who are on call | | | | to place orders; call forwarding service; message |
| outside their homes or offices; it is used by small | | | | delivery service, where you call people on behalf of |
| firms like real estate agencies, who want all calls to | | | | your client; voice mailboxes, where you have lines |
| be answered; it is used by medium sized companies | | | | that record messages; beeper service, where you |
| like transport firms; it is used by large corporations | | | | take the call and then page the client; and |
| who get a large volume of calls. The service is used | | | | computerized telemarketing, where you use a |
| largely by professionals or companies who want calls | | | | computer hooked to a standard phone to dial |
| to be answered after business hours or even during | | | | telephone numbers. You can also charge more for |
| business hours as per the needs.InvestmentThe | | | | providing more services.Scouting for businessYou |
| investment on an answering service business | | | | need to visit the offices of potential clients and make |
| depends on the scale of business. If you want to limit | | | | a pitch for business. For this, you need to carry a |
| the number of clients to 10 ten then you should install | | | | business proposal that outlines the benefits the client |
| separate telephone lines for each client. A telephone | | | | will get. You should also advertise in yellow pages and |
| line will cost $200 each, and the monthly rental will be | | | | in the classified columns of your local newspaper. |
| in the range of $35. If, however, you want to | | | | There is no shortage of clients for an answering |
| service more than 10 clients then it is advisable to | | | | service business. You can tap retail stores, credit |
| have a switchboard installed. A switchboard with 100 | | | | agencies, restaurants, wedding services, modeling |
| lines costs around $25,000. This may be expensive | | | | schools, furniture stores, employment agencies, |
| but it has scale, and you can add business without | | | | collection agencies, financial service firms, dance |
| worry about the infrastructure. Besides this, you | | | | schools, carpet cleaners, car washes, video stores, |
| need to dedicate a small room for the installation of | | | | travel agencies pet services etc.FundingYou don't |
| phone lines. You will also need a comfortable chair, | | | | need funding if you plan to service less than ten |
| and a rack to store messages. You must think | | | | clients. In this case, you can add telephone lines as |
| long-term when setting up this business because | | | | your client list grows. However, if you plan to install a |
| shifting of phone lines is an expensive process, and | | | | PBX then you surely need the help of a bank or |
| not advisable.QualificationsYou should have a pleasing | | | | Small Business Administration office. In this case you |
| "phone personality", that is you should be able to | | | | need to prepare a business plan to convince the |
| answer calls politely. You should also be able to take | | | | funding body of your seriousness, and your |
| down messages accurately for passing to the client. | | | | confidence to make the service work.EarningsAn |
| Most important, you should be well organized, and | | | | answering service business that has 20 clients can |
| ensure that no message is lost.Kinds of serviceThe | | | | easily make $100,000 a year. The money only grows |
| success of an answering service business depends on | | | | as the client list grows.Chris Navi I am a true |
| the number of facilities you provide. These include | | | | freelance internet advertiser who dabbles in website |
| incoming message services, both during and after | | | | design. |
| business hours; complete answering service where | | | | |