Aurelia Simcock, Office manager, Robinson Residential Sales and Lettings explains how Face For Business’ call answering service is driving better results for this busy estate and lettings agency.

Why is reliable call answering so important for your agency?

“A lot of our business is communication, on both sides of the business across sales and lettings.

“So, when somebody calls it’s very important that there is someone available to answer.”

What made you reach out for support?

“We had been using an answering service for a number of years but when they changed their charging structure, we discovered they were not charging honestly, not doing the right thing by us and so we were very unhappy with them.

“We couldn’t easily get the call recordings to listen to how they were dealing with our customers, and in fact we couldn’t even get the call lengths from them without applying for them.”

“It was only after we eventually got this information that we sat down and started questioning things like ‘why was this call taking 20 minutes when they were only taking a name and phone number?’”

How did you find Face For Business?

“I used Kerfuffle, and they put me in touch with five different call answering services to trial. We did a two-week trial with each company to see which one would be best – and Face For Business very quickly stood out from the rest.”

“From my first conversation with Mike he was really open, honest and frank.”

“He spent time getting to know our business and what we were looking for. He was informative and very honest in the way he approached everything. That was really important for us, particularly considering where we’d come from.”

“He also gave me some really good stats like how long the average industry call length is (to give us a better idea on pricing) and what we could expect working with Face For Business.

“He also explained that you optimise clients to be on the best package month on month, and one of the things about our business is that months are up and down. We can be really busy one month and the next month it’s really quiet, so for us to be locked into a contract for a specific number of calls per month isn’t best for us so the fact Face For Business’ contracts are flexible was something that was very important to us.”

How has Face For Business helped your business?

“Callers are more satisfied than they were before.

“Face For Business has a friendly way about how they handle calls, and I think customers really like how they’re dealt with. I’ve never had a complaint from a customer about how they’ve been spoken to or dealt with on a call that a Face For Business PA has dealt with.

“The PAs are very friendly with our customers, and they’re very friendly with us, so it does feel like they’re a part of the business.”

What have been the main benefits of our service?

• Efficiency
• Transparency
• Financial flexibility

“I think the portal is a great feature. I can listen to calls and make comments almost in real time.

“I like the fact a lead PA is assigned to our business and in the event they are unavailable, somebody else steps in quickly.  Changes are actioned extremely quickly and efficiently.

“For example, when we were doing the trial. We’re out of the office a lot (on viewings and valuations) so we have to use our mobile phones for getting messages and at first, because it was on mobile, the format of the messages didn’t fit and it made it harder for us. I spoke with Mike on the first Friday afternoon of our trial and explained the format  wasn’t really working for us and within a few hours he had fixed it. We have slightly different formats to how messages are displayed compared to other companies, but it was changed very quickly in a way that fits with our preference, so for us that was amazing.”

What would you say to other businesses thinking of using our services?

“Go for it! I highly recommend Face For Business. I couldn’t be happier with the service we’re getting and I am impressed with their values.”

Find out more about our telephone answering services for estate and letting agents

Click to see more information about our specialist telephone answering service for estate and letting agents and see how it could benefit you.