A Courteous Communication Wins the Award of Excellence!

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle

A Courteous Communications has been in the telephone answering industry for over 27 years. Since day one our president and leader, Doris Primicerio, has applied the theory that to be successful in any venture, you must provide the best possible service. Since opening our doors in 1986, A Courteous Communications has maintained a highly intense training program for our customer service agents as we believe in providing the best possible answering and telemessaging services to our clients. All of our family here at A Courteous Communications have lived by that high standard year after year and we are happy to provide exceptional inbound and outbound telephone services for medical offices, attorneys, service companies, reservation setting, appointment setting, order taking, as well as "help" lines. We answer our clients' calls, with a smile, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year!

An integral part of A Courteous Communications’ training program is striving for perfection with our customer service techniques by maintaining a high quality of professionalism and friendliness. As such, we are proud to be part of an annual six-month intense monitoring program provided by ATSI (Association ofTeleservices International). ATSI’s sole purpose is to enhance the value of customer service in the telecommunications industry by intensely monitoring telephone answering services and giving credit and acknowledgement for virtual receptionists that go above and beyond.   

A Courteous Communications is a proud winner of the ATSI Award of Excellence! This Award is given to the few answering services in the nation that provide topnotch services to their clients. Throughout the year, ATSI’s highly trained mystery callers phone our clients’ lines to conduct a survey on our incoming call services. Their expectations are high and they grade us in the following areas:

·         Ring Count

o   How many rings does it take before our customer service representatives answer the call?

·         Hold Time

o   How many times does a caller get placed on hold and what was the response time and return greeting once the call is retrieved?

·         Live Answer Phrase

o   Did our customer service agents show a genuine interest and positive attitude to the callers’ concerns when greeting the caller?

·         Level of Customer Service

o  Call Control: Did the customer service representative guide the call with appropriate questions and did they eliminate dead air and confusion?

o  Attitude: Did the customer service representative convey a pleasant and helpful attitude by his/her choice of words and/or tone of voice throughout the call?

o  Manners: Did the customer service representative politely use please and thank you throughout the call; while remaining helpful and composed?

o Grammar: Did the customer service representative use correct grammar and proper phrasing while eliminating the use of slang words throughout the conversation?

o Knowledgeable/Confident: Did the customer service representative appear to be knowledgeable of the client’s business and personnel by giving appropriate responses and navigating the caller with confidence?

o  Voice Quality: Did the customer service representative enunciate clearly using an appropriate pace for the call?

·         Phone Message

                      

o Did the customer service representative advise the caller how their message would be handled and give the caller confidence that their concern, question or request would be handled in a timely manner?

o Spelling of Caller’s Name: Did the customer service representative verify and confirm the spelling of the caller’s name?

o Confirmation of Telephone Number: Did the customer service representative verify and confirm the caller’s telephone number for a return call?

o Did the customer service representative follow the message requirements specified by the client?

·         Close of Call

o Did the customer service representative reassure the caller by advising what would be done with the message and did we leave the caller feeling confident that their needs would be met?

Each answering service is scored on how their customer service representatives handled the above aspects while following the proper guidelines throughout the call. In order to receive this prestigious Excellence Award, all call centers must qualify in the top 80% of all requirements.

This intense six-month monitoring program allows A Courteous Communications to be more effective, efficient and helpful with all of our client accounts. We take great pleasure in receiving our ATSI Excellence Award because it validates our hard work and proves that A Courteous Communications is the best business telephone answering service in the nation. The Award of Excellence separates us from our competitors and showcases our strengths; exceptional customer service.

We owe this impressive award to our dedicated and highly valued staff here at A Courteous Communications! Thank you to the A Courteous family for accomplishing such an exciting achievement!

Should I Hire a Virtual Receptionist?

Ever wonder if your business would benefit from hiring a virtual receptionist to answer your business's incoming calls? A Courteous Communications, a leader in the business answering service industry, wants to give you the tools to make an educated decision as to whether your business is ready for a virtual receptionist. 

Ask yourself these questions and find out if your business needs to step up and meet the needs of your past, current and prospective customers:

1. Are you a small business? Yes +5 points,  No +2 points
2. Do you have a voicemail system? Yes +3 points,  No +3 points
3. Is your time in the office erratic? (Eg. One day you’re in the office all day; the next, you’re out, the day after the next, you’re in the office in the morning, out of it early afternoon and back again in the late hours?) Yes +5 points,  No +3 points
4. Have you ever missed an incoming phone call from a customer because you were busy with something else? Yes +5 points, No +0 points
5. Do you think your business would benefit from having your appointments scheduled and your calendar organized for you? Yes +5 points, No +1 point, Maybe +3 points
6. Do you find your work gets distracted by the phone? Always +5 points, Sometimes +3 points, No +0 points
7. Have you ever lost business because you were unable to pick up the phone at that moment in time? Yes +5 points, No +2 points
8. Do you have a staff or employee who can answer the phone for you? Yes +2 points No +5 points (If answer is Yes, proceed to No. 9; if No, proceed to No. 10)
9. Do you find it difficult training your employees to use proper phone etiquette? Yes +3 points No +0 points.
10. Do you have the budget to hire an employee to answer calls? Yes +3 points, No +5 points

How’d You Score?

• If your score is 22-40 points, you should think about a virtual receptionist service.
• If you score more than 40 points, your business would seriously benefit from the services of a virtual receptionist.

Click here to learn more about your score and to find out if your business would benefit from hiring a virtual receptionist. 

The Worst Telecommunications Disaster in US Telephone Industry History

What Happened Today in History?

A Courteous Communications Presents May 8, 1988

Did you know that on May 8, 1988 a fire at Illinois Bell's Hinsdale Central Office broke out and triggered  a network outage; once considered the worst telecommunications disaster in U.S. telephone industry history.

So what did this fire mean to the telecommunication industry in 1988? A Courteous Communications, a leader in the business answering service industry, has done the research for all inquiring minds. 

The Hinsdale Central Office of the Illinois Bell telephone company was one of the largest switching systems in the state; processing more than 3.5 million calls each day and serving 38,000 customers (including numerous businesses, hospitals, and Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway Airports).

Around 4:00 pm on Mother's Day (May 8, 1988), reports starting surfacing of power failures and the building's fire alarms began to sound; smoke bellowed from the structure. Adam Groves reports, "Firefighters initially attacked the flames with dry chemical extinguishers, but this technique proved ineffective. Furthermore, the uninterruptible electrical power systems that supplied the circuits in the fire area exposed the firefighters to electrical shock whenever they used water. As the lack of telephone service prevented the fire department from contacting Commonwealth Edison for assistance, the  firefighters had to shut off the power manually by disconnecting all of the building’s fuses. It was nearly two hours before the power to the fire area was completely shut off and firefighters could safely attack and contain the blaze."

The fire wasn't the only danger afoot. Toxic fumes emitted by the burning fiber optic equipment inside the facility led to the evacuation of more than 300 civilians living within a five-block radius of the telephone office.

Restoring service to the airports, hospitals and emergency services was top priority and as such, it was reported that more than 40,000 local phone lines had to wait nearly two weeks before their services were restored!

What would you do without a phone for nearly two weeks? Read the New York Times story on the worst telecommunications disaster here.

A Courteous Communications was originally founded in 1986 and over the span of 25+ years of service, we have risen to the top of the business telephone answering service industry. We are very proud to share that our equipment has never gone down in the 9,839 days of operation. 

To learn more about our telephone answering services and to learn why we are the best telephone answering company, visit our page here.