We provide "Telephone Answering Service" to thousands of clients. Many local companies simply call forward their number to us after hours, on weekends and statutory holidays.

We allow you to provide twenty four hour service at a fraction of the cost of providing your own staff.

In some businesses, we take the message and hold it for the next business day. Some we screen and immediately page out the important messages. You provide the instructions, we provide the service.

Questions that you should ask when you need to choose telephone answering service:

1. How can I know that your telephone operators are all handling my account as they should be?
2. How many times should I expect the customer to hear ringing before you answer the telephone?
3. Are your telephone operators professional and courteous?
4. Can I give you private and confidential information, and know that you will not release it to the callers?
5. How do you charge, and how much can I expect my bill to be?
6. What options do you have for handling my calls?

Our answers:

1. Three elements of how we handle a call ensure that our operators are doing what you want them to. They are:
   1. Training. We stress voice quality, proper telephone etiquette, knowledge of customer accounts and continuously monitor these elements of operator performance.
   2. Equipment. Our specialized computer-based automated system that presents the proper information onscreen. Client updates are instantaneous.
   3. Maintenance. We maintain and update information as soon as it becomes available.
2. On average, we answer 93 percent of calls in three rings or less! That's better than many offices. 
3. Yes, we insist that all calls must be handled with proper manners; professionally, courteously, and politely.
4. All information of yours that we have is for our internal use only. All employees sign confidentiality agreements, and special instructions can be included in your account to ensure that your information is handled as you wish.
5. Since we bill according to the total time it takes to handle the calls for you, your bill will depend on how much work we do processing your calls and may vary from month to month. Furthermore, certain options such as faxing, paging or e-mailing your messages can help you avoid wasted time and higher costs. The complete cost of handling your calls may vary depending on your instructions and our rates reflect that.
6. Yes, we have many different options, including:

• Message delivery by pager, fax, voice mail, email, and by telephone.
• Multiple call handling, meaning we can be talking to more than one of our callers at a time.
• Customized message formats, so that we take messages exactly as you need.

Send mail to info@northerncom.com with questions or comments about this web site.