Has anyone here had the opportunity to work with both Perceptionist and the ACC Call Centers, and if you don’t mind, can you tell me your thoughts on both? Thanks!
We tried a call center years ago and it was a total disaster. Others use them and love them. My big issues were time zone related - I’m on the west coast and the center was on the east. Anyone with a clue as to how to fix problems was gone around midday my time. Also, the actual people answering the phones were extremely entry-level/low skill. Many also had really noticeable southern accents which made it immediately obvious they weren’t local. The way they tied into my scheduling system (ISN) was a disaster and they kept charging travel fees from their location (again, east coast) which made every inspection $200 higher (our max travel fee at the time). It was just a mess that only lasted about a week.
This was +/- 10 years ago so I imagine things might be better now. I sometimes think of giving it another shot but now with all the add-on services, etc. it’s even more complicated. I just can’t imagine a call center running things the way I want/need it.
I’d definitely be looking at something inspection-specific rather than just a generic center.
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Good info Matt, thank you!
I encountered the “Perceptionist” at a national inspectors get together several years ago, shortly after they started their operations. I listened to their presentation and it sounded impressive. However, it was a SALES presentation so I took time during the remainder of the conference to inquire of other inspectors, from several areas of the country, as to their experience with the Perceptionist. Overall, quite favorable, with a few “cautionary” comments.
When returning back home I contacted them and got on board. Lots of questions from them so they could, as they said, give the client the impression they were actually talking to an ASKUS Consulting employee. I was OK with a person who spoke with an accent from another part of the USA. People do relocate. ALL were “American English is my first language” speakers. I was with them for a period of time and pretty happy. A few times they put the client on hold while they tried to locate me for an answer to a specific point. Worked pretty good. At first it appeared that the same 2 or 3 call-desk persons answered the phones and really did appear to be my staff. They even had a “record the call and playback feature” that I could listen to. BUT, in my opinion, as they became more successful and grew, they added staff who were not properly trained in the nuances of each company and sometimes gave out incorrect information to the client. Most times, it was not too bad. However, they torpedoed themselves when a client booked the inspection and was told a bunch of erroneous “service and pricing” information which caused me issues at the inspection. It was particularly frustrating because that client was the grandchild of a well known, highly respected, important family here in Schoharie County. The Perceptionist errors in this case caused me to eat nearly 500 dollars in fees. I immediately terminated the contract. My take-away on the Perceptionist, or any other similar service, is to be very, very cautious. You may do better with a local company that answers only during actual business hours in your neck of the woods rather than a national organization.
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Thanks Thomas, that’s definitely good information.