Start your own Phone Answering Service

A phone answering service business is probably one of the easiest service businesses that you can start. It does not involve a lot of risk, has a low start-up cost and does not require any special expertise. What is really needed is a pleasant voice, good telephone manners, tactful answering strategies and of course, a passion to mind your own business. With many business owners running virtual offices, some of them being internet-based, the demand for outsourced answering services has grown. There are also those who require medical answering services such as doctors who are practically on-call 24 hours a day. Additionally, you can run a live phone answering service right from the comfort of your own home, especially when you are just starting out. Estimated start-up costs and financing sources: The start-up costs for this business are relatively low. All you need when you first start out is a phone and a phone line for each of your clients. This will probably cost you around $200 per phone line with phone rentals of less than $50 a month. Even if you prefer to purchase your own physical phone, each of them will cost less than a $100, which is fairly cheap to start a business with. You can also name each phone with the name of the company that you are representing. When your live phone answering service business has improved, you can consider renting a switchboard from your phone company. This is especially true when you are already serving more than 10 clients at one time. Also, if you plan to expand your answering service business further, you can even rent a commercial office and operate from there. On a larger scale you can purchase a switchboard that costs up to $25,000 and can run up to 25 lines. You can start this business by using your own savings or by liquidating some of your assets or obtaining a second mortgage. Getting a loan from the Small Business Administration is also possible for amounts less than $50,000. If you have a good credit report, than you can also consider getting a loan from a local lender such as a bank. Of course, all of these require you to draft a workable business plan with estimated costs, revenue and profit projections. Pricing guidelines for service: In any business, it is always up to the business owner to set the rules and prices of the business in line with industry standards. Among the factors involved in setting prices would be the type of services that the client is purchasing from you, such as whether phone answering is required during office hours or beyond. Some other value added services include order taking, appointment setting or telemarketing, all of which come with different price levels. In general, a basic call answering service costs a client $50 - $60 for 60 to 100 calls. Additional calls will be charged at $0.30 to $0.50 each call. This service is only for answering calls and does not include any other services. Clients are also charged line rentals of $15 - $20 a month. Paging service will be an additional $20 to $30 a month.