National Answering Service Says “Have a Happier Halloween!”

National Answering Service Says “Have a Happier Halloween!”

This time last year was not at all a Happy Halloween for muchPumpkin of the East coast.  You have probably caught some of the news footage   this week marking the first anniversary of Super-storm Sandy, including the after-math and tremendous rebuilding efforts that have taken place over the last year.  As a national answering service located in the Philadelphia area, we did not see near the devastation of the coastal communities, but at that time there were hundreds of downed trees, wide spread power-outages and flooding that did affect, in some way or another, a large number of the local customers we represent.

Communication is Key

In events such as what occurred last year, communication is key.  Not only from the weather forecasters, government agencies, and emergency responders; but also to the staff and clients of your own business practice.  Thankfully the business investments and emergency preparation efforts we had made in our own business enabled us to be operational throughout the entire event.  Our local area clients were appreciative of this because we were able to receive calls on their behalf, enabling them to manage the expectations of their clients, patients and employees, even though their offices were without power or operating in a very limited capacity.  This includes preparations leading up to the storm, during, and post-storm communications as their operations began the process of returning to business-as-usual.

Taking Action vs. Phew! Glad It Wasn’t Us…

After things settled down a bit, we noticed an interesting trend in the business community.  Some who had come through mostly unscathed just breathed a sigh of relief and went back to business as usual; while others took this as the motivation to seriously pursue their own plans for those unpleasant ‘what if’ scenarios.

Although our advanced planning served us well, it was a difficult time and definitely a learning experience for us.  We had done the right things that enabled us to manage this particular event, but it made us go through more ‘what if’ examples, and definitely sparked a redoubling of planning efforts in regards to disaster recovery and our business continuity programs.

A Real Example

Last month we attended an industry conference with other telephone answering and messaging services from the Mid-Atlantic States.  One of the presentations was specific to disaster recovery, as two of the services discussed in the presentation did reside in the coastal communities hardest hit by the storm.  We learned that the one business who had taken the necessary steps and invested in a full disaster recovery plan did have some tough times, but they were able to rebuild and are a growing, viable entity.  Although they experienced about the same amount of damage and business interruption, the other service, without a decent plan, did not survive.  Obviously a business cannot plan for every imaginable scenario out there, but you can think about your employees and the clients you serve, and ask yourself the question “have we given our disaster recovery and business continuity plans our best efforts, on their behalf?”

A Happier Halloween!

For many across the nation the storm is now just a memory, but for some, there are still ongoing struggles to rebuild and recover.  As you celebrate this holiday please remember to keep those folks in mind.  From all of us at Main Line TeleCommunications, we do wish all of you a safe and happier Halloween!

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