Gone are the days when 800 voice mail services and call center sources were reserved for large corporations with deep pockets. As the technology of telephony has improved and proliferated, costs continue to drop. This shift has put sophisticated business tools in the hands of everyone from the corporate powerhouse to the tony, neighborhood mom-and-pop shop.

But even with the improving cost-effectiveness of call center inbound outsourcing, many small- to mid-sized businesses still question whether they can afford to parcel out overflow calls and orders to a remote receptionist or email fax service. The truth is, a business owner can ill afford not to. The service-provider who can't keep up with customer requests and inquiries risks losing out to his competition.

A business can make a dramatic impact on sales by capitalizing on just a few missed opportunities. If a company is not yet using a 24-hour order processing call center or Web ordering service, that company is likely missing dozens of inquiries - i.e., potential sales - every week, or even every day. Additionally, features such as a remote receptionist service to take overflow calls can retain callers who would normally be placed on hold, or worse, encounter a busy signal. Turning just a few of these inquiries into sales is enough to pay for call center inbound outsourcing and increase profits as well.

No more cold, impersonal recorded greetings or thick, unintelligible accents. At United Answering, we acknowledge that customers are turned off by machines and detached, unskilled greeters who don't care about the customer or the business. With our 800 voice mail services, you get the benefit of a trained, domestic overflow call center representative who is familiar with your company's offerings, needs, business goals and service philosophy. You can't get that from any machine.

United Answering goes far beyond the standard, bare-bones phone answering. Our approach is to structure our service to function just as a company's own in-house receptionist would. That means that when potential customers reach the order processing call center, they have in essence reached the company - and the company has reached out to them. Our job is not merely to "baby-sit" potential customers but to serve them and facilitate sales in accordance to a company's philosophy and business plan. Think of us as a branch office.