Administrative staff members at colleges and universities are hopping this time of year, answering calls about graduation or new student admissions. Their phones are ringing so often that they very likely feel like they’re flunking in the “keep up” department.

True story: Some years ago a college administrator hired Voice Link of Columbus, Inc., because they were failing to keep up with calls—the average wait time for callers was 45 minutes! But once they had the team of friendly receptionists at Voice Link on their side the wait time was reduced to 11 seconds. That’s a big difference!

For less than the cost of hiring another on-campus receptionist, this college now has several professionally trained answering service receptionists ready to greet each caller quickly, 24 hours a day. Here are the benefits this college now enjoys:

• Current and prospective students’ calls are answered by a live person, 24/7.
• Operators answer with the name of the college and act as an extension of the administrative staff, so students aren’t even aware they’re not speaking to someone off-campus.
• Operators are able to remotely access the college’s system in order to view a student’s records to inform the student what needs to be completed for admissions or graduation.
• Callers questions are answered immediately or their information is forwarded to the appropriate college staff member for direct follow-up.
• Receptionists answer questions regarding financial aid, admissions, registrar, housing, and bursar.
• Receptionists are trained to maintain FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) regulations.
• All calls are documented and recorded.
• Full disaster recovery and contingency plans through multiple networked facilities.
• Overflow during peak call times to ensure consistent service levels.
• Improved response time for telephone calls, emails, and live web-chat support.
• Cost reduction for support services as a result of economies of scale.
• Trained personnel and state-of-the-art technology ensure consistency.
• Fully customizable scripting and reporting.

An answering service can also schedule college campus visits for prospective students or schedule review meetings for current students and professors. It’s especially helpful that during academic breaks, after-hours and on weekends, students and parents are still able to get answers to their questions.

Day or night, outsourcing a college’s administrative calls ensures that prospective and current students are attended to professionally and promptly, 24/7. Meanwhile, the staff’s time and attention are freed up to process applications, manage student records, and attend to walk-in visitors.

How calls are managed reflects on the reputation of a school, not to mention the sanity of the staff. The professional agents at Voice Link of Columbus, Inc. have been rigorously trained on FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) regulations and can provide live answering services that exceed your expectations. Request information online or call us at (800) 262-2799 for a free consultation.