How to Get Equipment for an Answering Service
You've got your business plan written up, a space leased out, employees to work for you and a few clients already contracted. Now all you need is the equipment to run your new business.
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Instructions
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Determine how many calls you can handle. This all depends on what type of clients you have and what their requirements are. You need a separate phone line for each business, perhaps more than one if you expect a high call volume for any of them. Check with your local phone company to make sure you can install the correct number of lines.
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Research types of equipment. For smaller answering services, you can get away with buying a separate phone for each business. Larger services might need a switchboard; you can add two headsets to some switchboards for multiple operators. If you want to have a computer for inputting data or giving dialog prompts for each client, check into that as well. You can even set up the computer with a headset and use the computer to receive calls (instead of a regular phone).
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Buy the appropriate equipment. For small operations, try just using a few phones with different ringtones, or a simple multi-line phone. For a larger service, get a switchboard. You can purchase these outright, but in many cases, your local telephone company can lease you one.
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Tips & Warnings
Consider buying a time clock, if you're not using a computerized system. The time clock can time stamp the messages you take so you can track your billable hours efficiently.
