By Genevieve Carrenard
This may have happened to you. You develop a good and long-lasting relationship with a service provider over the course of many years, only to reach a point where you feel a need to sever the connection due to poor customer service. Whether it’s with a lawn care company, an HVAC technician, or a physician, you’ve come to expect people to keep their promises. When they fail to do so, you find yourself checking out the competition. In our private lives, this may amount to a loss of money, but more often than not, it comes down to a loss of time and some inconvenience, having to start over with someone new.
For telephone answering services (TAS), where relationships develop over years, the loss of business can be significant. Keeping clients happy involves avoiding many pitfalls that could drive them into the arms of competitors. It is of the utmost importance to treat each client, each interaction, each transaction with the intention of developing a long lasting relationship; one that can overcome problems when they come.
In his book Sticky Customer Service, Peter DeHaan says that “we need to get personal with those we do business with. Relationships matter.” He also offers a counterintuitive but powerful reminder: sometimes, the best way to understand how to keep customers is to first understand how we lose them.
How to Lose Business
Ignore the Small Stuff
It’s easy to assume that clients will forgive a little sloppiness—an occasional missed message, a name spelled wrong, a callback number misread. But for the client, these “small” mistakes can feel huge when their own reputation is on the line.
Bottom line: Repeated little errors add up to a big reason to leave.
Make Customers Work to Reach You
If a client has to navigate a maze of phone prompts or wait days for an email reply, they’ll feel like their time isn’t valued. Ironically, the very service they hired you for—being accessible—isn’t happening for them.
Overpromise and Underdeliver
Promising 24/7 coverage? Then “just this once” taking an hour to return an urgent after-hours call indicates that your word can’t be trusted. Once trust is cracked, it’s hard to rebuild.
Treat Every Client the Same
Different industries have different needs. A medical office expects HIPAA compliance; an HVAC company may need rapid dispatching during emergencies. Treating all clients as interchangeable makes them feel unimportant.
Stay Invisible
When clients don’t hear from you unless there’s a problem, they may assume you’re doing the bare minimum. Invisibility can be mistaken for indifference.
How to Gain (and Keep) Business
Sweat the Small Stuff
Accuracy and attention to detail are the foundation of a TAS’s value. Double-check names, repeat numbers, and verify details before ending each call.
Pro tip: Make “accuracy checks” a KPI in staff performance reviews.
Be Easy to Reach
Have a clear, simple path for clients to connect with a live human—whether that’s their account manager, a support line, or a live chat. The easier you make communication, the more valued clients feel.
Set Honest Expectations—Then Exceed Them
If you promise a 10-minute callback, aim for five. If you say “We’ll send a weekly report,” deliver it a day early. Exceeding expectations is a simple but powerful retention tool.
Personalize Service
Know each client’s industry, peak seasons, and pain points. Tailor your scripts, escalation paths, and follow-up procedures accordingly.
Example: For law firms, offer priority routing for new-client intake calls.
Be Proactive
Send monthly call reports, highlight key wins (“We handled 300 calls for you during last week’s storm”), and share best practices they can implement in their business. This shows that you’re invested in their success.
The Takeaway
Losing business often comes down to avoidable missteps—neglecting details, creating friction, or failing to connect personally. Gaining and keeping business is the result of consistent care, clear communication, and making clients feel like their calls (and their business) truly matter.
Customers don’t leave overnight. It’s usually a slow erosion of trust. By spotting and stopping the “losing” behaviors, and doubling down on the “gaining” ones, your Telephone Answering Service can turn satisfied customers into long-term advocates.
Genevieve Carrenard is the business manager at TAS Trader. She has a decade of call center experience in the US and Canada. She is committed to helping clients meet their advertising and marketing needs. Contact her at genevieve@virtualteam.ai
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Professional Liability Insurance: The member-exclusive, ATSI-endorsed professional liability insurance program protects you against claims-related errors and omissions arising from your professional services. This comprehensive solution, commonly known as errors and omissions liability insurance (E&O), covers defense costs and settlements and provides a valuable layer of additional coverage. Contact: ATSI-questions@alliant.com or 855-393–ATSI.
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Quote for Consideration
You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, “I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along. …. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt