about hastings

Hastings Communications Services offers live telephone answering services to companies throughout the United States. The company - founded by Ann Hastings in 1948 - was the first answering service in Austin, Texas.

Fundamental to the growth and success over the years has been the dedication to personal service for Hastings' clients. This personal service dates back to principles introduced by Ann Hastings and embraced by the entire team at Hastings Communications:

• Provide clients with the latest technology and processes to most efficiency respond to business calls
• Care for clients' business needs, employees and the community by focusing on delivering long-term value respectively
• In the words of Ann, "Make each caller feel better for having spoken with us."

Today, the company focuses on three primary business solutions:

• Customer Capture
  Our experienced employees are well-trained in converting telephone calls into business opportunities. We are customer centric, employing courteous and professional telephone operators who answer each call with a customized script based on your business needs, your direct mail or advertising campaign, or an emergency response service.
• Customer Care
  Our wide range of services enable businesses to more rapidly support their customers' needs with live answering services that will answer frequently asked questions, route phone calls directly to field technicians, or provide clients with the added-value of after hours live telephone operators.
• Business Support
  Hastings provides administrative support to ensure efficient internal communications systems. Our services save clients time and stay organized so you can focus on managing your business.

Clients benefit from professionally trained staff that are courteous and efficiently elicit accurate information from callers. Information is then entered into a database and dispatched to clients based on unique client instructions via text, email, fax or live phone call. To ensure excellence, each employee is required to complete a one month training program before answering their first client phone call. This extensive training program includes hands-on training on the technology, the processes for each service and unique customer scripts. New hires listen to a range of recorded calls, observe seasoned employees who mentor them in the processes and participate in role play scenarios before they are tasked with answering a live phone call. Hastings records and monitors phone calls for quality assurance and periodically distributes customer surveys for feedback to continuously improve their services.