Hastings Communication Services was again honored with the exclusive Award of Excellence at the Annual Convention of the Association of TeleServices, International (ATSI) in Orlando, Florida on June 23, 2003.
“I knew we’d done well, but I was still pretty nervous,” said company president Mark Hastings, when asked to describe his reaction when the award was announced. “Even though we’d won six times before, each year is a challenge, and there are no guarantees.”
The award comes after six months of evaluation by a team of independent, specialized judges, who made “mystery calls” directly into Hastings’ service. The judges, posing as callers to the companies Hastings serves, called using at least 10 different scenarios and pseudonyms. The judges then secretly evaluated Hastings for courtesy, response time, accuracy and overall service.
“The ‘mystery calls’ sound just like any other call to our telephone secretaries,” said Jerry Bartulla, Operations Manager at Hastings, whose telephone secretaries field over 11,000 calls per day. “We chat about calls we think might have been a ‘mystery call,’ but we never know for sure until after the award is presented.”
“I’m so proud of the consistent quality of service our employees provide, and I’m glad they are once again recognized with this award,” said Hastings.
Hastings Communication Services was founded in 1948 by Ann Hastings as the first telephone answering service for Austin businesses. Today, Hastings is owned and managed by Mark and Scott Hastings, and is known as a national leader in call center services.
Hastings has won the Award of Excellence each time it has been presented by ATSI, making this Hastings’ seventh consecutive award.