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Professional Business Answering Service & Call Center Services

Best Virtual Answering Service For Any Size Business!

Looking for a professional, reliable way to manage your business calls? AB Universal Messaging is the best virtual answering service for small businesses! We don’t just answer your phones; we answer them as if we were sitting right in your office. Our business answering service and call center solutions are fully customized to meet your standards, giving your clients a professional experience every time.

Whether you’re a startup, a growing company, or an established brand, we provide 24/7 coverage that ensures no call goes unanswered. From custom voicemail greetings to live agents trained on your business specifics, we can deliver call answering services for any size business in the USA. Trust us to deliver the personal touch your business deserves. Lets get started today!

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Why AB Universal Messaging is a Great Solution For Your Business!

AB Universal Messaging is much more than just a call center or a simple phone answering service. AB becomes your strategic partner in developing road maps to accomplish your business goals through efficient phone answering services. Areas of improvement will include Sales, Customer Service, and Reduced Costs. Our ability to help businesses of all sizes is unmatched.

Let OUR Team Become YOUR Team.

We listen, we plan, we deliver. Let AB Universal Messaging provide call center solutions that will help your business grow efficiently today!

AB Universal Messaging Services Explained.

Our Current Client List Includes

Our Business Phone Answering Services Include:

24/7 Answering Service

(Live Operators)

24/7 Answering Service
(Live Operators)

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Overflow

Answering Service

Overflow
Answering Service

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Voicemail Services

Voicemail Services

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Bilingual

Answering Service

Bilingual
Answering Service

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 Proud Members Of The Following Associations

Top 5 Benefits Of Working With AB Universal Messaging

Never Miss a Call (or an Opportunity)

A dedicated answering service guarantees that every call is picked up swiftly—around the clock, including weekends and holidays. This means avoiding missed sales, urgent customer requests, or time-sensitive calls that might impact your standing or earnings.

Enhanced Customer Experience

You are welcomed by a cordial, and voice—not an automated response. This leaves a positive first impression, fosters trust, and ensures your customers feel appreciated and cared for.

Increased Productivity and Focus

Allowing a professional to manage your incoming calls lets you and your team concentrate on essential business tasks. Say goodbye to disruptions and multitasking, and hello to more time for what truly matters.

Cost-Effective Support

Employing full-time receptionists can be costly. A virtual answering service provides the same level of professionalism at a fraction of the cost—and can scale up to manage call surges when required.

Customization and Flexibility

Professional answering services can customize scripts, call forwarding, scheduling, and messaging systems to fit your specific business needs. Whether you’re in healthcare, law, HVAC, retail, or e-commerce—your service will suit you perfectly.

What Our Clients Are Saying

We are a small part time medical office that performs specialized testing for hurt and injured patients. We have been using AB Universal for over 25 years.

As we are not in this office full time, AB Universal is very professional and schedules our appointments for us. They created a special format which allows them to schedule our appointments and immediately e-mail our messages throughout the day. With Erin at its top management, even when questions or urgent issues arise, we are immediately notified and the problems are resolved. Erin is an excellent manager who oversees our account and addresses any problem that may occur.

We feel very secure with using AB Universal as our service and recommend them highly without any reservation.

– Dr. Diamonds Office, Fremont, California ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

AB Universal Messaging has been our long-standing partner, consistently demonstrating their reliability in their operational processes, professionalism, and unmatched call answering services.

Their staff is consistently prompt and cooperative, ensuring smooth interactions. Their note taking is impeccable and we find their answering services dependable and it has been integral to our ability to maintain our business efficiency and sales process. Thank you AB!

– Dr. Strong, Tampa Bay, Florida ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The AB Universal Messaging Difference: More Than Just a Call Center

Many businesses confuse a traditional “call center” with a professional Answering Service. While both handle high volumes of calls, the quality of interaction, technology, and agent training are vastly different.

Generic Call Center (Negative Connotation)

Focus: High volume, low-cost processing, often resulting in long hold times, recorded messages, or frustrating phone menus.

Agent Profile: Often non-specialized and located internationally, leading to potential language or knowledge barriers.

Technology: May rely on basic phone systems that only handle voice communications.

Outcomes: A high call abandonment rate and customer frustration, leading to lost leads and damaged reputation.

Generic Call Center (Negative Connotation)

Focus: High volume, low-cost processing, often resulting in long hold times, recorded messages, or frustrating phone menus.

Agent Profile: Often non-specialized and located internationally, leading to potential language or knowledge barriers.

Technology: May rely on basic phone systems that only handle voice communications.

Outcomes: A high call abandonment rate and customer frustration, leading to lost leads and damaged reputation.

We are a specialized business answering service dedicated to serving as a seamless extension of your team, providing professional, consistent, and knowledgeable support for your callers around the clock.

FAQs

A professional business answering service employs trained representatives to answer your incoming calls, assist customers with their inquiries and interact with them on your behalf. The representatives of AB Universal Messaging will take messages for you, schedule appointments, route calls to the correct departments, and provide all services that are expected from your staff. Your callers will be speaking with a real person when contacting our company instead of being directed to voicemail or a recorded message.

A traditional answering service is designed to handle voice communication with the customer using a telephone system. A contact center will manage all of the customer’s interactions across multiple communication channels such as phone calls, emails, live chat, social media messages and text messaging.

The answering service is a traditional model focused primarily on voice-based customer interaction, while the contact center is an expanded version that allows the business to interact with its customers in their preferred channel. As a result, many organizations now require some form of contact center functionality so they can offer their customers a variety of ways to communicate in addition to making a phone call.

AB Universal Messaging specializes in answering services with phone-based support. Businesses looking to outsource full omnichannel contact center requirements may need to integrate one or more other service providers to provide the necessary service for email, live chat, and text messaging functionality.

Answering services provide 8 primary service categories for business communications:

  • Answering incoming customer calls and taking messages
  • Scheduling appointments directly into calendar systems
  • Processing orders and capturing purchase information
  • Dispatching emergency calls to on-call staff
  • Qualifying leads and capturing prospect details
  • Providing technical support for product questions
  • Handling after-hours and overflow call volume
  • Delivering bilingual support for Spanish-speaking customers

AB Universal Messaging offers all these inbound answering services. Our answering service team customizes each service based on your business requirements and customer expectations.

Answering Services (also known as Contact Center Services) can be broken down into two primary categories:

  • Inbound Answering Services: Calls that are initiated by your customers to you.
  • Outbound Answering Services: Calls that are made to your customers/prospects by your agents.

Common inbound answering services include responding to customer inquiries, scheduling appointments, taking orders and resolving customer complaints/support requests. Common outbound answering services include telemarketing, appointment reminders, follow up calls and customer surveys.

Most businesses require a combination of both inbound and outbound answering services. For example, a medical practice may have an inbound service for scheduling appointments, but an outbound service for sending reminders to patients; likewise, a contractor will want an inbound service to capture leads, but an outbound service to follow up with customers regarding estimates.

AB Universal Messaging specializes in providing inbound answering services. Additionally, we assist with essential proactive customer communications, such as confirming appointments and sending time-sensitive follow-up messages.

In-house call centers operate within your business location using your employees. Outsourced answering services transfer call handling responsibilities to an external provider.

5 differences separate these approaches:

  • Staffing costs run 40-60% higher for in-house operations due to salaries, benefits, and training
  • Equipment investments for phone systems and call center software fall on your business with in-house teams
  • Scalability becomes limited when call volume spikes exceed your staff capacity
  • Coverage gaps occur during employee sick days, vacations, and turnover periods
  • Management responsibilities consume your time instead of focusing on core business activities

Outsourced answering services eliminate these challenges. You pay for call handling without employment overhead. Coverage remains consistent regardless of staffing changes. Your team focuses on revenue-generating work.

Answering service outsourcing transfers your customer phone communications to a specialized service provider. This business process outsourcing model allows companies to maintain professional call handling without building internal capabilities.

Answering service outsourcing helps your business grow in 4 measurable ways:

  • Captures leads that would otherwise reach voicemail and never call back
  • Reduces operating costs by 40-60% compared to hiring dedicated staff
  • Extends business hours to 24/7 availability without overtime expenses
  • Frees your team to focus on your core business activities that generate revenue

Small business owners gain the most significant advantages. A one-person operation projects the professionalism of an established company. Growing businesses handle increasing call volume without recruitment challenges.

Today’s answering services use answering service software that integrates with business systems to streamline operations and enhance customer experiences.

Modern answering service operations incorporate these technologies:

  • CRM integrations that display customer information when calls arrive
  • Calendar connections that enable direct appointment scheduling
  • Ticketing systems that track support requests through resolution
  • Communication platforms that deliver messages via email, text, or app notifications
  • Call routing systems that direct inquiries to appropriate agents
  • Quality monitoring tools that maintain service standards

These integrations eliminate manual data entry. Information captured during calls flows directly into your existing systems. Your team receives updates in real time without checking separate platforms.

AB Universal Messaging connects with popular CRM platforms, scheduling systems, and communication tools used by small businesses.

The average call abandonment rate varies among the different types of industries; however, it is estimated that 5-8 percent of all customers will hang-up prior to speaking to a representative. This can include waiting on hold for extended periods of time; navigating through automated phone systems (phone menus); or receiving a message stating they are leaving a voicemail message which they intend to follow-up at some point, but ultimately do not call back.

For each customer who hangs-up their phone while attempting to speak to a representative, there is a loss of revenue associated with that customer. It has been reported that approximately 85 percent of all customers who leave messages will not attempt to contact your business again after receiving a message.

Businesses that offer service-based products typically lose hundreds of dollars in revenue when a potential customer does not receive service as a result of being unable to get through to someone to assist them in person. Companies offering professional answering services help minimize the number of customers who hang-up by utilizing live representatives to answer phones quickly so that customers do not have to wait in line or leave messages for later. There are reduced hold times, no voicemails, or lost sales opportunities with this type of service.

Many answering services offer technical support as part of their service range. This support helps customers troubleshoot products, resolve issues, and understand features.

Technical support through answering services includes:

  • Answering product usage questions
  • Walking customers through setup procedures
  • Troubleshooting common problems
  • Documenting issues for escalation to specialized teams
  • Providing information about product specifications

AB Universal Messaging handles basic technical support inquiries using the information you provide. We answer common questions, document detailed issues, and ensure appropriate follow-up from your technical staff for complex problems.

Small businesses typically need inbound answering services that capture leads, schedule appointments, and provide professional customer communication. The specific services depend on your industry and customer expectations.

An answering service for small business generally includes:

  • Live phone answering during business hours or 24/7
  • Message taking with accurate detail capture
  • Appointment scheduling in your calendar system
  • Basic inquiry handling using your provided information
  • Urgent call routing to reach you for time-sensitive matters

Service contractors benefit from emergency dispatch capabilities. Medical practices require appointment management and after hours triage to on call staff. Professional services need a lead qualification. Retail businesses want order processing support.

AB Universal Messaging customizes answering services for small businesses across all industries. We configure scripts, protocols, and integrations based on how your business operates.

Dedicated answering service teams are assigned agents to one (and only) customer’s account(s). Shared agent service models allow a large number of agents to share a common call volume of multiple clients’ accounts.

Using a dedicated team provides you with an advantage in terms of knowledge about your company and your customers. The agents handling your customer calls will be familiar with your product lines, services, policies and procedures as well as your customers. If you have a high volume of incoming customer calls or require specialized support from your answering service agents this type of model may be suitable for you.

A shared agent service model is typically less expensive than a dedicated answering service model. It allows a business to benefit from economies of scale by sharing a pool of agents among multiple clients. All agents receive training on each client’s account and can access their respective customized scripting systems. Since all agents are trained to respond similarly to your customers’ inquiries using your established answering service protocols, the quality of service provided by a shared agent service model is consistent across all of your customers. AB Universal Messaging trains every agent on each client’s account, so your callers receive knowledgeable assistance regardless if they speak to the same agent or different agents.

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is a form of business process outsourcing that includes transferring some of an organization’s business functions to specialized vendors. One type of BPO that can be included in this process is the outsourcing of answering services (customer service).

The outsourcing of answering service functions is the transfer of customer service processes to third-party vendors; these include: responding to customer inquiries, arranging appointments for customers, processing orders, and managing customer support issues. The customer service function of an organization ties into all other aspects of the organization’s overall business.

When an organization outsources its answering service functions, it can increase productivity and improve the flow of work throughout the organization. For example, administrative staff are able to focus on higher-value activities such as managing customer information or scheduling customer deliveries. Sales staff are able to focus on closing deals and technicians will have fewer disruptions to their work schedule as they complete jobs.

AB Universal Messaging provides answering services to organizations as part of the larger BPO process. AB Universal Messaging takes care of your customer communications while you take care of your other internal business processes or through other business process vendors.

Answering services help build customer relationships by ensuring every caller receives prompt, professional, and helpful service. First impressions during phone interactions shape customer perceptions of your entire business.

Effective answering service operations strengthen relationships through:

  • Immediate live answers that make callers feel valued
  • Knowledgeable responses that demonstrate competence
  • Friendly interactions that create positive associations
  • Consistent service that builds reliability expectations
  • Accurate message handling that prevents communication failures

Research shows 75.5% of consumers switch to competitors after poor customer service experiences. Professional call handling prevents these losses and creates loyalty through positive interactions.

Business owners evaluating an answering service partner should examine 7 factors before making decisions:

  • Language capabilities for your customer base
  • Industry experience relevant to your business type
  • Technology integrations with your existing systems
  • Customization options for scripts and call handling protocols
  • Pricing structure and cost predictability
  • Contract terms and flexibility provisions
  • Client references and reputation indicators

Request detailed information about agent training processes. Ask how the company handles quality monitoring. Understand escalation procedures for problems or complaints.

AB Universal Messaging provides US-based agents, custom script development, system integrations, and flexible service configurations. We encourage potential clients to ask questions and request references before committing.

Most answering service programs launch within 1-2 weeks after contract signing. This timeframe allows proper configuration of scripts, system integrations, and agent training.

Setup speed depends on service complexity. Simple configurations with basic call handling launch faster. Multi-department environments, detailed protocols, or extensive system integrations require additional preparation time.

The setup process includes:

  • Consultation to understand your business and requirements
  • Script development based on your specifications
  • System configuration and integration testing
  • Agent training on your specific account
  • Call forwarding setup and verification
  • Quality checks before going live

Rushing setup creates problems that affect the caller’s experience. Proper preparation ensures smooth operations from day one.

Answering service software provides tools that enhance agent performance, track service metrics, and maintain quality standards across all customer interactions.

Software capabilities that improve call handling include:

  • Screen pop displays showing caller information instantly
  • Script access ensuring consistent responses
  • Call recording enabling quality review and training
  • Performance dashboards tracking key metrics
  • Integration connections pushing data to business systems
  • Routing logic directing calls to appropriate agents

These tools help agents provide faster, more accurate, and more personalized service. Supervisors identify improvement opportunities through data analysis. Businesses receive better outcomes from their answering service investment.

Outsourcing answering services enhances your business reputation by ensuring professional handling of every customer interaction. Callers form opinions about your company based on phone experiences.

Reputation improvements come from:

  • Eliminating voicemail experiences that frustrate callers
  • Providing consistent service quality regardless of call timing
  • Projecting professionalism that builds credibility
  • Responding promptly to inquiries and concerns
  • Capturing messages accurately to enable proper follow-up

Small businesses particularly benefit from reputation enhancement. A solo practitioner sounds like an established firm when every call receives immediate professional attention. Growing companies maintain service quality during expansion periods.

Answering services can include any phone-based customer interaction your business requires. Service configurations range from basic message taking to comprehensive customer support operations.
Standard offerings across many answering service providers include:

  • Live answering with custom greetings
  • Message taking and delivery
  • Appointment scheduling and management
  • Order processing and information capture
  • Customer inquiry handling
  • Emergency dispatch and escalation
  • After-hours and overflow coverage
  • Bilingual support services

Specialized services for specific industries include HIPAA-compliant medical communications, legal intake protocols, property management support, and contractor dispatch systems.

AB Universal Messaging configures services based on your specific requirements. We discuss your needs during consultation and build customized solutions.

Your business needs answering service support when phone communications create operational challenges or revenue losses. Several indicators signal this situation.

8 signs you need answering service support:

  • Missing calls while working with clients or completing projects
  • Callers frequently reach voicemail instead of live assistance
  • Staff spending excessive time on routine phone tasks
  • After-hours calls are going unanswered despite customer demand
  • Difficulty maintaining consistent receptionist coverage
  • Call volume fluctuations are creating staffing challenges
  • Competitors are capturing leads because they answer faster
  • Growth goals are limited by communication capacity

Businesses experiencing 2 or more of these situations benefit from professional answering services. The investment typically pays for itself through captured revenue and operational savings.

Answering service outsourcing removes phone management responsibilities from your daily operations. This shift allows you to focus on your core business activities that directly generate revenue and growth.

Time recovered from phone duties enables:

  • More billable hours for service professionals
  • Increased sales activities for business development
  • Better project focus for technical work
  • Improved client service for existing customers
  • Strategic planning for business growth

Business owners often handle phones because hiring dedicated staff seems expensive or complicated. Outsourcing provides professional coverage at a fraction of employment costs. You gain capacity without a management burden.

The success of your business depends on where you invest your time. Answering routine calls rarely represents the highest value use of your expertise.

AB Universal Messaging provides professional call handling that captures opportunities, satisfies customers, and frees your team for productive work.

Our services help your business succeed through:

  • 24/7 live answering, ensuring no call goes to voicemail
  • US-based agents trained specifically on your business
  • Custom scripts matching your brand and requirements
  • System integrations connecting with your existing tools
  • Scalable capacity handling volume fluctuations
  • Cost-efficient pricing compared to hiring staff

We serve businesses across all 50 states in industries including healthcare, legal services, home services, property management, and professional services.

Contact AB Universal Messaging today for a consultation. We provide customized quotes based on your specific business requirements and call patterns.

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