ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 11, 1996 TAG: 9612110020
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
THE IDEA BEHIND this phone service is that it'll sound like a company's own service department.
After three years of operating Networking Solutions, a distributor of Bell Atlantic Corp.'s business phone systems, Jack Tompkins and Michael Fultz are adding a telephone answering service business.
The Answer Network, which will begin operations on Jan. 1, will provide services beyond those of traditional answering services, Tompkins and Fultz promise. The company, they say, will essentially act as if it were a part of a client's own customer service department, even taking orders from customers if that's what a business customer wants.
Tompkins was a vice president of the former First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Roanoke. Fultz formerly worked for R&B Communications of Daleville as its marketing director. The pair, longtime friends, said they decided to form Networking Solutions in 1993 because rapid changes in the telecommunications industry were creating many business opportunities.
Networking Solutions sells Centrex service, a complete package of advanced digital phone services, to businesses in Bell Atlantic's six-state service area. Tompkins, Networking's president, said the company has been the top Centrex representative for Bell Atlantic over the past three years, having sold the service to roughly 2,500 customers representing 25,000 phone lines.
Fultz, executive vice president of Networking Solutions and of the new company, refers to the Answer Network as a "call center" rather than anwering service. He said the idea for it came from discussions with Networking Solutions' customers about their customer-service problems.
He and Tompkins are starting the new venture with an investment of roughly $200,000 in computer hardware and software, Fultz said.
They visited other call centers around the country before setting up their operation, Tompkins said.
"We're engineered for maximum growth right now," Fultz said.
The answering equipment, in an office complex on Peters Creek Road, is capable of handling 720 calls an hour and of delivering personal messages to as many as 208 different employees within any one company. It will be staffed initially by six operators on each of three daily shifts.
The software was custom-designed, Tompkins said. When someone telephones one of the company's clients, the call kicks over to the Answer Network and computer software puts that client's information, including product order forms, on the screen in front of the operators.
When messages arrive, operators immediately type them onto the screen and can instantly deliver them either to a client's fax machine or to numeric or text-capable pagers.
The service will answer calls for businesses anytime they can't get to the telephone, not just at night and on weekends, Fultz said. A client's customers, he said, should never get a busy signal because his company will be handling the overflow.
The goal is to give callers the impression they are on the line with someone from the company they are calling, said sales manager Patricia Spencer. The Answer Network's operators will be well-trained and have customer-service experience, she said.
Besides its customized computer software, the company will attempt to distinguish itself from competitors with better service and a quicker response time, Spencer said.
Initially, the company is selling its services in the Roanoke area, including Botetourt, Bedford and Franklin counties. It plans to expand into the New River Valley and the Lynchburg area, Fultz said. It has been seeking clients since early November and has signed up banks, funeral homes, churches and service companies, including one that provides 24-hour emergency elevator repairs.
The company is charging $39.95 a month for its services and an extra $10 monthly if a client wants the fax service. The monthly charge covers answering 50 calls with additional calls billed at 25 cents each, Fultz said.
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: NHAT MEYER Staff. Answer Network's top four are (fromby CNBleft) Sales Manager Pat Spencer, President Jack Tompkins, Vice
President Mike Fultz and Tim Duff, outside sales director. color.