Your engineering and home maintenance contractor business can lose billions from poor customer service. Lost sales can amount to US$63 billion for entities in Canada based on 2024 Qualtrics research.

Amid these trends, your company must consider providing on-call after-hours answering services to retain clients and attract new ones. About a third of home maintenance customers prefer phone calls as their primary communication.

We can only expect call management demands to scale amid a robust electronic and precision equipment maintenance sector with a 2023 operating revenue of $14.5 billion.

With the adoption of disconnecting-from-work policies gaining traction, a third-party customer care company can fill the gap for your team after business hours. A 24/7 bilingual on-call after-hours answering services provider can provide the following:

Call triage

Triaging helps your team manage growing call volumes. The procedure involves assessing callers’ issues, prioritizing them based on urgency and complexity, and directing the call to the right department or company officer. The process depends on the nature of the customer’s concern or “ticket”—from inquiries to service requests and follow-ups.

Benefit: Your callers’ issues can be resolved quickly because of standardized assessment criteria, clear priority levels, well-defined escalation paths, and detailed documentation.

Emergency escalation

Agents follow an established escalation protocol, which allows them to identify urgent calls based on keywords and situations. For instance, a night security officer at a high-rise commercial building reported that its heating system had shut down at 2:15 am. Several tenants need 24/7 climate control for their equipment. The scenario description warrants immediate escalation.

They ask for and record critical information (including shutdown time and other signs like leakage, etc.) and immediately escalate or transfer the call to the designated person (for example: an HVAC technician). This person acts on the ticket based on the gathered data. The agent stays on top of the situation, updating the client, and documenting the solution provided.

Benefit: Such a protocol can put your customers at ease knowing that the company has the full details of their problem and assigned someone to fix it.

Message forwarding

Incidents can be minor or major, and agents will take action based on your escalation matrix. A matrix or flowchart defines instances when they should escalate a call. It also identifies the persons you designate for handling different issues and when they should be engaged.

Benefit: A clear framework will prevent delay because your callers don’t have to contact another number to air the same issue. The procedure prevents confusion among agents and your internal team as it assigns specific responders, depending on the issue.

Bilingual support: a business necessity

Providing brand messaging and customer engagement in English and French has become essential for three reasons.

Bilinguals across Canada

Every region across Canada has Francophone speakers in varying proportions. According to the Official Languages Commissioner, 29% of the population speaks French while 18% are bilingual in French and English.

Competitive advantage

The Official Languages Act requires government offices to offer bilingual services. Although not mandatory among private sector officials, bilingual communications gives you a competitive edge. The latest government statistics show that 23.3% of businesses nationwide provide services in English and French. The demand is highest in customer service positions (49.6%).

Customer satisfaction

Asking questions and providing solutions in the customer’s language lowers the chances of miscommunication and builds trust. Clients become more open about their preferences, allowing agents to personalize service.

As a service contractor, processing repair and maintenance requests can cause stress if you stretch your work hours to accommodate them. A service provider with a 24/7 bilingual approach like On Call Centre can customize a comprehensive strategy that covers scripting and message management. We sit down with you so that call triaging, escalations, and message forwarding aligns with your internal procedures.

Stop missing urgent calls. Call us to schedule a free consultation and see how On Call Centre can help you stay connected 24/7.