TeleDirect

TeleDirect is a telecommunications company offering a range of inbound and outbound call handling services. All of their phone agents are based in their offices in Sacramento, California.

The company was founded way back in 1961! As you’d expect, they’ve been through some rebranding over the years. TeleDirect currently has more than 400 employees, and they are open for business 24/7 365 days a year.

About TeleDirect

The company is headed up Chairman, Celia Puff, and CEO/CFO, Smitha Baliga.

If you feel like you’re missing out on sales or could be providing better customer service if you had a receptionist available 24/7, virtual receptionist services might be the solution.

TeleDirect has a team of more than 400 phone agents available to take inbound calls and make outbound calls around the clock. You can forward your calls to their team for a fraction of what it would cost to hire and train a receptionist of your own.

You provide scripts and all the information an agent needs to handle your calls in a professional and helpful manner, then simply forward your calls.

How TeleDirect Works

To start working with TeleDirect you need to contact them via a form on their site and a member of their team will either call or email you to discuss your requirements.

Once you’ve signed up and been given access to their client portal, you can buy a bundle of minutes to be used when agents take or make calls on your behalf.

Agents will pick up your calls for the times you’ve specified, make sales calls as per your instructions, managed your web chat, and handle any other tasks you’ve outlined. You can keep an eye on your call logs, messages, and other information via the client portal.

Services

TeleDirect provides a range of inbound and outbound call services. Anything you’d expect from an in-house receptionist, with the added benefit of having access to a pool of agents.

They group their core services into the following categories:

• Live call answering – Answering calls on behalf of you or your business when you’re not able to.
• Message taking – Their agents will answer calls and pass on messages to you so you’re kept up-to-date.
• Customer support – You can provide scripts, FAQs and other information their agents will need to provide customer support for your business.
• Lead capture – You can task agents in their outbound team to follow up on leads and carry out sales tasks.
• Email and web chat – In addition to live calls, TeleDirect’s agents can also manage webchat and email.

TeleDirect specializes in support for the healthcare, insurance, and financial services industries.

Plans and Pricing

TeleDirect sells prepaid packages of minutes with rates starting at $1.10 per minute and going as low as $0.75 per minute if you buy their largest bundle.

A complete list of their pricing plans at the time of publishing is as follows:

• Plan A – 1,000 minutes for $1,100 ($1.10 per minute)
• Plan B – 3,000 minutes for $2,970 ($0.99 cents per minute)
• Plan C – 6,000 minutes for $5,580 ($0.93 cents per minute)
• Plan D – 10,000 minutes for $8,800 ($0.88 cents per minute)
• Plan E – 20,000 minutes for $15,000 ($0.75 cents per minute)

There are no monthly subscriptions, annual contracts, and it’s worth noting that unused minutes never expire.

Your account will stay active as long as you have unused minutes. You can cancel at any time and are entitled to a refund of up to 80% of your unused minutes.

TeleDirect Alternatives

Alternative virtual receptionist companies based in the US include GabbyVille, Ruby Receptionists, and Vicky Virtual.

Each offers different services and pricing models, so it’s worth getting a quote to see how they compare to TeleDirect. Both Ruby Receptionists and Gabbyville offer 14-day free trials, so you can try before committing to a plan with both of those companies.

Your Turn

Have you worked with TeleDirect? If so, please leave a review below to help others with their decision.