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The first piece of information you need to understand, is call volume, in simplest terms the number of calls you expect to receive on a monthly basis.  Knowing this number is important to getting a realistic price quote from any company since it is used by most to determine the costs involved.  Determining your expected call volume will be easier if you have past experience and can simply look back through your records, but you should remember to account for business growth, call spikes during advertising campaigns, holiday seasons and other time periods which may directly affect your specific business.

When obtaining service quotes from a number of answering service providers remember that you want to be able to compare apples to apples.  The most common difference in service quotes is how calls are timed, some companies prefer to quote based on a "Per Call" basis where other will quote on a "Per Minute" basis.  From a customer point of view "Per Call" tends to be easier in terms of tracking, but depending on your specific industry and needs the best billing method may vary.  Answering service companies usually prefer to charge on a "Per Minute" basis as it ensures that they are paid for every minute that their staff is involved with one of your customers, however in such cases there is no incentive for the service provider to try and make the call as quick as possible other then freeing up their staff to take another call.

Depending on your specific industry and call volume, you may want to consider arranging terms such as where the service provider has an average maximum allowable amount of time which can be used for specific types of calls. Arrangements of this type encourage the service provider to provide better training to their staff in order to reduce the length of time of each call.  Reducing the call time will not only save you money on calls but will also improve what your customers think of you, faster service is always better, plus a quicker call leaves the person answering the phone available to answer another call...basically a winning solution for everyone.

Just as important as call timing, is the type of calls that you expect to be receiving and those that you want the service provider to answer for you.  Different types of calls will require staff with different skills and experience, and of course some will require more time to answer then others.
Sales Calls - This type of call usually consists of either providing information to the caller about the product(s) or service(s) offered (pre-sales), or the direct purchase of the product(s) or service (sales).  Sales calls tend to involve the least amount of time to handle and while there are always exceptions, this type of call normally requires staff with limited skills or experience.
Technical Support Calls - In most circumstances regardless of the industry or specific market, support calls involve the most amount of time and knowledge.  While every industry is different, in order to handle this type of call the service provider may need staff with years of experience or specialized training, all of which could change the costs of the service they provide.
General Answering - Probably one of the most common types of calls outsourced by small businesses which involves the answering service answering the call, recording information from the caller (or the call itself) and then passing the information to you.
While some service providers may only provide answering for this type of call some will provide a much wider range of services, its important that you determine what your needs are and find a company that can meet those needs.

Technology is in an ongoing state of change right now but having a live person answer some or all of your calls will always be more costly than using recordings and/or voicemail systems.  Depending on your needs and the services provided by the answering service, you may be able to combine automated systems with live people in order to reduce monthly costs in situations where a live person is not required for part or all of the call.  The account representative for each of the services you contact should have experience in setting up live, automated and combination systems in order to provide your company with the most professional answering service.

Many people don't realize that how you advertise your business can affect how your call are answered by an answering service.  Your sales representative should ask you about your advertising methods and take this information into account when developing a strategy for your answering service package.  For example, while print advertising does not usually present a problem in terms of the volume of calls received due to how the media is delivered and read, special radio or television advertising can create bursts of calls while the advertising is running.  If your answering service is unaware of this type of advertising and you normally recieve a lower volume of calls at the times where these ads are running, the service provider could be overwhelmed by calls resulting in poor service or a high level of unanswered calls.  You should keep your answering service provider informed of any changes to your advertising methods or specials well in advance so that they can be prepared to handle the calls.  Please remember that depending on your business, large advertising campaigns done on the internet could also impact your sales volume.