How To Step Up Your Community’s Communication
At Towne, we are continually showing people how our answering services can do a whole lot more than answer phones. And not only can we do much more than answer phones for small or large businesses, we can also serve entire towns and boroughs with our Express Message system. You might be surprised how useful this is to town managers and residents alike.
For example, when Winter Storm Jonas began to drop more than two feet of snow, a local borough manager used our Express Message system to send an alert to each resident.
The alert informed residents that a snow emergency had been declared, and reminded them that parking is not allowed on streets that are on the snow emergency route.
Residents have a choice of receiving the automated alert as a voice, text, or email message, and evidently, the messages were received based on the outcome. “It was by far the best response we’ve ever had for a snow emergency,” the Borough Council President said afterward. The snow removal teams noticed that cars normally parked on the key streets were gone, and the Borough Council President noted that it was a lot easier to plow those streets without cars parked on the side.
Not Just For Emergencies
This is just one example of how municipalities can benefit from Towne’s Express Message calling system. In fact, the borough that used it for the snow emergency also used it to send a mass alert to residents about the switch to a single-hauler trash collection system. The Borough Council President has said that future messages about winter weather could include a reminder to residents not to throw or blow snow into the street, and the Borough Manager suggested the automated messaging system can also be used for other kinds of borough-wide alerts.
So yes, it’s possible for an answering service to be today’s town crier — and we don’t even have to raise our voice. If you’d like to learn more about how Towne can partner with your town or borough to provide immediate, automated messaging, please call us at 215-660-0800 for a free consultation.