Offering round-the-clock customer support, handling large call volumes efficiently, and providing specialized expertise tailored to specific industries or needs, professional call centers are vital for businesses today. They ensure customer satisfaction by providing prompt assistance, multichannel support, and data-driven insights for continuous improvement.

Outsourcing call center services can be cost-effective, allowing businesses to focus on core activities while maintaining a positive brand reputation. Professional call centers offer scalability, flexibility, and customer service excellence, crucial in enhancing operational efficiency and driving long-term success for businesses across various sectors.

Founded in 1972, Arvig Answering Solutions (previously known as Time Communications) collaborates with businesses of all sizes to deliver superior customer service, offering a range of services including live call answering, order processing, emergency dispatch, customer support, outbound calling, and technical assistance. The company is headquartered in Roseville, Minnesota., and has locations in Perham and St. Cloud, Minnesota and Fargo, North Dakota. 

Ashley Arvig, Vice President & Chief Operating Officer of Arvig Answering Solutions states, “Our purpose is to help companies provide the best possible customer service. That commitment works on two levels. We work to elevate our customers’ existing customer service strategy or, in the case of smaller clients who lack full-service customer service teams, fill the role of their dedicated provider of choice.” 

Optimizing Customer Engagement

Arvig Answering Solutions is a Minnesota-based call center services company with the capacity to serve large and small organizations in-state and nationally. “We offer clients a higher level of customer service—whether they need live-call answering, order taking, emergency dispatch services, customer support, outbound calling, or technical support,” shares Ashley.

The organization caters to a host of industries, including HVAC, plumbing, restoration, retail, e-commerce, real estate, service sectors, small businesses, utilities, telecom, healthcare, and legal services. 

What further distinguishes the AAS team in this competitive landscape is its team of highly skilled representatives. Their operators undergo thorough training to deliver precise and professional responses. Utilizing cutting-edge internet-based technology, they seamlessly access an organization’s call-handling information and instructions while addressing inbound calls. 

Additionally, Arvig Answering Solutions prioritizes understanding each client’s business to deliver tailor-made services. As a commitment to their service quality, they offer a money-back guarantee if clients are not satisfied within 90 days of service. 

For their service excellence, call quality, and agent professionalism Arvig Answering Solutions has been recognized by some of the call center industry’s leading organizations. “AAS has won the Association of Teleservices International Award of Excellence for 14 years running and earned multiple excellence awards from the Canadian Call Management Association,” Ashley shares.

Journey to Call Center Excellence

Growing up in the telecommunications industry provided Ashley with a distinctive advantage, allowing her to gain firsthand insights into various facets of the business. Having been involved in the family-owned business since her youth, and now with the company transitioning to an ESOP model, Ashley is wholeheartedly committed to contributing to the expansion of new markets and opportunities. 

“I was brought up in the telephone communications business, where I observed many aspects of the industry firsthand. Before my role at Arvig Answering Solutions, I worked at Arvig, the parent company of AAS. I worked in many departments there, including housekeeping, human resources, accounting, and directory assistance. I first learned customer service and took business calls for Arvig and other businesses,” shares Ashley. 

Following her graduation from West Fargo High School, Ashley pursued her academic journey at Aakers School of Business, where she excelled and earned her accounting certificate with honors. Subsequently, she furthered her education by obtaining a four-year business degree, graduating with honors from Rasmussen’s School of Business. “After college, I took a sales manager position at AAS and worked my way up to my current role, which I have held for the past 7 years,” Ashley shares.

Ashley’s Leadership Traits

Traditionally, leaders are often seen as solely responsible for overseeing a company’s strategic direction and management. While Ashley fully embraces this responsibility and the associated expectations, she approaches management with humility and modesty. Comfortable with not being an expert, even in the customer service sector, she leans towards leveraging the knowledge and expertise of others within the company to steer management in a positive direction. This collaborative approach underscores the power of shared knowledge and its positive impact.

In her leadership approach, Ashley consistently relies on courage, integrity, and respect. Courage empowers her to establish and achieve high standards for both herself and her teams, driving performance and personal development. It guides her in setting clear expectations and holding everyone to account. Integrity, to Ashley, means being authentic, honest, and ethically consistent, even in private moments. It entails upholding her word, choosing the ethical path in challenging circumstances, and safeguarding the company’s positive reputation. Lastly, respect is fundamental in Ashley’s career journey. It involves showing kindness and courtesy to both customers and colleagues, embracing diversity, and fostering open and constructive communication.

“A leader can be both vulnerable and resilient and still be effective. First, it’s important to separate vulnerability from the idea of weakness. To me, a big part of vulnerability is openness. As a leader, openness is an important trait. Openness is a pathway to effective communication and strong decision making, which is crucial in leading my customer service teams,” shares Ashley.

Within the company, Ashley fosters an inclusive environment, attributing the achievement to active listening and emotional intelligence. She maintains a perspective that leadership entails making business decisions, devoid of personal implications. Ashley’s commitment to fairness and consistency, prioritizing the company and team’s success, cultivates a robust team dynamic. This approach ensures that her staff operates in a work environment conducive to their success and flourishing.

An Authentic Leader

In Ashley’s leadership journey, she has built strong relationships by leveraging her interpersonal skills to foster supportive connections with both team members and clients, resulting in the creation of a unified, team-oriented environment and a positive company culture. Additionally, she has found a balance between empathy and decisiveness in leadership, making tough decisions while considering the human impact. 

By openly sharing her professional challenges, Ashley has inspired others to overcome obstacles and persevere in difficult situations. Prioritizing mentorship and development, she advocates for career advancement and skill enhancement within her teams. Furthermore, Ashley embraces differences and uplifts teams by valuing diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and ideas, which enrich problem-solving and contribute to effectively addressing challenges.

“As a leader, I value developing an engaging and inclusive company culture and keeping it front and center. A culture would be empty without employees… I have learned and experienced the benefits of empowering employees with a sense of ownership and a belief that their work, along with shared company values, contributes to the company’s success,” Ashley states.

Upcoming Initiatives

Besides her ongoing efforts to expand service areas and cultivate new markets, Ashley is enthusiastic about several current internal projects. She shares, “We’re about 6 months into a two-year effort to upgrade our communications software. When this upgrade is complete, our new technology will allow our representatives to be nimbler. The result will mean serving our customers with more efficient, higher-quality service.“