SC Biz Daily: Call Experts triples West Ashley office space

By Liz Segrist

Call Experts, a Charleston-based call center, has tripled its West Ashley office space to accommodate its growing workforce.

The family-owned and -operated business previously occupied 10,000 square feet in the Charleston Executive Park at 1591 Savannah Highway; it bought an adjacent building and another nearby building in the same business park, adding two more call centers for a total of 30,000 square feet, CEO Abby Leibowitz Pearson said.

Companies outsource their communication needs to Call Experts, and Call Experts provides services such as answering calls, setting appointments, collecting consumer data, taking product orders, acting as a virtual receptionist or handling human resources or customer service inquiries.

Michael Leibowitz founded the company as an answering service in 1982, mostly taking after-hours calls for lawyers and doctors. Pearson, Leibowitz’s daughter, joined the company in 2006 and now leads it.

Pearson said Call Experts tweaks its services based on what each client wants — some companies want the call center to take messages after-hours; others want it to act as an extension of their customer service departments.

Call Experts has expanded its services, footprint and workforce over the years and now employs about 200 people in offices in Charleston, Charlotte, Branchburg, N.J., and Atlanta. Its West Ashley call center operation is its largest. The company ranked No. 2695 nationwide on the Inc. 5000 2017 list with 129% growth in the past three years and nearly $8 million in revenue.

“South Carolina is a good state for business, so that’s been helpful, and our clients have the need and we saw how much business there is out there,” Pearson said. “We can really serve any industry.”

The call center has clients in home repair, property management, utilities, medical, legal, human resources, government agencies, education institutions, nonprofits, restaurants, and retail and grocery chains. Call Experts handles 20,000 calls a day on average, a news release said.

“We are kind of a recession-proof business because people want to outsource when they’re trying to cut costs at their office, so we benefit from that. We also benefit when there’s not a recession because people are growing and they want more support,” Pearson said.

“Because customer service is universal, answering the phone is universal, we were able to identify that there are a lot of clients out there that we can help.”

Call Experts hired 30 people this week and expects another round of hiring in November.