Laura Greenwood, President and Co-Founder of Owl Be There. 

I love what I do. Our mission and giving back to people feels worthwhile and affirming. It’s something I wake up to every day and actually want to do.

My name is Laura, and I’m the Co-Founder of Owl Be There. We’re a senior placement franchise, an emerging brand built on one very simple but deeply important promise: to be there for families when they need guidance the most.

We help people understand their options. When a senior needs assisted living, memory care, or home care, navigating that landscape is overwhelming. We step in as advisors and advocates, helping families make sense of what’s available and what’s right for their loved one.

We started in 2013 in the DC metro area and began franchising in 2021. We’ve been growing steadily ever since, hand-training and hand-coaching each franchisee, because this work demands that level of care.

And that’s exactly why we knew we needed a partner who shared that same commitment to caring, someone who could show up for our callers when we couldn’t. 

Before AnswerConnect, we were stretched

Here’s something important to understand about what we do: we’re a crisis management solution. Most of the families who reach us aren’t browsing options casually. They have a senior who can no longer safely stay at home, sometimes just days to figure out next steps, and enormous emotional weight on their shoulders. That’s why we’re almost fanatical about one thing: you have to answer every call, every time.

The problem is that doing it yourself is completely unsustainable. Calls came in late at night, on weekends, and from overseas. We’d have families in Japan calling about a senior back in the States. Many of our franchise owners are owner-operators with little or no support staff. When you’re already in a deep, sensitive conversation with one family, you simply cannot pick up another call and say “hold that thought.” That’s not the level of care we’re in business to deliver.

But then, a couple of years ago, it all changed at a conference where I heard Karen Booze presenting on what AnswerConnect does, how their operators gather key information and get it to you immediately, and how they show up as an extension of your team, not just an answering machine.

I walked out of that room and called my husband. “We’ve got to do this.”

I’ll be honest, we hadn’t done much research on answering services at that point, partly because we’d already formed a view of what they were. Impersonal. Prone to missed communications. A step down from the concierge-level service we pride ourselves on. But what AnswerConnect does is different, and I have not regretted our decision to sign up once.

Being present matters, 24/7

Before AnswerConnect, missed calls were unfortunately part of life. If a franchisee was sitting with a family in-person, working through something important, and another call came in, something had to give. Either you put someone on hold, which sends entirely the wrong message, or you let it ring out. Neither is acceptable in this business.

Now, AnswerConnect’s operators take full intake messages on our behalf, following the rich scripts we’ve developed together for each of our three key stakeholder groups. By the time a message reaches one of our franchise owners, they have everything they need to respond quickly and meaningfully. They can look at that information and make a judgment call: does this need immediate attention, or can it wait until Monday?

The ripple effect of that has been significant. Our franchisees are more efficient, more organized, and more fully present in the conversations that matter most. Every revenue-generating opportunity, every referral, every tour to schedule: nothing falls through the cracks. And on a personal level, our weekends are better. Our evenings are better. I wish we’d done it sooner.

The importance of a human voice

For a business like ours, having a real person answer is not a nice-to-have; it’s essential.

We are a crisis management solution. Families reaching out to us are often in one of the most stressful moments of their lives. Voicemail, or an AI response, sends the message that they’ve reached somewhere that isn’t ready for them. A warm, knowledgeable human voice, someone asking the right questions and genuinely listening, tells them immediately that they’re in good hands.

We actually think of AnswerConnect as a crisis management solution in its own right, one that dovetails perfectly with ours. Their operators quickly identify which of our stakeholders they’re speaking to, follow the appropriate script, and capture exactly what our team needs to move forward. That’s not something you can replicate with automation. When someone is dealing with a hard moment in their life, they deserve to be met by someone who cares, and that’s what we get.

Advice for franchisors considering AnswerConnect

If you’re a franchise that depends on important phone calls and leads, especially in the service industry where you don’t have a storefront and a missed call has a direct revenue impact – you should really consider AnswerConnect.

The scripting, the speed, the quality of information captured,  it all just works. It has freed up an enormous amount of time and stress for us and our franchisees, and it’s become a real part of what makes the Owl Be There model work. We’ve had a really great relationship with the team and a great experience. 

Discover more

Want to follow in Laura’s footsteps? Visit Owl Be There to explore their work, and contact AnswerConnect to see how we can help you free up time while capturing every call.