Documentation is key when taking a nuisance tenant to court for eviction. One often over-looked vender that can be of great assistance in providing documentation is your answering service. If your answering service has up-to-date equipment and software, they should be able to document all calls, including nuisance and complaint calls. In addition, their telephone agents should be able to convey specific instructions to tenants calling about after hour’s noise complaints. For instance, your service should be able to tell callers a message has been taken, but that they should file a complaint at the office during regular business hours.
The key is to get your answering service account set up to capture the right information, and give proper instructions. First, have them document all calls, even calls that are not considered an emergency. These messages do not need to be paged out to your on-call person, but can be sent the next business day. It’s also important for the service to capture time of call, and the incoming phone number when possible. This will show what time the call came, and where it came from. Second, have them provide a morning sweep of all account activity that can be faxed or e-mailed to you. Third, tell them what information you want conveyed to irate callers. In addition, most modern answering services also archive calls, and their archives can stretch back years. Even if you don’t save your answering service messages, they should be able to go back and retrieve old information.
In court, your answering service is often considered a neutral observer. If they are able to provide the proper documentation showing that a number of tenants have called to complain about noise from one tenant at late hours, it can go far helping you making the case.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Guide to Answering Services
Your small business is generating more phone calls from customers and potential ones – and that's good news except it's getting harder for you to make your products or give services. Consider outsourcing your incoming calls.
The value of a human voice is huge – many callers will simply hang up rather than talk to a machine. But before you pick the cheapest answering service to handle your calls, remember this vendor may be a caller's first impression of your business and should be treated as a partner in branding your business.
Three important things to know:
1. What type of calls will you need the answering service to handle – orders, information, technical support, e-mail and Web chat? What volume do you expect? Take into account seasonal spikes.
2. Understand pricing and compare apples to apples. Quotes may be per-minute, per dedicated rep, per call.
3. Evaluate answering services with surprise sample calls by getting phone numbers from the vendor's other clients. Listen to the type of live calls you plan to outsource. Are agents friendly, knowledgeable and skillful with irate callers?
Action Steps
Choose a company that belongs to a professional trade association. Find award winners whose service level has been evaluated through test calls. A score of at least 80 percent snags an award.
There are hundreds of answering services competing for your business – it's one of the easiest home-based businesses to start, but so very difficult to succeed at. Go with an established professional company.
Find out how long operators typically work before quitting. The person who actually answers your phone is vital to your business. Is she enthusiastic and well-trained? If 35 to 50 percent of a vendor's staff has been around three years or more, that's a good sign.
Experience counts; you get what you pay for – the more established answering services will have higher prices – along with existing customers and a sterling reputation.
Pick a specialist; whether you need bi-lingual services or an automatic rollover to a live operator when a natural disaster strikes, there are companies that specialize in niches.
Make sure the answering service has back-up power and redundant critical systems.
The value of a human voice is huge – many callers will simply hang up rather than talk to a machine. But before you pick the cheapest answering service to handle your calls, remember this vendor may be a caller's first impression of your business and should be treated as a partner in branding your business.
Three important things to know:
1. What type of calls will you need the answering service to handle – orders, information, technical support, e-mail and Web chat? What volume do you expect? Take into account seasonal spikes.
2. Understand pricing and compare apples to apples. Quotes may be per-minute, per dedicated rep, per call.
3. Evaluate answering services with surprise sample calls by getting phone numbers from the vendor's other clients. Listen to the type of live calls you plan to outsource. Are agents friendly, knowledgeable and skillful with irate callers?
Action Steps
Choose a company that belongs to a professional trade association. Find award winners whose service level has been evaluated through test calls. A score of at least 80 percent snags an award.
There are hundreds of answering services competing for your business – it's one of the easiest home-based businesses to start, but so very difficult to succeed at. Go with an established professional company.
Find out how long operators typically work before quitting. The person who actually answers your phone is vital to your business. Is she enthusiastic and well-trained? If 35 to 50 percent of a vendor's staff has been around three years or more, that's a good sign.
Experience counts; you get what you pay for – the more established answering services will have higher prices – along with existing customers and a sterling reputation.
Pick a specialist; whether you need bi-lingual services or an automatic rollover to a live operator when a natural disaster strikes, there are companies that specialize in niches.
Make sure the answering service has back-up power and redundant critical systems.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
311 Helps Support the Republican National Convention
This past September Minnesotans rolled out the red carpet to welcome Republicans attending their National Convention. Nearly 45,000 delegates, guests, visitors, and media converged on the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-Saint Paul to watch John McCain accept his party’s presidential nomination. If any of those visitors had questions about where to go or how to get there, they needed only to dial 311 from their cell phones.
Like New York City’s use of its 311 system at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in 2004, the Minneapolis 311 system also provided a hospitality hot line for the 2008 convention. The RNC 311 hot line designed for the delegates was loaded with information about the convention schedule and activities, transportation, traffic management, tourist attractions, restaurants, shopping options, and more.
Ramping Up
Getting RNC 311 up and running required a stretch of technological and logistical muscle. For one thing, 311 chose to partner with Time Communications, a professional call center, to handle the majority of RNC calls to preclude 311 service levels from being compromised.
Working with subcontractors meant that they would need access to, and training on, the information software used by 311. A T1 line provided the technological connectivity between the two call centers. For the training, curriculum on the Knowledge Base software and RNC fact sheets were developed for Time’s agents. Special training emphasis was put on how to stay politically neutral during caller interactions, something that later prove to be valuable.
Then there was the challenge of expanding 311 dialing outside Minneapolis city limits. Although Minneapolis is the only city of the Twin Cities with 311 system service, the convention was located in neighboring Saint Paul and delegate hotels were scattered throughout the entire metropolitan area. To make 311 dialing available from anywhere within the Twin Cities, Minneapolis 311 personnel worked with each cell phone provider to temporarily expand coverage.
Finally, a customized database had to be designed and built to service the callers. The RNC Knowledge Base had more than 50 categories of information that call takers could access in response to questions. Callers could find out everything from “When does McCain speak?” to “Where is traffic tied up from protestors?”
The RNC’s Unsteady Start
The Republican Convention blew in on the heels of Hurricane Gustav. What should have been celebratory turned somber as President Bush canceled his trip, the schedule was curtailed, and presumptive nominee John McCain headed for the Gulf Coast. An aura of uncertainty clouded that first day of the convention. With the entire schedule up in the air, no one knew whether the convention would be postponed, or even canceled.
Meanwhile, a different type of storm was brewing in Saint Paul as anarchist groups took to the streets on day one of the Convention. Splitting off from a mostly-peaceful protest march, the anarchists caused chaos—bashing windows and cars, and taunting police.
Keeping Current
At the 311 information line, two main topics were on caller’s minds: the RNC schedule and the protests. With information changing on both fronts, 311’s Knowledge Base administrators had to make constant updates.
Getting updated information about convention schedule changes was challenging. Convention planners were skittish about publishing the daily schedule because of security concerns and now the entire schedule was in flux. Knowledge Base administrators relied on three tools to get information so it could be conveyed to call agents as quickly as possible:
Getting on the RNC’s media advisory list where scheduled updates were e-mailed.
Monitoring national and local news reports.
Monitoring live-streamed media feeds from the convention.
It was not a perfect system, but it worked. During the time that the RNC 311 hot line was activated, the top five calls to the 311 RNC Information Line were about protests and police-related issues (265); the convention schedule, meetings, and related events (259); traffic management (142); restaurants and night life (101); and miscellaneous hospitality calls—shopping, day trips, attractions (85).
The top category of RNC 311 contacts were related to the protests because many individuals were upset with how the police handled protestors. They voiced their complaints not only through telephone calls to the 311 system, but through an unexpected communications tool—the Minneapolis 311 system’s e-mail address.
No one had anticipated the sheer volume of protest-related e-mails that the 311 e-mail address would receive. All told, 2,138 e-mails were sent to 311 and forwarded to Minneapolis Police. During the convention, there were more 311 system e-mails than registered 311 calls.
Staying in the Know
Although the RNC 311 hot line was targeted to delegates, indexing protest information in the Knowledge Base was important. After all, local residents wanted to know about road closures or areas to avoid. Protestors themselves wanted to know locations and phone numbers for jails and law enforcement. And because incidents and arrest numbers kept increasing, Knowledge Base administrators worked out a system to say abreast of information:
Daily calls to the Minneapolis Emergency Communications Center
Daily conference calls with the Joint Information Center
Regular calls to contacts at Saint Paul’s Emergency Operations Center
Consistent monitoring of news reports and live web streams.
Information updates were also conveyed to RNC 311’s supervisors who made sure that call agents were aware of the changes in the Knowledge Base.
All told, there were more than 800 arrests related to the RNC protests. Although it wasn’t the most positive aspect of the RNC, at least callers could get accurate information merely by dialing 311.
Like New York City’s use of its 311 system at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in 2004, the Minneapolis 311 system also provided a hospitality hot line for the 2008 convention. The RNC 311 hot line designed for the delegates was loaded with information about the convention schedule and activities, transportation, traffic management, tourist attractions, restaurants, shopping options, and more.
Ramping Up
Getting RNC 311 up and running required a stretch of technological and logistical muscle. For one thing, 311 chose to partner with Time Communications, a professional call center, to handle the majority of RNC calls to preclude 311 service levels from being compromised.
Working with subcontractors meant that they would need access to, and training on, the information software used by 311. A T1 line provided the technological connectivity between the two call centers. For the training, curriculum on the Knowledge Base software and RNC fact sheets were developed for Time’s agents. Special training emphasis was put on how to stay politically neutral during caller interactions, something that later prove to be valuable.
Then there was the challenge of expanding 311 dialing outside Minneapolis city limits. Although Minneapolis is the only city of the Twin Cities with 311 system service, the convention was located in neighboring Saint Paul and delegate hotels were scattered throughout the entire metropolitan area. To make 311 dialing available from anywhere within the Twin Cities, Minneapolis 311 personnel worked with each cell phone provider to temporarily expand coverage.
Finally, a customized database had to be designed and built to service the callers. The RNC Knowledge Base had more than 50 categories of information that call takers could access in response to questions. Callers could find out everything from “When does McCain speak?” to “Where is traffic tied up from protestors?”
The RNC’s Unsteady Start
The Republican Convention blew in on the heels of Hurricane Gustav. What should have been celebratory turned somber as President Bush canceled his trip, the schedule was curtailed, and presumptive nominee John McCain headed for the Gulf Coast. An aura of uncertainty clouded that first day of the convention. With the entire schedule up in the air, no one knew whether the convention would be postponed, or even canceled.
Meanwhile, a different type of storm was brewing in Saint Paul as anarchist groups took to the streets on day one of the Convention. Splitting off from a mostly-peaceful protest march, the anarchists caused chaos—bashing windows and cars, and taunting police.
Keeping Current
At the 311 information line, two main topics were on caller’s minds: the RNC schedule and the protests. With information changing on both fronts, 311’s Knowledge Base administrators had to make constant updates.
Getting updated information about convention schedule changes was challenging. Convention planners were skittish about publishing the daily schedule because of security concerns and now the entire schedule was in flux. Knowledge Base administrators relied on three tools to get information so it could be conveyed to call agents as quickly as possible:
Getting on the RNC’s media advisory list where scheduled updates were e-mailed.
Monitoring national and local news reports.
Monitoring live-streamed media feeds from the convention.
It was not a perfect system, but it worked. During the time that the RNC 311 hot line was activated, the top five calls to the 311 RNC Information Line were about protests and police-related issues (265); the convention schedule, meetings, and related events (259); traffic management (142); restaurants and night life (101); and miscellaneous hospitality calls—shopping, day trips, attractions (85).
The top category of RNC 311 contacts were related to the protests because many individuals were upset with how the police handled protestors. They voiced their complaints not only through telephone calls to the 311 system, but through an unexpected communications tool—the Minneapolis 311 system’s e-mail address.
No one had anticipated the sheer volume of protest-related e-mails that the 311 e-mail address would receive. All told, 2,138 e-mails were sent to 311 and forwarded to Minneapolis Police. During the convention, there were more 311 system e-mails than registered 311 calls.
Staying in the Know
Although the RNC 311 hot line was targeted to delegates, indexing protest information in the Knowledge Base was important. After all, local residents wanted to know about road closures or areas to avoid. Protestors themselves wanted to know locations and phone numbers for jails and law enforcement. And because incidents and arrest numbers kept increasing, Knowledge Base administrators worked out a system to say abreast of information:
Daily calls to the Minneapolis Emergency Communications Center
Daily conference calls with the Joint Information Center
Regular calls to contacts at Saint Paul’s Emergency Operations Center
Consistent monitoring of news reports and live web streams.
Information updates were also conveyed to RNC 311’s supervisors who made sure that call agents were aware of the changes in the Knowledge Base.
All told, there were more than 800 arrests related to the RNC protests. Although it wasn’t the most positive aspect of the RNC, at least callers could get accurate information merely by dialing 311.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Call Center Customer Service: Looking for a Great Company to Work for in St. Paul, MN?
Consider becoming a call center customer service representative! Time Communications (http://www.timecommunications.biz/comp_employment.asp) is a full service call center offering its nation-wide clientele 24/7 live answering support for customer service, catalog order taking and emergency response services. Time Communications offers a lot to its call center customer service representatives. As a new member you will receive training that allows you to rise to your greatest potential, paid time off (as much as 20 days after working 30 months), health and dental insurance, a SEP retirement plan, and 7 paid holidays.
Management Opportunities
Time Communications continues to grow, and in fact, future growth is part of our corporate strategy. This leads to opportunities for call center customer service representative seeking advancement. We offer three locations to work from in St. Paul, New York Mills and Brainerd, MN in addition to the work-at-home opportunities we have available to qualified candidates who demonstrate a high level of customer satisfaction and professionalism.
Due to the explosive growth in the telecommunications market, we are currently accepting applications for call center customer service representatives who live in the greater Minneapolis, St. Paul area.
Our Company has been recognized for excellence. Last year Inc. Magazine awarded Time Communications a place on its first-ever Inc. 5,000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the country. The Inc. 5,000, an extension of Inc. magazine's annual Inc. 500 list, catches many businesses that are too big to grow at the pace required to make the Inc. 500, as well as a host of smaller firms. Taken as a whole, these companies represent the backbone of the U.S. economy. This first-ever list of the 5,000 fastest-growing businesses reports total revenue of $194.5 billion. At the time, Time Communications employed 100 employees.
Time Communications was founded in 1972 and has offices in St. Paul, New York Mills and Brainerd, MN,
For further information about call center customer service representatives, contact:(651) 229-3636 http://www.timecommunications.biz/comp_employment.asp
Management Opportunities
Time Communications continues to grow, and in fact, future growth is part of our corporate strategy. This leads to opportunities for call center customer service representative seeking advancement. We offer three locations to work from in St. Paul, New York Mills and Brainerd, MN in addition to the work-at-home opportunities we have available to qualified candidates who demonstrate a high level of customer satisfaction and professionalism.
Due to the explosive growth in the telecommunications market, we are currently accepting applications for call center customer service representatives who live in the greater Minneapolis, St. Paul area.
Our Company has been recognized for excellence. Last year Inc. Magazine awarded Time Communications a place on its first-ever Inc. 5,000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the country. The Inc. 5,000, an extension of Inc. magazine's annual Inc. 500 list, catches many businesses that are too big to grow at the pace required to make the Inc. 500, as well as a host of smaller firms. Taken as a whole, these companies represent the backbone of the U.S. economy. This first-ever list of the 5,000 fastest-growing businesses reports total revenue of $194.5 billion. At the time, Time Communications employed 100 employees.
Time Communications was founded in 1972 and has offices in St. Paul, New York Mills and Brainerd, MN,
For further information about call center customer service representatives, contact:(651) 229-3636 http://www.timecommunications.biz/comp_employment.asp
Outsourcing Small Business Needs to a Call Center
Larger companies have the money, time, and resources to have their own call center for sales, customer service, and customer technical needs. Many smaller and mid-sized businesses need to outsource their call center needs. It is far more affordable for a company to outsource its call center needs, because it is low cost and the management is in place. Otherwise, a company needs to spend much of their own time, resources, and labor creating their own call center in-house.
Businesses can outsource to call centers to sell their products, for customer support with technical problems, or for customer service. In addition, more specific company needs can be met including catalog order entry, dealer locator, help desk needs, lead qualification, pre-qualification, live internet chat, receptionist/help desk overflow, a receptionist message center, employee time and attendance tracking, medical answering service, property management, voicemail, conference and event registration, appointments and reservations.
If a business is considering outsourcing small business needs to a call center, it must look at its requirements, and understand how the service can generate sales or enhance customer satisfaction. It is important to choose an outsourcing company with experience, and with professional and responsive customer service representatives. Choose a call center services company that is available to customers 24/7, has a powerful communications system, and has highly trained individuals working for them.
Customer Service Representatives who will be speaking to customers should take the time to listen to callers, think about the caller's needs, and ask the right questions to get accurate information. Select a company who will work closely with you to understand your company needs.
Businesses can outsource to call centers to sell their products, for customer support with technical problems, or for customer service. In addition, more specific company needs can be met including catalog order entry, dealer locator, help desk needs, lead qualification, pre-qualification, live internet chat, receptionist/help desk overflow, a receptionist message center, employee time and attendance tracking, medical answering service, property management, voicemail, conference and event registration, appointments and reservations.
If a business is considering outsourcing small business needs to a call center, it must look at its requirements, and understand how the service can generate sales or enhance customer satisfaction. It is important to choose an outsourcing company with experience, and with professional and responsive customer service representatives. Choose a call center services company that is available to customers 24/7, has a powerful communications system, and has highly trained individuals working for them.
Customer Service Representatives who will be speaking to customers should take the time to listen to callers, think about the caller's needs, and ask the right questions to get accurate information. Select a company who will work closely with you to understand your company needs.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
What Level Of Customer Service Do You Provide?
I was on the receiving end of two incidents in the past week that gave me an up-front and personal first-hand experience in dealing with customer service people on the telephone and the importance that Time Communications plays in providing a good or poor experience in dealing with a company.
We have all had these magic moments when you are short on time, facing a deadline or just don’t need the extra hassle that trying to order a product or service can cause.
Thankfully, companies like yours realize the benefits of our service and take the extra effort to provide your customers with better customer service than most companies.
Now to my incidents. The first involved calling a telephone company in rural Minnesota. One would think that voice mail hell would have never reached the remote confines of the country, but it has. Today, first class companies are removing the press 1 for this, and press 2 for that, and are replacing voicemail with the warm personal voice of a friendly person who cares about you. Not so at this particular rural telephone company. I’m greeted with voice mail and left wondering why I had to leave a message for new service.
Could it be that because they are the only telephone company in the town they can provide such a poor level of service? They had better wake up and realize that competition will soon be knocking on their door. They may be in a remote part of the country, but the world is a small place with the internet at our fingertips.
My second experience involved trying to reach a company after business hours for clarification on documentation of legal papers that needed to be signed and sent overnight. There wasn’t the option of waiting until the next day to have the questions answered that I had. A call to the company was promptly answered, however, it wasn’t the company itself, but rather their call center. I left a message for the person that could answer my questions and within minutes the person had called me back and I was able to complete the transaction on time.
Two similar incidents, two completely different results. I’m left with the feeling that one company cares about me and the other doesn’t, it’s just that simple.
We have all had these magic moments when you are short on time, facing a deadline or just don’t need the extra hassle that trying to order a product or service can cause.
Thankfully, companies like yours realize the benefits of our service and take the extra effort to provide your customers with better customer service than most companies.
Now to my incidents. The first involved calling a telephone company in rural Minnesota. One would think that voice mail hell would have never reached the remote confines of the country, but it has. Today, first class companies are removing the press 1 for this, and press 2 for that, and are replacing voicemail with the warm personal voice of a friendly person who cares about you. Not so at this particular rural telephone company. I’m greeted with voice mail and left wondering why I had to leave a message for new service.
Could it be that because they are the only telephone company in the town they can provide such a poor level of service? They had better wake up and realize that competition will soon be knocking on their door. They may be in a remote part of the country, but the world is a small place with the internet at our fingertips.
My second experience involved trying to reach a company after business hours for clarification on documentation of legal papers that needed to be signed and sent overnight. There wasn’t the option of waiting until the next day to have the questions answered that I had. A call to the company was promptly answered, however, it wasn’t the company itself, but rather their call center. I left a message for the person that could answer my questions and within minutes the person had called me back and I was able to complete the transaction on time.
Two similar incidents, two completely different results. I’m left with the feeling that one company cares about me and the other doesn’t, it’s just that simple.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Disaster Recovery - What Is Your Plan?
Disaster Recovery solutions are on the forefront of meetings and minds everywhere, and on the tip of the tongue of nearly every executive and business owner. The question is whether this is lip service, or whether each of these individuals is doing what they can to plan accordingly. In the Inbound Call Center industry, Disaster Recovery plays a much smaller role that actual Disaster Preparedness. By the time we are recovering, we have already lost clients. Being prepared to avoid outages is much more important than what you will do to recover from one should it happen.
The Call Center industry, like several others, has many, many levels of what can be considered a disaster. The key is to get your organization prepared to handle any of them in the shortest amount of down time possible. The simple fact is, whether you lose your phone lines, the processor in your ACD, or your entire building, is irrelevant to your clients. The fact is you are not answering their calls, and they are not receiving the service they require from you. When a Call Center loses any aspect of their business that holds the power to stop phone calls from getting to a representative to be handled, the revenue stream comes to a screeching halt, and regardless of the reason, it can still cost you valuable clients.
I believe the first step in being prepared to handle a disaster is to consider all points of failure, and develop a plan for each point of failure individually, combining those that are possible. While there are many points of failure in any business, this is considering only those that can actually stop you from doing business altogether. In a Call Center, your points of failure have a large range, from equipment, to telephone and internet lines, to power, to location, with many steps in between.
Let’s take a look at equipment first. While there is a vast amount of equipment in any Call Center, you must specifically consider those pieces of equipment whose failure will stop you from functioning. The first and most critical device to be considered is your ACD (Automatic Call Distribution) server. Within this server are many components, and most all of them will have a disastrous effect should they fail. For this reason it is imperative to have a system with the most redundancy possible, redundant hard drives and power supplies are a must. In addition it is critical to keep a spare for all parts that cannot have redundancy within the server itself. So any component within the server, whose failure will keep it from functioning, needs to have a spare ready to be utilized at a moment’s notice. This can make a difference between minutes or days of down time. Considering most Call Center’s revenue is based on minutes these days, this is a large difference in revenue. If you want to have true redundancy, consider having a complete backup ACD server that can be put together using your spare parts to save on cost.
Additional equipment that must be considered in a Call Center environment would be anything that will stop the calls from getting from your ACD to your Representatives. For example, it is pertinent to have a spare switch to ensure your network is up and running properly at all times. It is also important to consider the additional hardware requirements if you have remote staff, and the level of importance here is directly related to the amount of staff you have working outside your office. In a case where half or more of your staff are remote, you must ensure redundancy on the server your remote staff uses to connect to your network.
While it is extremely good practice to have redundancy for all peripherals, these are not mission critical. You many find yourself unable to send faxes or emails, or unable to pull up a website you need in order to effectively handle a call, should you not have backups of your peripherals, but they will not stop you from picking up a call and helping a customer.
Another major area of disaster preparedness in the call center industry is power. Without sustained power, you lose your ACD, and you are unable to function. A generator backup is a must for any call center, and natural gas is preferred as the supply is not limited and it can sustain you for days or even weeks at a time. Your generator should be tested on a regular basis, with a full load transfer periodically to ensure it is functioning properly. It does little good to have a generator if it does not function when you need it most, during a sustained power loss.
There is always a small lapse of power when transferring to a generator during a power outage. For this reason it is very good practice to have Uninterrupted Power Supplies (UPS) on all critical equipment. Without this you will have some down time even with a generator. Do your homework when deciding on the proper UPS setup for your business. Ensure they are large enough to handle any load you will transfer to them. Also remember while your main purpose for a UPS is to sustain your equipment for a few minutes while transferring to your generator, they should be powerful enough to sustain your equipment for some time in case your generator does fail.
Internet connectivity is another possible area of outage for many call centers, but not for all. This becomes more critical if you employ remotes, and the more you employ, the more critical it becomes. Keep in mind remotes cannot connect to your server without coming in through some type of internet based connection in most situations. For this reason it is good practice to have a backup in place here as well. For example, if you have a T-1 for your internet connectivity, consider a cable internet backup to at least give you some connection should your main provider fail. This way you can still get your remote staff connected. Again, this may not take you completely out of business, but if you have 75% of your staff outside your main facility and you lose them, you are also going to lose 75% of your calls. When this happens you run the risk of frustrating a great deal of clients, not to mention every call missed equals additional lost revenue.
Probably the most critical area of possible outage in a call center environment is your telephone lines. Without the phone lines to bring the calls in, you can have everything else working in perfect order and you still have no business. Unfortunately, this area is also the most difficult to provide redundancy for. There are many ways you can lose your telephone lines. Probably the most common is an outage on the part of your provider. This type of outage can last minutes, hours or days. It is important to have a very strong relationship with your provider, and have someone you can contact during a loss who can help you “light a fire” to restore service. Customer Service is a critical factor to consider when choosing a provider.
There is a way, however, to provide redundancy for this type of outage. Most call centers have multiple T-1’s or PRI Spans that bring in their calls. It is good practice to have at least some of your lines come from a different provider. That way if the issue is provider related, you still have some ability to bring calls in. Should you employ this practice, it is important you have a planned process to roll your call volume from one provider to the other. These outages are generally short, and while they can certainly have a negative effect on your business, they are not usually severe enough to cause you to lose clients.
A call center owner’s biggest fear is generally the actual physical cutting of the lines coming into their building. Seeing a crew working in front of your building, and digging, can cause nightmares. This would be the most difficult issue to overcome, and the most difficult to provide redundancy for, as when this happens there is nothing coming in at all, from any provider. There are ways to prepare for this type of situation, though they can be difficult and sometimes costly.
One option would be to work with another call center that may be willing to handle your volume in this type of situation. In this type of situation you must clearly define the expectations in advance, so both parties are clear on the process should this become necessary to employ. They may simply be available to answer your calls and inform them due to an emergency, they are unable to assist at this time, and please try their call again later. You may work out a situation where they can actual provide service for specific emergent calls. Or you may even work out a situation where they will maintain a redundant copy of your information so they are able to assist your callers completely. This will largely depend on the type of call center you run, the capabilities of the call center you are partnering with, and the volume at the time of the outage. Remember, the more involved the plan, the more they are able to do for you, the more costly and time intensive it is to maintain the backup plan in this area.
A disaster can present itself in many forms, and at any time. While it is impossible to predict them, it is critical to prepare for them. For many businesses a Disaster Recovery plan is acceptable, but for the Call Center industry, a Disaster Preparedness plan is much more effective and much more necessary. During an actual disaster it can be very stressful and difficult to consider what to do next. Having the process clearly defined in advance makes it much easier to employ. It is good practice to take the time to define the possible points of failure and know what to do should the unfortunate day come when you face these situations. Be Prepared.
The Call Center industry, like several others, has many, many levels of what can be considered a disaster. The key is to get your organization prepared to handle any of them in the shortest amount of down time possible. The simple fact is, whether you lose your phone lines, the processor in your ACD, or your entire building, is irrelevant to your clients. The fact is you are not answering their calls, and they are not receiving the service they require from you. When a Call Center loses any aspect of their business that holds the power to stop phone calls from getting to a representative to be handled, the revenue stream comes to a screeching halt, and regardless of the reason, it can still cost you valuable clients.
I believe the first step in being prepared to handle a disaster is to consider all points of failure, and develop a plan for each point of failure individually, combining those that are possible. While there are many points of failure in any business, this is considering only those that can actually stop you from doing business altogether. In a Call Center, your points of failure have a large range, from equipment, to telephone and internet lines, to power, to location, with many steps in between.
Let’s take a look at equipment first. While there is a vast amount of equipment in any Call Center, you must specifically consider those pieces of equipment whose failure will stop you from functioning. The first and most critical device to be considered is your ACD (Automatic Call Distribution) server. Within this server are many components, and most all of them will have a disastrous effect should they fail. For this reason it is imperative to have a system with the most redundancy possible, redundant hard drives and power supplies are a must. In addition it is critical to keep a spare for all parts that cannot have redundancy within the server itself. So any component within the server, whose failure will keep it from functioning, needs to have a spare ready to be utilized at a moment’s notice. This can make a difference between minutes or days of down time. Considering most Call Center’s revenue is based on minutes these days, this is a large difference in revenue. If you want to have true redundancy, consider having a complete backup ACD server that can be put together using your spare parts to save on cost.
Additional equipment that must be considered in a Call Center environment would be anything that will stop the calls from getting from your ACD to your Representatives. For example, it is pertinent to have a spare switch to ensure your network is up and running properly at all times. It is also important to consider the additional hardware requirements if you have remote staff, and the level of importance here is directly related to the amount of staff you have working outside your office. In a case where half or more of your staff are remote, you must ensure redundancy on the server your remote staff uses to connect to your network.
While it is extremely good practice to have redundancy for all peripherals, these are not mission critical. You many find yourself unable to send faxes or emails, or unable to pull up a website you need in order to effectively handle a call, should you not have backups of your peripherals, but they will not stop you from picking up a call and helping a customer.
Another major area of disaster preparedness in the call center industry is power. Without sustained power, you lose your ACD, and you are unable to function. A generator backup is a must for any call center, and natural gas is preferred as the supply is not limited and it can sustain you for days or even weeks at a time. Your generator should be tested on a regular basis, with a full load transfer periodically to ensure it is functioning properly. It does little good to have a generator if it does not function when you need it most, during a sustained power loss.
There is always a small lapse of power when transferring to a generator during a power outage. For this reason it is very good practice to have Uninterrupted Power Supplies (UPS) on all critical equipment. Without this you will have some down time even with a generator. Do your homework when deciding on the proper UPS setup for your business. Ensure they are large enough to handle any load you will transfer to them. Also remember while your main purpose for a UPS is to sustain your equipment for a few minutes while transferring to your generator, they should be powerful enough to sustain your equipment for some time in case your generator does fail.
Internet connectivity is another possible area of outage for many call centers, but not for all. This becomes more critical if you employ remotes, and the more you employ, the more critical it becomes. Keep in mind remotes cannot connect to your server without coming in through some type of internet based connection in most situations. For this reason it is good practice to have a backup in place here as well. For example, if you have a T-1 for your internet connectivity, consider a cable internet backup to at least give you some connection should your main provider fail. This way you can still get your remote staff connected. Again, this may not take you completely out of business, but if you have 75% of your staff outside your main facility and you lose them, you are also going to lose 75% of your calls. When this happens you run the risk of frustrating a great deal of clients, not to mention every call missed equals additional lost revenue.
Probably the most critical area of possible outage in a call center environment is your telephone lines. Without the phone lines to bring the calls in, you can have everything else working in perfect order and you still have no business. Unfortunately, this area is also the most difficult to provide redundancy for. There are many ways you can lose your telephone lines. Probably the most common is an outage on the part of your provider. This type of outage can last minutes, hours or days. It is important to have a very strong relationship with your provider, and have someone you can contact during a loss who can help you “light a fire” to restore service. Customer Service is a critical factor to consider when choosing a provider.
There is a way, however, to provide redundancy for this type of outage. Most call centers have multiple T-1’s or PRI Spans that bring in their calls. It is good practice to have at least some of your lines come from a different provider. That way if the issue is provider related, you still have some ability to bring calls in. Should you employ this practice, it is important you have a planned process to roll your call volume from one provider to the other. These outages are generally short, and while they can certainly have a negative effect on your business, they are not usually severe enough to cause you to lose clients.
A call center owner’s biggest fear is generally the actual physical cutting of the lines coming into their building. Seeing a crew working in front of your building, and digging, can cause nightmares. This would be the most difficult issue to overcome, and the most difficult to provide redundancy for, as when this happens there is nothing coming in at all, from any provider. There are ways to prepare for this type of situation, though they can be difficult and sometimes costly.
One option would be to work with another call center that may be willing to handle your volume in this type of situation. In this type of situation you must clearly define the expectations in advance, so both parties are clear on the process should this become necessary to employ. They may simply be available to answer your calls and inform them due to an emergency, they are unable to assist at this time, and please try their call again later. You may work out a situation where they can actual provide service for specific emergent calls. Or you may even work out a situation where they will maintain a redundant copy of your information so they are able to assist your callers completely. This will largely depend on the type of call center you run, the capabilities of the call center you are partnering with, and the volume at the time of the outage. Remember, the more involved the plan, the more they are able to do for you, the more costly and time intensive it is to maintain the backup plan in this area.
A disaster can present itself in many forms, and at any time. While it is impossible to predict them, it is critical to prepare for them. For many businesses a Disaster Recovery plan is acceptable, but for the Call Center industry, a Disaster Preparedness plan is much more effective and much more necessary. During an actual disaster it can be very stressful and difficult to consider what to do next. Having the process clearly defined in advance makes it much easier to employ. It is good practice to take the time to define the possible points of failure and know what to do should the unfortunate day come when you face these situations. Be Prepared.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Annoyance or Convenience?
So the other day I was standing in the supermarket aisle scoping out the canned veggies. This young lady a couple of feet away asked: "Honey, what kind of black-eyed peas should I buy?"
I was a bit flabbergasted by her familiarity, but flattered that she wanted to tap my expertise in selecting the proper legume. So, I said: "Well, sweetie, the ones with snaps add flavor to peas and ham hocks being cooked as a soup. If it's a side dish, go with snaps and bacon bits. Better yet, forget the cans and pick the fresher peas in frozen food. Thawing takes longer, but the extra taste is worth the wait. For cornbread, I recommend ..."
She turned and looked at me like a meter maid sizing up a suspected purse snatcher.
Then I saw it, half-hidden under coifed hair. The small device clinging like a baby possum curled around her ear.
I had been bitten once again by Bluetooth, the wireless technology that allows cell phone users to jabber sans hands.
My brushes with Bluetoothing shoppers are becoming more frequent. But enough is enough. I plan to fight this Bluetooth-and-nail by developing an aggressive defense mechanism to disguise chagrin. The next Bluetoothed black-eyed pea picker who mutters a word will get a G-rated version of Robert DeNiro doing Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver: "Are you talking to me? I don't see nobody else around. So you must be talking to me."
Then I'll tell the walkie-talker to stuff his Bluetooth in a Blackberry.
Of course, this is an even bigger fantasy than believing in the Bluetooth Fairy. Bluetooth users are replicating faster than pods after an invasion of body snatchers. Each shopping trip I encounter more aliens transmitting endless telepathic messages handlessly back to mother ships. The tower of Bluetooth babble is only going to get bigger and louder, creating even more chances for offhand foot-in-mouth incidents.
Where I come from, people who ambled around apparently conversing with themselves were considered a half-bubble off plumb. As far as I'm concerned, Bluetooth should be treated as a concealed weapon of mass communications destruction. Any person with an earful should be required to wear a sign blinking "Bluetooth On Board."
Victims should be able to sue for pain and suffering caused by Bluetooth abuse due to deceptive conversation practices. I figure $10 per episode should cover my loss of dignity.
An even greater fear is the inevitable spread of Bluetooth decay beyond supermarket shelves. One day soon I'll be in a department store. A woman standing nearby will say: "Honey, what size boxer shorts do you wear?"
I was a bit flabbergasted by her familiarity, but flattered that she wanted to tap my expertise in selecting the proper legume. So, I said: "Well, sweetie, the ones with snaps add flavor to peas and ham hocks being cooked as a soup. If it's a side dish, go with snaps and bacon bits. Better yet, forget the cans and pick the fresher peas in frozen food. Thawing takes longer, but the extra taste is worth the wait. For cornbread, I recommend ..."
She turned and looked at me like a meter maid sizing up a suspected purse snatcher.
Then I saw it, half-hidden under coifed hair. The small device clinging like a baby possum curled around her ear.
I had been bitten once again by Bluetooth, the wireless technology that allows cell phone users to jabber sans hands.
My brushes with Bluetoothing shoppers are becoming more frequent. But enough is enough. I plan to fight this Bluetooth-and-nail by developing an aggressive defense mechanism to disguise chagrin. The next Bluetoothed black-eyed pea picker who mutters a word will get a G-rated version of Robert DeNiro doing Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver: "Are you talking to me? I don't see nobody else around. So you must be talking to me."
Then I'll tell the walkie-talker to stuff his Bluetooth in a Blackberry.
Of course, this is an even bigger fantasy than believing in the Bluetooth Fairy. Bluetooth users are replicating faster than pods after an invasion of body snatchers. Each shopping trip I encounter more aliens transmitting endless telepathic messages handlessly back to mother ships. The tower of Bluetooth babble is only going to get bigger and louder, creating even more chances for offhand foot-in-mouth incidents.
Where I come from, people who ambled around apparently conversing with themselves were considered a half-bubble off plumb. As far as I'm concerned, Bluetooth should be treated as a concealed weapon of mass communications destruction. Any person with an earful should be required to wear a sign blinking "Bluetooth On Board."
Victims should be able to sue for pain and suffering caused by Bluetooth abuse due to deceptive conversation practices. I figure $10 per episode should cover my loss of dignity.
An even greater fear is the inevitable spread of Bluetooth decay beyond supermarket shelves. One day soon I'll be in a department store. A woman standing nearby will say: "Honey, what size boxer shorts do you wear?"
Monday, June 23, 2008
Answering Services for Small Businesses
Sometimes small businesses need an Answering Service in order to convey the image of a much larger corporation, cut costs, and manage phone call volume.
Following are samples of some 24/7 answering services that small businesses can take advantage of:
Catalog Order Entry
Dealer Locator
Help Desk
Lead Qualification
Pre-Qualification
Live Internet Chat
Receptionist/Help Desk Overflow
Receptionist Message Center
Employee Time and Attendance Tracking
Medical Answering Service
Property Management
Voicemail
Conference & Event Registration
Portray a Professional Image and Reap the Benefits...
Appointments/Reservations
Email Response
Other Service we offer:
Survey/Polling
Brochure/Product Information Requests
Membership Renewals
Insurance Claims Reporting / Information
With an answering service, callers will not realize they are not speaking to your direct employees. Calls can be transferred to your direct line or voicemail, messages taken when you are unavailable, forwarded to you via fax, email, or SMS Messaging. This is a great way to make sure callers always get a live voice on the line. Answering services, call overflow, vacation and sick-time coverage, after hours answering, etc. give small businesses complete tele-messaging coverage.
Answer Service Customer Representatives are trained to effectively handle all calls in a professional manner with speed and accuracy, ensuring that each message contains the exact information needed.In addition, the answering service is responsible for benefits, taxes, and insurance of their own employees. This allows greater flexibility and can lower expenses for the small business.
The following reasons illustrate why small businesses should consider and answering service:
· Customers never get a busy signal or go to automated voice mail.
· Save money and time and answer 24/7
· Filter your calls – avoid sales calls
· Get messages instantly via email or text message
· Present a professional image, and impression of a large company
The quality of customer service for a company can make or break it. An answering service guarantees quality, well trained customer service staff. No amount of technology will ever replace individual attention provided by a live person answering customer questions. An answering service is much more cost effective than hiring a secretary, or trying to handle all calls alone. Having a telephone answering service allows small businesses to focus on the job at hand and give customers undivided attention.Having a telephone answering service is definitely something every small business owner should consider.
Following are samples of some 24/7 answering services that small businesses can take advantage of:
Catalog Order Entry
Dealer Locator
Help Desk
Lead Qualification
Pre-Qualification
Live Internet Chat
Receptionist/Help Desk Overflow
Receptionist Message Center
Employee Time and Attendance Tracking
Medical Answering Service
Property Management
Voicemail
Conference & Event Registration
Portray a Professional Image and Reap the Benefits...
Appointments/Reservations
Email Response
Other Service we offer:
Survey/Polling
Brochure/Product Information Requests
Membership Renewals
Insurance Claims Reporting / Information
With an answering service, callers will not realize they are not speaking to your direct employees. Calls can be transferred to your direct line or voicemail, messages taken when you are unavailable, forwarded to you via fax, email, or SMS Messaging. This is a great way to make sure callers always get a live voice on the line. Answering services, call overflow, vacation and sick-time coverage, after hours answering, etc. give small businesses complete tele-messaging coverage.
Answer Service Customer Representatives are trained to effectively handle all calls in a professional manner with speed and accuracy, ensuring that each message contains the exact information needed.In addition, the answering service is responsible for benefits, taxes, and insurance of their own employees. This allows greater flexibility and can lower expenses for the small business.
The following reasons illustrate why small businesses should consider and answering service:
· Customers never get a busy signal or go to automated voice mail.
· Save money and time and answer 24/7
· Filter your calls – avoid sales calls
· Get messages instantly via email or text message
· Present a professional image, and impression of a large company
The quality of customer service for a company can make or break it. An answering service guarantees quality, well trained customer service staff. No amount of technology will ever replace individual attention provided by a live person answering customer questions. An answering service is much more cost effective than hiring a secretary, or trying to handle all calls alone. Having a telephone answering service allows small businesses to focus on the job at hand and give customers undivided attention.Having a telephone answering service is definitely something every small business owner should consider.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Your Company’s Forgotten Entrance
Customers enter your business in three ways:
1. Your front door.
2. Your web site.
3. Your telephone.
You know how important first impressions are. You've chosen the right color of paint, the right furniture, maybe even hired an interior designer.
By now, every company has some sort of web site. Some are more functional than others, but the point is, you've thought about it. You know your customers go online, so it's important to have something for them as they enter your cyber door.
OK, now let's consider your telephone, or what I like to call, Your Company's Forgotten Entrance. Why "forgotten"? Because chances are, you have no idea what is happening right now when someone calls your company and has to wait anywhere within your phone system.
According to Inbound Outbound magazine, 94 percent of your marketing budget is spent trying to get the phone to ring, with 6 percent left over to handle the customer after they call. So what happens when a call comes in to your company? Chances are a transfer will take place to the appropriate person or department. Or they wait as someone is paged. Or they wait to go into voice mail. Or they hit zero to exit voice mail to see when that person will be available. In other words, they are waiting in your virtual "telephone lobby."
How much effort have you invested into decorating that lobby? In other words, what is occupying the attention of those customers that are interested enough in your company to want to pick up the telephone and call you? Do you make callers suffer through the voicemail jungle or do you staff your office with a warm friendly person? Did you know that Time Communications is able to capable of answering all of you incoming calls LIVE and transferring callers to the appropriate person or department?
"But no one goes on-hold at my company." Answer this: Is it anyone's job to watch the phone traffic and keep track? Does your phone system offer Call Accounting so you really know for sure? If so, are you using it? At Time Communications we can offer you reporting that shows every aspect of the calls we answer for you.
A survey of 30,000 callers by USA Business Telephone Today showed that 52 percent of callers hung up before they'd listen to 60 seconds of dead air!
Decorate that telephone lobby with specific information. Don't let them get up and walk out of your lobby (also known as caller hang-ups). Put that untapped asset of telephone air time to use. It's an asset you already own. Remember, THEY called YOU!
1. Your front door.
2. Your web site.
3. Your telephone.
You know how important first impressions are. You've chosen the right color of paint, the right furniture, maybe even hired an interior designer.
By now, every company has some sort of web site. Some are more functional than others, but the point is, you've thought about it. You know your customers go online, so it's important to have something for them as they enter your cyber door.
OK, now let's consider your telephone, or what I like to call, Your Company's Forgotten Entrance. Why "forgotten"? Because chances are, you have no idea what is happening right now when someone calls your company and has to wait anywhere within your phone system.
According to Inbound Outbound magazine, 94 percent of your marketing budget is spent trying to get the phone to ring, with 6 percent left over to handle the customer after they call. So what happens when a call comes in to your company? Chances are a transfer will take place to the appropriate person or department. Or they wait as someone is paged. Or they wait to go into voice mail. Or they hit zero to exit voice mail to see when that person will be available. In other words, they are waiting in your virtual "telephone lobby."
How much effort have you invested into decorating that lobby? In other words, what is occupying the attention of those customers that are interested enough in your company to want to pick up the telephone and call you? Do you make callers suffer through the voicemail jungle or do you staff your office with a warm friendly person? Did you know that Time Communications is able to capable of answering all of you incoming calls LIVE and transferring callers to the appropriate person or department?
"But no one goes on-hold at my company." Answer this: Is it anyone's job to watch the phone traffic and keep track? Does your phone system offer Call Accounting so you really know for sure? If so, are you using it? At Time Communications we can offer you reporting that shows every aspect of the calls we answer for you.
A survey of 30,000 callers by USA Business Telephone Today showed that 52 percent of callers hung up before they'd listen to 60 seconds of dead air!
Decorate that telephone lobby with specific information. Don't let them get up and walk out of your lobby (also known as caller hang-ups). Put that untapped asset of telephone air time to use. It's an asset you already own. Remember, THEY called YOU!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
What a Call Center Can Do For Your Company
It is a necessity for businesses to maintain regular contact with new and existing customers. This is a large enterprise to adopt. It takes the acquisition of employees, training, and time to manage and reassess the endeavor. Many companies find it advantageous to outsource for this service.
Call centers provide the services needed and are staffed by experienced professionals. Call centers handle incoming calls from consumers and make outgoing calls to generate more sales for your business. More companies are finding this service useful because they are able to maintain relationships with their customers while saving time and money.
Choosing the right call center for you:
When outsourcing for any service, it is highly important to find the right fit for your company.
Consider the following criteria when choosing a call center.
Call centers provide the services needed and are staffed by experienced professionals. Call centers handle incoming calls from consumers and make outgoing calls to generate more sales for your business. More companies are finding this service useful because they are able to maintain relationships with their customers while saving time and money.
Choosing the right call center for you:
When outsourcing for any service, it is highly important to find the right fit for your company.
Consider the following criteria when choosing a call center.
- Choose a call center that can handle the volume of expected incoming and outgoing calls reflective of your campaign.
- The technology in the industry is greatly advancing. Choosing a call center with the latest technology will increase the effectiveness of your campaign.
- Diligently discuss matters of pricing. Different call centers have varied methods of charging their clients. Depending on the nature and size of your campaign, some methods of pricing will be better for your company.
- Ask for references and check them. Learn how the call center runs others' campaigns, handles mistakes, and achieves levels of success.
- Use a call center well-experienced in working with companies of your industry.
- Above all, be comfortable with the key people you will be working with at the call center.
Subscribe in a reader