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.
BlogTime is your information center for news in the call center industry and is brought to you by Time Communications. Time Communications specializes in creating opportunities to help provide meaningful customer service. With a 36 year history in the call center industry, our team of over 100 employees are committed to excellence in all of their daily endeavors.
About Us
Time Communications Inc.
Time Communications is a call center located in Minneapolis / St. Paul, Minnesota with additional offices in New York Mills and Brainerd, Minnesota. We have provided quality telecommunication services to large and small businesses since 1972. We have live agents on duty 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days a year. Our customer service representatives are responsive and professional in communicating with customers.
To be successful in today's competitive world you need to have the right combination of highly trained individuals, and the best equipment for them to use. At Time Communications we have both. Our skilled staff works closely with you, ensuring that we take advantage of all the technology at our disposal. We will provide you the most powerful communications system available.
It's a fact - people educated in Minnesota rank at the top in national testing. Your callers will hear the difference! Our clear, crisp enunciation gives us the edge in meeting your needs more professionally.
Time Communications is a call center located in Minneapolis / St. Paul, Minnesota with additional offices in New York Mills and Brainerd, Minnesota. We have provided quality telecommunication services to large and small businesses since 1972. We have live agents on duty 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days a year. Our customer service representatives are responsive and professional in communicating with customers.
To be successful in today's competitive world you need to have the right combination of highly trained individuals, and the best equipment for them to use. At Time Communications we have both. Our skilled staff works closely with you, ensuring that we take advantage of all the technology at our disposal. We will provide you the most powerful communications system available.
It's a fact - people educated in Minnesota rank at the top in national testing. Your callers will hear the difference! Our clear, crisp enunciation gives us the edge in meeting your needs more professionally.
No comments:
Post a Comment