Taking It to the Next Level: Is It Time For a Call Center?

Posted on May 29, 2012 by admin

There comes a time in every person’s life when one has to take that crucial step in order to move forward.

A practical move of selling your house and “scaling down” to a condo, taking your relationship to the next level (i.e., getting hitched)—these are just some of the things that require a lot of guts in order to better our lot.

The same thing can be said about a growing enterprise. If you want your Finances R Us investment and financial services company to grow, for instance, there are some things you must to be willing to do. And one of the decisions you might just find yourself contemplating on is “whether or not it’s time to call—to call upon outsourced call center services?

Ask yourself: Do you want to reach more customers? A customer contact center can indeed help you touch base with more customers—even those outside of your “area of responsibility—your neighborhood or even your city. With new technologies, a lot of outsourced customer care facilities can even open up your business to folks from around the world.

Apart from this, you might likewise want to check if you’re ready to turn over the reins of certain tasks, and focus instead on business development–looking for new markets and partners, and the like. If you are in retail, how about delegating the sales tasks to an order taking call center or a reservations call center if you are in the hospitality business.

Of course, only you can decide whether it’s time to take the next step. Just remember that if you want glory, you need to have guts.

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Don’t Let Their Feedback Fall on Deaf Ears

Posted on May 25, 2012 by admin

Are there times when you feel like you’re merely talking to yourself; like the other person isn’t listening—even if you’re face-to-face with them? Or what about those pleas that “fall on deaf ears”?

You can do your customers a favor by sparing them from “feedback that falls on deaf ears”. If they say that they want more fish in your diner’s menu, go fishing and give them their trout. If they feel that your call center facility isn’t “reachable” enough, find a way to unclog that busy hotline.

Beyond calls and fish, however, making the most of customer feedback means that you’re listening because you care. Remember that your clients didn’t just give you their hard earned money, they gave you their trust. If you really value this, the least you can do is listen.

So if someone sends you an email, calls up your call center hotline, or writes on your Facebook wall, don’t ignore him. Do your best to change your system, alter a policy, give them a freebie (if you have a order taking service or reservations call center), or simply thank them for their message—anything that shows you’re listening. And no matter how crazy some posts may sound, remember that that message still comes from a customer—a valued customer.

Ignore your customers, and they could very well pass you by come purchase time.

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Traffic Management, Call Center-style

Posted on May 24, 2012 by admin

Traffic is an everyday part of life, especially if you live in the big city. Despite being a jaded city-motorist, there are still times when you catch yourself asking “What’s causing the holdup?” For it is quite irritating to learn that you were late for work all because of a not-so-conscientious road user who just had to fix a flat in the middle of Metro gridlock.

Your Tasty Pastry shop, meanwhile, can spare customers from asking questions like “what’s taking them so long to answer the phone?” Remember that needlessly long call center waiting times can lead to dropped calls, among others. So if you find a bottleneck in your voice call system, do your best to unclog it.

This means installing more telephone lines, if needed. If the problem has to do with a call backlog, why not opt for a Call Overflow order taking service? And having other channels like Live Chat and E-mail offered by an outsourced call center wouldn’t be a bad idea, either.

So be a good cop, err, Business Owner, and do your callers a favor. Spare them from customer contact center traffic jams.

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Accentuating Customer Care

Posted on May 22, 2012 by admin

Have you ever been alone in a foreign land? While many of the locals speak English and are even quite accommodating, it somehow doesn’t change the fact that you’re all by your lonesome. After going around and taking in the sights, a ray of hope appears (on should we say, rings in the air)—someone that speaks your native tongue, complete with your local accent.

While English is considered as the universal language, learning to speak a foreign language, or even adapt a certain “twang” or dialect can go a long way, especially if your Small Business has its very own outsourced call center. In fact, you can play a crucial role in making many a customer feel that someone is on their side when they need it.

A customer care rep with a Southern accent can, for instance, lead the way for many folks from South Carolina that might wish to avail of your Motel route 66 Travel Specials. Or, a Cebuano-speaking telephone agent would definitely come in handy for customers hailing from the Southern Philippine province who are looking to apply for an all-purpose loan for their furniture shop expansion.

Whatever accent, dialect, or language you speak, the important thing to remember is extending top-rate order taking service, phone taking answering service or even hotel call center reservations. Making clients feel special can definitely go a long way in winning their trust and loyalty. The accent, meanwhile, just makes them like they’re speaking with a familiar face (or voice).

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The Law of Customer Attraction

Posted on May 18, 2012 by admin

The “game of love” can be quite puzzling at times. While you do your best to pursue the girl of your dreams with flowers, candy, and the best restaurants in town, there are times when you still end up heart-broken.

The good news is that you don’t necessarily need to wine-and-dine your clients just to win them over. While this may help seal a contract, one of the best ways to attract clients is to simply be there when they need you. Keeping customer contact center hotlines free is one way to go. Having polite and friendly live outsourced call center agents on hand to take their calls is even better.

While you’re at it, make it a point to attend to their needs. If Mr. Jones has issues with a new set of tires he recently purchased from your shop, ensure that Cindy, your telephone rep, sees him through the problem every step of the way—until the problem is solved. If she needs to refer him to someone more knowledgeable about the issue, she should avoid passing him around like a basketball and send his call directly to the exact person. And following-up after a few days wouldn’t hurt as well, just to make sure everything is in order.

No fancy tricks, just be there for them. In the end, you may win more than their wallets—you’d have won their trust.

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Let’s Get Personal

Posted on May 17, 2012 by admin

Have you ever noticed how a lot of establishments, such as Starbucks, ask for your name when taking down your order? This has prompted many a patron to give names such as Lady Gaga or Michael Jordan, just to see the other customers get a kick once their “names” are called. Whether you’ve done it or not, you have to admit that it is quite fun, isn’t it?

The good news is that you don’t need to be a Starbucks to offer your clients’ personalized service. Your phone reps handling order taking services can, for instance, ask for their caller’s name, to properly address them during the course of the conversation.

Aside from this, you might want to take note of customers’ birthdays when signing them up for such things as a new mobile phone plan. This way, you can make them feel like they’re “friends of the business” each time you send them a birthday or Christmas card. Moreover, constantly keep in touch to get their feedback, and even send them some info on your latest offers. And “meeting” them with a warm greeting each time you encounter them shows that you remember them—no matter how large your customer base grows.

Doing your best to go beyond customer numbers, and giving customers the personal touch will give them more than just a kick; it can lead to making them customers for life. And can even give you more numbers—oh, we mean, customers.

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Give Your Customers Some Summer Love—Don’t Put Them on Hold

Posted on May 15, 2012 by admin

The summer holidays are fast approaching. In a few weeks, school will be out and various “summer sale” promos will be fighting for our attention. It’s also the time when a lot of stores and travel agencies, among others, get a heavy volume of patrons.

Unfortunately, such a “holiday business boom” tends to create a problem, especially for the customer call center industry—busy signals and customers being put on hold for needlessly long hours. The good news is that your travel lodge’s reservations call center services can avoid such long “hold times”. How?

Keep in mind that the days like these always bring increased traffic. Make the most of this opportunity to serve by putting in more call center hotlines. Hire extra phone reps for the season, if needed. Putting in place call overflow and after-hours customer support or order taking call center services might likewise be a good idea. Open up other channels like Live Chat, and make sure to monitor them so that everything is in sync.

Your phone agents might also want to keep those calls short but meaningful. Without being rude, avoid lingering on the phone with one customer for too long. If their request requires a bit of a wait, politely warn them that it “may take a while” to process their request. Meanwhile, do your best to process that request with the utmost speed, but more importantly, accuracy.

With careful planning and implementation, your growing company can keep summer cool by avoiding putting everyone’s summer on hold.

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Winning Their Loyalty

Posted on May 10, 2012 by admin

A dog is considered by many as man’s best friend. Not only is that pooch a great playmate, especially when playing “catch”, he can likewise be one of the most loyal friends you’ll ever have. Treat him well, and he’ll be indebted to you for life, even saving your hide when it counts most.

As a business owner, do you sometimes wish your customers were as loyal as Spot? The good news is that your customized print shop can create a loyal customer base quite easily. How?

One excellent way is to treat them as friends, and not merely as customers who bring in the money. Get to know dates like their birthday, so you can send them a greeting card. This makes them feel special, no matter how small it may be. While you’re at it, why not send them a complimentary cake or a free one night’s stay at your Bed and Breakfast—especially if you’ve known them for years.

Beyond special deals and greeting cards, the best way to gain customer loyalty is to give them impeccable customer service. Listen to their feedback and give them what they long for. Having an outsourced call center can help your business achieve this.

Make it easy to reach you. And put service by setting up a 24/7 order taking service and reservations call center at the core of your business.

There are many ways to keep customers coming back. All you need to do is be creative. And just like Buster, your customers can be your company’s best friends.

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Catch Those Overflowing Calls

overflow
Posted on May 8, 2012 by admin

Don’t you just hate it when you encounter a call center hotline with a busy signal? Or a customer inquiry service that makes you wait for an eternity and a day? Or what about an inbound call support facility that claims to be on standby 24/7, yet refuses to accept calls after “office hours”?

If you’ve come across such nuances, then it might be a good idea to consider beefing up your Small Enterprise with a Call Overflow service, particularly for those inbound calls for order taking services and reservations call center services.

As the name suggests, Call Overflow services aim to de-congest a large number of incoming calls, in the hopes of avoiding such inconveniences as busy signals, long waiting times, or worse, lost calls. Moreover, it can help take in calls even after “regular office hours” as well.

But does your rent-a-car service really need such an outsourced call center service, you ask? If you constantly hear your clients complain about not being able to reach you since the line is always busy, then there’s your answer. If you want to bring in more business to your neighborhood bakery that’s known for selling the best homemade pastries this side of the world, then we say go for it. And if you want to see more happy customers, then the answer is obvious.

Want to know more about Call Overflow support services? Check back with us soon. It may just be the answer you’re waiting for. And there are no busy signals.

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Reserve Now, But Where?

Posted on May 3, 2012 by admin

As you leaf through the Village Voice, you come across an ad that harps about “prima ballerina dance lessons”, which your little girl has been begging for, for the longest time. What’s more, it’s now very affordable, thanks to a summertime limited offer. Unfortunately, the dance school forgot one important detail: a number where you can book a slot.

While the aforementioned ad may look like a case of copy gone wrong, this is a reminder to many a business owner to make your company easily accessible to your market. What good is that line of men’s shoes you’re selling, if people don’t know where to buy them?

If you’ve got a customer service hotline, it might be a good idea to include it in your ads. Apart from this, your website should have a contact form where buyers can place their orders. And if you have a Facebook or Twitter page, constantly post the channels where customers can order your wares. And your Live Chat app might come in handy for order taking services and reservations call center support.

While you’re advertising your customer care call center hotline, website reservation page, e-mail address, or Instant Messenger ID, make sure that there’s a live contact center rep to attend to customer needs. Nothing is worse than having a slew of numbers that are either busy or unattended.

Show customers where to reserve/order. Doing so may just make your princess the dancing queen she’s always dreamed of.

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