Ways To Save Time In Business

Written by admin on April 25, 2013 — Leave a Comment

Feel like there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done that you need to do? If so, you aren’t alone.

A number of business owners would offer the exact same sentiments as the demands being placed upon you continue to grow and grow as your business develops.

If you want to function as effectively as possible however, it’s vital that you learn some time saving strategies. The more efficient you can become in your operations, the more time you will have to devote to what matters most – growing your business share.

Let’s go over a few key ways to save time as a business.

Know Your Primary Goals

The very first thing that you need to do in order to save time as best as possible is to know your primary goals.

If you don’t have firm goals and directions in place, you’re going to be rather scattered with your efforts. The more you can really dial in on what you must accomplish each day, the greater the chances are that you will actually get those things done.

Consider Outsourcing

One of the best ways to save time in business is to make good use of outsourcing. More and more businesses are doing this to help them run more effectively and are being met with great rewards because of it.

There are a number of things you can outsource from call centre outsourcing to admin support to having a personal assistant.

Whatever your need, you can get help for it.

Don’t Over Work Yourself

Next, make sure you know your limits. While some business owners think that the more work they can do, the faster things will get done, this isn’t always the case.

If you’re burning yourself out on a daily basis, your performance on all tasks will be impacted and you may actually complete them slower than you otherwise would.

Make sure that you do schedule in some down time for yourself each and every week. Taking care of yourself needs to be a priority if you hope to take care of your business.

Know Your Power Hour

In addition to this, make sure that you know when you function your best. Some people are morning people and need to guard this time very carefully.

If this is when you are most productive, don’t let anything creep into the picture.

On the other hand, for others they work best at night.

Knowing when you run optimally will help you make the most of this time, thus being more productive overall.

Say Up To Date With Technology

Finally, make sure that you’re staying up to date with technology as well. This is important because there are many technological advancements, especially when it comes to outsourcing as you can now do this all in a virtual set-up, that will quickly save you loads of time throughout the day.

Read up on the latest trends and decide which will work best for your business.

So keep these time saving strategies in mind and make sure that you consider employing them as best as you can so that you can reach the next level in your business development.

Posted in Articles | Tagged outsourced call centre, outsourcing

Must-Remember Rules For Customer Service

Written by admin on March 28, 2013 — Leave a Comment

If there’s one thing that all businesses need to be taking care of, it’s customer service. When a business has poor customer service, not only are they going to be losing the customer they are interacting with, but customers who have been dealt poor service are not going to keep their experience a secret.

If word travels quickly, you could find yourself rapidly losing more than that one particular client.

Fortunately, if you keep a few key rules in mind, you can supercharge your customer service and make sure your business stands ahead of the competition.

Always Answering Your Phone

Nothing is going to be more frustrating for a client than trying to call a business that’s not available. If you aren’t able to answer calls regularly throughout the day due to whatever reason, make sure that you have a call answering service or outsource to a local call centre

Stay True To Your Promises

Another must-do for any business is to be very choosey about the promises you make. If there are any doubts about your ability to keep them, don’t make that promise.

Nothing will sour a customer’s viewpoint of your business faster than when a promise is not upheld, so make sure you are prepared to back up everything you say with the appropriate action.

Deal With Complaints Respectively

Complaints are going to happen to every business at some point or another, there’s really no way of avoiding this.

But, if you handle them properly, they won’t turn away your frustrated customer. Make sure that you handle them quickly and always treat your customer with respect, making sure they feel heard throughout the process.

It’s very worthwhile to spend a little extra time training your employees to deal with complaints so that no mistakes are made throughout this process.

Add In Something Extra

One thing that will really help to set your business apart from the rest is to do something extra. Going that distance shows your customers that you really care for them and aren’t out to just make a dollar.

This could be something as simple as a future discount, a combined product offer, or follow up service with their new product depending on the nature of it.

Look for little ways to set yourself apart like this and it will make a massive difference on how happy your customers are with your business.

Be Friendly

Finally, make sure that you are being as friendly as possible. Do not overlook how important this is. A simple smile can go a long way, so make sure you are hiring staff that have a welcoming attitude and are going to give off a positive vibe to your customers.

If you can implement these simple yet highly effective customer services practices, you can rest assured you will have some happy customers who are coming back for more.

Posted in Articles

Why It Pays To Have Great Customer Service

Written by admin on February 15, 2013 — Leave a Comment

Whether you’re just starting out in business or you’ve been working hard for a few years now, one thing that you need to make sure you’re doing is putting good customer service policies in place.

A recent study that was conducted by YouGov and Cognito found that 53% of customers are going to be more likely to buy from a company who is delivering great customer services.

So while you may think that it’s more costly to implement good customer services policies, the fact is that this could very much influence your total revenue share in the market.

If your business is well-known for having the best customer service policies, not only will you retain your current customer base that much better, but you will attract new customers with much less effort as well.

82% of those who were surveyed said that if they had a poor customer service experience, they would most definitely be telling others about it, so if you aren’t up to par with your policies, word will spread fast.

So what can you do to ensure that your customer service is where it needs to be?

Let’s go over a few things to remember.

Make Good Use Of Social Media

First, make sure that you are staying up to date with the latest in social media trends. This is going to be important because times are changing and more and more people are turning online to find information out about businesses and also as a means of communication.

While you never want to completely do away with phone calls, you must also maintain a good social media presence.

Whether this be Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or otherwise, make sure you have your basis covered.

Make Sure You’re Answering Your Phones

Next, always taking the time to answer the phones quickly in an upbeat and positive manner will also rank in well with customers.

Never allow there to be long wait times on calls as this could possibly be the most frustrating experience a customer could face.

If you can’t handle the call volume yourself or your hired employee is unable to keep up, consider outsourcing to a virtual assistant or call centre service.

This is a very low cost way to really bump up your customer service level.

Offer Discounts From Time To Time

Finally, make sure that you are rewarding your customers from time to time. Offer ‘frequent flyer’ discounts to customers who are coming back to you again and again as this will help encourage their continued loyalty.

Try and create a database list of all the customers that you serve so that you can easily reach out to them from time to time and give information about special discounts or events happening with your company.

The more often you can do this, the faster good word will spread about you.

So there you have some important points to keep in mind. The facts are clear and you simply cannot afford to overlook good customer service.

Posted in Articles, Call Centres

Outsourcing to a call centre – how will my company benefit?

Written by admin on January 24, 2013 — Leave a Comment

Many companies can benefit from outsourcing to a call centre. A professional call centre is able to provide you with a bespoke and comprehensive telephone answering service, which allows you and your staff members to get on with your business day without the constant interruption of telephone calls.

Many telephone calls that you will receive in your business may be either cold callers or non-priority calls which can be attended to at a later date.

Occasionally you have a very important business call, but how can you tell these apart from your other callers?

You may lose a business opportunity simply by not answering the phone to this caller. On the other hand, your staff member may answer this call but may not attend to the caller in the most appropriate way – and the caller may feel like their business would be better welcomed elsewhere.

Your current staff are probably overworked and answering the constant telephone calls will be a burden to them. Outsourcing to a professional call centre will allow your staff to focus solely on their business activities, rather than answering any unwanted calls.

Important telephone calls can be transferred directly to the appropriate landline or even your mobile phone if this is required. This means that you benefit from a more productive work day where only the most important calls will come through to your mobile for you to answer. In turn, you will never have to worry about missing a business opportunity again.

The staff at the call centre are completely experienced and qualified when it comes to answering business calls. They will answer in a polite and respectful manner, which will give the best possible image of your company.

Building this kind of brand by improving your customer facing communications can set you apart from other, similar companies in your industry. This is all very important in a very competitive business world where customers can easily be swayed by another business, and where standing out from the crowd is vital.

Posted in Articles, Call Centres

How should you talk to customers on the phone when they call?

Written by admin on September 6, 2012 — Leave a Comment

When running a business most people tend to communicate through typing out emails rather than by actually talking over the phone; these emails can sometimes come over as cold and unfriendly. By changing your ways of speaking over the phone you will start forming a stronger relationship with your customers and they will become loyal to your company, and will continue to use your company over again with repeat business and also recommend to other like minded companies.

But how should you speak to your clients? You should ask yourself what is it your customer wants and what are they thinking about, and with this in mind, you should speak to your clients in a personal but strong and approachable manner.

Sometimes when we speak to someone in front of us there are often silences or pauses which we take as part of the conversation. When speaking on the phone however these silences we sometimes think are not professional and there should always be someone speaking. This isn’t the case however; your customers need some time to gain their thoughts giving them to formulate their ideas and response, so sometimes the silences can be advantageous.

When you have finished talking to your customers, have a customer data card to hand.

After you have spoken to them you can add to their card all the relevant and pertinent information you have gained over the phone, so as next time you speak to them you can recall some of their previous conversation or comments.

This will make them feel that they are important to you, maybe more so if the information is on a more personal level, and what they have said you have listened to and remembered. It’s a way of gaining their loyalty; they will feel they have a good rapport with you and your company.

And finally when you talk to your customers you must show them you really know your business and make them feel confident that they have made the right choice by choosing the right person for the job.

Don’t be hesitant when talking; be precise, never waver away from what you are trying to say, and if the conversation does go off the topic you must be authoritative and bring it back on course.

You may want to outsource a call centre to conduct this telephone answering service on your behalf.

Posted in Articles, Call Centres, Telephone Answering

Delivering Top Notch Customer Service

Written by admin on June 25, 2012 — Leave a Comment

Customer service is very important in business today. It has always been important, but the focus on customer service is particularly prevalent today when there is so much competition in the field. This means that you need to stand out as much as you can as a business.

Whether you have an online shop or have a shop or office block, it is difficult to deliver the kind of customer service that you think your customers deserve when you both tight on budget and staff members. A lot of companies are finding that they simply do not have the time to pay to customers that they would like to.

However, some companies are realising that by outsourcing, you can achieve a very high level of customer service but without spending a lot of money.

Outsourcing to call centre in London is something that a lot of different companies are doing, from small start-up companies that need somebody to answer their phones for them when they are out on the road, to larger companies who have high volumes of calls coming into the business every day.

By answering each and every telephone call, you can ensure that your customers receive a quick service.

The way that the call is dealt is also important. All of the call centre staff in the call centre are trained and qualified in the area of answering calls and customer service. This means that they know that they need to be friendly and professional, whilst being personable and understanding the caller’s specific needs. They will also deal with the call in terms of either passing on a message or transferring the call to whoever the caller needs to speak to.

In most cases, they will try and resolve the call within one telephone call so that the caller does not need to worry about telephoning the company back again, or waiting for a call back.

Despite the recent rise in social media, the telephone call is still the main method of communication from many customers to many different kinds of businesses.

This means that customer service really needs to be focused on and the key attributes of customer service are efficiency, professionalism and likeability. The customer needs to feel like they would use the company again, which builds a brand loyalty and stands the business out in the busy marketplace.

Posted in Articles, Call Centres

Call Centre Outsourcing – Do I Need It?

Written by admin on March 23, 2012 — Leave a Comment

Many businesses may be struggling to answer all their incoming calls. If this is the case, you may need call centre outsourcing services.

You may need a call centre outsourcing service if you:
• Find it hard to answer all calls
• Put calls on hold often
• Put calls through to voicemails often
• Forget to return messages
• Never get a message on time
• Call back to clients too late
• Are disorganised
• Have too much to do and answering calls disrupts your schedule

Call centre outsourcing can:
• Provide you with a stress free service for answering all your calls
• Conduct telemarketing on your behalf too
• Pass messages on in a timely way
• Pass coherent messages on through your choice of communication – text, email, etc.
• Provide virtual PA services so admin can also be conducted efficiently.

The benefits of a call centre are that not only do you receive a first class service which provides excellent customer service to your callers, but you also save time and money. Time and money is invaluable in this current business climate where there doesn’t seem to be a lot of it around! Any business, large or small, may benefit from call answering services through call centre outsourcing. Even freelancers who would from home may benefit from the professional image which call centre outsourcing can create – to make the business appear a lot larger and well established than it is.

The great thing about a call centre is that the package you receive is not fixed. It changes as your business needs develop, which can be often. This makes it very advantageous for all types of businesses across various industry sectors. One company said, “Outsourcing to a call centre was great – it saved me time from answering the phone all day and ensured I stayed more organised too. They have even helped me with my admin and website and set up a central booking system for me which has helped enormously with keeping track of orders!”

Posted in Articles, Call Centres

Keeping customers happy

Written by admin on December 15, 2011 — Leave a Comment

Ever thought about how you as a business can ensure that you keep your Customers happy?

The conventional way that the majority of call centres London based companies achieve this would be to organise a sales campaign in an attempt to hit their sales targets.

A true customer service is measured in many extra ways. This would vary slightly between different companies offering this service but will more than likely include concentrating on precise target areas then putting all their focus on bringing that target group on board. This would also mean measuring for performance levels and allowing for constant interaction through varying media channels.

It may sound too good to be true but there are outsourced call centres out there that could supply this solution for you.

If your competitor uses the services of call centre A then it may not automatically fit into your work environment so you may need to use the services of call centre B. It is important to be clear as to what would work in your particular work environment as this is half the battle because no two call centres are the same.

‘To be clear’ is an easy statement to make but a little more difficult to put into practice so look at and identify those things that help you increase your productivity and those issues that impair your productivity.

What is sometimes seen as an irrelevant matter can be significant, such as the true cost of never reaching the correct party which is not often taken into account, but can be a considerable expense for you. When you calculate this cost then you are in a position to evaluate whether the services of a call centre is the ideal solution for your company to either reduce or eliminate that specific cost for you.

These are the types of cost issues that need to be analysed carefully and clearly, and will help when choosing the call centre partner that most fits to your company’s requirements to reducing cost and improving customer service levels.

Posted in Articles, Call Centres, Telephone Answering

Call Centres Help Trading

Written by admin on November 17, 2011 — Leave a Comment

Trading Between Time Zones – A Telephone Answering Service Can Help!

In this modern age with the internet, more and more businesses are trading internationally. This means that they can do business with companies all across the world, with stronger communication channels and ease of travel this also encourages a healthy business.

However, it can be difficult in some cases to trade and do business with companies form different time zones. Sometimes, communicating via email is just not enough to secure a business deal, and talking in person face to face may prove costly. Therefore, the good old fashioned talking on the phone is something which many business managers like to do.

When trading with Canada, for instance, you know that when you go into work they are still in bed, and they don’t come to work until your working day is virtually finished. This can be disheartening, especially if you want to maintain strong relations with the oversees company.

Having a 24 hour telephone answering system may be an ideal solution. With a line open 24 hours a day, a call centre can take your calls at any time of the day or night and your oversees friend will welcome the friendly voice on the end of the phone, knowing that their message will be passed onto you or, if vitally important, the call operator can transfer the call to your mobile to interrupt your evening when out of the office. This means you get your important callers and will not miss out on business opportunities either. It also shows your oversees companies that you value their call, choosing to have it answered by an operator and not a cold answering machine where their message could be lost or unanswered for days.

A 24 hour telephone answering service wouldn’t just suit businesses needing to communicate between time zones. Many businesses that need to set up an emergency line will also find this beneficial, such as car or boiler repair hotlines which require immediate answering. Providing high levels of customer service helps to obtain and maintain custom for continued business success.

Posted in Articles, Call Centres, Telephone Answering

Do Call Centres Really Work?

Written by admin on November 11, 2011 — Leave a Comment

Do Call Centres Really Work?

Make the most of all your business opportunities and never miss another sales lead by outsourcing to call centre services. A call centre will be able to take all your business calls, leaving you to concentrate on your core business.

A call centre operates a 24 hour system and the fully trained operators will be on hand to answer all your telephone calls, take messages or transfer calls. Whatever service you require, a tailor made package can be arranged for you by your personal account Manager.

Telephone answering is such a basic customer service it’s usually the first point of contact for many customers. Some businesses have poor facilities that just are not able to handle large numbers of callers; with an office answering system in place you will never miss a call or potential customer again!

More and more companies are finding this is an extremely reliable and cost effective way of handling all your business calls. Every call will be answered in a polite and professional manner by fully trained locally based staff, they will be available to answer your calls twenty four hours a day, seven days a week and, in the present economic climate, business companies cannot afford to miss any potential business by not being available to answer the phone. Telephone answering is such a basic customer service after all!

Communicating with your customers is probably one of the most important areas of customer services, clients need to feel there is someone on the end of the line that will listen to them and answer any enquiries or queries they may have.

Customers like to speak to a real person, and have their enquiries, questions and queries answered straight away. By outsourcing to a call centre, all calls will be taken by real people immediately and no customer will have to leave a message on an automated telephone answering system.

This will promote a very professional image for your company and customers will feel happy with the service they have received which positively encourages them to return time after time.

Check out our London Call Centre page for more details about this service in the countries capital city.

Posted in Articles, Call Centres | Tagged call centre services, call centres, call handling, telephone answering