Gearing Up Your Call Center for the Festive Frenzy

Gearing Up Your Call Center for the Festive Frenzy

Business/ Customer Service/ Operations Management

Forecast the Call Avalanche

Kicking off holiday prep hinges on foreseeing the impending call surge with precision. By scrutinizing past data, discern patterns and pinpoint the call zeniths. This historical treasure-trove unveils invaluable customer behavior insights, paving the way for a masterful strategy to tackle the hustle and bustle head-on.

Allied with this, synergize with your marketing mavens. They hold the crystal ball, predicting spikes from promos and special deals. By grasping the ripple effect of these campaigns, your crew can brace for the inbound deluge of customer inquiries.

Armed with a vivid call volume forecast, tweak your staffing orchestration accordingly. Draft temporary hires or incentivize existing warriors for extended hours. These tactics ensure your brigade stands robust, poised to shoulder the heightened workload. Through deft scheduling and workforce marshalling, service excellence prevails, ensuring timely, adept support throughout the festive crescendo.

Supercharge Training and Arsenal

As the holiday season looms, amplifying training and augmenting resources becomes paramount. Here’s how to forge a team ready to tackle this period’s distinct demands:

Furnish Specialized Training for Festive Inquiries

During the festive tide, customers present queries divergent from regular times. Instituting bespoke training fortifies agents with the acumen and dexterity to address these seasonal enigmas. Emphasize acquainting them with trending holiday concerns—extended returns, tantalizing offers, and shipping windows.

Forge Quick-Access Guides and FAQs

Crafting nimble reference manuals and FAQs can drastically curtail agents’ hunt time. These resources, brimming with holiday-centric intel, should be readily accessible, empowering agents to deliver swift, precise service, thus elevating customer bliss during peak hours.

Revitalize Knowledge Bases with Seasonal Data

Keeping knowledge troves pulsating with the latest seasonal wisdom is vital. Embed details on promos, stock status, and policy tweaks. Routine refreshes ensure your cadre remains enlightened, adeptly conveying the freshest information to patrons without delay.

Maximize Tech and Gizmos

A tech-savvy backbone underpins a seamlessly functioning call center, especially amid holiday pandemonium. Focus on these pivotal facets:

Audit and Upkeep Communication Channels

Pre-holiday, embark on an exhaustive audit of your communication arsenal. Be it VoIP phones, live chat, or email, all systems should hum seamlessly. Regular tune-ups and updates stave off unwelcome breakdowns, averting missed calls and disgruntled customers. Enlist your IT squad to vigilantly monitor, swiftly nipping any hiccups in the bud.

Harness Automation for Mundane Tasks and Call Stewardship

Automation sails your call center through the stormy season with aplomb. Deploy auto-systems for rote tasks—customer ID, FAQs, call routing. Tools like ACD and IVR deftly juggle the call influx, channeling customers to the apt agents expeditiously. This slashes wait times, bolstering the overall customer experience.

Deploy Secure Messaging for Confidential Exchanges

Steering sensitive customer data necessitates ironclad security measures. Implement secure messaging platforms to shield customer info during dialogues. Ensure all channels align with requisite norms, such as HIPAA for medical data or GDPR for general customer info. This fortifies trust, a linchpin during the high-octane holiday period when customers demand swift, unwavering service.

What to Look for in an Answering Service

What to Look for in an Answering Service

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Bringing in an outside answering service is a big decision for business owners, but can be a great addition. Experienced answering services like Contact One can improve customer service experiences, increase sales, and save you time and money. If you are considering hiring an outside answering service, look for a company with these attributes

1. Excellent Customer Service

When evaluating answering services, first consider the level of service you receive from them! Our priority at Contact One is to train every agent in customer service and phone etiquette because we know that without satisfied customers, an answering service loses its value. There’s no room in a competitive market for subpar customer service. You should also ask prospective vendors about their customer service principles and escalation protocols.

2. Transparency

Look for an answering service that provides complete transparency, taking work off your plate, but keeping you up to date on all necessary information from calls received. Contact One becomes part of your team. Our job is to answer the calls that you can’t, answer questions about your business, and direct callers to the appropriate person/department if they require more assistance. The only thing you will be missing is the burden of answering the calls. Any important information will be sent to the business owner (or other management as directed). When interviewing an answering service, ask what types of detailed call reports you can expect to receive and at what frequency.

3. Knowledge in Your Industry

Look for answering services that specialize in your industry. Contact One has worked for decades with clients in the healthcare, legal, spa and salon, real estate, and contractor industries. Our receptionists will know the things your employees know, and they’ll be able to answer the questions your employees can answer. Ask the answering service about their experience in your field, and what their industry-specific training protocols include.

4. Price

Many business owners don’t realize that the cost of hiring a full-time receptionist is typically considerably higher than the cost of utilizing Contact One’s services. We offer customized packages based on your business’ needs and offer flat-rate services. Answering services should be able to explain their fees and rates to you and what their contract entails (long-term service agreement, month-to-month, etc.).

5. Live Receptionists and Live Chat

Many consumers still prefer to speak with a live person when they have a question or a problem when setting an appointment. In a survey conducted by The Marketing Scope, 62 percent of consumers prefer to talk to a human rather than a machine. That’s where Contact One comes in. Your customers will never experience long wait times and always speak to a real person. And if your business also needs live chat tools, our team can provide those, too.

If you think Contact One could be the answering service for your business, contact us! Experience our first-class customer service yourself by calling (877) 959-0158, or visit our website and chat with us, or contact us by email https://contactonecallcenter.com/contact/.

Financial Rebuilding: How an Answering Service Can Help Staff Return to Full Time

Financial Rebuilding: How an Answering Service Can Help Staff Return to Full Time

Answering Service / Call Center Support

Companies around the world have been forced to make staffing adjustments to survive the COVID-19 outbreak. These include salary reductions, furloughs and layoffs, as well as cutting back on staff hours. It’s never an easy decision to reduce staff or hours, especially during an international crisis. If you need trained, skilled workers but can’t afford them right now, Contact One is an option. By conserving resources now, you position your company to rehire and bring your staff back full time when the crisis passes.

Reduce customer service costs

Even in times of crisis, as your business adjusts to market demands, customer service is a major factor in its success. If you need a customer service representative but hiring or retaining an in-house employee with salaries, taxes and benefits is not feasible for your business right now, an outside answering service with set fees can help you reduce costs and ensure a predictable expense.

2. Eliminate training costs

Training is an important part of the hiring process, but it’s also expensive. According to Small Business Trends, the average cost of training an employee is estimated at $1200-$1800 for small businesses. With an answering service, your customer service representatives are already trained, without the interview, hire and training process required. Our services can help you manage cash flow in the short term, so your business survives this and can reopen the doors and rehire employees.

3. No missed customers

Customers are essential to business survival, but it can be hard to take every call with a limited staff. Our answering service is available 24/7 to take calls — in English and Spanish — for your business. This not only improves your business’s reputation, but assists customers faster, helping to keep your vital customers.

4. Reduce overtime, PTO and other expenses

One area you’ll save money on with an outside answering service is by avoiding paying receptionists/customer service representatives overtime or for working holidays. Contact One monitors your calls 24/7, and doesn’t charge extra for after-hour or holiday service, saving your company thousands of dollars.

5. Improve employee productivity

Depending on how often your business gets calls, it can take a lot of time away from other areas of work. If you’re working on a skeleton crew, but still need help, we’re an option. Hiring us as an answering service gives your existing employees more time to focus their time on revenue-producing activities.

6. Stand out from your competition

During this time of quarantine, it’s important that consumers spend money wisely, and that means being careful about which businesses they trust. Always being there to answer your customers’ calls will make your business stand out from the rest. Having an answering service that is always there to take your incoming calls will build a good reputation for your business.

If you are considering using an outside answering service, or just want to know more, contact Contact One at 1 (877)-959-0158. We can help save your company money, and help speed up getting your employees back to full time.

Why Have an Answering Service for a Medical Practice

Why Have an Answering Service for a Medical Practice

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Customer service is important with all businesses, but it is even more essential in the healthcare industry. Lasting patient-doctor relationships rely on continuous communication, even after-hours. When a patient calls, they may be in pain or not feeling well. For this reason, it is important that the patient gets the answers they need quickly. Fast answering and excellent communication gives them a sense of relief and support.

If your practice has a growing number of patients, it can be a challenge to juggle your practice while maintaining communication with patients. This is where a medical answering service can be of great help. Hiring a medical answering service for a doctors’ office is like hiring a receptionist to answer the phone. Incoming calls are routed to live, remote receptionists who are well-trained to handle healthcare-related calls. These receptionists know what information to collect and how to handle it. They can handle basic customer service inquiries, make appointments, and forward emergency calls to the right parties.

Medical emergencies can happen during any time of day or night. If one of your patients needs to make an appointment or speak with a doctor right away, they’ll be relieved to find out that your medical answering service is always available. Your answering team will be HIPAA compliant, be available 24-hours a day, and forward urgent cases to the appropriate extensions. Speaking with a live representative, regardless of the time of day, can make patients feel better about the care they’re receiving.

A medical answering service can also save money for your practice. Hiring and training new employees costs more time, money, and resources. A reliable call center trained in medical answering services has established systems and processes to get the needed work done. Utilizing a medical answering service is a more cost-effective way to delivering top-quality customer service to patients instead of paying for an employee’s salary and benefits. The people who will take your patients’ calls are well-trained, are available 24/7, and are available during holidays.

Think your medical practice could benefit from an answering service? Contact One is a call center based in Tucson, Arizona that provides answering services to various industries. Our team is HIPAA-compliant, available at anytime of day, and will provide high-quality service. Our expertly team of virtual receptionists will provide you with a variety of services.

Call us at 1-800-278-3347 to find out more about what we do, and how your medical practice can benefit from our answering service.

What is Contact One?

What is Contact One?

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Contact One is more than just a call center. Contact One is the first experience a customer has when contacting a business. We know that first impressions are critically important to a business’s success, so we make it our priority to ensure it’s a great one.

At Contact One, we are proud to go above and beyond the average call center. When you hire our answering services, you can rely on us to provide you with receptionist services, appointment setting, and call center support. By integrating our agents into your team, you can ensure that you achieve the highest levels of productivity and customer service.

Unlike getting another full-time, in-house employee, our answering service can save you more money without compromising customer support. Our call center agents take your calls promptly and professionally, do customer support, schedule or cancel appointments, redirect calls, and so much more. On top of that, you can get these services for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including holidays. Whether your business needs receptionist services, medical answering services, or call center support services, Contact One is ready to manage your calls. We’ll save you time, money, and make sure that no call goes unanswered.

To hire Contact One for your customer service needs, give us a call at (800) 278-3347. We are proud to be a leading answering service in Tucson, and you will find that we are able to dramatically improve your company’s productivity and customer support capabilities. We look forward to helping you find the right solution for your business.

Tips for Better Customer Service

Tips for Better Customer Service

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Excellent customer service is crucial to your business’ bottom line. Top-notch support captures new business and keeps valuable customers coming back to you. Being friendly and helpful, however, can be difficult at times when dealing with certain issues and clients. It is important to know how to deliver consistently excellent customer service, and what things to focus on to ensure a client’s satisfaction.

1. Think From The Customer’s Perspective: In order to ensure positive and productive communication with customers, the customer’s perspective must always be kept in mind. Consider tone of voice: a customer who is spoken to in a tone that is courteous, pleasant, and professional is much more likely to respond kindly and calmly.

2. Body Language: Even though you are speaking with a customer over the phone, body language matters. A customer service representative who chews gum or seems distracted during a conversation, projects an attitude that is careless and rude. Make sure that while speaking to a customer, you are attentive, sitting upright, and are not distracted by your surroundings. A customer can tell when you are engaged in the conversation, or if your focus is elsewhere.

3. Learn to read your customers: Customers don’t always feel comfortable telling you they cannot afford your product or service. When a customer starts hinting (or out right asking) about price, offer alternatives. Don’t assume the customer knows all that they need to know in order to make an informed decision. Make suggestions that can save them money. Most of the time the customer doesn’t know what to ask for and is relying on your expertise.

4. Don’t keep callers waiting too long: While being on hold is often a fact of life, many callers get very frustrated with being on hold for long periods at a time. Try to keep their time on hold to a bare minimum, and if you must, make sure to check in with them often to assure them that they have not been forgotten about and that you will be with them as soon as possible. Partnering with a call center can help your business to minimize incoming call wait times.

5. Don’t sound overly scripted: Avoid launching into a script right from the beginning of a conversation. Instead, try to establish a rapport with the caller and take time to ask leading questions and listen. Additionally, being polite is a must so always use “please” and “thank you” when speaking to customers. Be careful not to overuse “please” and “thank you” as this can seem patronizing and may annoy certain callers.

6. Treat callers with patience and respect: Above many things, most callers want to be heard and treated with respect. Callers will often hang up in anger if they believe you are not listening properly or treating them disrespectfully. Be sure to listen carefully while they explain their problem to avoid asking them to repeat themselves. Try to empathize with the caller’s request or issue before offering a solution.

It is important to note that all of these tips can be applied before the sale is complete. There is a common misconception that customer service starts when a customer has a problem. In reality, good customer service starts when you pick up the phone. Giving your client the best service possible will not only benefit the sale, but will lead to return customers in the future.

Bad Customer Service

Bad Customer Service

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There is nothing more frustrating than receiving bad customer service from a business. Bad service can range from being kept on hold for long amounts of time, to verbally insulting the customer. Such practices can make a customer feel unimportant, ignored, and angry. The results of an upset customer can be detrimental to a business’s success. This blog will discuss examples of bad service practices, the effects bad service can have on a business, and how to avoid them.

Most people have had some sort of negative experience with a service representative, especially over the phone. One type of bad service is neglect. If a call center answers a client’s call only to put them on hold, it will look bad for that business. This includes constantly transferring a caller. The more people a customer has to deal with, the bigger the chance for miscommunication and increased frustration. A customer will not want to work with a call center that just transfers customers to other people instead of trying to help them. Even if a representative is kind and patient, a customer can still become frustrated when they spend too much time on hold and not enough time moving toward a solution.

Another type of bad customer service is bad attitude. Bad attitude can come from a variety of things. Sometimes, a customer service rep has personal problems that causes them to become easily irritated. Another cause is from a rep not enjoying their job. Finally, being tired can cause a representative to sound bored or not engaged over the phone. Even though a customer can’t see a call representative’s face, they can tell if they are truly interested in helping them.

The third, and most notable type of bad customer service, is verbal insult. It takes an especially bad customer service representative to say rude remarks to a customer. Unfortunately, it does happen. This is a very fast way to establish a bad reputation, as customers who experience verbal insults will likely tell people about it.

The effects of bad customer service can seriously hurt a business. First, it can lose customers. A caller who had a bad experience with a representative from that business will most likely find a different place to take their business. Another effect of bad service is bad reviews. Customers are more likely to review a business after having a bad experience than a good one. People who find your business on social media or the internet can see these reviews, and may choose a different place because of it. Lastly, customers who had a bad experience with a customer service representative often tell their friends and family. This word of mouth press can be dangerous because it can’t be controlled. It’s also hard to change people’s opinions once they’re made.

Luckily, there are many ways to avoid bad customer service. The first is by minimizing wait times. If answering calls is difficult for busy businesses, hiring a call center can help. This will avoid the problem of not being able to reach a business, and avoid long wait times. Another way to avoid bad customer service is by managing anger. Taking deep breaths, and trying to understand why a customer is upset, can help keep an employee calm. It can also help reduce the customer’s anger. Finally, speaking to a customer as if face-to-face with them is a good way to sound enthusiastic over the phone. A customer can read a representative’s tone, so sounding upbeat and interested is important. With an up-beat voice, the caller will feel heard and valued.

To sum it all up, bad customer service isn’t just detrimental in the short-run, but can also have long-term effects. Long wait times, unenthusiastic service, and rudeness can lose a customer, their business, and create a bad reputation amongst other consumers. Good customer service is essential to a company’s success. Even the most simple of calls deserves quality service. This will help keep existing clients, avoid losing a sale, and hopefully increase positive reviews. At Contact One, we pride ourselves on our exceptional customer service. We know how valuable each caller is to a business, and strive to give clients the attention they deserve. To find out more about what Contact One can do for your business, call: 1-877-959-0158!

Why Customers Prefer to Speak with a Real Person

Why Customers Prefer to Speak with a Real Person

Blog/ Customer Service

Even with the advancements in technology, most consumers still prefer human interaction. Over 80 percent of the respondents in a recent study said they prefer human customer service interactions over digital alternatives. Those who received human interaction when dealing with customer service showed a more positive behavior towards the brand in general.

Generally, customers prefer to speak to a real person on the phone because of the following:

It makes the process easier.
Many customers are getting frustrated with lengthy automated messages. In many cases, it can make the transaction longer and unproductive due to the confusing ordeal with automated messages, leading the caller in different directions. By having a live person to deal with the customer’s concerns, the process can be expedited.
It’s more convenient.
One of the biggest problems with automated messages is that it makes it difficult for customers to find what they really want. And if they have additional questions, they need to start the process again. This can be frustrating especially for someone who don’t have the luxury of time to make these calls.

It’s different when a customer deals with a live person. When he/she has questions, he/she can easily bring those up and have an actual conversation with the representative. It makes it easier to get to the bottom of the problem quickly and efficiently.
It creates a more satisfying experience.
When a customer talks to a live representative, it makes him/her feel more understood. This creates a more satisfying experience even if the customer ends up not getting the perfect solution.

If you want to engage your customer more in phone conversations, then it would be smart to switch to a live answering service. Contact One has well-trained live representatives who will take your calls promptly and professionally 24/7.