Telemarketing
Telemarketing is the direct marketing of goods or services to potential customers over the telephone or the Internet. Four common kinds of telemarketing include outbound calls, inbound calls, lead generation, and sales calls.
Our team of highly trained and experienced telemarketers specialise in cold calling – a task that the majority of businesses simply don’t do. We believe it is a game of numbers, the more no’s we get out of the way will lead to a higher number of yes’s!
Speak to a member of our team on how we can help your business get more leads and win more business using telemarketing.
Call Handling
What is call handling service?
Call handling services’refers to a collection of B2B services in which an external organisation manages phone calls on behalf of your business. This service can cover various aspects of your customer telephone support system, including inbound and outbound calls.
Some businesses require overflow call handling services, in which the answering team only answers calls your team is unable to answer. There are out-of-hours call handling services, which manage calls outside of work hours, over weekends and during holidays. And there are 24-hour telephone answering services.
How can it help your business
A call handling service enhances your customer service in several ways. First, it streamlines your company’s administrative operations. With a professional call handling company managing your calls, you can increase efficiency and lower costs. With calls handled in a professional way, it’s also essential to maintain your brand image.
Most importantly, using an inbound call handling service means you never miss another call.
So what exactly does this guide offer? It’ll help you understand:
- What a call handling service is
- How call handling works
- The benefits of call handling for your business
- If call handling is a worthwhile investment for your business
What is Call Handling
‘Call handling’ describes the function of answering calls from potential and existing customers trying to get in touch with your business.
This function is usually performed by a single person – often a receptionist. Larger organisations might have an entire department to handle calls. But businesses, particularly smaller independents, face several limitations with this model.
For one, there’s no guarantee there will be someone available to answer every call. If your business operates with one receptionist, any more than one caller will mean you have to place people on hold.
And even if you have a team of receptionists, who answers the phone when they go home? Paying a team to work round-the-clock is expensive and logistically challenging.
That’s why many are now choosing to outsource this role to a dedicated call handling service.
So what’s the most suitable solution for your business? That depends on your specific situation. A business that doesn’t receive many calls might be best served by a single receptionist. A small business that only receives calls during normal business hours might choose an internal call handling team.
You could benefit from a call handling service if:
- Your workday experiences periods of high call volumes.
- You have a 9-5 team but receive calls at all hours.
- Businesses in which a missed call could mean significant lost revenue.
Problems solved by call handling service
Many businesses attempt to answer all calls by themselves. As your business grows, this can lead to several problems:
With your team dealing with other responsibilities, calls can go unanswered. Nobody likes going straight to voicemail, and many callers will hang up right there.
Customers don’t want to wait a long time for you to answer their call. It’s frustrating and hardly conducive to an enjoyable experience. That leads to abandoned calls and more business for your competitors. They’re also more likely to give your company negative reviews or recommendations.
With a dedicated inbound call handling service, your callers receive an answer within seconds. Not only that, but your team of virtual receptionists can take as long as necessary to deal with callers’ queries. That means every caller can receive the same high standard of service.
The high cost of poor customer service
It’s a fact of business that as your organisation grows, customer service gets harder. As interest in your business increases, how do you manage the larger number of calls? Processes that used to work when you were smaller won’t necessarily scale well.
Without consistent high-quality customer service, you’ll struggle to gain and retain customers. Poor customer experience leads straight to the bottom line. Just as your business seems to be growing you lose business; instead of growing you plateau.
Nobody wants to be the company with a reputation for being slow to answer calls. Because even if you provide a word class service when customers finally reach you, most people won’t know.
In short, missed calls are a symptom of poor customer service. 93% of consumers read reviews for local businesses before buying. As they say, it takes a lifetime to build a reputation and a second to destroy it.
How to start a call handling service
Setting up a call handling service is simple: get in touch with a provider and they’ll create an account for you. You then need to redirect your calls to the service. It’s your choice whether you choose to redirect all calls, overflow calls, or out-of-hours calls.
Before the call handling provider can take your calls, spend some time with them to create an accurate ‘call script’. Call scripts help our associates understand what to expect from a typical call. Call flows also tell our agents what information callers are likely to ask about.
Once you have had the service set up, you’ll start to notice the following:
- More peace in the office: With fewer customers calling your office, your team can focus on their own tasks in peace.
- Increased sales: Better quality customer service means more customers choosing your company.
- Better rated services: As customers leave more favourable reviews on social media and other online forums.
- A more satisfied, more engaged client base.
How to get the most from your answering service
Here are a few points to consider to help you to get the most from the service:
- Share your values: Brief your answering service on your company’s culture to ensure they’re communicated to customers on the phone.
- Stay up-to-date and adapt: Get regular updates on your usage, calls and messages via the live dashboard. Download reports and look out for any trends. For example, can you see how call volume changes over the course of a year? Or the most common customer queries? Knowledge is power, and these insights will enable you to adapt your business operations to better respond to your clients’ needs.
- Ask about quality assurance procedures: Can you make test calls to assess customer service experience? It’s also best practice to check reviews left by your customers online. This offers an impartial assessment of your service, but also provides an insight into the impact of your answering service.
