Do you feel like your personal time is being encroached on by your work? With the increase in mobile technology, the separation between work and home has become even less distinct. Continue reading
Category Archives: Answering Service
What Is a Hunt Group?
A hunt group allows a caller to automatically find an available (i.e. “not busy”) agent from a group of extensions via your virtual phone system. Each extension will be tried in order until a “free” extension is reached. Extensions will be skipped during call routing if the person is currently on the phone or has marked their extension as “blocked” from hunting. Continue reading
How to Best Answer the Phone When You’re Doing Customer Support
The other day, I needed to shop for health insurance. I hate shopping in general so health insurance was a double whammy of misery. It’s interesting, though, that when I do need to call around, the best phone systems for customer support become pretty clear.
What I wanted to mention today, however, is the greeting I received. The way you answer your phone can make a huge difference in your customer support. So, here it is. The representatives at Blue Shield Blue Cross, or Independence Blue Cross, say:
“I help people like you everyday.”
Yup, I was immediately at ease, impressed with their phone support on demand, and more than interested to hear more about their product. That one little greeting told me I was in the right place. No matter what the person said after those words, I was prepared to answer their questions – I was in the right place.
When you consider what the best way to answer the phone is, consider what you do for a living. Think about how you’ll put your customers at ease right away:
- How can I help you?
- What seems to be the trouble?
- If you’re angry hang up now.
- We’re frustrated by your frustration.
You can be funny, interesting or very unique – but be honest. Even a how can I help you works well if it’s delivered in a happy voice. For more attention, get outside of the box with something funny like the examples above.
The best phone systems for customer support help you by providing clear sound so it’s eaier for the caller to understand you. They allow seamless features, too, so your caller never has to guess what you’re doing when you answer the phone.
There’s one other pointer for you to think about: What you say vs. what callers hear. This is important when you’re doing customer service since, well, not everyone hears very well.
Make sure you appropriately pause before you deliver your message:
“Good Morning … Life’s a beach at IT solutions … this is Bob … how may I serve you?”
Those ellipsis represent where you should take a slow, long pause so the reader can hear what you’re saying. If that doesn’t make sense right away, practice a few times. You’ll know you’ve got the hang of it when your caller doesn’t have to ask your name ten times but automatically remembers it.
The One Emergency Phone Feature You Need During a Storm
All of a sudden, the weather in the winter seems to turn foul. We go from moderate mornings and light jackets to freezing temperatures and scraping frost off our cars. So, what do you do when you need to get an emergency message out to your employees?
Review: MyCyberTwin Brings the Science in the Science Fiction
You like science fiction? Star Wars. Star Trek. My Little Pony. He-Man, Masters of the Universe. It’s all fun and games and appeals to our sense of fantasy with some healthy dashes of speculative technology, stuff that can make us dream of how it could be in the future.
Halloo Case Study: By Design Ministries
At this time of year–some would say especially at this time of year–many people out there stop and remember Jesus Christ, and all the things he did. And while everyone’s got a different way of doing that, the people at By Design Ministries had a way to do it that few others had tried. They brought in Halloo to provide them a way to easily reach people who want to learn more about God through their ministry.
Review: Tumblr’s Taking Names in the Small Business Field
Now this is a novel idea, and many might not have heard of it (I know I didn’t). It’s called Tumblr. And the best way I can describe this social media platform is a ‘mobile’ blogging setup. Think of it as a mix between Twitter and WordPress/Blogger!
The Importance Of A Cloud-Based Telephone System For Black Friday & Small Business
Black Friday, ladies and gentlemen, is rapidly approaching. And what most small business folks–especially those heavily involved in retail sales–know is that this is the time of year when you expect to make most of your sales. That’s where the term comes from, after all: the time of year you can switch from the red ink denoting losses to the black ink denoting profits. But while you think of the things you need–sufficient product, expanded employee hours, maybe a little security to work the door to keep the shrinkage down and your flow of movement high–consider adding one more thing to your roster, perhaps the most important of all: a cloud-based telephone system.
Review: The Automated Attendant (in a Robot Voice)
The future is now. Tron is here. Light sabers on, proton torpedoes ready — engage!
Yes, technology really is taking over. Very soon we’ll all be encased in carbonite while a giant worm named Jabba enjoys entertainment in his private studio. The same can go for small businesses!
Review: The Classic 1-800 Song and Dance
You remember those commercial jingles from long ago, a chorus of peppy singers behind the TV screen? Typically it was for a product that could only be sold by phone, not in stores. They were so infectious that we couldn’t help but pick up that phone and dial that number, because we wanted what was being sold so badly that we were willing to sell our souls to the devil just to get it.