Why Choose Call Answering Services?

Our clients have some wonderful things to say about their experience with Zoom Answer Call, and help us to spread the word on the real and tangible benefits of a phone answering service, such as:

• Polite and professional call answering
• Efficient customer service
• A solution to staff shortages/holiday cover
• A personalised service
• Fast and efficient message delivery
• Seamless integration into your business
• Allowing even small business to offer 24/7, year-round service to their customers
• Flexible and adaptable
• Never missing a call again (or losing an enquiry to your competitors) 

And, in one of our favourite testimonials, one client experienced a huge improvement in sales:

“In our first month with Zoom, we have had a whopping great 78% increase in leads received; this is very largely due to you girls, as we now don't miss a single call. Thanks!”

Mark Newey of Winning Minds

If you're looking for effective call management and a way to provide excellent customer service and response even when you're not in the office, why not give our 7-Day Free Trial a go? Discover the benefits of a professional phone answering service for yourself, whether you are a small local business or a large multi-national company - Zoom Answer Call can help you to improve and develop your business while reducing your workload!

Merry Christmas from Zoom Answer Call!

We'd like to wish all our customers at Zoom Answer Call a very merry Christmas and a happy new year! We hope you've had a productive and enjoyable year in your business and at home, and we look forward to working with existing clients and new customers throughout 2013, helping companies big and small to maximise the potential of their business using our professional call answering service.

We are proud to offer an award-winning range of call management services to our clients, including:

• Call answering
• Call diverting
• Call centre services
• Downsizing/oursourcing
• Virtual reception services
• Franchise services
• Diary management
• Brochure sending
• Telemarketing
• Holiday/seasonal cover
• 0800/0845/0870 numbers

Our services are suitable for individuals, small companies and large businesses, and we pride ourselves on offering a bespoke service to suit each client's exact requirements, as simple or as complex as they may be. If you're looking to improve your customer service, streamline your operations or simply increase your sales, call answering could be the answer you've been looking for in 2013.

So from all of us at Zoom Answer Call (including all the Zoomettes!), have a wonderful Christmas and we hope to work with you next year!

What Kind of Business Use Call Answering Services?

If you're wondering whether your business needs a call answering service, you might want to consider the amount of different companies that currently implement phone answering professionals in order to maximise their productivity - from small local businesses to huge global brands.

Call answering can help the day to day running of your business as well as improving sales numbers, raising your level of customer service and reducing the stress of managing a busy company. So what kind of businesses actually use call answering services like Zoom Answer Call?

The answer is: almost every industry! Companies big and small are turning to call answering services to cover their phonelines, and here are just a few examples:

• Individuals/managers in need of a 'virtual' PA
• Small local retail businesses
• Retail suppliers 
• Solicitors
• Training providers
• Education specialists
• Design agencies and web developers
• Car hire companies
• Interior designers
• Communication providers
• Property management companies
• Consultants
• Power providers
• And many more...

If you'd like to know how Zoom Answer Call can help your business to grow, develop and function more efficiently, give us a call on 0800 583 5020!

How Does A Call Management Service Work?

Call management services offer peace of mind when it comes to phone answering for your business, day in, day out, all year round. At Zoom Answer Call, we help businesses in a wide variety of industries to keep on top of the customer service, customer acquisition, sales and the general running of their company. But how does a phone answering service actually work? 

There are three simple steps to organising call management for your business with Zoom Answer Call, and you can be up and running in no time at all. And if you want to try a seven day trial before you sign up, that's fine too!

Step 1

Give us a call on 0800 583 5020 and one of our call handlers will talk with you regarding your specific requirements for your business. You may simply be looking for calls to be put through to you (eg: a virtual reception), or messages taken and sent via email or text to you, or you may need a more in depth service such as call centre services or brochure sending. Whatever you need, we can organise a bespoke service to suit your company's needs. 

Step 2

Once your calls have been transferred to Zoom Answer Call, your 7-Day Free Trial will begin. At the end of the week we will provide you with an in depth report including a monthly estimate and breakdown of costs based on the services you need. From here we welcome your feedback on your service and hope you choose to continue to work with Zoom for the benefit of your business!

Step 3

If you wish to continue using our Zoomettes and our award-winning call answering services, all you need to do is sign up. You can do this via our online form, or on the phone with one of our operators.

That's all there is to it!

Our sales line is open from 9am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday, so please get in touch to find out more about how Zoom Answer Call can help your company to provide faultless customer service, increase your sales and improve your business reputation.

How to Answer a Business Call Professionally

Are you answering your business calls professionally? The way we deal with customer calls makes a big difference to company reputation, customer retention and generally efficiency within your business. Have a look at the following checklist of how to answer a business call professionally to see if you make the grade. If not, you  might want to consider employing a professional call answering service to deal with your calls on your behalf! Our Zoomettes are friendly, responsive and highly trained, and will always answer your calls in a way that ensures your customer service experience is positive.

10 ways to keep your business calls professional:

1. Be polite! Even when faced with difficult customers or an awkward situation, remain unfailingly polite at all times and sometimes the most hostile of callers will come around in the end.
2. Think before you speak. Make sure your responses are accurate and work towards a positive customer experience. If you're unsure about an answer, find out before you give information to a customer.
3. Communicate clearly. Be honest and straightforward and ensure that both you and your customer understand what's going on, whether you're dealing with an enquiry, a transaction, or a complaint.
4. If you've made a mistake, apologise. Even if it isn't your fault, as a call handler, you are representative of your company and you need to make sure that wrongs are righted and your customers feel valued and responded to.
5. Use a good vocabulary. Using appropriate vocabulary not only appears more professional, but it helps you to communicate more effectively.
6. Say "please" and "thank you"! Good manners go a long way... Ask questions politely and thank your customers for their call, their enquiry or their purchase.
7. Repetition aids understanding. Sometimes repeating information back to a customer can help keep things clear, such as phone numbers, quantities, details of products or requests for information.
8. Be friendly and make each call personal. If you have details of an existing customer, let them know your company values their business and make them feel as if you have a personal business relationship.
9. Know what you're talking about! If you don't, it's better to be honest and admit you need to find out more to be able to answer a query properly. Don't be tempted to wing it and make something up or assume...
10. And finally: Make follow up checks at the end of the call. Is there anything else your customer would like to know? Is everything clear and understood? Is there anything else you can do for the customer? Are they satisfied with everything? The little details count and going that extra mile rather than a quick, "thanks, goodbye" can make all the difference.

Oh, and one final thing - our Zoomettes answer each and every call with a SMILE. For more information on professional call handling, call centre services and virtual reception services, get in touch with us at Zoom Answer Call UK.

Keep Your Company Reputation Positive with a Phone Answering Service

Get the edge on your competitors by improving your company reputation. Using a call answering service can dramatically help your business' efficiency and increase your customer retention.

Good customer service is a major factor in repeat business, and is important in both retaining existing customers and acquiring new ones. Maintaining your customer base can be a difficult job when you are unable to provide the time or staff needed to man your customer service department, but that's where a phone answering service or call centre service can make a big difference.

Professional call handling creates a trustworthy and reliable reputation for your business, and enables your customers to find help, support and problem resolution when they need it. No one wants to wait on hold or get through to an automated phone service - what your customers appreciate is a friendly, knowledgeable, personal answer when they call your customer service line, and providing this can really improve your reputation and give you the edge over your competitors.

In the age of social media, customers are not shy about spreading the word about their customer service experiences, whether positive or negative, but they are much more likely to rant online about a bad one. This type of information is then publicly searchable when a new customer is looking into your business, and may sway their decision over whether to use your company or not.

For many customers, decent customer service is more important than low prices, and if you can guarantee your consumers will receive a better customer experience, they may be prepared to spend more with you than at a cheaper competitor. According to one report, companies with a strong customer service base can charge up to 9% more than their competitors, and grow their business twice as fast as the average.

Another pitfall of the digital age is the faceless interaction of e-commerce sites. You must excel in your customer service in order to make your online customers to feel valued, and to build personal relationships within your niche. That means providing efficient and competent call handlers when customers need to get in touch by phone, and a call answering service can ensure this no matter how busy or short-staffed you are.

At Zoom Answer Call, we believe that any and all businesses can be improved with a dedicated customer service department, and a large part of that is providing reliable phone answering services. Let us help your business to thrive and grow, and your reputation to improve, with professional call answering.

Improve Your Customer Services With Call Answering Services

Using a call answering service can improve your customer service, customer retention, customer loyalty and give you the edge on your competitors. Customer service is the greatest asset to your business in terms of creating a solid customer base that will assist your company's growth and success. But many businesses simply don't have the the time or staff to devote the effort required to present their customers with reliable and efficient customer service. So what's the answer?

One option is to employ a phone answering service to ensure you never miss another call. Professional call answering from Zoom Answer Call allows you to relax, knowing that your calls are answered by friendly, knowledgeable call handlers, who can act as your customer service department around the clock.

Positive customer service reviews are a huge part of customer retention and acquisition, and have a heavy influence on your company's reputation, especially online. Developing a solid customer service base helps your customers to feel secure in their dealings with you, creating long-term relationships that go beyond a single sale or interaction. Well-trained, polite and knowledgeable customer service agents like our Zoomettes help to retain those customers and resolve issues or answer questions. Better customer satisfaction means positive word of mouth - the most effective form of marketing there is.

Building customer loyalty goes beyond simply creating repeat customers - loyalty from your consumers means positive growth in your company reputation, and a steady stream of revenue from a reliable customer base. Quality customer service must be consistent and needs to fulfil customer expectations and requirements to build trustworthy relationships between your business and your customers. A truly loyal customer is far more likely to sing your praises than a customer who has had a single good experience working with you.

Around 70% of customers say they would look to a company's competitor if they had a bad experience, and consumers are far more likely to speak out about a negative customer service experience than a positive one. According to one study, an unhappy customer will tell 8-25 people about their negative experiences, and this means face to face as well as via social media. Conversely, a good experience is only usually passed on to one or two other people. That might not seem like much, but considering the majority of our online purchasing is based on personal recommendation, it could be more powerful than you think. And remember, just one negative review can seriously affect your business' reputation and customer retention.

Ensure your company maintains its good reputation, or builds an even better one, by using Zoom Answer Call's professional phone answering service to keep your customers happy!

Are You Damaging Your Company by Using an Automated Telephone Service?

Does your business need a professional call answering service? Your company's phone line is the first port of call for the majority of your customers when looking for information, support or customer service. But is the way your business responds to these calls damaging your reputation and sales volume? As consumers become more accustomed to the instant gratification of the digital age, your efficiency in telephone answering and responding to queries is put under increased pressure.

One of the biggest customer service bugbears for consumers is calling a customer service line, only to be answered by an automated response. The maze of automated menus and diversion systems drives people mad, and usually generate one of three responses:

1) A frustrated customer who is angry and short-tempered by the time they get through to a real person.

2) A frustrated customer who tries to bypass the menu by pressing the zero or star key in order to get through to a real person, meaning they may not be through to the right person, meaning they are sent back into the maze...

3) A frustrated customer who gives up completely and hangs up the phone before they even get through to a real person.

Are you seeing the common theme? The customer is irritated, their query does not get answered and your company's reputation is damaged by word of mouth as the customer complains to their friends, family and co-workers about you. Even worse, the customer goes onto social media and publicly moans about your customer service, making this information available to anyone looking into your company's details.

Another potential reputation-killer is being on hold for too long. Customers don't want to wait - so don't make them. Being on hold for more than a minute or two creates - guess what? - a frustrated customer, and we know what kind of reactions to expect from them. Once again, consumers will often turn to social media to express their displeasure about their customer service - something that can be very damaging to your company reputation.

So what can you do to avoid these common phone answering pitfalls? Can you guarantee your customers will get through to a real person when they call your phone line? And can you guarantee your customers won't have to wait on hold to speak to someone? If the answer to either of these questions is 'no', then you seriously need to consider employing a call answering service to provide your business with a professional phone response team. 

At Zoom Answer Call, our Zoomettes answer every call quickly and expertly - with a smile. Our highly trained staff are able to manage, direct or route your calls, providing reliable customer services whenever you need it. Get in touch to find out more, or to try our 7 day trial, and never miss a call - or lose a treasured customer - again...

Why Does my Business Need a Phone Answering Service?

If you're wondering whether your business needs a phone answering service, try answering the following questions...

• Are you able to answer every call that comes into your office, and dedicate time and a polite, friendly response to each one?
• Are you able to quickly and efficiently act on each call you receive, whether that means booking an appointment, providing information, or sending out brochures or products?
• Does the person answering your phone have specific training in how to deal with each type of caller?
• Do you have address finder software so that you can look up your caller's address using just their postcode? 
• Do you smile every time you answer the phone? (It really does make a difference!)

If you can't answer yes to all these questions, then you may be in need of a call answering service. At Zoom Answer Call, nothing is too much trouble. We can adapt our service to suit your requirements, whether it's simple call management, brochure sending, appointment booking, customer service, providing information, or covering holidays or staff absences. Our highly trained personnel are flexible and articulate, and answer each call with a smile to ensure a friendly, polite response.

We also offer call centre services, virtual reception services, call handling for franchises, and help with downsizing or outsourcing. Get in touch to find out more, or try our 7 day FREE trial!

Call Answering Services for Franchises

Running a franchise or working as a franchisee is often hard but rewarding work. Running your own business, whether you're the owner of a franchise or a franchisee operating in your own area, is a full time job! Sometimes it's difficult to keep on top of enquiries in a professional way, especially when you may have other commitments, an additional job, or a family to look after. It's so important to keep your reputation positive, however, and having a call answering service to centralise your businesses enquiries can be a real asset.

Never miss another call again!

A call answering service like Zoom Answer Call can provide a central point of contact for your customers, allowing them to access information and make enquiries 24 hours a day, all year round. We utilise postcode locator software to help us direct enquiries to the appropriate franchisee, and minimise typos and mistakes when sending out information.

We are also able to provide you with customised reports so that you can keep track of how many enquiries you have received for each franchise area. This is extremely useful for your marketing strategy, as it shows you where your advertising is working and where it's not.

We have been working with franchises for over 10 years (in fact, we started out as one!), so we understand the needs of franchise owners and franchisees. Our call management service can be adapted to suit your requirements, so you can make it as minimal or as comprehensive as you need!

Business Extras - Brochure Sending

We know how busy running a business can be, and sometimes it's impossible to juggle sales, calls, enquiries, travelling, meetings, deliveries and information requests. Often it's this last item on the list that gets left behind - sending out brochures, information, samples and letters in response to enquiries - but keeping on top of your information requests can really make a difference to your company. When a customer fails to receive your info or samples, or has to wait weeks (or months!) for their delivery, it makes for bad customer service, and they may question whether they have the time to deal with you again. Keeping your reputation golden and responding swiftly to ALL requests is a real asset to your business, and Zoom Answer Call can help!

Did you know we don't just handle calls? We're also able to help with sending out information to your customers in response to the enquiries we receive while acting as your call handlers. When we receive a call asking for a brochure or additional info, we will send them out promptly by 1st or 2nd class post, along with your company stationary or a cover letter provided by you.

We're always looking for extra ways to help each company we work with to maximise their efficiency, increase their customer base and retain their customers for the long term. Brochure sending is just one little added extra we offer as part of our telephone answering services - get in touch to find out how else we can help your company thrive and grow!

Telephone Answering Service for Small Businesses

No matter how small your business, every call counts. In fact, this is especially true for smaller businesses, who may lack the manpower and time to answer and field every single call that comes into their office. So what's the solution? External call answering services offer the security of professional call handling no matter how busy you are. With Zoom Answer Call, your calls will be automatically diverted to one of our friendly, knowledgeable Zoom Assistants (who, remember, always answer with a smile!), providing your customers with a personal service even when you can't be there to answer the phone.

It's this kind of security that helps the smallest business grow and expand, and keeps your professional reputation at its best. Customer service is such an important aspect of any company, and the smaller your business, the more important word-of-mouth recommendation is. If your customers can't get through to you, or receive a rushed, uninformed reply when they do, they way well look elsewhere. But if they are welcomed with one of our efficient and pleasant call handlers (who will be fully trained in the logistics of your company and will be able to help with enquiries and diary bookings), they will be far more likely to use your business again - and, more importantly, recommend you to their colleagues and friends.

At Zoom Answer Call, we provide a multi-line service so that callers never get a busy signal, and we have a high speed internet link so that we can access all the information we need to direct and respond to your calls appropriately. We forward messages via fax, email or text message to you, to ensure you are always kept in the loop, and provide your company with daily email or fax reports so you know exactly what enquiries we've dealt with that day.

Even small businesses can benefit from a telephone answering service, and you never know - it may make the difference in how your company moves forward from a start-up to a secure, established business!

A Little Reminder About Our Free Trial

The shops are already starting to get Christmas stock in (personally I think they should at least wait until after Halloween, but that's a whole other conversation!), and no doubt your staff are already trying to book time off around Christmas to see their families and friends. So we thought we would remind you about our 7 day free trial for our call answering service!

The trial gives you a chance to try out our service with no obligation, and if you then find yourself with lots of staff off around Christmas, you can be sure that at least your calls are being answered promptly and your customers are being handled professionally. While we may not be able to solve your clients' problems, we can make sure that their calls are transferred to someone who can help, or messages are taken and delivered to the right person.

Our 7 day free trial is easy to set up so you can quickly see the benefits you get from the service we offer. You can be online in minutes, and whether you only want calls diverted to us when the line is busy, or goes unanswered for too long, or you want to divert all your calls to us, you will still get those 7 days for free. 

Virtual Reception Services

A reception is the first point of contact that your customers will reach when they call your company, but many companies find they don't really need a full time receptionist to transfer their calls. Diverting your calls to a virtual reception service can give you a more professional image by stopping calls being answered by anyone in the office and then bouncing around until it reaches the right person. Calls can be answered within the first few rings the same as if you had your own team of receptionists rather than waiting until any member of staff is free. We all know customers don't like waiting!

It isn't just a helpful service for smaller companies - if you often find that calls are still coming in during busy periods when all your receptionists are on calls, you can use the Zoom virtual reception service as an overflow to ensure that all calls are answered promptly. Whether you have lots of employees, or just a few, we can manage the contact information for all of them and make sure that we transfer calls seamlessly to the right person, even if they are out of the office! If they are unavailable, we can send a message to them via email, SMS or fax, whichever they prefer.

It doesn't matter that you are miles away from Zoom, your calls can be transferred seamlessly just as if we were in the office next to you. Just like your own receptionist would, we answer calls in your company name and always make sure we represent your company to the highest possible standard.

Happy Staff Equals Happy Customers

Call answering services and call centres, as well as customer service roles in general, are an area in which the mood of the staff can easily affect the mood of your customers. This is why we work so hard to make sure our Zoomettes are happy and content in their jobs (which is why we have such a good staff retention rate!). So what can you do to keep your staff similarly happy?

• Front-line staff need to be empowered to make decisions where possible. It can be very frustrating if they need to refer too many things up the line to their manager. This will also lead to happy customers as no one likes being passed from pillar to post - it's much easier for them when they can sort everything out with one person.
• Breaks are important, particularly after difficult calls. Don't begrudge people needing to walk away from their desks so they can shake off the last call. Otherwise you run the risk of the stress from the last call affecting the next.
• Ensure your staff have access to food and drink - whether that's a vending machine or a kettle and some biscuits. Hunger or dehydration can easily make little issues feel big.
• Be an accessible manager - make sure your staff can come to you with any work issues they have.
• Give your staff the opportunity to share good and bad tips for dealing with customers. No one has a monopoly on the right way of doing things - we're constantly learning. Sharing things that have worked or things that haven't make life easier for the whole team.
• Have fun as a team - whether it's a special day out, a team lunch, or just 5 minutes silliness in the office.
• Make them a cup of tea! The little things all add up to help staff feel appreciated.

How To Make Customers Happy

At Zoom, not only do we answer the phone many (MANY!!) times a day in our virtual receptionist and call answering roles, we also offer a variety of call centre services. Often, people calling call centres are either already upset as they have a problem, or they do not expect anything other than adequate service. We like to prove them wrong! Here are a few tips to exceeding your customers' expectations.

• Empathise with the customer
• Putting yourself in the customer's shoes and treating them how you would like to be treated in the same situation is an easy way to keep the customer's interests in mind. If you manage to give the customer the impression that you truly understand, they are more likely to trust you. 
• Take ownership
• Customers hate being passed from pillar to post, so wherever possible you should aim to help them without transferring the call to several other people. If they have a problem you can solve, don't pass the buck just because it's easier for you.
• Don't follow a script
• Customers can tell when you are reading from a script rather than just using your own words, and they don't like it. It's not hard, just tell them what you will do and when you will do it (then make sure you do what you've promised!).
• Review things with your colleagues
• If you have had a difficult call, talk about it with your colleagues and manager. Perhaps you handled it really well, in which case other members of the team can learn from you, or perhaps other people could suggest different ways you could have dealt with it. Either way, learning from each other is good for the whole team, and the customer.
• Make things easy for the customer
• Whatever the reason for their call, the customer wants it dealt with as quickly as possible, and with as little effort required from them as possible. It's pointless to spend all your time trying to be the best call centre operator, delivering excellent customer service, if the customer gets frustrated at how long it takes for anything to get done.

Maintaining High Standards

We understand the importance of our Zoomettes' skills, and are continually investing in them, both in terms of call answering training and client specific training. Investing in our team is the best way for us to make sure that our clients get exceptional service - this is the reason our clients stay with us as they aren't locked into a contract.

As well as recruiting our operators from customer service backgrounds, we also put them through Customer service Levels 1, 2 and 3. Then we work hard to keep them part of our team - team spirit and loyalty are key traits of our Zoomettes. Every time a new client comes on board, all our operators are given client-specific training to prepare them to handle the incoming calls. Clients are welcome to assist us in this training process in our Cambridge office - they can get to know the team and put faces to the names and voices.

Any company trades on its reputation, and investing in training for your staff is a crucial part of maintaining high standards. We are proud of our team of Zoomettes, and hope that our clients are too!

Who Needs A Holiday?!

I don't know about you, but this heat is getting to be too much! If you are stuck in the office while the temperatures soar, it can be hard to concentrate. While most larger offices have air conditioning, many smaller businesses can't justify the expense when the weather in this country can be so erratic! The school summer holidays are often a time when the offices are a bit emptier than usual anyway as some people jet off on holiday, so along with a professional call answering service to pick up the slack, you want to make sure your employees are working as well as they can. So how can you keep them cool?

Drinking cold drinks and foods will help. Instead of doing coffee and tea rounds, make up some cold drinks and keep them in the fridge. You don't need to do anything fancy - a jug of water that is kept topped up is good for cooling people down and keeping them hydrated. As for lunch, salads and sandwiches may seem like the healthy, boring option, but who really wants a steaming mug of soup when it's 30 degrees Celsius outside?! If you have a cake or biscuit day each week, why not switch to an ice cream day instead?

Keeping the blinds closed on the windows, but with the windows open will help to keep the office cool, but unless you have big windows, you will probably also need to invest in some desk fans. The quieter the better as the noisy ones can be distracting, but when the sun is blazing, anything will do! If you have a dress code that requires people to wear warmer clothing such as suits, and you are struggling to keep the office cool, you may need to consider relaxing the dress code for a while. Unless your employees are customer facing, they should be able to do their job just as well in casual attire - better in fact if they aren't sweltering hot!

The Importance of Training

Whatever career you are in, you almost definitely needed training to start with. If your job is simple, that training may have been a supervisor walking you through things for an hour, while for more complex job requirements you may need to spend years at university (doctors certainly need more than an hour or so of training!). Surprisingly, many employers don't feel that call answering skills require any training. Naturally, we at Zoom would disagree strenuously with that!

As an employer perhaps you feel that offering training is too expensive, or unnecessary as it is 'just answering the phone'. Unfortunately, lack of training is often the reason why employees fail to deliver the expected level of customer service. Both customer service and call answering are skills that need to be taught and practised; all our Zoomettes have extensive training, covering Customer Service NVQ Levels 1, 2 & 3.

As well as training our own staff, we also offer coaching for either individuals or groups on Competency, Attitude and Impression with regards to telephony skills. These are important skills to learn if you want your staff to handle calls in the best way possible, leaving your customers satisfied and seeing your company in the best possible light.

Are You Watching The Olympics?

The Olympic Games being held in your home country is one of those experiences that may well be once in a lifetime. As such, many people will want to take time to watch it, whether live at one of the venues or just making sure to catch their favourite sports on TV. This means that as an employer, you may find that you have multiple members of staff wanting to have time off. Zoom's call answering service can help provide the extra support you need when your staff are away from the office.

Obviously, the people who are attending the Olympics live will not be able to get any work done while they are there, but for those people booking time off to watch it on the television, why not suggest they can work from home for the duration. They have the benefit that they can fit their work in around the one sport they really want to watch while still getting their work done. For you, the benefit is that you don't have to find someone else to do their work, or risk falling behind on deadlines. Using a call answering service, any calls can be diverted to their home, or their mobile numbers.

Tone of Voice is Crucial

When you are talking to someone face to face, you pick up all sorts of clues about their mood and meaning from their body language and facial expression as well as their tone of voice and choice of words. Unfortunately, you have much less to go on when you are answering the telephone. Tone of voice becomes much more important, which is one of the reasons why all our call answering operatives are trained to smile before they even answer the phone.

It is very easy to give the wrong impression over the phone, simply by sounding slightly distracted (perhaps when you are typing the message, or taking the caller's details). You can come across as bored and uninterested. It is worthwhile over-compensating slightly so that you sound lively, interested and friendly. But don't go too far the other way or you could give the impression that you are being sarcastic, which will quickly irritate the caller.

Whatever your role in your business, if you are talking to a client on the phone they are building an impression of the business as a whole from the way they perceive you. If you aren't sure how you come across on the phone, ask someone to listen in and give you an honest opinion.

Risky Business

Running your own business requires taking a few risks but finding a call answering service doesn't need to be one of them. Starting a business is itself a massive risk, but if you are running your own business, you know it is a risk well worth taking! Even when your business is up and running, you will still find yourself taking risks. As the economy is still recovering, there is always the risk that it will all unravel somehow.

Using a call answering service can save you both time and money by freeing up you and your staff to focus on the profit-making part of your business. However, it does require a certain degree of trust. When someone answers your calls for you, they become the first point of contact for many of your clients and potential clients. As such, you want someone who is professional, friendly, and understands your company.

How can you find a service like this without risking your money trialling different call answering companies until you find one that suits you? Well, with Zoom there is no risk! You can have a 7 day free trial at no risk to yourself. You can set up your trial in a matter of minutes, just by calling Zoom. We are confident that if you try before you buy, we can convince you to choose us!

Need To Save Some Money?

Many companies are finding they need to streamline their processes to save time and money, and enable them to focus on growing their business in the current economic climate. As a business owner it is well worth spending a bit of time considering which parts of your business really need to be carried out by yourself or your employees and which parts could be outsourced. Often you will find that you and your staff spend an inordinate amount of time answering telephone calls, many of which are not productive (the ever present sales calls in particular). This can be disruptive when you are in the middle of a project and have to pause to answer the telephone and deal with the call. Outsourcing to a call answering service lets you focus on your work when you need to, and deal with phone calls at a time that is convenient to you.

Giving your staff the opportunity to spend more of their time on the high value work that you actually get paid for has multiple benefits. The biggest is that they will be able to be more productive in the time they have available. A side benefit you may not think of straight away is that your calls will still be answered promptly and professionally, even when you have unexpected absences due to sickness. As your telephone answering service would already be set up, you wouldn't need to worry about that aspect of an absence and could instead focus on sharing out the work you do for your clients.

Successful businesses are those which respond well to change and come out of adversity stronger and even more successful. As such, downsizing is an opportunity to focus your efforts on keeping your business strong and growing within today's economic conditions.

Almost Summer Holiday Time!

The season of summer holidays is almost on us again! Many of us are planning our holidays abroad (although some exceptionally organised people have had theirs booked for months!), and no doubt it is the same in companies up and down the country. Suddenly everyone wants to book time off for the same brief period and managers find themselves trying to work out when everyone can have holiday without affecting the smooth running of the business. This is where a call answering service can help.

Whether you have already got the Zoomettes working for you, or you just want to be able to use Zoom as an ad hoc back up for those times when you need cover and you need it now, we can help! So if you find that all your reception staff want to go away at the same time, their holidays overlap, or someone falls sick while they are the only one covering the telephones, one phone call to Zoom and you can be covered until your employees return.

All you need to do is sign up to our ad hoc service now, and you will be a member forever, so whatever unexpected situation you find yourself dealing with you will be able to turn on your call answering service with just one phone call.

Fun Mobile Phone Facts

Many businesses these days are run primarily on mobile phones. Naturally, this doesn't present a problem from a call answering perspective as we can just as easily transfer calls to a mobile device as to a landline. We can even send any messages to your mobile phone as a text message.

Here are a few fun facts about mobile phones:

• The first mobile phone call in the United Kingdom was made in 1985. Comedian Ernie Wise of Morecambe and Wise fame, called Vodafone's Newbury, Berkshire offices from London.
• There are more than 4 billion mobile phones in the world, and over 1 billion of those are smartphones.
• The most commonly number which is dialled accidentally by your mobile phone is in your pocket or bumping around your handbag, is 999. Not really surprising when you consider that most of us lock our phones so that's the only number they can call...but a bit annoying for the emergency services!
• Mobile phone internet use is expected to overtake desktop internet use by 2014. Already the majority of local internet searches are from a mobile phone.
• Need to bling up your iPhone? A British jeweller created the iPhone 4 'Diamond Rose' which features 500 diamonds with over 100 carats between them, including a 7.4 carat rose diamond on the home key. Not a phone you'd casually stick in your pocket, with a price tag of £5 million!
• New phobias have risen since mobile phones have appeared. Have you ever felt horribly uncomfortable just because you haven't got your mobile phone with you, it has run out of charge, or has no signal? There's a name for that - 'nomophobia'.

What A Receptionist Shouldn't Do

Your company's receptionist is usually the first point of call for clients old and new, so it is absolutely crucial that they know how to speak to clients on the phone so that they portray the appropriate image of your company. A friendly, cheerful and professional sounding receptionist gives the impression that your whole company is friendly, cheerful and professional.

It is very obvious when you are on the receiving end of a badly handled phonecall. Most of us will have experience of rude or grumpy receptionists, so I'm sure you know what you wouldn't want a receptionist representing you to do! Some examples we have experienced are:

• people only saying "Hello" when answering company calls instead of introducing themselves and the company - this leaves the caller feeling unsure that they dialled the right number, and it sounds very unprofessional.
• an abrupt receptionist gives the impression that their time is being wasted by answering the phone and does not give a welcoming feel to your company.
• telephone calls transferred without any warning - at best the client is left confused about what the receptionist is actually doing, and at worst they can think they have been disconnected and hang up.
• receptionists who don't ask your name before transferring the call and don't announce the call to the recipient. This is frustrating for the caller as they then have to explain themselves again.

Our virtual receptionists not only answer calls promptly, we use the same company spiel you prefer (E.g."Good morning, [Company name], [receptionist's name] speaking, how can I help?") and represent your company to the highest standard. Calls can be transferred easily, just as if we were in your office with you, and we always try to take a thorough message so you know what people were calling for before you call back. Customer service is paramount, so let us know what you need; our service is totally flexible.

Speed Of Call Answering

Many people think that the first step to effective call answering is to pick up that phone as quickly as possible. It's not! It may come as a surprise, but if you think it through, it makes sense; people just don't expect their call to be answered that quickly. You may be ready to answer as soon as you hear the phone ring, but callers expect it to ring a couple of times before anyone picks up. Before two rings have passed, they are probably distracted, or even finishing off something that they were doing before they picked up the call. You don't want to start the call off with the caller feeling like they were caught out, so give them a chance to ready themselves.

Waiting for at least two rings also gives you the opportunity to prepare yourself. Cast an eye at the clock so you know whether you should be saying "good morning" or "good afternoon", remind yourself of the appropriate greeting spiel, and smile. Then you are ready to pick up the phone!

Answering too quick risks an unprepared caller, but take too long and you risk losing the call altogether. Generally speaking you should aim to answer before 6 rings have passed. Some very impatient callers may hang up before that, but most will wait at least that long. Not many will wait much longer.

Businesses in Multiple Locations

Businesses based in multiple locations are becoming very common these days; more so when you consider that more and more staff are able to work primarily from home. In these situations, deciding which location should receive the telephone calls can be a challenge, especially if there are few people at each location. Once you have answered the call, dealing with it when the ideal recipient is miles away can in practice mean taking a message and offering to ask the right person to ring the caller back.

These call answering woes can easily be remedied with a virtual reception. Our Zoomettes can easily act as a centralised reception service, ensuring calls are answered promptly even during busy periods, and calls can be transferred to the right person wherever they are based. We will answer the call just as if we were in the same building as you, and even if you are working from home, or out on the road, the call can be transferred seamlessly, giving the impression that you too are right there in the office! Message handling is also easier to keep track of, with all messages sent instantly via email, SMS or fax directly to the relevant person. Don't let multiple locations stop you from having a professional reception service.

Moozings from Zoom - Some interesting Phone Facts

Today the telephone is an integral part of all our lives wherever we are but only a hundred years ago it was struggling to secure a foothold anywhere. So here are ten interesting facts on its development:


1. Alexander Graham Bell thought the phone should be answered with ‘Hoy Hoy’ instead of Hello.

2. The first telephone exchanges were built in 1877//78 and Automatic exchanges, or dial service, came into existence in the early 1900s - eliminating the need for human telephone operators.

3. There are 149,084,370 phone lines in the world and thousands more are being added every day. (wiki lists 1.27 billion lines and over 5 billion mobile devices)

4. The first telephone answering service was created in 1923, when a bedridden woman named Margaret Smith realized that she could make money by taking calls for busy doctors from her bed.

5. Telephone operators predominately used to be young men; however they were prone to prank calling and chatting up female callers.

6. The concept of allocating telephone numbers to individual phone lines was invented by a doctor.

7. In 1667 a string telephone conveyed sounds over an extended wire but it wasn’t until March 1876 when Alexander Graham Bell transmitted the sentence: "Mr. Watson, come here! I want to see you!" using a liquid transmitter and an electromagnetic receiver – the basis of the modern telephone system.

8. An operator in Milan was once fined for contacting a wrong number.

9. While the concept for hexagonal cells for mobile phones was conceived in December 1947 the first handheld cellular mobile call wasn’t made until April 1973

10. One of the early cable operators in the UK, Cable London, connected its first cable telephone customer around 1990

Moozings from Zoom - Case Study Orbit Sound

We are delighted to introduce our latest new client Orbit Sound; a British company that supplies high quality audio products with revolutionary spatial technology that includes the T12 V3 sound bar, a super-stylish standalone sound bar, and the T3, an ultra lightweight speaker. GfK NOP Market Research also recently named them as the “Number one best seller for the year, and the second largest growing market for consumer electronics.”

Orbit Sound was initially in need of an answering service as it wanted a system to handle its pre and post sales queries and process orders online. Zoom were able to offer a high quality efficient and ever friendly service with a focus on providing outstanding customer service that met and maintained the standards and requirements they desired.

Orbit Sound provided the ‘Zoomettes’ with one-2-one training enabling Zoom to give callers first line technical support and answering all post sales queries in addition to processing new customer orders directly on line and giving nearest retail advice.

Martyn Double, Technical Support Manager, Orbit Sound commented: “We now have a fully integrated customer support service thanks to Zoom Answer Call”.

Dealing With Spam and Sales Calls

One of the most frustrating things about answering calls as part of a thriving business is the number of spam or sales calls you have to field. As a busy manager or director, you naturally want to avoid answering the phones unnecessarily or spending time filtering out the legitimate enquiries from those who are just fishing for information or trying to sell you something. A call answering service can solve that problem!

A good call answering service doesn't just take a message from every caller; a voicemail function can do that! We work to qualify that caller so that we can give you sufficient detail. While that may mean you still get messages from spam callers, you don't need to waste your time returning the call!

Imagine how much more time you would have to focus on your work if you weren't having to field calls from random salesmen offering you services you don't need, people hunting for jobs, or recruitment agencies and head hunters offering to help you fill job vacancies you don't even have. Time is money, so don't waste your time answering phone calls that don't help forward your business.

Moozings from Zoom... Meet the Zoomettes!

We thought it time for you to meet the Zoomettes who handle your calls every day with a smile. 

Over the coming months we will be focussing on a different member of the Zoom team and this month we would like to introduce you to Lucy. 


Lucy Campbell-Gillingham



"Hi, my name is Lucy, and I am responsible for a number of different areas within Zoom. My primary role being a ‘Zoomette’ working on the front line delivering a friendly and efficient service to our clients but behind the scenes I’m also responsible for the training and development of all new starters. I was also recently given the opportunity to create and continue our new Quarterly Zoom newsletter and your comments and feedback on what you would like to see covered would be greatly appreciated."

"I also recently completed a certificate in business, and thoroughly enjoyed Marketing so am hoping to go on and complete a Chartered Institute of Marketing course."
 

Now Meet the rest of the Team





Ramma Dahl

Call Centre Zoomette



Mariette Boal
Call Centre Zoomette



Melanie Timms

Call Centre Zoomette

and Zoom Facebook Blogger



Helena Did-Dell
Call Centre Zoomette
And
Assistant Supervisor





Victoria Jenkins
Call Centre Zoomette



Jessica Dobbyne
Call Centre Zoomette



Jane Bavester
Call Centre Zoomette



Zoe Reynolds
Call Centre Zoomette



Chantelle Coxall
Call Centre Supervisor



Sarah Bellamy
Operations Director and
Second in Command!



Jane Cunnington
Sales Development Manager











Your Brochures Need Never Be Late Again

You probably know by now that we offer call answering services for businesses, small and large, but some of our other services may have slipped under the radar. For example, did you know that we can send out your brochure for you?

Many incoming phone calls are simple requests for information, and other call answering companies will simply pass on that information along with the caller's number. This means you then have to call the customer to get their address, and then send out the brochure. That seemed like rather too many steps to us at Zoom, so we decided to shorten the process!

At Zoom, if we receive a call requesting information that is covered by your brochure, we can send it out for you! We will include your preferred letter and stationery which should be ready stamped with either 1st or 2nd class postage. That way, by the time you return the customers call, they are already familiar with your products, and your company comes across as much more seamless and professional.

That isn't all, not by a long shot. Here at Zoom, we truly believe that service is key, and that means the service we provide to both you and your clients. And we're flexible! If there is something else we can do to make your life a little easier, and your business run a little smoother, just call and ask!

Who Are The Zoomettes?

Our Zoomettes are the core of our call answering service. As a company, we invest heavily in their personal development and training - each operator undergoes Customer Service NVQ Levels 1,2 and 3. So naturally, once their training is complete, we do everything we can to keep hold of them! For you this means that not only do you get exceptional customer service from our staff, but you don't find yourself with someone new answering your calls every month.

Along similar lines, all the people who will be answering your calls will have received client specific training to prepare them to deal with your incoming calls. You can even visit us in our Cambridge offices to talk to them in person about your business.

Outside of work us Zoomettes like to enjoy ourselves, and socialise together. We go on outings as a company, celebrate each other's milestones (weddings, babies...), and we liven up our days in the office with the odd fancy dress day, and the occasional practical joke!

Call Answering - Not Just For Small Businesses

It may appear that call answering services are primarily aimed at new, start-up businesses where there are fewer people available to answer the phone, but you would be wrong! We have a variety of services perfect for small, medium and large businesses. For example, if you want to run any call centre services, or to expand your current call centre department, we can do that for you. Our Zoomettes can be your sales agents, manage your marketing or recruitment campaigns, run an advertising campaign or provide first level technical support. You never need to worry about lost sales again, simply divert your calls to Zoom and increase the number of your leads and sales. We can process orders, take credit card details using your website's ordering facility and record all the information you require before sending it instantly over to you however you would prefer - email, text or fax. We will work with you to create a process that enables us to qualify leads and candidates for you. Our technical support service is an information gathering service to determine the type of fault or problem before escalating it to your own on call engineers. If you are running an advertising campaign, why not hire one of our 0800, 0845 and 0870 non-geographic telephone numbers and brief us on which products and services you are promoting. We can get the pertinent information from each caller and again, send it instantly to you. If you like the idea of a call answering service, but have more complex needs, and require more in depth call handling, our call centre services are perfect for you. You even get a customised report for each of the services we offer, covering what the response has been and what activity has been like.

Three Simple Steps To A Free Trial

Have you heard about our free seven day trial? We will give you a free trial of our call answering services; we will answer, manage and route your telephone calls for seven days. At the end of that week, you can decide to continue...or not! It's your decision. Of course, we believe you will be so thrilled with our service that you will want to continue!

So how easy is it to sign up for the free trial? It takes just three easy steps!

Step 1: Call Zoom! We will talk you through the information we need to handle your calls for you. Among other things, we need to know how you would like us to answer the phonecalls, whether you would like them put through to you as appropriate, or if you would prefer a message to be taken, how would you like us to deliver that message (email or text to your mobile).

Step 2: Transfer your calls and your free trial starts.

See, it's even easier than we implied! The first two steps are the only ones you need before the free trial. At the end of the week we will give you a trial report with a breakdown of the costs and a monthly estimate based on the volume of calls during that week. Call us and let us know what you thought!

Step 3: This is the one we hope happens - if you are happy with our service, and would like to go ahead, just sign up online!

Spring Cleaning - Outsource Your Telephone Services

As Spring is finally here (okay the weather may not agree, but the daffodils have already been blooming, so it must be spring!), it's time to think about spring cleaning. Just as you spring clean your house, it is worth spring cleaning your business by reviewing your processes, and seeing where you could improve things or save money. One area that can save you time and money is switching to a call answering service.

Outsourcing certain departments such as reception (with our virtual reception service), telephone answering or call centre services, can free you and your staff up to do more of the work that actually earns you money, as well as ensuring you don't have to field all the unwanted sales calls! Using Zoom's call centre services can even increase your leads and sales, potentially earning yet more money! There is lots more information about the call answering services we offer on our website.

Dealing With Difficult Callers

While we do answer every call with a smile on our face, we cannot guarantee that every call will be a happy one. Call answering services like ours quickly build up experience with dealing with many different types of callers. We like to think that we keep the majority of our callers happy, but sometimes a caller will already be irate about an issue they are experiencing before they make the call. It is our job to handle that caller in such a way that they are satisfied with the way things are moving forward, even if all we can do is pass the message on to the right person.

It is obviously crucial that we can identify callers who are annoyed as only then can we be aware that we need to handle their call more carefully than usual. While some callers are obviously angry and speak loudly and abruptly, many people become icily polite when they are really upset, so it is important that our Zoomettes don't mistake this for 'normal' politeness!

The best way we have found of dealing with upset callers is to really listen to what they're saying and give them a chance to get their issue off their chests. At the same time, honesty really is the best policy, so if we don't know the answer to their question, we will say so! Instead we will tell them what we will do, whether that is put them through to the right person, or get a message to the person they need to speak to.