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 providingreliable phone answering services. Let us help your business to thrive and grow, and your reputation to improve, with professional call answering.

Beat 'the Summer Slump' with Call Centre Services

Call centre services can help businesses avoid 'the summer slump' - a period of slow growth as customers and staff take time off for holidays, and sales drop. There's a tendency to accept this phenomenon as a natural dip in productivity but a few minor changes to your business operations during this time can really make a difference to your numbers during the summer months. A call answering service is one of them, re-energising your company and ensuring you don't miss a single enquiry over the summer, keeping momentum and building stronger business contacts so that when September rolls around your company is in the best position to take on competitors.

The summer is the perfect time to refine your lead generation strategy, which is tied into your outgoing and incoming calls. Analyse your enquiries, conversions and customer acquisitions and see where you can streamline and make your business more efficient. Zoom Answer Call's many telephone answering services include: 

• Outsourcing call answering and call centre services - save time and money by letting us handle your enquiries, your phone marketing campaigns, recruitment drives, sales, technical support and customer services;
• Telephone answering and redirecting calls - concentrate on other areas of your business while we man your phones;
• Virtual reception phone services - your customers won't know the difference but we can help your business run smoothly and be the first port of call for enquiries;
• Franchise call answering - provide a professional phone service for customers enquiring into your business, no matter how large and diverse your franchise is.

The summer is also a great time to re-evaluate your marketing strategy, refresh employee training, or re-connect with existing customers via a friendly call, email or letter. If you need help to spruce up your business phone services this summer, get in touch with us at Zoom UK and let our Zoomettes boost your business with a smile. 

Cut the Costs of Employee Sick Days and Holidays

Did you know the average sick day costs employees £75 per employee? Not only that but absent employees mean the rest of your team are under a greater strain and less work is able to be completed. Hiring cover only costs extra, so how do business cut the cost of staff holidays and sick leave?

A simple and effective method of reducing the cost of unavoidable sick days and annual leave is to incorporate a dedicated call answering service into your company's operations. By having a reliable team of call handlers on hand every single day of the year, you won't ever need to worry about missed calls, unmanned reception desks or slow responses to enquiries and orders. You can even opt for extra cover during holidays and busy periods to ensure your business stays on track all year round.

At Zoom Answer Call we are committed to helping businesses big and small make the best of their time and money, providing call handling services, virtual reception desks, call centre services, brochure sending, appointment making and many other valuable services to help you manage your customer services department as efficiently as possible. Outsourcing helps you to free up time and manpower that is essential for the daily running of your business - don't keep your trained employees tied up behind a desk waiting for the phone to ring, leave that to us!

One of the best things about having a call handling service associated with your company is that there is no longer any need to worry about employees taking sick days or holiday at awkward times. With Zoom Answer Call you know that your phones will be covered whenever you need them to be, at no extra cost than usual. Try our FREE 7-day trial for yourself and see how effective and productive phone answering services can be for your company. Call on 0800 583 5020 to speak to one of of expert advisers, or email us at sales@zoomuk.co.uk.

Call centre services

Call centres require a high level of professionalism and productivity to perform well. We offer call centre services by diverting your calls to our sales agents in order to help you to increase your leads, stay on top of your enquiries and keep your customers happy! Zoom Answer Call can also assist you with recruitment campaigns, marketing drives, processing orders and providing technical support to your clients. Whatever type of call centre services your business requires, get in touch with Zoom to see how we can help.

For businesses needing additional call handlers for their sales and enquiries, we can ensure that you never miss a call. Working with your existing ordering facility, we can create a process to enable our agents to answer sales enquiries and take orders smoothly and efficiently. All the information we gather will be sent to you via email, text, or fax instantly so that every part of your operation works together in sync.

If it's technical support your customers need, we are able to provide staff to gather information about each client's problem in order to forward the call to the right person. This process helps to save time and ensure that your customers find the help they need without becoming frustrated by long wait times, automated menus or unanswered calls. 

If you need an 0800, 0845 or 0870 number, we can help you to set up an advertising campaign and collect information from each call to provide you with a detailed and customised report for your service.

Get in touch with us for more information on our call centre services or try our 7-day free trial today to find out how Zoom Answer Call can make a difference to your business' efficiency!

Improving Your Customer Service - Part 2

Does your company's customer service need a boost? At Zoom Answer Call, customer service is our first priority and we strive to improve the customer experience for every business we work with. If you need a few pointers on how to raise your reputation and polish your customer service skills, you'll find some tips below. You can also read part 1 of our customer service series here.

1. The moment you pick up the phone or are approached by a customer on the shop floor, give them your undivided attention. Distraction and preoccupation are the enemies of good customer service! Your customers need to feel as though they are genuinely being listened do, and you need to pay attention so that you are clear about their enquiry or problem and can help them appropriately and effectively. If you are unable to set aside time for this kind of focus, consider employing a phone answering service to do it for you. 
2. Anticipate potential problems or additional needs. Communicate with your customers during and after sales to find out if there's anything else they would have liked from their interaction with you, or if there are any follow-ups you should be carrying out. Anticipating what your customers want from the overall experience with your business helps you to provide a better service, boost your reputation and reduce complaints.
3. Treat customers as individuals. Ask for their name and use it. Always make a note of any information they give you so that you can refer to it later and show them that you have been listening and taking in what they're saying. One size does not fit all in customer service - what one customer is happy with, another may find insultingly lacking. Determine how best to resolve an issue on an individual basis and tailor your customer services to each customer you deal with.
4. Be sincere. There's nothing worse than knowing that someone who is supposedly trying to help you is being fake. Customers value sincerity and a genuine effort to make them happy. Even if you can't fix their problem, approaching it from a sincere and apologetic starting point can pave the way for a positive interaction. Our Zoomettes are trained to answer each call with a smile and handle every enquiry with professionalism and genuine care.
5. Say "thank you". Remember that your customers are what keep you in business! Thank them for their time, their business and their enquiries. Customers remember bad customer service and they remember excellent customer service - make sure you're on the right side of that coin!

For more tips and tricks to boost your customer services, keep watching our blog for part 3 - coming soon. For customer service management and call answering services, Zoom Answer Call can help you to ensure your customer services is always of the highest quality and professionalism. 

Improving Your Customer Service - Part 1

As a professional call answering company, we know the importance of good customer service - it's built into everything we do, every call we take, every customer we speak to. Whatever your industry, customer service is a necessary and integral part of your day to day business. Whether you work B2B or B2C, your customer services sets you apart from competitors, strengthens your reputation, and assists with new customer acquisition as news of your good deeds spreads via word of mouth. So long as your reputation is positive, of course...

If you need to improve your company's customer services, the following tips might help. In the first of a 3 part series, we're looking at some simple ways to revamp your approach to customer services:

1. Dedicate time and effort to your customer service department, no matter how small. Relegating customer services as a secondary responsibility means you will never stay on top of your enquiries or complaints. If you genuinely don't have the time or manpower to prioritise customer services, think about employing a call answering service to do it for you! Having a service like Zoom Answer Call means you never have to worry about a missed call or a forgotten enquiry. We have services to suit every style and size of business, and we offer a great range of additional benefits to help the day to day running of your company.
2. Know what your customers want. Invest in market research and tailor your products and services to really suit your customers' needs. The better you adapt your company to the specifics of your target audience, the better service you will provide. In turn, it will be easier for your customer services to respond to customers' requirements.
3. The customer is always right, and customer services are always polite. Remember that mantra, especially when dealing with a difficult customer! Even the most negative complaint or problem can be rectified with swift and reasonable customer services. The most important thing is to stay polite, stay calm and stay objective - if a customer is angry or irritated, don't take it personally. Try to see it from their point of view and imagine what you'd like to hear as a response. At Zoom Answer Call, our Zoomettes are professionally trained to handle all sorts of difficult calls and enquiries, and can help you to smooth problems and resolve issues in your customer service department.
4. Make yourself available 24/7. High on the list of customer service bugbears is not being able to get through to a representative, or getting stuck in a never ending labyrinth of automated responses. If you can't provide comprehensive customer services for your company, a call answering service can allow you to offer round-the-clock customer service to your clients and give you assurance that your business will always accessible.
5. Listen to your customers! Whenever you receive a customer call or enquiry, make sure you clearly understand what they are telling you. Identify their tone of voice and respond appropriately. Make a note of any information you are given so that you can easily refer to it later if necessary. Try not to make assumptions about what they want - instead, repeat back the core of what they've said to you to ensure you've got the message right. Good listening is the first step to genuine and effective customer service. After all, if customers don't feel like you've listened and understood them, they're going to end up frustrated and irritated.

For more tips on improving your customer services, stay tuned to our blog and we'll post part 2 and part 3 in this handy series soon.

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!

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.

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!

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. 

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.

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.

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!

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.

Call Answering & Chocolate

No, they're not really related, but it's Easter and we love chocolate, so this blog will be about both! While many companies will be preparing to close up shop this evening, we don't stop. Our Zoomettes will be there over the bank holiday weekend to provide our call answering services for our clients. Naturally, we will be our happy, friendly selves, always answering the phone with a smile, but we don't want to miss out on the chocolate eggs!

If you are one of our clients, we already know that when it comes to call answering services, you prefer the human touch, along with the exceptional customer service and telephone answering skills that all the members of our team possess. However, we don't know what easter eggs you prefer! If you have time for a bit of fun this weekend, post a comment telling us what your favourite easter chocolate treat is.

A few of the teams' favourites are; creme eggs (always a winner, but there are those who prefer the mini creme eggs to the standard variety), mini eggs, the eternal battle between the milk chocolate, white chocolate and dark chocolate fans, and my personal favourite is the posh Hotel Chocolat variety!

However you celebrate it, with or without chocolate, Happy Easter from all the Zoomettes!

Planning For The Holidays

In some ways, Easter has a lot in common with Christmas. It is the only other time of year that we get two bank holidays in a row (royal weddings aside!), and as it coincides with the school holidays, it is a time that many people want to book off from work. Careful planning as an employer is needed to ensure you have sufficient staff to cover your needs, but why not consider using a call answering service such as Zoom for those services that don't require a high level of technical, industry level knowledge? That's not to say that our Zoomettes won't know anything about your industry - all our operators receive client-specific training to prepare them to answer your calls. You can even come and help train them at our Cambridge office!

Why not plan ahead for staff absences, or even let a few more people have a break than usual, and let our Zoomettes fill the gap. We cover all bank holidays, as well as offering our service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week under our "24 Hour Live" service. Alternatively, if your business shuts at the weekend and bank holidays, you may still have staff taking holidays over Easter, and are welcome to make the most of our "Business Hours" service from Monday to Friday, 8.45am to 6pm. Don't worry, there's still old fashioned voicemail to cover the out of hours times!

Even Call Answering Services Need To Laugh

Here at Zoom Call Answering Service, we spend a lot of time on the phone, or thinking about phone calls, and sometimes we just need a few laughs. What's the best way to amuse someone who spends all day on the telephone? That's right, with telephone jokes!

Here are some of our favourite telephone related jokes.

* What's the cheapest time to call your friend long distance? When they're out!
* What do you call an elephant in a telephone box (remember those?!)? Stuck.
* How can you tell if a bee is on the phone? You get a buzzy signal.
* What do you get if you cross a telephone with hair straighteners? A smooth operator!

Okay, so they're terribly cheesy, but can you do any better?! It's so important for us to answer the telephone with a smile on our face, and sharing a few jokes (and, we can admit it, a few practical jokes!), is a great way to keep us smiling all day long.