Learn to Handle Business Calls More Effectively

Not only can Zoom provide you with an expert team of call handlers to help your company run smoothly, we can also train you and your staff in what makes our techniques so successful.

Zoom business call training will provide you with a range of skills to improve your business calls and customer service, and increase customer acquisition and retention. We can coach individuals or groups in the following areas:

• Best practice for telephone operators
• Competency when dealing with enquiries and sales
• Positive attitude and polite manner
• Putting forward a good first Impression 
• Tools and techniques to handle a variety of callers
• Dealing with complaints and negativity
• How to meet customer expectations
• Adapting behaviour to win more business
• Tune-in to clients' needs, values and preferences

By carrying out simple behavioural tests, we can help your staff to see how to identify and understand customer expectations, requirements and values. With this knowledge and these skills, your staff will be able to more competently handle enquiries, drive sales and resolve complaints - working in harmony with your Zoom team of call management specialists!

For more information on our business call training please get in touch with us at www.zoomuk.co.uk or by calling 0800 583 5020. And you can even check your call handling skills with our online test!

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. 

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. 

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!

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.