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.