Short staffed... Never again !

Finding yourself short staffed can be stressful and reduces the efficiency of your business as you try to pick up the slack. Whether your staff are on sick leave, maternity leave, or annual leave, there's no need to suffer from being short staffed or attempt to take on more work than you can handle to compensate. A call answering service can save you from stress and provide a dedicated and reliable back up for busy periods or the holiday season. When you're short on staff, the first thing to suffer is your call management - incoming calls get ignored, missed, or badly handled by untrained staff, and your customer satisfaction suffers as a result. Having the reassurance of a call management company like Zoom means that you can focus on your work without worrying about the front desk.

Temporary call management cover is available on a one-off short term basis, or you can choose to schedule your business phone cover for certain times of the year when you know you'll need the extra hands. Times when you might need cover include:

• Christmas, summer holidays, and public holidays
• Unexpected sick days or extended sick leave
• Maternity and paternity leave
• Staff training 
• Technical emergencies and line faults

Whatever the size of your company or the nature of your business, Zoom UK's professional call handling team can be flexible and adaptable according to your changing requirements. You can try out our services for free with a 7-day trial - just give us a call and we'll have you set up within ten minutes! Don't risk losing custom because you're short staffed; give your customers the best possible service 24/7 with a professional call handling management company. 

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!

Call Answering Cover for the Christmas Holidays

Christmas is on its way and despite being a massively busy time for most businesses, many companies find themselves short staffed as employees take their annual leave to celebrate the holidays. If you or your staff are planning on taking time off over the seasonal period you will need to think about how this will affect your business and the incoming enquiries that will continue to come in while you're off work. Will you be able to pick up the slack if employees are on holiday? Do you have backup in place to cover this busy time? 

The good news is, there's a way to cover the Christmas holidays without having to sacrifice your time off, or limit your employees' holiday time. By hiring temporary cover from a call handling company like Zoom UK, you can be assured that your incoming calls will be answered, your appointments scheduled, your messages noted, and brochures sent out. You can even arrange a virtual reception desk to divert and direct your calls, or opt for full call centre services to handle customer services, technical support, or Christmas marketing campaigns. 

Customers are never impressed by reaching an automated answerphone - they want to get through to a professional representative no matter the time or day. Don't risk losing custom at the busiest time of the year - back up your company reputation with a dedicated call management service over the holiday period and enjoy your time off knowing that your business is in safe hands. For a 7-day free trial with Zoom, visit www.zoomuk.co.uk. 

Call Diversion and Virtual Reception Services for Your Business

When you're hard at work, there are times when you just can't get to the phone, or don't want to be disturbed - wouldn't it be great to be able to just press a button and divert your call to a ready and waiting professional call handler? Oh right, you can do exactly that with Zoom Answer Call's diversion service! When you divert your calls to a call answering service from Zoom Answer Call, you can relax, knowing that you'll never miss a call again - whether your incoming calls are going straight to our professional team, or whether you decide to send an extra call through to us using your personal call diversion service. 

You have complete control over your call diverting - deciding how often or how little you divert calls to our Zoomettes. Incoming calls can be diverted to Zoom by activating the call diversion system from your phone keypad and are totally undetectable for the customer. We can set up your call diversion to be controlled in a number of ways, including:

• Automatic diversion after four rings to make sure your call is answered swiftly if you can't reach the phone in time
• Automatic diversion when the line is engaged so that your customer never hears an engaged tone
• Divert all calls for when you're out of the office, in a meeting, or simply are too busy to answer the phone!
• Manual diversion via your telephone keypad when you are unable to take a call

You'll receive a unique divert number that allows you to control your incoming calls when you're in the office, at home, or out and about. Missing calls costs your business money - never miss another enquiry with a team of dedicated Zoom call handlers waiting to answer your calls! Zoom's divert system works much like a virtual reception service - providing your business with a committed presence to handle every single call that you receive and ensuring they go to the right person as quickly as possible. For sales, enquiries, customer service, appointments, advertising, marketing, recruitment or technical support - Zoom are there for you to make sure you never miss another call.

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.

In challenging times, customer service quality matters most...

A great customer experience matters now 

more than ever. Here are six reasons why:

1. Customers want to be appreciated

When people buy during an economic downturn they are extremely conscious of the hard-earned money they spend. Customers want more attention, more appreciation and more recognition when making their purchases with you, not less. Customer service quality is simply essential.

2. Customers want value for money

Customers want to be sure they get maximum value for the money they spend. They want assistance, education, training, installation, modifications and support. The basic product may remain the same, but they want more service and higher customer service quality.

3. Customers want guarantees that their purchase was the right thing to do

In good times, a single bad purchase can be quickly overlooked or forgotten, but in tough times, every expenditure is scrutinised.

Provide the assurance your customers seek with generous service guarantees, regular follow-up and speedy follow-through on all queries and complaints.

4. Customers want a great experience

In difficult economic times, people spend less time travelling and “wining and dining,” and more time carefully shopping for each and every purchase. Giving great service enhances the customer’s shopping experience and boosts your own company’s image.

When times are good, people move fast and sometimes don’t notice your efforts. In tougher times, people move more cautiously and notice every extra effort you make. Customer service quality is vital because people will pay attention and remember.

5. Customers want to feel good about you

When money is tight; many people experience a sense of lower self-esteem. When they get good service from your business, it boosts their self-image. And when they feel good about themselves, they feel good about you. And when they feel good about you and your customer service quality, they buy.

6. Customers want to tell others

In tough times, people talk more with each other about saving money and getting good value. Positive word-of-mouth is a powerful force at any time. In difficult times, even more ears will be listening. Be sure the words spoken about your business are good ones by making your customer service quality exceptional!

Business Call Management and Call Centre Services for Large Companies

Managing your phones is an essential part of running any business, but is especially important for larger companies with numerous departments. Missed calls mean lost sales, irritated customers and a bad reputation, so call centre services might just be the perfect option for your business if you're struggling to keep on top of enquiries and orders.

Zoom UK offers a range of call management services for businesses of all sizes, and our call centre services are ideal for larger businesses to enable you to stay on top of marketing campaigns, incoming orders, technical support, and seeking new leads. With Zoom, you can tailor your call services according to your needs, including:

• Telephone answering
• Virtual reception service
• Call centre services
• Sales and enquiry answering
• Order processing
• Recruitment campaigns
• First-level technical support lines
• Non-geographical numbers (0800, 0845 or 0870)
• Brochure/information sending
• Holiday cover
• Tele-marketing and advertising
• Diary management 

Our Zoom operators work with your staff and your company processes to make your business run more smoothly, wherever and however you need us! Your customers will have no idea that you have outsourced your phone answering but they will certainly notice the ease of doing business with you and the polite and efficient manner of your call handlers!

Providing a high quality phone answering service for your company does a huge amount of benefit to your overall company reputation as well as your day to day performance. For sales, we can process orders and take payment details over the phone using your website facilities; for technical support, our operators are your first point of contact for customers, and will gather the information needed to pass them onto the correct advisor; for marketing and advertising, we can collect information and respond to customers making enquiries, passing this data onto you for your reports; for general support and assistance, virtual receptionists and diary planners can help your operations to run seamlessly - even at your busiest times. 

Try our seven day free trial to see how Zoom Answer Call can improve your business performance and make your work life easier! Call 0800 583 5020 and we'll have you up and running in a few minutes.