Cut Costs and Boost Customer Satisfaction With Call Centre Services

Choosing a call centre service for your business can help you to reduce costs while improving your customer services. Finding the right call centre for your company's requirements is essential if you want to maximise efficiency and promote the good name of your business.

When looking for a telephone answering service, it's important that the one you choose provides the following attributes:

1. Fantastic customer service with a smile. Your call handlers are the gatekeepers to your business, and are the forefront of your customer service. Everyone who answers a call for your company should do their best to ensure that the customer on the other end of the line is well looked after in the most professional way possible. 

2. Fully trained to handle your specific business. Call centre agents should be able to answer customer enquiries politely, confidently and knowledgeably, or to quickly divert the call to someone who can. At Zoom Answer Call, our call handlers are trained to provide professional responses suitable for each client, and are able to take messages or redirect calls if necessary. 

3. Offer complementary services to optimise your business. At Zoom UK, in addition to call centre services and phone answering, we also provide a virtual reception service, downsizing and outsourcing, diary management, telemarketing, brochure sending, seasonal cover, and franchise call handling services. A varied choice of services help you to streamline your operations with a company that understands your business requirements and your brand.

Call centre services help you to cope with large numbers of incoming enquiries as well as outgoing telemarketing requirements. Professional call handlers are cheerful and polite when they answer a call, offering a positive and efficient response to your customers' needs. At Zoom Answer Call we understand the importance of cutting business costs wherever you can and we offer affordable plans tailored to your individual needs. 

When you have Zoom's call centre services as part of your customer service division, you'll never miss a call again!

Tips for Professional Call Handling

When you're answering the phone to clients and customers, it's important to retain a professional attitude at all times - but that doesn't mean being cold or overly formal. Think about how you'd like to be treated when calling an enquiry line, customer services or technical support.

Providing a friendly but professional response to your business calls helps to make each enquiry count - it's what turns a call into a sale, or a complaining customer into a happy one. Here are a few tips from our professional call answering team on how to give your clients a great experience when calling your business:

• Remember to say "hello". Taking a few moments to greet your caller and ask how they are can dramatically affect the rest of the call. Every caller is an individual and deserves to be treated as such - it doesn't take much to be polite with a simple hello!
• Quality wins over quantity when it comes to call handling. It's far better to leave your customers feeling good about your company (even without making a sale) than feeling as if they were rushed off the phone or dismissed. Especially when generating leads, quality call answering can make a massive difference to your conversion rate.
• Have the right information at the right time. When a customer calls to ask a question, they don't want to be passed round to several different departments or end up on hold. Ensure that your call network takes your caller to the right person as quickly as possible. Our phone answering services can provide an information gathering service to determine the best department to direct each call to and simplify your operation, keeping your customers as happy as possible!
• SMILE! You really can hear the difference when a call handler answers with a smile! Our Zoom call agents answer each and every call with a smile and a friendly, polite attitude. Starting each phone call with a positive spin helps us to provide the very best call handling service we can, passing on our great customer service to your clients.

Never miss a business call again...

Did you know that seven out of ten people will hang up the phone when they reach an answer machine? How many missed calls does your business receive per day? How many customers are you losing from not having an adequate call answering team?

With Zoom Assistants from our professional call answering service you can rest assured that your company will never miss a call ever again. Call answering services can come in handy whenever you can't guarantee that one of your staff will be able to answer your phones, for example:

• during meetings
• at busy times
• during staff absences or holidays
• when the phone is engaged

Zoom Answer Call's answering assistants provide a personal service for your company, answering calls, diverting calls, taking messages, booking appointments, sending out brochures and providing information and a friendly response to all your clients.

Our multi-line, high speed call answering service allows your customers to receive the service they are after without even knowing that you have diverted their call. This means no busy signal, no answerphone, no multi-choice touch tone menu, just real people who answer the phone with a smile every time...

Give us a try with our 7 day free trial to see how Zoom Answer Call can help your business.

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!

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!

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. 

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!

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.