Good Telephone Manners

At Zoom, we train all our operatives to have the perfect telephone manners. We know how important it is to communicate well on the phone and how much of a difference it can make to your business.

We’ve put together a few tips on telephone manners and how to win over your clients.

Effective communication requires you to build trust, comfort and understanding. It also requires discussion, rather than just one person telling someone something.

Successful communication is where two people come to understand the same thing, so while a varied vocabulary may sound impressive, it may simply lead to someone not understanding what’s being said.

Repeating what someone has said back to them can assist in communication. It helps to clarify the issue- and it tests that the message that has been “sent” is the same as the one that has been “received”.

Testing for understanding (as above) is essential- most people will not say if they don’t understand, as they’ll feel embarrassed or inhibited by thinking that others do.

If you don’t know something, it’s best to carefully word your response. Instead of saying “I don’t know”, you can word it to sound more professional and positive. Use “I will find out” and then make sure you get back to them.

A lack of training is the most common reason for performance failure.

We take pride in our telephone manner, treating your clients the same way we would our own. When we speak to your clients, they will never know that they aren’t speaking directly to your company. They will always speak to someone who is well-trained, articulate and professional, while keeping a friendly warmth to the conversation. Try us now- free for seven days!

A Telephone Manner With A Difference.

Everyone knows that the way you speak on the telephone can have a huge impact on the way the conversation goes- whether you come away with a positive or negative feeling. When you phone a company, the person who answers can make you feel very valued- or as though you are wasting their time.

The difference in the way you are spoken to on the phone can result in two very different outcomes for businesses. If you receive blunt, cold and unfriendly service, you are much less likely to use that company for whatever business you needed from them. A positive experience, where the caller is dealt with in a friendly, professional and interested manner can transform a simple phone call into a business deal. Making the person feel valued, at ease and like they can trust you will result in them feeling much more inclined to use your company. Even if they don’t commit to anything during the phone call, you will stick in their mind and they will feel as though they can trust you- they may recommend you to a friend!

At Zoom, we consider your company part of ours, so we will speak to your clients as though they were enquiring about our own business. We’ll use a telephone manner that not only makes them feel positive about your company, but as though they are being dealt with in a friendly, professional manner to ensure we do the best for your business. All our staff undergo customer service NVQ level 1, 2 and 3, and we invest heavily in personal development and training. We then work hard to retain our staff once they are fully trained, meaning we have one of the best retention rates in the industry. Each of our team members are recruited from customer service backgrounds and we look after our staff, which means their team spirit and loyalty comes across in all the calls they take.

At Zoom, we can answer your calls 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including bank holidays, or you can subscribe to our “business hours” service, where we answer your calls Monday to Friday from 0845-1800 hours, with a voicemail service for out of hours.

Try a free 7 day trial to see just how good we are!

The Business Of Brochures

One of the best ways to get word out about your business is to send out brochures- it’s often requested by potential customers too! But sometimes, you find yourself missing out on business because you’re just too busy or away from the office, so you don’t have time to post out brochures.

Brochures are a great way to advertise your business, focussing entirely on your company and its offerings, thereby capturing the attention of your potential customer. Versatile and adaptable, brochures offer different ways to put your information across to your target audience. A graphic designer can help you put together an exciting design to ensure your business comes across as you want it to. It’s worth putting effort into the content on your material, whether it’s an enticing offer or punchy facts that will grab the attention of the reader. Bear in mind, brochures that are to be mailed out need to be sturdy enough to survive the postal system too!

Think about the size of your brochure- people respond well to clutter-free content, so make sure you have enough room to layout exactly what information you need, while keeping the aesthetics tidy and appealing.

Zoom can send your brochures for you, posting them out with your preferred letter and stationary, and using either 1st or 2nd class stamps. We can have these ready to post out in response to requests from your customers when they call. We’re completely flexible, so don’t hesitate to talk to us about what you need!

Small Business, Big Impression

If your business has started small, one of the best ways to boost your professional image is to have a virtual receptionist to handle any incoming calls. This gives the impression that your business is bigger than it actually may be, improving the confidence potential customer’s place in you.

Zoom can offer an exceptional level of service from our virtual receptionists, so that your customers or clients won’t ever know that they are talking to someone who isn’t directly part of the business. All calls are answered promptly and professionally, so you can rest assured that your first point of contact will be a courteous, helpful person for your clients to speak to. All your calls will be answered using your business name, making sure your company is represented exactly how you’d like it to be.

You can then dictate exactly how you want the call to be handled- whether you want the call redirected to the right person, or whether you want a message to be taken. This is perfect for whenever you’re on holiday, ill or in meetings, for example. You can avoid leaving customers unanswered or taking a phone call when you’re in a rush, making sure your clients get the full, professional attention that they need.

Zoom can also offer diary management, to book in those appointments and make sure you don’t miss any business opportunities! Acting as your own virtual assistant, we can use an online diary (or one you specify) to arrange your meetings and appointments, following your specifications. This can help you manage your time and to make sure clients are properly looked after and made to feel as important as they really are.

A One Man Band? No Problem!

When you’ve started your own business, we know that time is precious as it may feel like you don’t have any to spare. However busy you may be, it’s important to have time to respond to clients calling your business, to ensure they don’t struggle to speak to someone whenever they call.

If you’re working by yourself, we can answer your calls for you, in a professional and friendly manner that will boost your company’s image. Our service will give the impression that your company is larger and already well-established, and we’ll handle your calls in whatever way you want, to keep you in control.

We can help free up your time, to make sure your attention is focussed exactly where it needs to be. We’ll improve your efficiency, customer satisfaction and profits, making sure calls never go unanswered and clients are never left frustrated.

We understand that running your own business can be tough, so let Zoom take away some of the stress by handling all those calls. We can even post out brochures for you, or manage the response from a marketing or recruitment campaign. Our service is completely flexible- we’ll be happy to talk to you and discuss exactly what you need from us.

What happens to your calls is completely within your control. You can have your calls redirected to us at anytime- you can choose to have this when your phone is engaged, when you’re in a meeting or all the time. Activation of your divert is done on your telephone keypad- Zoom will give you your unique divert code so you can do this.

Are You Utilising Your Time & Money Effectively?

Saving time means saving money. Outsourcing your phone calls means you free up staff (and yourself) to work on increasing and improving your business. You can focus on the work that is core to your business, as we know that getting distracted and diverted by smaller issues delays the work that is truly important. Zoom can look after your phone calls, allowing you and your staff to concentrate on more high value work.

One of the main issues employers face is the cost of sick days for staff- investing in a Telephone Answering Service can dramatically reduce this! As we automatically filter the calls for you, it also means you spend less time being hassled by telemarketing calls, taking valuable time away from the really important tasks.

Smart companies that use change to make the right decisions such as outsourcing, will find themselves more successful. Outsourcing your calls to us is a great way to save time and money, meaning you will find your staff being more productive in much less time when they aren’t being distracted by constant phone calls.

Our smart Telephone Answering Service will seamlessly divert your calls straight to the right number first time! This means the customer won’t be left waiting and won’t be told to call a different number, making sure your company’s image is kept professional and smart. We’ll answer the phones with your preferred greeting, so the customer will never know that they’re speaking us rather than your company directly.

Our service is completely flexible- we’re always happy to discuss your requirements and will do our best to help you in any way we can!

Try It Free…

We’re confident that you’ll love our service, so we’re offering you the chance to try us out for 7 days completely free! For 7 days we offer our business hours service free of charge, so you can see what a difference we can make to your company.

We’ll show you how using us will improve customer relations, increase profits, make a real difference to efficiency and can help you reduce your working hours so you can focus on other things that are important to you. Your clients or customers will receive the highest quality service from our Zoomettes, who will answer the calls exactly as you want. We encourage you to get your family or friends to call in and test our service, to let you know how they felt about the way we deal with your calls.

At the end of the trial we’ll give you a detailed report that shows you how many calls we took, with a breakdown of costs and a monthly estimate based on your week’s trial. You’ll be able to see for yourself how we save you time and money, while improving your company’s image. Call’s will never go unanswered, meaning clients won’t be left frustrated when they can’t speak to anyone. We can either redirect the calls to you or a specified number, or we can take a message and communicate this to you however you like- via email or text, etc. All of this is done so that your clients never know they are speak to a Zoomette. We’ll answer the phone with your specified greeting, making sure the person is dealt with in a friendly, professional manner.

We don’t “lock” our customers in with lengthy contracts. Our clients stay with us because they love the service we deliver. We do require 30 days notice to terminate your service with us, but that’s all. We won’t charge you a set up fee, either- we try to make life as easy as possible for you!