‘Call Forwarding ‘ or ‘Patching’ is something we at ‘Answer-it’ get asked about….

This is something that we sometimes get asked about.

Yes we can do this for our clients.  However following the old adage ‘Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.’  The following is why.

If you are using a service such as ours and your calls have been diverted to come through for us to answer on your behalf, it usually for a good reason.  Most of the time it means that you are too busy to take  calls. 

Imagine this

So just for a moment – Imagine this

You make a call to be it to a customer or a client

The person that takes your call says they will ‘put you through’

 You dutifully hold on the line

The ‘operator’ is trying to connect (you are still on hold) but they are unable to.  This could be because the person you are trying to reach is out of area on a mobile phone, in a meeting, or for any other reason, too numerous to mention.  (Voicemail can take some time to connect.)

The ‘operator’ comes back to you to say that the person you were trying to reach isn’t available.  Politely asking if you would like to leave a message so that they can return your call.

Perhaps it would have been better for the operator to simply take a message in the first instance, saving the caller the indeterminable ‘on hold’ time.

Reality

However it is fair to say that call forwarding works for some clients, those who are larger organisations or those that do keep us informed up to the minute of their whereabouts.  Reality is that a lot of our clients are simply too busy to keep us this informed.  If they get a last minute call to attend an important client meeting they are safe in the knowledge their calls are handled professionally.  Safe in the knowledge that even though they aren’t answering the call their competitors certainly aren’t either!

So at this time of year it’s often good to take a little time out to reflect on the year gone by.  The good the bad and the ugly. As well as taking a  look at how to change the things that didnt work this year for the coming year.
For the past few years I have asked Duncan Bannatyne for his thoughts about small business and the coming year.  Well this year his quote is quite negative.  He said ‘A very tough year ahead I’m afraid’

There has also as always at this time of year  been a lot of talk on Twitter about New Year’s Resolutions.  Well it appears some people start to take action on their’s in December.  Creating a habit to carry them through into the new year and the rest of the year beyond.  It’s a great idea and a habit is likely to last longer than a resolution, just think about how hard it is to break a habit!

So a tough year ahead, well looking back on this year I saw a great movie ‘Senna’  at the the end of the movie flashed up the following as a strap line for the Senna Foundation.  ‘Dedication Determination Perfection’  If this year is going to be tough then this little mantra is going to be something thatpersonally I will be looking to for inspiration.  However, keeping the ‘perfection’ bit in check.

So have a wonderful 2012 everyone.  I wish you much success despite the doom and gloom and the naysayers!

To my mind customer service is all about communication.  This is relevant on so many levels,there is probably a book written all about it by one much wiser than I.

However in my industry we work in communication on 2 levels.  That is customer-facing as well as (for want of a better word) internally.

Our clients clearly believe in communication.  They want their calls answered rapidly in a polite, friendly and professional fashion. They wan ttheir callers, be they customers, prospects, or suppliers to be able to speak to someone that will treat them well and will be helpful and polite.

Sensible Conversations

By having a sensible conversation and relaying the information from the caller back to the client, it means that the service the caller receives on a call back is mostly seamless.  Our client is able to have all the relevant information to hand, having had time to research if necessary, calling back at a convenient time, meaning they are less likely to be interrupted.

The anonymous voicemail and customer concern of when the message theyhave left might get listened to, even worse when they might get a call back.

Information and Knowledge

Conversations and communication likely mean information and knowledge, the sharing of which is rarely a bad thing.
For example if you call a business and get no reply, or even a voicemail, how do you feel?  Wouldn’t you rather speak to someone who can perhaps answer your question or advise who can answer and when they can get back to you?  The clients we support like the more professional image and the great customer service that they are able to deliver, even if they do work alone.

Please visit www.answer-it.co.uk for more information about great communication between you and your prospects, customers and suppliers.

This blog post was written as a guest piece for Graham Frost  

A Moral Tale for Business

My to-do list this morning involved calling a number of small business owners that I already know. I used the numbers that they have listed on their profiles on the 4Networking.biz website – I was calling them to follow up on conversations we had recently had at networking meetings.

The first call went straight to an answering machine  that had a bit of a scratchy-sounding message. The second call went to an answering machine that told me it was the 2^nd November (it was the 7^th) and invited me to call a mobile number. When I called that, it went straight to voicemail as well. I tried to call six people this morning before I got to speak to a person. It wasn’t the person I was calling, but it was a professional young lady who asked me who I was and what I was calling about, then promised to get my message to the person I was calling. He called me back an hour later, from the Lake District, where he is taking a short break, and we are now doing business.

The moral to the story? If you are really unable to answer your phone, hire someone who will such as Answer-it. You may miss countless opportunities if you don’t!

 Graham Frost

www.grahamfrost.com

Well you don’t do you.  The statement sounds a bit philosophical doesn’t it.  But actually it is pretty logical.  If you don’t know about something, then you simply just don’t know about it.

So what don’t you know?

Did you know that your height is equivalent to the distance between your two longest fingers?  See you didn’t know, that you didn’t know that, before you read that did you?
[Of course there will be the odd smarty pants who did know that]

I bet you don’t know how many phone calls you might miss throughout the course of a normal day.  Could you even guess?  Does it occur to you those that hang up before voicemail kicks in, those who hang up when they get an engaged tone.  Ok so you don’t know the answer to that and actually it would be very challenging if not impossible to really work that out.  But all the same now you know that they are there.

What you probably know.

However you do probably know what an average sale for your business is worth.  You probably also know what your conversion rate on telephone enquiries to sales is.

Would you like to know? 

So would you like to get an idea of what calls you might be missing? Would you like to know about potential sales that are going directly to a competitor as your customer couldn’t reach you by telephone?  Even more importantly would you like to capture those missed calls and have the opportunity to convert them to sales?

 If you would then why not take advantage of a free trial with us at Answer-it and find out exactly what you didn’t know that you didn’t know. Call 01954 253770 or Email us today.

It’s fair to say that on this last trip to the USA we have done some travelling. We have changed plans which has involved plenty of driving and changing hotel reservations. We have experienced the most excellent customer service. However at the time of writing we are sat at San Diego Airport, willing the airline we are travelling with to give us an update. On when we might expect an aircraft to appear and spirit us back to the UK.
No one can control the weather and this is what is taking the blame. Communication is seriously lacking, initially it was forthcoming albeit brief. Flight has diverted to LAX and we will update you later. Later comes and goes and then we are told ‘They’ are talking to the captain and ‘They’ will let us know. (Who are ‘They?’)
Having had a few conversations with friendly TSA staff as well as kiosk owners no one has declared the weather ‘bad.’ More worryingly is that the flight we are waiting to board showed as arriving here at SAN some hours ago…..
We booked this airline and their ‘Premium’ product, having used another airline’s similarly branded service. On the outbound portion of this flight I must say I did puzzle and wonder over what was Premium  + about the service we were receiving. In contrast with the A N Other airline that offers a similar product there was no dedicated check in, there was no pre boarding (to speak of) there was no pre take off drinks, there was no different meal choice from our comrades in the ranks of basic economy. I did find and old magazine abandoned beside my seat. Was that it? Was that the +? There was indeed a very good article that I did enjoy inside.
We have just been comfortingly assured that the flight we are waiting for is going to be coming in from LAX once the get ATC clearance. Also been comfortingly reassured that our flight will leave ‘At some point’ forLondon

Compare and Contrast

So compare and contrast with a famous hotel brand. On arrival we were greeted, offered a drink of water, and generally greeted as old friends. We were asked what time we would prefer housekeeping. Huge apologies our room was not ready but it was being serviced and we were welcome to use all the facilities etc. We had friends staying in the same place so simply went to their room and sure enough within the hour as promised we had a call to say our room was ready. A quick elevator ride to the front desk and keys were in hand. Lovely touch here was that the staff member didn’t just hand / shove the keys across the desk to me. She walked around the desk she walked part way t the elevator with me making sure I knew where I was going and asked if I needed anything else at all.
After getting into the room we decided to waste no more time and get to the pool and soak up some rays. The pool was small and part of a much larger complex (we were welcome to use) It was beautiful! We were greeted poolside, asked if we wanted sun / shade, taken to some loungers, towels were laid out for us. I am pretty sure they would have picked you up and laid you on it too had you asked! The great service continued, a jug of iced water materialised and plethora of frozen fruit and other goodies was brought round as well as cold towels or Evian spritz, just in case you look too warm. (Well with temperatures of 101F you would wouldn’t you!)
All very nice you say…..

So what really put the icing on the cake for this brand I hear you ask. Well we only stayed 3 nights but had such a fabulous time, we changed our plans and drove 300 odd miles back there the following weekend. We got a great rate and on arrival the Valet recognised us, welcomed us back, we got to our room and were greeted by a lovely hand written welcome back card as well as some cupcakes. Later in the afternoon the manager even called the room to welcome us back personally. She noted we had, had a small issue with the wifi connection and that she had spoken to the IT dept prior to our arrival to check everything would be ok. (It was)
On our second night we had an issue with the bath and shower drains. It was resolved very fast and with huge apologies and contingency plans in place.
Even the house car driver remembered us and asked how our drive had been, and how the interim part of our vacation had been.
Everything during the 2nd stay more than matched our experience of the 1st stay. The concierge had arranged show tickets for us and even got us in to a very popular Sold Out show. When we checked out there was minimal fuss, the valet organised the car, the Bell Captain whisked away our luggage and loaded it and by the time we came out to the car, it was running with the air conditioning comfortable, 2 bottles of cold water set up. The door was opened for each of us and we were soon on our way. All staff wishing us well and looking forward to seeing us again soon.

You might not think this a fair comparison. Airline to Hotel and all that this may imply and the logistical differences. BUT the crucial thing to note is that it’s the total an utter lack of communication from the airline that is frustrating. That is causing angst for passengers that have connecting flights. That for some of those in the know they are wondering why a flight travelling a mere 35 mins has been refueled, when it is unable to land fully fuelled. Why they won’t make it clear the flight has not left LAX yet. Why they haven’t made it public knowledge that if the flight does not arrive here shortly we will have to spend the night here in SAN.

Communicate

I bang on and on and on about this all the time. COMMUNICATE please, it helps it makes your customers feels valued, appreciated even. Whatever you do keeping them in the dark and even telling lies is not productive and is damaging. I now remember WHY I haven’t flown with said airline since 2002. I think it will be at least another 9 years before I try them again. If not much, much longer!

From the Business Hub Radio Show – Broadcast  28th August 2011.

Talking Cold Callers with Mark and Ian – The good the bad and the downright dreadful!

Love them?

Don’t you just LOVE them?  So while auto dialers and recorded calls are quite easy to figure out and hang up on, the cold caller can be more tricky!

Usually the caller will verify the name of the company they are calling. (Annoying because you just answered with it.)
They will then go on to ask for ‘The Managing Director.’ (Annoying when they are not calling a Limited Company.) or ‘The Person in charge of…..’ / ‘The Office Manager.’  ‘The Owner.’ (Annoying when they have called a Limited Company.)

The responses you get range from the inane to cheeky to downright rude at times.  Well that is if the caller can understand you.  It  still  puzzles me that a business trying to sell its products by telephone through the cold calling medium employ people who clearly cannot speak the language of those they are calling. [Answers on a postcard!]

When offered a call back they respond with ‘Ok I will call them back,’ and then hang up.  It is very clear that they weren’t listening to a word you said.

But it is the frustration of picking up these calls especially if you are involved in a piece of work, just walking out of the door, or expecting an important call.

Volume of calls and Trial Period

We recently covered the phones over a trial period for a company.  During the week we passed on just 5 messages.  They were either orders, sales enquiries or relating to a service call.  The company signed up straight away, without hesitation.  Why I hear you asking – 5 calls surely they could handle those internally without the need to outsource.  Ahhh, the why is made clearer when we reveal that over the week the Answerettes actually took around 60 calls for this client.  All sales calls, recorded messages or auto dialers.  They were so pleased that all these calls had been eliminated from their business, they had no hesitation in signing up.

Recently a cold caller did manage to reach one of our clients [we assume her divert was turned off] and she told us the cold caller described you guys as ‘the best gatekeepers in history!’ 

Would you like a trial of the Answer-it service to put our gatekeeping to the test?

I rarely post personal experience type posts on my blog.  However felt that this experience was worthy of being posted. Simply because I was impressed.

My husband and I were in Cambridge on Saturday morning and decided that t might be nice to grab a late breakfast at Bill’s.  For the uninitiated this is a quirky restaurant / shop that has taken over the building that used to house ‘The Slug and Lettuce’ on Green St in Cambridge. 

It has a very shabby chic type style with each and every shelf and space taken up with produce.  From drums of olive oil, to packets of biscuits,  jars of jams, bottles of salad dressings, packets of sweets, bottles of exotic and fancy looking lemonades and bars of chocolate.  (Lots of other stuff too, but this was in my eye line and I don’t want to bore you with a shopping list.)  The walls are adorned with blackboards with suggested recipes written on in chalk.

On arrival we were greeted and shown to an empty table and supplied with menu’s.  We both decided on the ‘Full English.’  The waitress arrived and took our drinks order, we were ready to order food so she took that order too. There was an option on the ’Full English’ to have Beans as an ‘extra’ and Bubble and Squeak was also an optional extra.  The waitress asked about these and I opted for the Bubble and Squeak.

Drinks arrived the tea in a charming enamel pot and Latte Coffee in the obligatory glass mug.  We spent a little time musing on the gorgeously yummy looking delights on the shelves around us, and decided that as we were visiting friends that evening we would take them a few things as a token ‘Thanks for Having us.’  Provided on the table was a little shopping list to mark off any items you might want to purchase.  We had spied something on a shelf but it wasn’t listed, the rather gorgeous sounding Banoffee Truffles)

Breakfast arrived – it was presented beautifully, a bit quirky.  The Sausages being rather ‘mini’ and the bacon being streaky American style rather than the back bacon one might be used to, but was lovely.  EXCEPT the fried eggs, the yolks were hard, totally solid.  There was no lovely runny yellow yolk to  dip the toast into or let run over the bubble and squeak.  No one came over to ask us how the food was. (Notably I did see other tables get a visit.)  The eggs got left on the side of my plate (Husbands were as bad.)  A Staff member came over to clear our table and asked how we had enjoyed breakfast.  Clearly he had noticed my eggs languishing on the edge of the plate.  I explained – he asked if I had wanted them ‘well done’ I let him know that I wasn’t given an option.  I then went on to ask the price of the aforementioned truffles and the other things we wanted.  At which point he cleared our plates, took a note of what we wanted, and asked us to wait a moment.  He came back with a bag of the items we wanted, explaining this was on them as a ‘Sorry.’

This was a great reaction, it required no real complaining just a comment that the eggs were overdone.  This act certainly means we will be back.  I was impressed (no mean feat! plenty of friends and colleagues will tell you!) and I have told lots of my Cambridge friends to try out Bill’s.  So if you are near a Bill’s do try it out, certainly worth a look.  Customer Service done right, acknowledge there was an error, that you were responsible and put it right.  This was done at lightening speed so even better!  Fantastic and Thanks Bill!

Lately when I have been out and about at networking events or just generally talking to people about the Answer-it service the phrase ‘Customer Experience’ has jumped to the tip of my tongue.  I got to thinking about it and wondering about both ‘Customer Service’ and Customer Experience’  I wanted to know what people made of this (to me anyway) new terminology.  I am guessing it originated in the USA.

Talking and Understanding

So I got to talking to people about it, in terms of both what they understood it to mean to them, both as a customer and in terms of how it related to their business.  Thoughts were varied but really, most people came to a similar thought, that Customer Service  is something given to a customer and ‘Customer Experience’ is something that is in the hands of the customer, it’s what they take away having had an interaction with your business.  Important to note here though that to have a ‘Customer Experience’ lots of people mentioned that you don’t necessarily need to have bought / made a transaction with a company.  Indeed some went on to say that the customer experience continues even after a transaction has been made. 

It was clear that there are many facets to the ‘Customer Experience’  interaction with the website, making a telephone call to the business, the literature and printed material, reviews and blogs as well as social media interaction.  So an awful lot to take in and to manage as a business owner.

Personal thoughts on giving and taking

Personally I keep coming back to the same thoughts though and that is – If the ‘Customer Experience’ is what the Customer ‘takes’ then surely the business has to provide this.  Following this then if the business has to provide it, it is given and is therefore one and the same as ‘Customer Service’ albeit perhaps highlighting the fact that this can be on the different levels mentioned earlier, and not necessarily involve a transaction, but always an interaction.

So is ‘Customer Experience’ the right term or do we need to add ‘Prospect Experience,’  ‘Current Customer Experience’  to the repertoire too?  Personally I don’t think so, but the USA and business speak type people might think so.  Perhaps ‘Service’ on it’s own is a better fit?

Regardless what you call it though, it’s all about caring for all the people who come into contact with your business and creating a brilliant impression on them.  Whether they are your oldest most faithful customer or a passing prospect who might just become your newest raving fan.  So however you interact with them make sure you are sending out the right message.

STOP READING HERE or   How we can help – Simply

Of course I’d like to advocate here the benefits of Answer-it Telephone Answering Service and how we can help you in this quest.  Making sure anyone who calls your business get’s that brilliant impression of your business.  Really something as simple as letting people speak to real people every time they call is getting even more important.  But I’ll stop there!

As always look forward to hearing your comments.

Emma