Month: July 2016

Screen Out Calls and Increase Efficiency

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Call Answering Centre Employees

We’ve all got those automated messages before – and they’re annoying enough when we get them at home, but it’s even worse when they come to our place of business, slowing down productivity and potentially interfering with real customers who are trying to get through.

Of course, not all messages are automated. There are sales calls from people trying to sell your business all sorts of things from fixing viruses on your computer (that aren’t even there) to database to tax services. Many of these callers know nothing about your business and can tie up your precious time.

The good news is – you don’t have to deal with them.

One of the great advantages of live call answering with Touch Communications is that our professional telemarketers can screen out the calls you simply don’t have time for.

Never Leave a Real Customer Hanging

When you rely on an in-house phone system, you may have a single line or you may have 10. But there will always be a limit to how many calls will be able to get through. Unwelcome sales calls and automated messages can take up your limited space.

But with live call answering, you can be confident that your real customers will be able to reach a real person to help them with their problem, book an appointment, or help them with a purchase.

No More Wasting Precious Time

When you are in business, time is money. It’s important to make time for your customers and ignore the time wasters.

When you contract live call answering from Touch Communications, not only do we screen out the calls that you do not wish to take, but we also direct the important calls to the people that they need to go to.

For example, if you have a staff member or department that is designated to take certain types of clients or calls, we make sure those calls go through to the right people. That way, your clients are happy with the seamless service, and your staff remains productive.

Flexible Arrangements

If you have certain staff on call during certain days or hours, we can make sure calls are screened and directed according to your company’s schedule.

With live call answering from Touch Communications our professional customer service representatives will screen out all those unwanted calls – and we’ll also screen the calls you do want in order to efficiently direct them to the right person in your organization.  Because saving time is saving money!

Do you need to change things up? Is someone away, making it necessary to transfer that person’s calls to their back-up? Are you looking at screening your calls to increase your business’s efficiency and save time? Just contact us today and we can make sure that your calls are properly screened and redirected.

Never Miss or Drop a Call Again

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Many businesses today are becoming increasingly mobile. We work from our home offices and it’s possible to take a call from an important client no matter where we are, as long as we have our cell phone – that is, as long as we have good reception.

Frustrated at Cell Phone

The problem is, it’s not always possible to have good reception. Remote northern or rural areas can still be a challenge if there are no cell towers nearby – and even in the heart of the city, if a tradesperson is working in a basement, it’s still possible that they could drop a call or miss it altogether. And this can ultimately mean lost business and lost revenue.

Live call answering service from Touch Communications can solve that problem.

How Live Call Answering Works

When someone calls your business number, if you have live call answering then the call automatically goes to one of our professional and courteous customer service representatives. Don’t worry – as far as the customer is concerned, they are speaking to one of your staff members!

Once a call is received there are several courses of action that our CSRs can take depending on your preferences. We can answer the callers’ questions, book appointments through online software, take their information and have you or one of your staff get back to them, or we can transfer the call to a number of your choice.

How Your Customer Perceives Poor Cell Reception

Consumers today are not known for their patience. When someone calls your business and ends up getting static through the phone or gets disconnected, it can be extremely frustrating. Even though the dropped call is not your fault, the likely result is that the customer will have a negative experience – and therefore a negative perception of your business.

While there is a chance, they might try calling again later, it is much more likely that they will simply call your competition instead.

On the other hand, if the call is answered by a cheerful yet professional “assistant” who can politely inform your caller that you are “on a field call but would be happy to call them back within the hour”, the experience becomes a much more positive one. At this point, the caller is much more likely to be willing to wait for you to get back to them.

Give Your Customers Faster & Better Service With Live Call Answering

Many trade businesses start out as one-person operations, but as they become more successful, they start to take on additional staff. Another advantage of using live call answering is that if you are on a field call, Touch Communications can redirect calls to one of your employees who can then proceed with helping the caller and converting them into a customer. No need to worry about the risk of missed or dropped calls that come directly to your cell phone either.

With Touch Communications, you can be confident that your callers will receive an efficient and friendly service, with a clear connection every time. Contact us today and our team will help you get started or view what’s new with us on Facebook.

Upgrade Your Summer Camp with Live Call Answering

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Summer is a time for making memories and nobody knows this better than those who organize summer camps and day camps for children. But before you get to arrange fun activities for the kiddies, you’ve got to work with the parents. This means getting the basics such as registration and payments, not to mention answering a plethora of questions from moms and dads who want to make sure their children are being well taken care of.

Summer Camp By Lake

So how do you handle this much-needed communication with parents without sacrificing efficiency and profitability? Live call answering from Touch Communications might be the solution you’ve been looking for!

With live call answering, parents of your campers can get access to information 24/7 allowing you to focus on other aspects of your summer camp program. While you may have never considered using a call centre to assist with summer camp logistics, there is good reason to do so.

Make Enrollment Easy

An essential step of running a successful summer or day camp is – obviously to have campers enrolled. Since the enrollment process generally happens before much of the regular staff is working, it can be tough on a camp’s bottom line if they have to hire a lot of support staff weeks or months before camp has actually started just to handle registrations.

Contracting a live call answering service like Touch Communications is considerably more cost effective and best of all, we can take your calls 24/7. For the parent that works odd hours, that is a huge bonus.

Questions Answered, Urgent Calls Transferred

Parents understandably want to be able to get in touch with any camp that is caring for their children. But not all calls need to go to you. When a parent calls in with a simple inquiry such as what time they should pick their child up, that is something that can easily be handled by one of our CSRs.

On the other hand, if there is an emergency at home and a parent needs to get through, Touch can transfer that call to the camp, your cell phone, or to any other telephone number that you have assigned.

And again, if you are running an overnight camp, knowing that you have a 24/7 call answering service will give parents peace of mind knowing that they’ll always be able to get through.

Manage Staff and Volunteers

It’s not only parents who need to get in touch. Touch Communications can also take calls from staff or volunteers who might be calling in to get their schedule or who are calling in sick. Our CSRs can help take these calls off your hands so that you have more time to oversee the day to day activities of your camp.

This summer, take your camp’s customer service to the next level.  Contact the team at Touch Communications today to learn more about how we can help make that happen.

People’s Concerns About Hiring an Answering Service Company

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Leaving your business’ reputation and fate in the hands of a third-party answering service company can be a scary prospect. Will they provide adequate information and answers? Will they be kind, courteous, and empathetic? What kind of services can they offer my business? These are all pertinent questions that can really make or break a business owner’s perception of any answering service company. Below are a few of the more notable concerns people tend to have when looking to hire one for their business:

Hanging Phones

Seamless Representation

How an answering service will competently represent a business is always perhaps the greatest concern. Interestingly, this point is more about the business itself than the answering service. Since the business will need to give the necessary information to the answering service so that they can help calling customers, it is really up to the business to decide how thorough and detailed they want their answering service to be. To help make a more seamless experience, many answering services will use scripts and FAQs to help streamline their services and ensure they have the information they need readily available.

Customer Experience

This is a very understandable concern for any business owner since we all have firsthand experienced positive and negative interactions with answering services. To address this concern, you want to hire an answering service that values your business as if you were its own company. Not all answering service companies have this philosophy, but if you find one like TOUCH Communications, you can take comfort in the fact that your customers are being directed to experts in the field who are kind, caring, and helpful.

Cost-Effectiveness

Depending on your current circumstances, hiring an answering service company might be that next big investment your business needs to further its potential. Having people who can answer any call instantly without being concerned about your customers being greeted by silence or a busy line can be a huge advantage. However, pricing can be a confusing concept for most business owners. Some answering services will operate on a per-call basis while others have a time-bound model that charges for minutes. If price is a concern, most answering services are capable of offering you different rates and plans. This gives you a flexible option that can better suit your business’ particular needs.

Range of Services

Answering service companies can specialize in a broad range of services that you may find useful. Some companies may not have what you are looking for while others may provide more than a few services that you could benefit from. A few features you may look for could include 24/7 live answering support, live call forwarding customized greetings, web message review, marketing on hold, XML message format export, 24/7 technical support, and more. Some businesses use answering services for strictly receptionist purposes and some might use them for processing orders. Contacting the answering service company that interests you and discussing options is always a good idea to see if they are the right fit for you.

Looking for top-of-the-line operators to help give your business more cohesion and satisfy your growing customer base needs? Contact TOUCH Communications to learn more about how we can advance your business’ communications!