When people think of live call answering services such as those provided by Touch Communications, they likely think of it being used for commercial purposes. And while our service is commonly used that way, it can also prove to be a huge benefit to social services organizations, such as mental health and addiction services.

The following are a few of the ways in which live call answering can help assist with these types of organizations.

Stop missing calls

When a person is in crisis, it is imperative that they are able to speak with a real person. If your organization’s crisis response staff are all busy on other calls, having the assistance of a call centre such as one operated by TOUCH could make the difference between a client staying clean, sober and safe or not.

When your staff is busy, a customer service representative from TOUCH can offer a human voice that can redirect the call to an appropriate extension or department.

Around the clock service

As a mental health or addiction services organization, you know that crises don’t just happen during normal business hours. The TOUCH communication call centre is open 24/7, so your clients will always be able to get through to a real person.

For emergency calls, you can arrange to have calls forwarded to a designated person or people in your organization. This can be done through a set schedule – i.e. different people depending on the day and time, or it can be changed via a simple communication to our office.

Professional representation of your brand

One reason why some organizations may be hesitant to hire a live call answering service for their social services organization is that they wonder how CSRs will interact with their clients. With a company like TOUCH Communications, however, those concerns can be put to rest.

At TOUCH we understand that the way we treat your clients reflects on your reputation and brand – and when those clients are vulnerable persons, professionalism and courtesy are of utmost importance. That’s why we take the time to learn about your organization and train our CSRs to answer and handle calls to your exact specifications.

When a client calls through to a TOUCH CSR, they never feel that they are dealing with a call centre. Instead, they feel that they have reached one of your representatives who is on their side and working to ensure that they get the best service possible.

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The summer is upon us and there is so much to do that doesn’t involve work. Most of us will be taking advantage of the warm weather with increased activities throughout the province, but closing down shop when you hit the fairways isn’t an option. Missing a call is unfortunate and with the right help, doesn’t have to ever happen. Unwinding on the golf course can be a reality when knowing your calls are taken care of in your absence. Don’t just let all your business calls go to the machine or even worse, remain unanswered. A missed call can mean a missed sale.

Choosing a Call Answering Provider

What you need as a business owner who also has a life outside of the office is an answering service. Not just any answering service, though. It’s imperative that your call answer provider knows your business. Every time they answer one of your customer calls, they are representing you and your business. Whoever is representing your company while you get in 18 holes should be providing a personal touch. Anyone can get an answering machine. You will be able to relax this summer knowing that someone is caring for your clients while you’re taking care of you.

Call Forwarding

One service you may consider is call forwarding. Consider having your calls forward to an answering service that can provide that personal touch. A customized greeting is an option and can be tailored to suit your business. You may choose to have all web calls transferred as well. This keeps them all in one place and with consistent attention. Caller ID is important as well, this service will identify where people are calling from, which is valuable information for any business.

Personalized Greetings

A great communications company will provide a plethora of services, making time away from the office less scary. When shopping for an answering service ensure that your calls are not be answered generically. An answering machine can do that. The company you choose to manage your calls when you’re unavailable should be an extension of your business. Your customers are important to you. Allowing anyone who communicates with these customers must be trustworthy. Also, a great answering service provider should operate 24/7 so you don’t have to.

Whether you choose to transfer calls, live transfer, page or utilize message dispatch, your answering service should provide a seamless representation of your company. This will allow you to make the most of what limited time you have away from your business. Creating a line-up at the golf course because you are trying to take calls when you should be putting isn’t an option.

Here at Touch Communications, we take pride in being a trusted and experienced company that will treat your business with the same care you do. Contact us today and our team of experts will help you manage your business calls so you can make the most out of your personal time.

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Mobile phones have changed the way we live. They are not mere phones anymore – they are our watches and our calendars and even our bank tellers. They are our cameras that we use to record our lives so that we can post on Instagram or SnapChat. They provide us access to our emails and a convenient way for us to carry all of our Facebook friends around with us in our pockets. And potential Pokemon related injuries aside; they presumably make our lives easier and safer.

Being that mobile phones play such a big role in our everyday lives, is it any wonder that so many people feel naked without them? If you’ve ever gone into a state of panic because you’ve reached into your pocket or your purse and couldn’t find your mobile phone, you are not alone. The anxiety you feel even has a name – researchers of this phenomenon are calling it “nomophobia” which is short for “no-mobile-phone-phobia”.

Dependence on Mobile Phones

It is no secret that we as a society have become increasingly dependent on mobile devices. But this dependence is not without its consequences.

In psychology, there is a phenomenon known as transactive memory. What this means is simply this – the more access we have to an external source of information, the less motivated and able we become to remember it ourselves. For example, if one partner in a household takes on the sole responsibility of paying the monthly utilities, the other partner will be less likely to remember what the average monthly cost is for the cable, heating, hydro, etc.

In the same way, we are less likely to read and remember reviews about a particular restaurant, when we know that we can always consult TripAdvisor should we get a hankering for some good Thai food. While it used to be that we had to get that sort of information from magazines or recommendations from other people (or simply take a chance and hope the food and service are good), today access to information is as simple as tapping a screen.

Studies in Nomophobia

For obvious reasons, the study of nomophobia is in its early stages. Researchers at Iowa State University recently published a paper in which they created a measure called the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q). The measure was created using 20 questions which they administered to undergraduate students regarding their feelings about their mobile devices and then ranking various responses from 1-7.

Degrees of nomophobia were then categorized ranging from mild to severe.

In their analysis, researchers found four main components of nomophobia 1) loss of communication 2) loss of connectedness 3) loss of access to information 4) loss of convenience.

How Serious is Nomophobia?

The work done on nomophobia to date has only been done to develop and validate the scale, and as far as we know, it is not a completely debilitating condition. Like our dependence on many other types of technology, such as cars and indoor plumbing, reliance on one’s cellphone is probably not the most terrible thing in the world. Just to be on the safe side though, it might be worth disconnecting from time to time nevertheless.

A business owner might think they have a good reason to have nomophobia. After all, if they don’t have their phone on hand at all times, they might miss out on potential clients and upset their current ones. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. TOUCH Communications offers professional live call answering service so that business owners can provide excellent service to their clients while enjoying personal time away from work. Contact us today and we’ll find the right call answering service for you.

Fundraising is a huge component of any charitable or not-for-profit organization, but with so many deserving causes out there, the competition for dollars can be pretty fierce. Furthermore, people are – rightly – increasingly more cautious about which fundraising efforts they support. So how can you have a successful fundraising campaign? It helps to have an edge – and live call answering might just be the edge that your organization needs.

Let’s take a look at a few of the reasons why you might want to incorporate live call answering into your next fundraising initiative:

Professional Representation

If you’re asking people to donate their hard earned money, enter a raffle or purchase a ticket for an upcoming dinner dance and silent auction, it stands to reason that you will have better success if you have professional customer service representatives standing by to answer their calls.

Don’t get us wrong, volunteers are essential to your organization but when dealing with the public – however it’s difficult to stretch volunteers to cover every hour someone might call.  Plus, you may have to rent office space for this, purchase landline phones, or rely on cellphones, all which have their own disadvantages.  With live call answering, we always have a professional who will represent your organization’s brand according to your specific instructions.

27/7 Service

Day or night, if someone has an inquiry about your fundraising campaign, there will always be someone on the phone to assist them.  Using a live call answering service such as Touch Communications means that you’re always open for business meaning, you can enjoy your free time rather than being tied to the phone.  Reaching a live contact vs an answering machine, also helps put the caller at ease.

Free up your volunteers

Volunteering to help a worthy cause can be an incredibly rewarding experience, however, having them answer phones may distract them from other tasks. With Touch Communications, our services will free up your volunteer’s time, allowing you to make better use of your volunteers.  This may include tasks such as canvasing, putting together fundraising packages, or helping set up events.

If you are running a fundraising campaign for your organization, there are many good reasons to enlist the help of a company such as Touch Communications. Give us a call today and see what when can do for you.

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