Answering Service Blog | American Inbound

But don’t try to upsell them either!  This is what research performed by two marketing professors and and a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania has shown.

The full article is listed over at CRM Buyer. The article is very informative. It goes against what has been conventionally thought in the answering service industry.

In it, however, they call their low-value customers “slugs.” I want to let our customers know that I would never consider any of them “slugs.” I like all of our customers equally, and I love talking to each and every one of them!

While not embued with any super powers, this call center girl is super in my book.  Stephanie Smith, 24, saved a life the other night answering routine phone calls when the man she was helping had a sudden brain hemmorage.  Stephanie managed to send the paramedics his way all while constantly reassuring him that help would be arriving shortly.

This article explains that Stephanie is in line for a customer service award…  Come one.  Really. Give her the award. 

Sprint has just released an exciting new service for the hearing-impaired.  This service will provide word-by-word captions of phone conversation on the web.  This article explains it can sometimes to be difficult for the other party to hear the conversation, so they give the option for both parties to log in and view the screen caps.

Great idea from Sprint.  Users should have as many options available to them as possible, as Sprint is giving them that.

A good employee is hard to find, and everyone knows that once you find one, you should try and hold on.   It will save you money in the long run, but exactly how much money? 

CRM News has an article about employee motivation and retention in the answering service industry.   It has many figures explaining the monetary value of employees and urges you treat employees as resources rather than numbers.

Internet retailers like Amazon.com are not required to charge sales tax.  In fact a supreme court ruling in 1992 says that the purchaser is supposed to pay the tax on his or her own. 

New York governor, Eliot Spitzer, is wanting to change all of this.  His state is losing $47 million dollars a year to internet sales.

 The full story is on The New York Times website.

Years ago, in the ancient days before the world-wide-web, way before Yahoo appeared and Google and Wikipedia provided topical information on any subject, how did people get their information? 

In the dark ages before time as we know it there existed a company with a fiery beacon of light called The Question Shop which fielded questions on any subject.  They performed much like the oracle in ancient Greece or like Google today.  However, they did not require a devine presence or search engine technology.  Imagine!

Here’s the link!

I ran across a couple articles dealing with phone rage today, and let’s face it;  Phone rage happens.  An important tip to keep in mind is that phone rage arises in people when they feel their concerns are not being addressed.  This usually happens because of service issues that cannot be dealt with exactly at the time of their call.  Billing issues are a prime candidate. 

This problem is so bad in Scottland that the government has released a digital phone rage guide to call centers around the country.
Here is the site which talks about it. It also gives some tips for you.

The other article I saw today goes a little more in depth into the diplomacy of irate calls.

Deciding on an answering service can be a rough trial.  With Globalization and the rise of cheap, easy to get equipment, the number of answering services in the world is climbing. There are many tactics you can use to help determine which answering services are legitimate and which is right for you.

The first is the age of the company. How long have they been in the business?  Many new answering services are hurt by poor customer service. If it is an older company, then their customer service techniques are tried and true.  If they have been training employees for years and are still going strong, then they will surely be able to meet the needs of you and your clients.

Another important item to check on is if the answering service has any specialties. Today there are many nich specific answering services that deal only with one type of business. For instance: medical answering services, real estate answering services.  These are generally smaller companies that cannot handle large amounts of calls or varying types of calls. Most non-nich services also specialize, but train their operators to takes all kinds of calls. It is always good to ask and see. Especially if your business has needs that spread out over many areas.

Price is always a factor when you’re in the market. As with anything, you pay for what you get, but you must always keep your budget in mind. Price varies considerably with different companies so it is a good idea to shop around. Many services will allow you to pay by the month, rather than roping you into a year long contract. These are great because then it is possible for you to test them out.

Lastly, ask them for references. Any reputable answering service will have several clients who will be willing to provide testimonials. Make sure to pay special attention to references from people in the same line of work as you. For instance a plumber would not care at all how well someone’s operators can enter orders into a clothing website.

As always, use common sense and ask a lot questions. If you are expecting over 200 calls a night, it may not be a good idea to hire Nancy, who just set up a home answering service next door in her living room. If something seems fishy, ask questions in different ways, or go somewhere else. Answering services can be powerful tools if the business is a professional one.  I wish you the best of luck in finding the service that is right for you and your clients.

CRM buyer guide posted an interesting article about how to handle irate customers.  It is written from the perspective of  the customer, so all of the suggestions may not be possible to follow.  However, it is still enlightening to hear about this from a different view.   Most times when you hang up with a caller, you never talk to them again.   So, take the opportunity and read these thoughts, because you rarely get the chance!

How to Handle a Difficult Customer