Archive for the ‘Small Business Tip’ Category

Live Receptionist vs. Voicemail?

Friday, March 5th, 2010

Just for kicks, go to Google and type in “how to reach a live person.” One of the top listings shows “Phone numbers, shortcuts and customer service tips” — on a site called GetHuman.com. It made me smile.

A live receptionist is as “human” as you can get.  If you can’t afford an onsite receptionist then try a virtual receptionist service.  Many offer their services in Spanish as well as English.

We know what so many companies are finding out — people want to talk to people, not machines. And it helps if they speak the same language. When your customers call, they want a live person to answer the phone and talk with them.  There is definately value in human interaction and a personal touch.  It doesn’t matter whether their handling emergency calls or covering your office while you’re out to lunch, live receptionists care about your customers as much as you do, and are dedicated to providing a professional, courteous service when you’re not there.

A machine never goes out of its way to calm someone down, get the right information or can’t determine just how urgent a call is. A live person, given the right training, can.  A machine may very well make an upset customer irate or overwhelmed. A live person, given the right training, won’t.

If you want to get your company’s name off the GetHuman.com list — or ensure your business never makes the list — try a virtual receptionist service. You can “get human” in no time.

Frances Starr, Director of Sales & Marketing for Alert Communications.  Alert Communications is a 24/7bilingual inbound call center, specializing in professional attorney answering, virtual receptionist, Spanish answering and business answering solutions.

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Multi-tasking, Multi-tasking, Multi-tasking — Does it Work?

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

I saw a mother yesterday pushing a stroller, talking on her cell phone and walking two dogs simultaneously. I immediately admired her. But when I looked more closely (I was at a traffic signal, so I had a few minutes), I saw the baby was crying, the phone was slipping and the dogs’ leashes were wrapped around each other and her arm.

How well does multi-tasking work? My Google search was split almost 50-50 between articles and studies supporting it and those stating that it leads to productivity loss. So how do you know if it does or doesn’t work? Check it out at work.

The most obvious cases are the people who are doing other things while on a muted conference call. Chances are they do fine until someone asks them a question. Then it’s a scramble to try to figure out what, exactly, they were asked and to find the button to take the call off mute. (Hopefully, your customer service folks aren’t into multi-tasking…)

But what about the guy or gal who’s perpetually tuned in to their “mobile device”? I’m not talking about using your cell phone while you’re driving; enough states have already passed laws forbidding that kind of multi-tasking. I mean the person who’s having a conversation with you but never looks at you, because they’re texting, checking their e-mail or surfing the ‘net. Did they hear anything you said? (Aren’t you tempted to interject “…so you’ll have that report ready in an hour, right?” to see if they’re paying attention?)

So I’m curious. Do you think multi-tasking is effective in your personal or professional life? Do you have an embarrassing multi-tasking-effort-gone-bad story you can share? C’mon, stop talking on the phone while you’re reading this, and tell me what you think.

Frances Starr, Director of Sales & Marketing for Alert Communications.  Alert Communications is a 24/7 bilingual inbound call center, specializing in professional attorney answering, virtual receptionist, Spanish and business answering solutions.

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6 Ways to Save a Few Dollars With Your Answering Service

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

In today’s economy, we’re all looking for ways to save a few dollars, even on the things we know are absolutely necessary. So if you’re looking for ways to reduce your monthly virtual receptionist/live answering service charges, you might want to try to reduce the number of minutes you’re using. Whether you’re already an Alert Communications customer or are currently with another company, think about doing some of the following:

  1. Instead of having your calls go to the answering service throughout the work day, forward your calls only after hours and on the weekends. This reduces the number of overall minutes used.
  2. In the same vein, forward calls for portions of the day instead of all 24 hours. If you or someone else in the office can answer the phone for a few hours in the morning or afternoon, take advantage of that time to save on minutes usage.
  3. Use a voice-mail screen to help prevent non-emergency calls going through to your virtual receptionist.
  4. See if your service can notify you about calls using text messaging/e-mail instead of a more expensive phone call.
  5. Call your customers back instead of having calls patched through. The less time spent using out-dialed resources, the fewer minutes accrued.
  6. Refine your call-protocol guidelines so you have just a one-number or one-person contact. More isn’t necessarily better when you have to pay in minutes for each one.

If you’d love to save a little money each month, try implementing some of these cost-saving ideas with your virtual receptionist/live answering service provider. If it doesnt feel like money is growing in your backyard, at least you may end up with a few extra coins in your pocket.

Frances Starr, Director of Sales & Marketing for Alert Communications.  Alert Communications is a 24/7bilingual inbound call center, specializing in professional attorney answering, virtual receptionist, Spanish answering and business answering solutions.

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