Archive for February, 2010

Well Trained Answering Service Agents Are a Must

Friday, February 26th, 2010

If ever I’ve been tempted to handle a phone call in a less than professional manner (yes this has happened), I think about virtual receptionists, answering service agents and call-center staff. They don’t have the luxury of letting customers even think they might be gritting their teeth. Fortunately, there’s training available that helps these folks create win-win situations out of the most emotional calls.

The first step is to be able to split yourself into two. (Just kidding, but it can help.) One “you” needs to step back and look at the call from outside all the emotions. The other “you” has to decide how to diffuse the situation. At this point, an agent may benefit from visualizing Robert Plutchik’s flower-petal model of emotions to determine exactly what the customer is feeling. Once he knows that, he knows how to manage the call by asking the right questions and letting the customer know he understands his distress and will help resolve the problem.

Through it all, agents need to remind themselves to hold onto their composure. If they lose that, they lose — period. Plus, they must remember they ARE their customers’ business as far as that caller is concerned. Every caller is important, and should be treated courteously and professionally, no matter the emotions involved. With the right protocol many customer service issues can be handled by the call center.  However, when a call is escalated directly to their client, the call center agent should know how to document a caller’s emotional state so their client can quickly and efficiently handle the situation.

While agents are busy splitting themselves into two, they need to remain flexible throughout it all. Every situation is different, and what worked well with one caller may not help the least with another. It’s important to hit just the right tone with callers. Not aggressive, but assertive enough to take control of the call. And definitely not passive. It’s best to engage the caller, identify and acknowledge their feelings and assure them that they will be helped, while gathering the necessary information in order to do so.

The next time you’re tempted to slam the receiver down or hit “End” on your cell phone, take a deep breath and figure out how to turn the call around. I promise to try and do that the next time I’m “discussing” my prescription coverage with my insurance provider.

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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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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An Attorney Answering Service LinkedIn Save

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

Do you ever wonder if social media is all it’s cracked up to be? Is tweeting, texting, keeping your Facebook page updated, and being LinkedIn to people really a help in today’s business world? Maybe. Consider this.

I recently invited one of my clients to connect with me on Linked In. He accepted my invitation and then sent me an e-mail about some concerns he had. His office situation had changed, and he wasn’t sure how my attorney answering service could possibly accommodate his needs. (I knew he didn’t have to worry, but he didn’t know that yet.)

He had moved to a shared executive-suite arrangement and was concerned about his clients getting directions to the new location and finding him in the new building. I called him and explained that if he added our call-protocol option to his account, our receptionists would be able to help his callers with these questions.

During our conversation, I found out that my client had a much bigger problem.  As a bankruptcy attorney, he receives many calls from client creditors. These calls take up a big chunk of his time. (He didn’t have to worry about this, either. I had the perfect solution.) I told him that our legal receptionist answering service could easily manage the creditor calls and completely eliminate this task from his to-do list.  Needless to say, he quickly gave us what we needed, and our live legal receptionist immediately began handling the creditor calls.

I thank LinkedIn for bringing me the new business. He was already a client, but by connecting with him directly, I became more accessible. As the owner of a business, I might seem inaccessible or too busy; but as a professional connection on LinkedIn, I am accessible and available. I encourage everyone to reach out to your business contacts and connect with them on LinkedIn—you never know what will happen!

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