In an ideal world, customer inquiries are answered and problems are solved during the first contact with a business — but this is not always the case.
When customers don’t get their answers or resolutions the first time they contact a business, it leads to frustration, loss of business, and a poor outlook for your company’s reputation.
On the other hand, a high first call resolution (FCR) rate increases customer satisfaction and loyalty as well as revenue and efficiency to give your brand an exemplary reputation.
According to SQM Group, “86% of customers who phone into a call center expect their call to be resolved on the first call and for every follow-up call, customer satisfaction drops by 15%” proving a high first call resolution rate is crucial for any business.
So what are other ways improving your FCR helps your bottom line and customer satisfaction? Let's find out.
First call resolution (FCR) is a metric that call centers and answering services use to measure customer satisfaction.
As you can guess, first call resolution is the rate at which an issue is resolved the first time a customer calls in to a company, without the need for follow-up communication.
A high FCR means your customer service representatives are resolving inquiries during the first interaction with a customer or prospect. High FCR typically includes shorter talk time.
A low FCR often means low representative performance — but that is not the only metric measured. A low FCR is a compilation of other factors too, like inefficient software and processes or a lack of training for customer service staff.
Measuring your first call resolution rate is the first step in improving your rate.
Knowing where your agents or processes are falling short is the best way to figure out how to help them succeed.
Calculating FCR includes post-call surveys asking the customer if their issue was resolved. This survey can be conducted by a third party or an automated system.
Once you’ve gathered this data, your first call resolution calculation can be found by taking the total number of calls resolved on the first call (say, 7,000) divided by the total number of first calls (10,000), which would give you a 70% first call resolution rate formula.
There are many ways to improve your overall customer service tactics, but when it comes to first call resolution, these are specific ways to improve.
One of the best ways to improve FCR is with appropriate and thorough employee training. When your representatives are set up for success, they can do their job better.
When customer service reps have the correct training, they’re able to handle the majority of customer calls on their own without having to pull in a manager or conduct follow-up calls. Of course, there will inevitably be situations where managers need to get involved or issues cannot be resolved on the first call, but this should be a rarity.
Your customer service agents should be knowledgeable in your business, products or services, policies, programs, and know-how to handle the most common customer service calls.
While a thorough training process is crucial, adding an internal knowledge base for your customer service agents to easily reference will give them more power to solve customer issues on the spot.
Employee training will be different for every company and industry, but as a best practice, all customer service agents should provide the following when implementing customer service tasks:
Getting in touch with your support team should be easy.
If customers have to jump through hoops to get in touch with you, they’re going to be agitated by the time they finally talk to a representative. When this happens, you start the call on the wrong foot.
The more effort it takes for customers and prospects to get in touch with you, the lower your FCR goes.
Long hold times bring your first call response rate down because when customers are calling already frustrated, the call tends to turn into a combative, “Why is your customer service so slow?” instead of a happy, “Can you help me with this?” conversation. Your agents then have to deal with multiple problems, which can be challenging to resolve on one call.
When customer service agents have clear and attainable goals, they’re likely to work harder and as result, successfully increase your first call resolution rate.
Customer service agent goals should coincide with the overall business goals. Let them know that boosting your company’s first call resolution rates is a top priority. When agents know this is the goal, they can strive to reach it.
Make sure you don’t set too many expectations at once, as it can be confusing and difficult to achieve. Instead, plan monthly, quarterly, or yearly goals.
To help achieve goals and raise your FCR, try incentivizing your reps. Rewarding employees who reach these goals and have a high customer satisfaction rate shows you care and will build healthy competition so your employees can improve.
Another way to boost your first call response rates is to analyze your current processes.
You might think the programs and processes you have in place work fine, but checking the data and gathering feedback from employees will help you better understand which systems work great and which ones need to be adjusted for higher efficiency.
There are many resources sharing helpful ways to audit your customer service process to help you conduct audits.
Company owners should run consistent audits to gather feedback on all aspects of the business. Software changes, technology advances, and customer needs shift — keeping up with these trends is critical.
The software and processes you’ve used for years can easily become an impediment over time.
As an example, when reps have to wait five minutes for a program to load before helping a customer, both parties become frustrated. But in most cases, this is an easy issue to resolve.
Providing the right tools, systems, and streamlined processes to help customer service reps work efficiently will help increase FCR and customer satisfaction.
Building an in-house customer service team can be challenging, time-consuming, and expensive.
Instead, hire a call center to help with your customer service needs. They’ll be able to help boost your FCR without the comprehensive troubleshooting process we described above.
Offering a productive and helpful customer service experience for your customers will increase sales, boost customer satisfaction and retention, and build a solid reputation for your business.
Source: https://www.abetteranswer.com/blog/tips-to-help-improve-your-companys-first-call-resolution
Publish Date: May 30, 2021 12:00 PM |
It’s no secret customer service is important in any industry, but as the e-commerce space continues to grow, it’s even more important in this space to offer a stellar customer experience.
In 2020, e-commerce revenue (partly as a result of COVID-19) brought in a staggering $175 billion, and the Statista Digital Market Outlook estimates that by 2025, revenue will increase to $563.4 billion dollars.
When switching to a competitor is as easy as a click, retailers have to go above and beyond with customer service to set themselves apart.
If you’re an e-commerce retailer, here is what you can gain by providing excellent customer service and five ways to improve your customer experience processes for an increase in sales and satisfaction rates.
An excellent customer service experience feeds into your marketing strategy. When your customer is happy, you build trust and lifelong loyalty. Here are ways that a great customer experience can benefit your e-commerce business.
Helpful customer service naturally builds brand loyalists.
The more customers trust your brand and the more sure they are you will resolve their issues, the more likely they are to continue using your product or service.
Customers want to feel valued, and valued customers build brand ambassadors.
Building brand advocates and customer loyalty will help increase revenue. On average, retaining customers is five times cheaper than acquiring new ones, so pleasing your current customers is crucial for business growth and success.
Brand advocates are often motivated to leave good reviews online and spread their happiness via word-of-mouth. The majority of online users will trust online reviews just as much as they would from a real-life friend, and 93% of consumers say that online reviews influenced their purchase decisions.
Attentive customer service reps and brands readily available will help guide potential customers through the buyer’s journey to their purchase.
Suppose a potential customer has questions about your product, shipping or returns, but doesn’t have someone to ask. In that case, they will likely go to another company to purchase instead of waiting 24–48 hours for an answer from your support staff. Being available when prospects need you is crucial to profitability.
If you’re unable to provide customer service help 24/7, try providing blog posts, resources and FAQs that are easily accessible on your website. Providing helpful information about your processes or commonly asked questions can help prospects naturally move through the sales funnel.
Displaying commonly requested information will increase the likelihood that prospects purchase from you instead of turning to a contact form.
A great product is not the only thing you need to increase sales; customer service plays a vital role as well. 86% of customers will pay up to 25% more when they have a good experience with customer service.
Business growth is a collective effort of many factors, including marketing, advertising, customer service, and an easily accessible website.
An okay customer service experience won’t cut it anymore; you must provide an excellent, helpful, and friendly service.
One of the biggest hurdles potential customers face when contemplating an online purchase is the return policy — or lack thereof.
If a shopper is unfamiliar with your brand or the quality of your product, it’s unlikely they’ll purchase from you if your return policies are strict, confusing, or non-existent.
Instead, make it easy and enticing: offer free shipping.
Approximately 15–30% of customers return products. While this isn’t ideal, offering the policy will make prospects more comfortable buying from you.
Why do you think people love Amazon so much? One of the reasons is their quick, helpful customer service with an almost no-questions-asked return policy. Amazon makes returning a product simple — almost enjoyably so.
To stand out from your competitors and provide an excellent customer experience, make your communication with your customers personal. While greeting your customers and prospects by their name helps add a degree of personalization, it is not the only way to do so.
Try offering a rewards program for loyal customers, upsell products your customer would be interested in and remind users of products they previously engaged with.
Winc is an excellent example of personalized customer service. Winc is an online wine delivery service and over time, their recommendations change for each user based on their previous wine purchases and ratings.
When you order from Winc, you have an option to rate the wines you received, and it connects to your Winc profile. When their algorithm gets a better sense of what wines you like and dislike, they will make suggestions based on your preferences. It’s a great way to bring customers back for more. It shows you value their business and are interested in providing products they truly want.
If the customer starts talking to you about where they live, ask about it. It’s okay to add a personal touch and go “off-script” to add a personal touch and build a connection.
Gathering customer feedback is one of the best ways to improve your customer service experience.
Collecting feedback straight from the customer’s mouth is the best way to see where your customer service is excelling or falling short.
If you find out many customers have issues with your loyalty program, you can brainstorm ways to fix it. If you discover your customer service chat help is getting endless poor ratings, it allows you to resolve the issues and make a better experience for your customers.
Customers don’t want to feel like they have to go out of their way to get ahold of you.
Offering 24/7 help on multiple platforms (phone, email, chat, etc.) is the best way to make yourself available to your customers and prospects when they need you.
For many businesses — especially smaller ones — providing continuous customer service is not feasible. To help staff your stations, consider A Better Answer - hiring an answering service.
A professional answering service can answer customer inquiries and concerns past 5 p.m., on weekends and on holidays — all times when your in-house team may not be available.
Offering exemplary customer service can be difficult for smaller businesses but should be a top concern for any company.
Providing grade-A customer service will help build brand loyalty, increase sales and boost your reputation.
If you don’t have the bandwidth to provide the customer service you want, an answering service can help. If you choose to go this route, there is A Better Answer and here are some things to look for in an answering service company to ensure you pick one that complements your business.
Publish Date: May 25, 2021 12:00 PM |
There comes a time when every successful business owner hits a fork in the road when growing their business — deciding between hiring more in-house team members or implementing automations to streamline processes.
This fork in the road can occur when owners are overwhelmed with their workload or they’ve hit a spot where they’re ready to scale their business.
If your customer service department is receiving an influx of calls that they can’t keep up with, choosing to automate parts of your process or hiring an answering service to help are two common choices to help resolve these issues.
Choosing between implementing automated messages or hiring an answering service can be challenging. Here are the pros and cons of each option to help you better choose what’s right for your business.
Automated phone systems (also called auto-attendants) are used to answer incoming calls.
When a person calls a support number, they will be asked to follow the automated guidelines (“press 1 for sales, press 2 for customer service,” etc.) until they reach the department or person they are trying to contact.
With automated messages, no humans are involved until the end — but automated messages are helpful in saving your staff’s time. They don’t have to answer calls, redirect calls, or help with customer service inquiries on top of their main duties.
As an example, at small companies, employees tend to wear many hats. The marketing manager may be answering customer service calls and ordering office supplies on top of their marketing duties. When an influx of calls happens, it pulls the marketing manager away from their primary responsibilities.
By using an automated messaging service, you can save time and increase productivity.
An answering service is a company that answers calls on behalf of another company. Companies hire answering services as a third party to act as an extension of their company.
With an answering service, there is no automation, and callers are always greeted with a friendly voice.
Answering services for businesses are mainly utilized for answering phone calls but many companies do more than that. They can also make outgoing calls, send reminder texts and emails, enter orders, and perform other secretarial tasks.
After discovering the pros and cons of automated messages and answering services, it’s up to you to choose what’s right for your business.
Remember, no matter which option you choose to help grow your business, both will ensure you never miss a call. They’ll both help you increase sales and boost your company’s reputation.
To get a better sense of how much answering services cost, we break it down for you in another blog post.
Publish Date: May 21, 2021 12:00 PM |
The first impression a student or parent has of your school should be an exceptional one — not an endless ringtone with no answer on the other end.
With the help of an answering service, schools, universities, and other educational facilities can improve their customer service — resulting in increased enrollment, students and parents feeling valued, and a respected reputation.
Higher education facilities like Old Dominion University (ODU) in Norfolk, VA, and Cambridge College began utilizing an answering service to provide a better, 24/7 experience for students.
ODU was the first university in the country to offer unlimited support for students calling into administrative offices to ask questions, seek help, or schedule a meeting.
Because of ODU’s changes in their customer service offering, they received recognition from the National Association of Colleges and Employers as “the most innovative career center in the country.”
Staff at Cambridge College was blown away by the difference partnering with a professional answering service did for their students and administrators. One professor notes that “[The service] strengthened the mission of Cambridge College to provide academically excellent, time-efficient, and cost-effective higher education for a diverse population of working adults for whom those opportunities may have been limited or denied.”
The benefits of an answering service for educational facilities are undeniable. Here are five ways an answering service can help alleviate stress on your staff and increase student satisfaction.
As with any industry, there are typically times of the year when a business hits its busy season and receives an influx of calls, emails, and walk-ins.
For schools and universities, this busy time is around enrollment periods.
When students have an issue signing up for classes or need guidance on courses, they call administrative offices hoping to reach anyone who can help. When parents want to request a specific teacher for their child, they call. Either way, when problems arise, a phone call is usually the first attempt at resolving the issue.
Admin, payroll, and support departments can only answer so many calls and inquiries a day, especially if it’s only one person (or a few) per department.
Long hold times leave students and parents frustrated and can lead to long-term frustrations.
Companies — educational or not — should have 80% of calls answered within 20 seconds. After that, callers start to feel ignored and undervalued.
When calls can’t get to administration and students can’t sign up for the classes they need or want, administrative departments will get a never-ending influx of calls. Being able to handle calls and inquiries as they come up to satisfy everyone will help your school’s reputation.
One of the most important ways to get students interested or committed to enrolling at your school is through tours.
Tours and follow-ups often fall through the cracks when support staff is tasked with handling busy phone lines and don’t have time for any other tasks.
When students and parents visit your school or college campus, it’s a great opportunity for you to “sell” them on all the benefits of attending. If tours aren’t being conducted and information isn’t getting passed on to students, you’re missing out on enrollment opportunities and sales.
Many answering services can take on scheduling appointments and tours for you, freeing up your staff to spend their time on more crucial tasks.
Reminder texts and emails will bridge the gap between parents, teachers, and students.
Utilizing reminder texts and emails means kids won’t be dropped off at school when it’s a holiday because their parents forgot and college students won’t miss enrollment periods or deadlines.
Reminders are more valuable than you may think.
Emails and texts can be used for school closures, emergencies, payroll, enrollment, and letting parents know when their child is sick at school. They can also be used for school events like parent-teacher conferences.
A common problem with understaffed offices at educational facilities is that receptionists or assistants are forced to choose between answering the phone and helping in-person visitors.
It’s challenging to juggle all forms of communication when there is limited staff or inefficient processes in place.
Students are filtering through administrative offices and professors’ offices at universities all day to ask questions, get help with assignments, or seek financial assistance options. If one or a few people are responsible for greeting visitors and answering phone calls and emails, someone is going to get neglected.
Leveraging an answering service or call center to help with your phone calls will free up your admin staff to greet and help in-person visitors; it’s a win-win situation for everyone.
Most answering services provide stats, data, and transcripts of calls. By hiring an answering service, you’ll learn what common calls your school is receiving and be able to address them in other ways.
When you know frequently asked questions or common issues arising with enrollment, you can utilize the information to update websites, landing pages, and advertising collateral. Using this information for your website marketing materials will enable students and parents to find information by themselves, freeing up time for your staff to get to tasks other than answering phones all day and answering the same questions.
Recording calls will also let you see where you’re falling short with your customer service.
Are callers on hold for more than 30 seconds? Are the people answering the phone able to answer the callers’ questions fully?
Learning from mistakes and seeing where you’re doing well will help you offer a better service to students and parents.
An answering service is a low-cost and highly effective way to take secretarial and administrative duties off your staff, enabling them to tend to in-person visitors and other important tasks so that no job or person gets overlooked.
By outsourcing help, your school or university will be able to handle the influx of calls, schedule tours, send reminders, and record data.
To find A Better Answer and the right call center for you, here are things to look for in an answering service partner.
Publish Date: May 20, 2021 12:00 PM |
Knowing what your customers expect is the first step in providing an excellent customer service experience.
When customers come to you, they have high expectations for the type of customer service they’ll receive. When customers don’t receive the expected experience, don’t get their problem solved, or feel ignored, they’ll become frustrated — and you could lose a customer.
On the other hand, delivering a customer service experience that goes above and beyond a customer’s expectations leads to repeat customers, increased sales, and more brand advocates.
Nearly 95% of managers say providing a good customer experience is a top strategic priority according to a Forrester report.
Are you feeling overwhelmed?
Don’t! We put together a list of expectations customers look for to help you move in the right direction with your customer service processes.
When clients or customers run into an issue and spend time trying to troubleshoot on their own, they are already irritated by the time they call in or get in touch with you. Any delay in your response time will give more time for their anger to grow.
To meet customer expectations, avoid missing calls or putting customers on hold for extended periods (let them know for how long they will be placed on hold). Don’t allow support tickets or general inquiries to go unanswered.
It’s essential to respond quickly to potential customers interested in purchasing your product or service.
Potential customers that are ignored or forced to wait on hold — even for a few minutes — might move on to one of your competitors instead.
Customers want to feel valued by your company.
To achieve this, add a personal touch to your customer interactions. Call them by their name and go off script if there is an opportunity to. For instance, a caller talking about their new puppy won’t be baked into a call script. Instead of sticking to a rigid script, add to the conversation by asking what kind of puppy it is, how they are handling potty training, how long they have had them, etc. Having genuine connections and communication with clients and potential customers will make them feel valued and listened to. 
One way many companies neglect giving a personal touch is by providing automated messages.
Automated messages are annoying to customers and using them should be on a strictly as-needed basis. If you choose to use automation, it should be short. Avoiding automated messages will also lessen the frustration taken out on your customer service representatives.
When callers are already frustrated when calling in and then forced to wait 15 minutes on hold, only to explain their entire situation to a person again, they tend to take out their anger and frustrations on the customer service rep. This makes the rep’s job harder than it should be.
This is why it’s critical to listen and engage the customer in a personal and empathetic way. A great way to show callers you are listening is to ask questions about their day and how they are doing. Simple questions and gestures like that make customers feel appreciated.
Customer service reps should listen more than they speak. If they aren’t attentive listeners, they could miss a critical detail that could create a better experience for your customers.
When a customer calls your company’s phone line, your ultimate goal is to serve them by any means necessary and they expect their problem to get solved.
When issues arise, remember simple confusion is often the root of intense emotions on the other end of the line. Helping clients understand why the issue occurred is the first step to calm down the situation. Be completely transparent with the customer; tell them what you discovered about the problem and then how it can be amended. Be clear and detailed in your explanation.
When dealing with a frustrated customer, do not be combative. Instead, try to show empathy and give a genuine appreciation for their inconvenience.
It’s important to be honest with your customers.
Own up to your company’s mistakes and take accountability for any issues that occurred on your end. Don’t add any fluff or dance around the truth.
If you are direct and sincere with your customers, they are more likely to build a connection with you, respect your company’s morals and stick around through any tough times.
To support honesty, don’t break promises of discounts and don’t tell them your service or product will fulfill more than it can. While a broken promise may get you the initial sale, it will come back to bite you later on. Being honest and transparent is the best way to keep conflicts with customers at a minimum.
Ensuring you and your customer service team fully understands your product or service offering is a helpful way to deliver an excellent experience.
Customers will ask every question imaginable, so be prepared to answer whatever comes your way. You should know terms and conditions, product details, account status, order status, frequently asked questions, shipping methods and more.
Failing to give your customers clear explanations on what your company offers will lead to frustration on their end and embarrassment on your end.
When you provide detailed information to your customers, they gain more confidence in what you have to offer because they are fully aware of the capabilities.
Everyone has different communication preferences. Some customers only want to talk to human beings, while others like to chat or email because it takes less time.
To cater to every customer’s preferences, provide multiple channels of communication. In general, you should have a customer support number, form or email option, and a live chatbot on your website. Other than your chatbot, try to keep automation at a minimum.
Providing a variety of options will ensure you connect with your customers whenever they need assistance.
Accommodating your customers’ preferences and exceeding expectations is the best way to win them over. Customers have high expectations. If those aren’t met, they may take their business to another company that has a more effective customer service experience.
To appeal to all clients or potential customers, be sure your company is available via different communication channels like email, phone and live chat. When customers contact you, make sure to solve their problems quickly and efficiently — your customer service reps must understand all aspects of your product or service to provide detailed and honest explanations.
Taking on all of these expectations can be a lot for a business owner, but hiring an answering service or call center can help. If that’s something you’re considering, we have questions to ask candidates in the interview process to help narrow down your options.
Publish Date: May 15, 2021 12:00 PM |
When you’re deep in the weeds, so to speak, running a business and trying your best to get everything done every day, recognizing you need help can be a hard pill to swallow. If you are a business owner feeling overwhelmed, overworked and in need of a break, it’s probably time to bring on help -- a virtual assistant to lighten your load.
Here’s good news: hiring help or your first employee is a sign of growth, not failure! A virtual assistant assists with any task you need them to — data entry, social media, business development and everything in between.
Are you curious if it’s time to hire a virtual assistant for your company? Don’t worry; here are things to look for to know when it’s the right time to hire a VA.
Can’t keep up with inquiries, client quotes and opportunities? it’s time to hire a virtual assistant. Employees and owners need the capacity to complete client work.
Suppose your employees are too busy with their core responsibilities, can’t keep up the company’s customer service needs or are pulled away from their duties to work on smaller, mundane tasks. In that case, they can’t fulfill their position in its entirety.
For example, in small companies, owners and employees inevitably wear many hats. A sales representative might help with social media and answering phones. When there is an influx of calls or emails in one day, the salesperson is forced to focus on those tasks and so may neglect their more significant tasks or ignore opportunities to improve the business. Not answering prospect or client calls could lead to a loss of business and revenue. But missing calls is not the only way you’re missing business opportunities.
If your company lands a deal with a large client that requires extra attention you can’t give, you’ll fall short of expectations. High-paying clients who need an attentive partner won’t stick around when their needs aren’t being met.
Another missed opportunity many small business owners run into is double-booking meetings with clients, which causes obvious issues. Opportunities will be missed and prospects will not feel like a priority to your company.
Not showing up to meetings, constantly having to reschedule, or blowing clients off (albeit accidentally) are all signs that you need to hire a virtual assistant.
Do you finally have your process down to where you can start scaling your business but don’t have the necessary resources to do so? A virtual assistant can be your stepping stone to leveling up your business.
Virtual assistants provide an affordable alternative when compared to hiring expensive in-house team members. By providing step-by-step processes for your virtual assistant, they can complete any job you put in front of them. VAs are skilled in following directions and improving processes.
Once you bring in more revenue by utilizing a virtual assistant, you can consider bringing in more specialized help.
Have you noticed customer calls going unanswered? Emails stacking up in your inbox?
If yes, it’s time to hire a virtual assistant.
As we touched on previously, missed calls and unanswered emails mean you’re missing out on business opportunities. Not only does it mean you’re missing out on business, but you’re also letting down your current customers. When customer service goes by the wayside, businesses start to go downhill.
Microsoft reports: 96% of consumers say customer service is an important factor in their choice of loyalty to a brand.
It is crucial to answer every inquiry in a timely manner. Taking too long to get back to a customer may cause them to move on to another company that responds more promptly.
When a company consistently provides poor customer service, it spreads. You’ll begin to collect negative reviews online and a lousy reputation for your brand.
It’s challenging to amend a negative reputation and that will inevitably cost you future business.
If you don’t know the last time you took a vacation or had a day off, it’s time to hire a VA.
Stepping away from work is an essential factor in a healthy work/life balance. Having a break from work every so often reduces stress and helps you get back to work feeling rejuvenated and determined to pursue business goals.
If you don’t have enough hands on deck to handle tasks that come with running your business, you’ll never get time off. The whole point of being an entrepreneur is to work hard and play hard, right? But working too hard with no relaxation and downtime leads to burnout. As someone running a business, it’s crucial to know when to step back and delegate tasks where possible.
Having a well-balanced team you can trust will relieve pressure from your life and allow you to take time away from your work so you can come back refreshed.
Remember, there is nothing wrong with bringing in extra help to handle tasks to keep your business running smoothly and help you scale.
Bringing a virtual assistant on board will get mundane tasks off your plate, improve your customer service processes and land more business.
If you’re considering hiring a virtual assistant, there is A Better Answer - make sure to look for one with these qualities.
Publish Date: April 30, 2021 12:00 PM |
Are you looking for ways to reduce overhead while increasing the efficiency of your business?
Hiring an answering service may be a better answer than hiring someone to help in-house or handling the issues yourself. Many businesses think hiring an answering service is only useful to larger companies or offices that place a heavy emphasis on customer service but that’s not the case. Industries across the board — from law offices to real estate agents, hospitals and unlimited others — can benefit from an answering service.
Let’s dive into a few types of businesses that are leveraging answering services and how they benefit from the solution.
Small business owners struggle with balancing day-to-day administrative tasks, delivering quality client services and focusing on business growth and development. That’s why small businesses of all types can leverage an answering service to deal with incoming client calls and online inquiries. A stellar customer service experience will help young businesses create a helpful and friendly reputation from the very beginning.
Many answering services also offer virtual assistants who can handle tasks like data entry, CRM updates and full-funnel customer service help. Adding these services onto your answering service will unload the more mundane tasks from your plate so you can focus on activities that grow your business.
An answering service is also less expensive than hiring a full-time receptionist or part-time help, so you can cut costs and set yourself up for business growth at the same time.
Healthcare offices and facilities receive an influx of customer calls — all of which need to get answered or addressed. Most incoming calls to healthcare facilities or hospitals are for scheduling, billing, medical emergencies and general questions. In the healthcare industry, customer support needs to be available 24/7 and needs to deliver a welcoming and delicate service.
Hiring an answering service specialized in keeping things cool during chaos and providing a calm customer experience can help boost your reputation. They will also help you achieve an around-the-clock solution for high-quality customer service for your patients.
Law is another industry that receives a high volume of calls; many of these calls are from clients concerned about their legal cases and who need immediate help. If lawyers are handling mundane tasks like answering calls, scheduling appointments and typing up legal documents, they can easily become overwhelmed and neglect their more important tasks.
An answering service will be able to provide law offices with the help they need to update clients on developing cases with care and clarity. Answering services can also help manage your calendar and schedule appointments without error.
By outsourcing administrative tasks that require a specialized role, you’ll be able to get back to what you do best, which is practicing law and helping clients.
Retail stores receive many inquiries a day concerning returns, shipping errors, product information, and other general questions. It’s important to have a dedicated team available to answer calls as soon as an issue arises or if a potential customer has a question.
You could be losing out on a huge chunk of potential sales if you don’t have a designated person to answer your phone calls and answering customer questions as 74% of people are likely to switch brands if they find the purchasing process too difficult. If a prospect has a problem purchasing online and no one is there to help them, it’s highly likely they will go to one of your competitors and buy from them instead.
Answering phone calls in a timely manner is also important to help defuse customer frustrations quickly. Staying available to your current customers helps show you care and you’re there for them whenever they need you. A Better Answer is an answering service which will provide constant customer support to make sure your company is maximizing customer satisfaction rates and revenue.
Financial services tend to come with a lot of customer hand-holding. If you own a financial institution, your customer service representatives should be knowledgeable, friendly and helpful.
Financial discussions are also highly sensitive and confidential; you should take this into consideration when you’re searching for an answering service.
An answering service well-versed in finances can provide the level of insight your clients are looking for. Clients will need to be treated delicately as financial topics can be highly stressful for some people.
Customers typically call financial institutions to ask about billing errors, loans, insurance, credit card qualifications, balance inquiries, deposits, and investments.
Real estate agents are constantly on-the-go showing properties and scoping out new potential showings. At the same time, they have to balance these tasks with constant client calls concerning walk-throughs, market updates, new sellers, clients looking to buy and tenant emergencies. If an office line is their main source of client communication, they could be missing out on many potential sales a day and leaving many clients hanging without an answer to their question or concern.
An answering service can easily help provide updated information to clients who are in the process of selling their house as well as clients looking to buy. They can also provide detailed updates on the state of the housing market as well as scheduling meetings and walk-throughs.
As long as this information is documented somewhere, an answering service can pass along the message.
When real estate agents are out of the office, an answering service will provide the care your clients deserve. This will help you build a positive relationship with your clients and free you from unnecessary tasks at the office.
The industries mentioned in this article are just a few that can benefit from hiring an answering service. In reality, every type of industry that deals directly with prospects or clients can benefit.
In addition, most answering services can help with many other tasks such as data entry, bookkeeping, scheduling, and marketing efforts. Here are some of the ways an answering service can grow your business other than simply answering phones.
Publish Date: April 15, 2021 12:00 PM |
Are you tired of the long, drawn-out hiring process?
How about the stress and costs that come with making a new hire?
At every small business, there comes a time when infrastructure needs expansion and hiring more team members is required to grow the company — but finding the funds can be difficult.
The time and costs of hiring a full-time employee are important to consider. Going through applications and interviews can take months — on top of that, you’ll have to go through a negotiation and training process after the person is hired. Tack on reviewing their work and paying for a full-time salary, and you’ve got a heavy load to bear if you’re a business owner or operations manager who already juggles a million other things.
If you’re looking for ways to reduce overhead while growing your business, a virtual assistant (VA) may be a better answer for you than hiring another in-house employee.
Here are five ways a virtual assistant can save your company money.
Companies spend $4,000 on average during the hiring process. Multiply that by two or three new hires per year, and you’re spending nearly $12,000 just in the recruiting and hiring process. This ballpark price includes recruitment, interviewing, background check fees, onboarding, and training.
There is A Better Answer… With a virtual assistant, you don’t have to worry about an extensive hiring process. As long as you can clearly articulate the tasks you need to be completed by a virtual assistant, you can find one to do the job. You can find virtual assistants with a simple Google search or by leveraging freelance platforms like Upwork.
Some websites and platforms specifically focus on pairing companies with qualified virtual assistants based on their requirements, making this process even easier — the qualified candidates are served right to you. For instance, a company hiring a VA to work in a law office might search for particular qualifications and knowledge in their industry. They’ll only be presented with resumes of candidates who check the boxes they require.
While a virtual assistant won’t mitigate all of the recruitment costs and time it takes to find a valuable addition to your team, the process will certainly be shorter.
A virtual assistant can cost as little as $14,500 a year, while administrative assistants make an average of $42,891 a year.
It’s difficult to give more specific costs because there are many factors, but generally, a part-time virtual assistant or one who is paid on an hourly basis with no specialties (doing data entry or answering phone calls) costs a business about $15 per hour. If they are working part-time at 20 hours a week, the cost to the company is only around $14,500 a year — almost a fourth of what a full-time employee costs. Even at 40 hours a week, a virtual assistant costs less than $29,000 a year, which is still tens of thousands of dollars less expensive than an in-house employee.
On top of paying the salary for a new employee, certain taxes come with an additional staff member. In addition to that, you will also be responsible for paying their paid time off, sick leave, insurance, and whatever other benefits you offer at your company.
In most cases, virtual assistants only get paid for the hours they work, with no additional benefits. VAs also don’t require insurance and don’t get paid more for overtime. Virtual assistants don’t require benefits or insurance.
By hiring virtual assistants, you’ll be able to focus on more substantial internal tasks like business development and streamlining processes instead of data entry and cold-calling.
While all business tasks are important, some can easily be transferred from a business owner to a virtual assistant.
If filling orders, updating systems, or scheduling newsletters is taking up hours of your week, it’s time to consider hiring a virtual assistant for help. They will take this off your plate and let you get back to the more pressing tasks and responsibilities that can only be completed by you.
Streamlining your process and delegating tasks will allow projects and services to be completed quicker — in turn enabling you to bring on additional client projects and discover your real capacity.
It’s not rocket science — the more employees you have in the office, the higher your utility bill will be and the more equipment you will need.
If you hire more in-house staff members, you might have to upgrade or move to a bigger office to accommodate everyone; bigger offices mean higher A/C and electricity bills.
If you’re in an office where you are paying the water bill, this will be higher as well.
To accommodate more team members, you’ll also have to increase your telecom plan to add new lines for new employees.
Most of the time, virtual assistants will handle their operational costs, but this should be discussed in the interview process.
When a new employee is brought on board, you will be responsible for providing all the necessary equipment so they can perform their job efficiently. 
The equipment costs accrue quickly with an in-house employee. The obvious equipment additions are a desk, computer, monitors, a phone, and a headset — but on top of that, your supply costs will go up, too. You’ll have to order more paper towels, drinking cups, snacks (if applicable), and coffee — all of which often get overlooked when hiring a new team member in-house.
A virtual assistant works remotely and should already have their equipment, like laptops, phones, and headphones. Again, this is not always the case, so make sure to address this in the interviewing process. Some companies do offer laptops and work-related stipends for their remote employees.
Leveraging a virtual assistant’s skills will help streamline your internal processes and take mundane tasks off your plate so you can focus on business growth efforts.
A virtual assistant will also reduce your hiring costs, salary stresses, utility bills, and equipment costs.
If you’re ready to start looking at virtual assistant solutions, here are the qualities to look for in a virtual assistant so you can choose the right one for your business.
Publish Date: March 25, 2021 12:00 PM |
Standing out among your competitors is no longer about having cool branding or witty content — it’s about the whole customer experience.
The customer service your prospects and customers receive has a significant effect on your business. A negative interaction can make prospects write you off, while positive experiences can garner lifelong brand loyalty.
Businesses must provide a high-quality customer experience, and that involves every stage from beginning to end.
One way to stand out is by delivering more personalized customer service. Let’s take a look at how your company can provide it.
A well-rounded and positive customer service experience boils down to the details.
While calling a prospect or current customer might seem like a minuscule detail, it makes all the difference.
Studies show that hearing your name stimulates brain activity.
Saying a prospect’s name when you are talking to them or greeting a current customer by name will help build a strong personalized customer experience.
If you or your team don’t know the customer’s name, try your best to find it out. Check caller IDs, past receipts, or your client database if you have a moment.
Using a client’s name helps build a strong relationship, shows that your business cares about its customers, and makes them feel like you’re on their side.
A Better Answer(R) is to provide a personalized customer service experience and offer your support through many different channels.
Each person — whether they’re a client or a prospect — has a preferred method of communication. In-person communication is limited in the digital age; plus, COVID-19 has kept more people at home. To cater to your target audience’s preferences and hindrances, your customer support team should be available via text, chat, call and email. Your customers should have every possible opportunity to get in touch with your business.
While many customers (48% to be exact) still prefer to call over the phone for customer support, the next preferred communication methods are text and chat.
Offer chatbots, contact forms, social media support, review forms, phone service, and email to get in touch with your customers — this way, your customer can choose the channel of communication that suits them best.
It’s also important to provide the right equipment and tools to enable your customer support team to thrive. Make sure you’ve implemented an easy-to-use customer relationship management system and filled in staffing gaps.
Learning what your customers like and dislike is one of the best ways to gather feedback on your customer service experience.
Using customer feedback will allow you to see where your experiences fall short and need to be improved. On the other hand, it will also let you know where you’re doing a great job.
Guessing this information or assuming you know what your audience wants is not reliable. Try to gather data before making any changes to your processes. You can collect this information by offering a short survey after each customer service call or chat. Then, set up a review schedule, and be sure to request a formal survey when a client is offboarded or leaves a negative review online.
Finding what caused a negative experience, what kept a customer coming back and what would improve their experience is the best way to locate and diagnose problems in your customer service department.
Make sure you have the appropriate time and infrastructure in place to handle your support channels as well. For instance, if you are continuously receiving an influx of chat tickets, but you only have a few people answering phone calls and ignoring chat, it’s in your best interest to change employee responsibilities or outsource help. You can do this by hiring a virtual assistant or a company to help you handle your customer service.
As our society has moved into a highly digital age dependent on automation, companies often forget that a human touch is the secret ingredient to satisfactory customer service.
Customers and prospects don’t want to feel like they are talking to a robot or a frustrating automated system.
When communicating with current or potential customers, try to be engaging and give hints of normal human interactions, like asking how their day has been. If they mention a pet, try asking what the pet’s name is or what kind of breed it is.
On the flip side, make sure your staff has the emotional intelligence and experience to know when a customer is upset and needs a speedy resolution. When this happens, friendly chit-chat is not always advised. Your customer service should adapt to the preferences and demeanor of the customer.
Instead of relying on scripts, provide a situational outline for your employees to reference to produce more organic dialogue.
Try offering a friendly and personalized greeting, giving compliments, and ending the interaction on a positive note.
Highlighting customer loyalty will encourage other customers to practice that same brand loyalty.
Your company can highlight customer loyalty through social media posts, customer testimonial videos, and reviews.
To reward your most loyal customers, offer them discounts, first peeks at new products, exclusives and free trials. Recognizing your customers will improve your customer lifetime value.
Adopting a personalized customer service experience offers many benefits, such as increases in:
A high-quality support experience will also allow you to gather more data from your customers regarding their communication preferences and thoughts on your support process.
A personalized customer service experience will help you retain customers and stand out from your competitors.
To implement an exemplary support service, make sure you address your customer by name to show they are not just a number, provide multiple channels to reach you through and add a human touch to every interaction.
Once you take time to implement a unique and personalized customer service process, you will see a boost in customer satisfaction. If you don’t have time to carry out these changes, hiring an answering service might be a better answer for your needs.
Publish Date: February 20, 2021 12:00 PM |
The pandemic has thrown everyone for a loop.
Especially businesses.
Many industries are struggling to handle the influx of calls or having trouble finding a way to increase cold calls with their current infrastructure. Hiring a business development specialist or a full-time administrative assistant is costly, but hiring a virtual assistant will free up your team for more important tasks and scale your business while keeping your budget intact.
A virtual assistant (VA) is a person who works remotely and provides support services to a business. Typically, they are hired to take on administrative and receptionist duties, but many can also help with support tickets, perform administrative tasks, and update CRM systems.
Whatever your business needs, you will be able to find a qualified virtual assistant to help with your endeavors.
The coronavirus has changed the way we function in society, but it has also turned businesses upside down. Those that depended on foot traffic for revenue have been hurt the most, and many others have had to completely change their business model and transform to function in the digital space.
A virtual assistant is a cost-efficient way to help with sales and marketing, business operations and development, admin tasks, and customer service.
Compared to hiring for a full-time position, a virtual assistant is more cost-efficient.
Hiring someone full-time means paying for an employee’s salary, time off, benefits, equipment, training, and access to paid software.
That’s a lot to take on during such uncertain times.
Since VAs work remotely and are never expected to go to an office (post-pandemic), this option saves many costs for a business. Most of the time, the VA will already have their own equipment (like headsets and laptops) to start their position, which means no additional cost for you.
If you’re thinking about hiring a VA, figure out if part-time work will be more cost-efficient. If your business line is getting calls around the clock, hiring an assistant full-time makes sense—but the worst thing you could do is hire someone to work a typical 9-5 workday without enough work in their queue. It is estimated that hiring a full-time VA instead of a full-time employee can improve operating costs by as much as 78%.
If you hire a virtual assistant who is already well-versed in admin duties and customer service, you won’t have to worry about training them, either. The only training they should need is learning the specific programs and processes of your business.
When companies are understaffed and employees are overloaded with work that is outside their responsibilities, many functions in your business can fall short.
Imagine if a hospital or doctor’s office didn’t increase their staff on hand during the pandemic—thousands of phone calls would go unanswered, offices would be extra chaotic, and doctors would be trying to handle the receptionist desk. Anyone who is not hired to answer phones and manage customer service tasks should not be required to do so.
It is okay to have double-dipping in smaller businesses, since it is often an “all hands on deck” atmosphere, but it should be limited. Encourage your staff to do what they were hired to do.
Salespeople should be making calls to bring in new businesses. Owners should be making sure all aspects of the company are running as smoothly as possible. Receptionists and assistants should be handling customer calls.
It’s important customers are tended to whenever a problem arises, no matter the time of day. Not answering a call or a support chat can result in the loss of business.
When calls are only answered at your establishment for eight hours a day in your specific time zone, you could be missing out on a significant number of customer service issues.
Especially during the pandemic, customers and prospects are looking to order from and be associated with companies that value their time and money. The majority of the world is staying at home now, with odd working hours and limited free time. Many are making personal calls late at night and companies aren’t able to jump on the phone, so the shopper opts for chat support.
Offering 24/7 customer service will help attract customers and leave them satisfied with their experience.
Depending on the situation, scaling a business during the pandemic can be difficult—but with the right infrastructure, plan, and new hires in place, it can be done. A virtual assistant on your team can assist your company in areas that are falling short and hindering your growth.
Too many calls going unanswered? No problem. Can’t get your CRM updated? There’s A Better Answer for that. Inconsistency with cold calls? A virtual assistant can do that, too.
When a virtual assistant handles the admin and customer service tasks, the rest of the company and leadership can focus on larger avenues that have better opportunities for growth.
Devising a strategy to combat the setbacks of COVID-19 is necessary to keep operations running as smoothly as possible.
Companies need to accept the new “work from home” world we live in and hire positions to help them save time and money, grow their business, and improve operations.
If you’re in the market to add a virtual assistant to your team, we rounded up the main qualities you should look for in one. There is A Better Answer.
Publish Date: February 15, 2021 12:00 PM |
As a business, customer service calls are inevitable. Knowing the types of callers to expect and how to deal with each one as an individual is the key to providing excellent customer service. Businesses reportedly lose billions of dollars per year due to callers feeling they've received poor customer service.
Let’s learn more about the different types of callers you can expect so you can be prepared to handle any situation that comes your way—and ultimately delight the consumer.
There are many reasons—and they can vary depending on the industry. Tech companies will generally deal with internet issues, retail companies might deal with shipping and payment concerns—and the list goes on.
Whatever the case, customers call in order to get a problem resolved or a question answered. If your customer service reps are prepared, “excellent customer support” and your brand name will go hand in hand.
There are three main things people hope for when they pick up a phone or jump onto the computer.
The following are the types of people to look out and be ready for.
These individuals are dissatisfied with your product or service for some reason and may be tricky to deal with if you don’t know how. The best way to handle them is to get your reps to show empathy. They should be extra polite, try their very best to solve the customer’s problem quickly, and keep the conversation constructive.
If your rep needs to put them on hold to check something for them, have them explain what they’re doing and approximately how long it should take. If it takes longer than expected, get back on the line and let them know. One of the worst things you can do with this type of caller is make them wait or leave them hanging without communicating what’s going on.
This type of person is generally quite nice. They might have questions or want to leave positive feedback—much easier for your rep than someone getting in touch to complain about an issue..
Unfortunately, these may not happen as often ... but that makes it feel all the better when they do! To deal with this customer, thank them for the feedback and say you’re so happy they had a good experience. Aim to stay professional, even though they might use a very casual and friendly tone. You’re still running a business, after all.
You might even ask them to leave a positive review online, which would be great for prospective customers to see.
Carol is typically having trouble with something on your website—perhaps they’re unable to find the info they’re looking for. This one may be slightly more difficult to handle, but with the right tactics, you can do it.
Be patient and clear when walking them through steps or giving directions—especially if they pertain to your website, since some people are less technical. Be helpful, and don’t make them feel bad.
Never belittle or talk down to a customer. They will not be pleased by this kind of behavior. After calls with this type of customer, it’s good practice to make notes and document their issues. This will help management and owners fix any issues you covered on the call, thereby reducing the number of calls about similar problems—for instance, struggling to locate the return policy on your website.
This is a talkative person who might try to correct or argue with you on details. In other words, they may think they know the business better than you and other staff do. Be patient and friendly, but firm. While still keeping a nice demeanor, don’t let them push you around. Just keep the conversation constructive, not combative, similar to the way you’d navigate conversations with Negative Nancy types.
The nervous ones can have just one question—or lots. They’ll be interested in your product or service, but will have different concerns, ranging from shipping costs, return policies, a free trial, or another matter. This customer will need a little hand-holding to make the purchase, but is generally nothing to be concerned about.
You’ll connect with this one by being friendly without getting pushy. Answer their questions as thoroughly as possible—even if it’s something you think is simple. They might find it perplexing.
Make sure your customer service reps know how to deal with these different categories of caller personalities. Each has a different set of problems, feelings, and goals they want to accomplish—and people representing your brand need to help them do that, so you can build a positive (and lucrative) relationship.
In the end, make sure you’re providing a pleasant experience so they want to come back for more—not shudder at the thought of calling your business again.
Is there a type of caller we missed? Leave your suggestions in the comments and let us know! We’d love to hear from you and help with A Better Answer to determine how to approach this customer type.
Publish Date: November 30, 2020 12:00 PM |
The idea of better customer service dates back to the 1760s, where customer support teams emerged as a result of the industrial revolution.
The reason customer service started is the same reason it exists today: knowing what your customers want (and how the customer experience changes over time) will help your business grow.
Customer service is the quality of support you offer any customers that connect with a representative of your brand. It’s about those interactions—you have to make them positive ones. It includes everything from rep personality, politeness, and helpfulness to modern issues, like maintaining minimal wait or hold times.
Keeping your customer service in tip-top shape will increase satisfaction with your brand and create loyal customers—poor customer service can hurt your business by frustrating customers and tarnishing your reputation.
It’s your best opportunity to show buyers you care. Use it to your advantage.
In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell patented the electric telephone. Before that point, people had to bring their product back to the store and simply hope the owner would accept the return.
In 1894, the telephone switchboard was invented, which was a huge help for businesses that connected with customers over the phone. Then, in the 1920s, rotary dials were implemented, helping companies act as an operator by connecting dialed numbers to the proper phone line.
These innovations were not only more efficient, they helped businesses offer higher quality service to their customers.
Call centers were created in the 1960s. Now, companies could take more calls while offering better customer service. In call centers, employees answered and resolved customer issues so other staff could focus on different tasks.
In 1967, the all-important 1-800 number was announced by AT&T, which allowed customers to call a specific number for a company without the hassle of calling collect or dealing with an operator. Cutting out redundant steps reduced frustration for all parties.
Another springboard for better customer service was IVR, or Interactive Voice Response. These systems allow you to call in and simply say “yes” or “no.”They guide callers to the correct person who can answer their question, rather than bouncing them around to irrelevant or dead ends.
Let’s fast forward to the modern day (we’re getting closer!). In the 1990s, the internet became public, delighting callers and businesses alike by opening up a plethora of better customer service options. Customer service software made it easier to answer larger volumes of issues. Customers were happy, quicker than ever.
Social media took off in 2008 and opened up yet another support avenue to customers.
Service opportunities have never been more abundant, and companies are taking advantage—so make sure you’re keeping up with your competition.
The inventor of customer service isn’t documented, but the title is often unofficially given to Alexander Graham Bell. His telephone took customer service to another level.
Without telephones, modern businesses couldn’t build quality relationships with their customers.. When people can’t get in touch, their questions or concerns can’t be answered—hurting sales as well as customer satisfaction.
Complete customer-focus is key to building successful relationships and creating a loyal following. One way to offer better service is by staying (virtually) open 24/7.
If you don’t want to give your current employees weekend or night shifts, you can bring in the help of a call center service provider.
Provide instant gratification whenever possible—in other words, no “we’ll get back to you in 48 hours.” If people think they can get a faster response elsewhere, they will leave—and you’ll lose a potential sale.
Soon enough, AI will enable products that “fix themselves.” At the same time, phone call volume will decrease, while instant messages increase. A good call center can handle this change—their competitive advantage lies in their ability to bring cutting-edge innovation to their clients’ customer service departments.
It’s always best to put the customer in control of where customer service experiences happen. Make the process as convenient as possible, whether they prefer phone calls, texts, emails, or instant messages..
As technology advances and service offerings develop, industries are becoming more heavily focused on customer satisfaction than ever before. If you’re not offering amazing customer service, you’re losing business.
Still have doubts? Download our customer service toolkit to learn how you can start offering more excellent service to your customers and boost sales and customer retention.
Source: https://www.abetteranswer.com/blog/what-is-customer-service-a-look-at-its-history-future
Publish Date: November 22, 2020 12:00 PM |
In order to keep a business running smoothly, there are all sorts of mundane, redundant-feeling administrative tasks that need to be taken care of. On top of those tasks, you also need to make sure you have top-notch customer service available 24/7.
In this article, we’ll discuss why you should consider hiring a virtual receptionist to handle your customer service and admin duties so you can get some stress off your plate and refocus on other responsibilities that need your attention.
Also known as a virtual assistant, a virtual receptionist is like an in-house receptionist but has some of its own advantages. They take care of admin tasks while also handling incoming calls, making outgoing calls, and more—all from a remote location. What’s so great about this? You’re about to find out!
Seeing growth in your customer base is a good thing—but it also means an ever-growing number of calls, more than someone can handle when they have other tasks to complete. A virtual receptionist can ease the burden of handling these client calls, so you can concentrate more on the service side of your company and growing your business.
Here’s what you can expect the process to look like:
Curious what this could mean for your business? When it comes to the benefits this solution could bring, the possibilities are virtually endless! The following is how you can take your company to the next level by partnering with a virtual receptionist.
Publish Date: November 15, 2020 12:00 PM |
A common problem that business owners see when growing their business is an influx of customer service calls coming in without the bandwidth to handle them. The two most prominent options that are typically considered to resolve this problem is by outsourcing a call center or hiring an in-house team of reps.
Choosing what’s right for business can be an incredibly difficult decision.
You want to make the best choice, but there are so many factors to consider—your budget, your employees’ well-being, and the scalability potential. The list goes on.
There are pros and cons to each option for solving your customer service issues. Here are our tips to figure out which option is the right one for your business.
In some cases, the term “outsourcing” has a bad connotation. For instance, there has been a big push to move manufacturing to the United States in the retail space because outsourcing materials and production resulted in a lower quality product, communication was difficult, and their partner cut corners.
This is certainly not the case in all instances. Outsourcing services can be the ideal option for your business.
You may be asking yourself, “what exactly does outsourcing entail?” Well, outsourcing a company, specifically to fill in your customer service needs, means hiring a call center or an answering service that will work as an extension of your team. The term outsourcing means “to obtain (goods or a service) from an outside or foreign supplier, especially in place of an internal source.”
Most of these services provided by an outsourced company have different options to fit your business needs. On the simpler side, they can answer calls and route them to the right salesperson or tech. On the more involved side, an outsourced answering service can respond to emails, send text reminders, schedule calls, and answer top-level customer service questions.
Ability to Scale
Adjusting to the flow of business is simple when you outsource. The majority of call centers will be able to scale their services as you do, and as quickly as you do. You don’t have to worry about adding infrastructure or staff, and the time it takes to go through the hiring process.
Reduction in Cost
Hiring in-house customer service reps are just another salary to add to your books. By outsourcing your customer service, you will most likely have an agreed-upon fee you pay for their services on a monthly or yearly basis. This reduces the cost of an employee or hiring an in-house team in salary and overtime pay, medical insurance, and paid time off.
Frees up Time
Removing the responsibility of customer service from your employees allows them to focus on higher priority tasks. You won’t have to have someone “manning the phones” and get taken away from more important tasks like improving business development processes.
Professional Staff 
When you outsource your customer service, you automatically gain experts in the customer service industry. They are trained to be a seamless extension of your company, meaning they will work off your scripts and treat each customer as your in-house team would with the same amount of compassion and empathy. You can fully trust that your customers and clients will be treated with the same care and professionalism you would give personally.
24/7 Service
With an outsourced customer service team, they will have agents working around the clock for your business. This means you won’t miss sales leads calling after hours or customers trying to get in touch over holidays.
Lack of Total Control
When you outsource your customer service, you have to give trust and control to another company to handle your clients. They will most likely provide reports and feedback of calls and issues, but this can be extra scary for companies that are still establishing themselves in their industry and trying to put their best foot forward.
Inadequate Brand Awareness
Although an outsourced answering service can fully understand your industry, they realistically won’t have a 100% clear vision of the goal you have for your brand. This is something that you can provide them with training to help with, but it can be hard to guarantee that every single rep in the outsourced call center will abide by your brand guidelines completely.
Sharing Customer Data
You will have to share private customer information with whatever company you outsource. This can be especially frightening in today's world where data seems to be stolen often, especially in the medical industry, when you have to be extra strict and guarded with your clients’ information. The best thing to do is make sure you and your customers are protected under contract, and you partner with a trustworthy company with the necessary security measures (like HIPAA compliance for protected health information) and experience in your field.
The other option to solve your customer service needs is by hiring in-house customer service. This can be in the form of one person or a larger team, depending on your needs.
Hiring an in-house team means they will be on your payroll and direct employees of your company. You will be responsible for interviewing them, hiring them, their salary, benefits, continued education, and productivity.
The option of hiring in-house customer service representatives is appealing to business owners because they have full control over what is said, how it’s said, and can oversee their employees better. Still, all of this responsibility is not ideal when you’re running a business. It all depends on what you are looking for as a business owner.
Personal Touch and Control
By handling your customer service in-house, you will get full control over the process. While this makes sense for companies with few clients, as you acquire more customers, this will be difficult –and impossible—to maintain. If your goal is to be a very attentive, more of a mom-and-pop shop, hiring an in-house team may be the best option for you, so you don’t have to relinquish control.
Quick Implementations of Policy Changes
Company policies are inevitably going to change over time. By having an in-house customer service solution, you will be able to implement these changes immediately, while a third party may drag out the implementation. It doesn’t mean an outsourced team is incapable of agility, it may just take them longer to adjust as a third party.
Technical Support
In-house solutions are also able to give your customers and clients the appropriate technical support. This means your company will be able to resolve resolutions on the spot and help with troubleshooting issues where an outsourced partner might only be able to create a trouble ticket and schedule appointments.
Costly Infrastructure
One of the biggest cons of hiring an in-house solution is the costly infrastructure and overhead. As the business owner, you will not only be responsible for equipment but also all the liabilities that come with retaining an in-house team including salaries, overtime pay, benefits, training, and continued education if necessary. This can quickly get expensive, especially when you start to scale.
Requires Training and Management
The amount of time it takes to hire one person or a team alone can be a big deterrent to any company owner. You will have to come up with the criteria and post job openings, give interviews, schedule follow-ups, then prepare them with training once they are hired.
You may have an HR team to help with this, but as the business owner, you will most likely be involved with part of this process. Again, these responsibilities can be an issue when you are trying to scale your business.
Downtime for Support
When your office closes, your phones and your customer service closes. This causes frustration for your customers, especially in a time-sensitive situation, because they have to wait for their issue to be resolved the following business day, or even longer. This can give your business a bad reputation over time.
Takes Valuable Time
Dealing with customer service and in-house your employees takes time away from your more important tasks like tightening up processes or working on business development.
Deciding between hiring an answering service and hiring an in-house team of customer service reps can be a big decision for your business, but either option you choose will help out with your business needs. Go with the option that best fits your needs. If you’re trying to scale, outsourcing an answering service would be your best bet, but if your main concern is that your clients have an ultra-attentive experience you can micro-manage, hiring in-house might be ideal for you.
Publish Date: October 30, 2020 12:00 PM |
Many businesses rely on phone services to stay in touch with their customers and their employees. All too often, customers are put on hold, and if the call is not picked up quickly, they hang up. Businesses should do what they can to avoid putting customers on hold for more time than it takes to transfer a call. It might sound like an impossible goal, but there are several things businesses can do to reduce hangups.
Before making decisions about improving phone service, businesses should understand why their customers are abandoning calls.
The most common reason why customers hang up a call is because of poor customer experience. Employees might be difficult to hear, they may not know where to direct the call, or the quality of the call might be poor. There are numerous reasons why a customer might be disappointed enough in their experience to hangup.
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If a customer calls and continually gets a busy signal, they will eventually stop calling. The same will happen if the customer calls, and no one answers.
Customers will not wait if they do not know why they are waiting. As the clock ticks, customers will begin to overestimate how long they have been waiting. Some businesses have automated messages that tell their waiting customers that they are important and to continue to hold. But, if no one actually picks up and the customers hear this message repeatedly, they will hang up. Sometimes, customers will call back after they’ve hung up, but it’s not a guarantee.
No one likes to wait, and customers are more impatient than ever. If they do not know why they are waiting, and there is no sound coming from your end of the phone, customers will hang up. As they wait with nothing to do, they will grow impatient and abandon the call.
When you want to improve your telephone service, you should collect data to learn what is and isn’t working. If you have abandoned calls, then you should look closely at how many and when they tend to happen. Abandoned calls can become a key performance indicator (KPI), but first, you have to get benchmark data. Once you do that, you can then set goals to reduce the number to see if your staff is doing better in attending customers they put on hold.
When you want to calculate the abandonment rate, you collect the number of incoming calls in a set period. Then, you gather the number of calls that were actually handled. To get useful data, choose a period of time, like a month or a quarter. Then, subtract the calls handled from the actual calls received. Divide that number by the calls received. You will get a percentage that shows you how many are abandoned. Unfortunately, the number does not tell you why they were abandoned.
It is possible to reduce abandoned calls after collecting data, analyzing it, and creating a solution that works for your organization.
You and your staff should look closely at the customer experience and how long they are waiting online. This is a data point that could be collected to get an accurate picture of the average wait time.
Once the data is collected, management and call center employees should talk to each other about ways to reduce wait time. Some companies will actively engage with callers to let them know why they are on hold. Call centers try to improve their services by sharing information like this with customers:
There is one sure-fire way not to have callers abandon a call: setting a call-back time. Rather than asking customers to wait, call centers arrange a call-back time, so the customer knows when the phone will ring, and they can talk to their agent.
This technique is called “virtual queuing” or “virtual hold” - because the customer is still waiting to talk to an agent, but they are waiting with an expected call back. The key to success is actually having agents call them back.
Some organizations will also have agents call back abandoned numbers during slow times. This can only be done when customer information is collected upfront or when call centers gather phone numbers from a caller ID service.
Another useful way to reduce abandoned calls is to set up different channels, so customers do not have to call into the same line. This lets customers have a personalized experience while taking away some pressure on the call center. Customers can reach agents with direct phone lines and leave messages for call-backs.
Training is another necessity, especially for call-center employees and agents. Call-center employees need to learn how to speed up their calls to reduce abandoned calls. And, agents need to do the same, so their customers aren’t waiting too long to talk to them.
Some organizations look at phone data, so they can make staffing changes to meet the demands of a busy call center. Automated technology can look at historical data to predict when call centers will be busy. They can then suggest staffing ideas based on 15-minute intervals. They can also adjust agent schedules so they are available during peak phone hours.
Lastly, if the phones are overwhelmed, and agents do not have time to attend to all of their customers, then it might be time to hire more agents.
Abandoned calls are necessary to measure success when providing customer satisfaction. Fortunately, there are several realistic steps organizations can take to speed up their phone service and reduce abandoned calls.
Source: https://www.abetteranswer.com/blog/how-to-help-your-call-center-reduce-wait-time-and-abandoned-calls
Publish Date: August 30, 2020 12:00 PM |
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