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Archive for 2011

Dec15

Personal trainers escape ‘voicemail cycle’ and embrace telephone answering services to capture more clients

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After researching a sample of registered Personal Trainers we found that the vast majority spend most of their “earning” hours with clients and that any prospective new clients who call at these times are  typically asked to leave a voicemail (rule number one – never answer your phone during a personal training session!).

At Office Response we have studied the use of voicemail facilities to see how effective, or not, they truly are. You might be surprised to hear that a staggering 79% of people will not leave a voicemail if they are calling to place an order for a product or service for the first time. And the majority of people surveyed expect to be called back the same day if they do leave a voicemail.

Whilst offering voicemail may be the norm for the majority of personal trainers the real question is whether it really provides the solution you need to grow your business, deliver customer satisfaction & optimise your marketing spend? That said we believe that your real challenge is achieving the optimum workload for you and your business. Clearly the busier you are training the less you are available to take valuable new business calls which will ultimately restrict your ability to grow.

One way to break this cycle is to outsource your Telephone Answering to a live Telephone Answering Service. You could employ an assistant or, more reasonably, use the services of a 24/7 Telephone Answering Service. In our experience, not surprisingly, whichever option you go for will be better than voicemail… but we’d love to hear of your experiences either way.

Please add your comments below or, if you would like to learn more about how Office Response could support you and differentiate your business from your competition please contact our Business Development Team on 0845 223 7004

Dec07

Boom in business for personal trainers! Telephone answering benefits for the festive season and beyond

Posted in Call Centre Industry,General Business Comments,Tips, Knowledge and Experience,Uncategorized | 1 Comment

 

The fitness industry is already booming and as we head closer towards the end of the year it’s set to get busier, with increasing new clients looking to feel their best this New Year or to burn off those extra festive treats afterwards!
The 2011 FIA State of the UK Fitness Industry Report has advised that the UK health and fitness industry has maintained a total market value of £3.81 billion.  The Fitness Industry Association (FIA) reports that since the start of the recession in 2008, the fitness industry has grown its total market value by 4% and increased the member base by 2%. …continue reading

Nov25

Contact Centre Apprentice of the Year!

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Francesca Fry of Office Response, the 24/7 Telephone Answering Service, has been named Contact Centre Apprentice of the Year at the City of Bristol College Apprenticeship Awards 2011. The awards were held at Bristol’s Ashton Gate Stadium last night and celebrate the successes of both employers and apprentices from the region.

With businesses and their apprentices from a variety of sectors in attendance, we were in good company with the likes of Royal Mail, Holiday Inn and Avon and Somerset Constabulary to name just a few. Whilst Office Response was also nominated as ‘Commerce, Innovation and Skills Employer of the Year’, we were pipped at the post by local business Horseworld.

Privately owned Office Response has been working with young apprentices since 2009 and the owners, Iain McGregor and Martin Blain, take a real pride in their on-going development, with a number of apprentices rising through the ranks and securing permanent positions within various areas of the business including the Contact Centre and Customer Service Departments.

Nancy Parker, Head of Contact Centre, quoted “This is a fantastic achievement for Francesca who is now a fully-fledged member of our Contact Centre team among others who have progressed through the Apprentice academy. The event itself was really inspiring showcasing a real variety of talent all of whom are a true credit to Bristol business. Although we did not win the Commerce, Innovation and Skills Employer of the Year award this year, we are extremely proud of our achievements to date and will be back next year more determined than ever!”

Huge congratulations to Francesca who deservedly scooped first place and proudly accepted her award with Bush and Troy of Heart FM. We would also like to thank the City of Bristol College for their continued support and of course the entire Office Response team for their on-going commitment.

Oct19

Insurance Industry Provides Niche Services

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Office Response proudly work alongside numerous insurance companies, all of which offer a variety of policies – from home, car and business insurance to specialist yacht insurance. We all know the importance of having secure insurance policies in place for a variety of situations, but there are a small selection of companies offering more unique niche policies to those who seek insurance cover for any given situation, regardless of the obscurity.

Here are a few of our favourites:

Alien abduction insurance – for those who live in fear of being abducted during the night and pulled aboard a spaceship, help is at hand in the form of alien abduction insurance. The first company to offer such a thing was St. Lawrence Agency, an insurance provider who claims to have sold over 20,000 of these policies!

Paranormal activity insurance – back in 2002, it was reported by the BBC that hotel owner Terry Meggs took out insurance to protect his patrons against an unruly poltergeist with the potential to harm. It is said that he paid £500 a year to insurers Ultraviolet, to be covered by their ‘SpookSafe’ policy.

Attractiveness insurance – another unique one which has featured in the Daily Mail, is the ‘FaceSafe’ policy which will pay out if the policy holder is no longer deemed as attractive. In one case, to claim on the policy the holder would have to be declared unattractive by a panel of 10 builders – a test she said her husband appreciated being a builder himself!

Winning the lottery – Lloyd’s of London offers policies which will protect an employer if more than two of their staff win the lottery and decide not to return to work. It has been reported that payment is triggered when two or more staff win at least £100,000 each, and leave within 14 days, and the payout would be between £25,000 and £500,000 to cover the cost of hiring temps or recruiting new staff.

If you work in the insurance industry and know of any other unique insurance policies, or even if you’ve taken a policy out yourself, we’d love to hear from you!

Jul22

Home Working Made Simple

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Whether you are an employer, an employee or you are in the process of starting up your own small business you will have doubtless considered the challenges associated with home working.

According to a recent YouGov survey on behalf of Citrix Online over 20% of UK employers are being put under greater pressure to by their employees to adopt increased workforce flexibility.

Whilst the employee’s drive is typically to improve work/life balance there are significant benefits to be obtained for the employer if they readily embrace the vast raft of personal communications tools that are available to them.

The fact of the matter is that many employers are used to working this way within specific disciplines e.g. field sales. The challenge for any employer is to gain from the benefits (cost …continue reading

Jul12

Outsourced Call Handling Benefits From Recession

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Companies House have revealed that the number of UK registered companies increased by over 7,000 during May this year.

According to The Office for National Statistics, (for the three months to April 2011) the number of employees and self-employed people working part-time, because they could not find a full-time job, increased to the highest figure since comparable records began in 1992. With more than 35,000 people delving into the world of self-employment last year, there are now almost 4 million small-business owners and freelancers in the UK. …continue reading

Jul01

South West Contact Centre Awards 2011

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Office Response received finalist nominations in three categories at the South West Contact Centre Awards last night (30th June 2011)

Dan Hobson, after a nervous meal, triumphantly marched up to the stage to receive the honour of being 1 of 2 people to receive the accolade of being “Highly Commended” in the “Agent of the Year” classification. The top agent is the most competitive award of the event and during a private …continue reading

Jun09

Intranet Award

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Office Response are delighted to be recognised for our innovative use of Intranet technology by winning the ‘Greatest Business Impact’ Award at the SORCE Intranet User Conference.

Delegates from over 50 different organisations including Manchester United PLC, the Youth Hostel Association, Balfour Beatty, Discovery Foods, Thomas Cook and the Royal Horticultural Society voted in recognition of outstanding achievements by an …continue reading

Jun08

Will ABS Force 24/7 Legal Services?

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In a recent Law Society Gazette article, Alastair Moyle commented on the importance of marketing management , a point that clearly resonates strongly with Joanna Goodman’s feature “Law Firms Face New Financial Management Challenges”. In her article Joanna quotes Rupert Hawke (FD of Cartwright King) who says “The key is to develop systems and processes that inform operational decision-making”.

The implied focus here being on driving internal efficiencies.

Whilst I agree with Rupert my question is how early in the business process can we start to introduce effective process and exercise real control? The subtext being… did it really need the introduction of ABS to drive consumer focussed change? …continue reading

May09

OR’s 24/7 Effort Pays Dividends For Sue Ryder’s Big Wigs Business Challenge!

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As you may have previously read here on the blog, Office Response took part in the Sue Ryder Care Big Wigs Challenge which ran from September 2010 until January this year.
For those of you who may not know, the challenge involves each team being presented with a £50 note, the aim is to raise as much as possible by using …continue reading

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