Press Releases
European Call Centre Awards - July 07
National Bike Week - 14th June 07
Bristol firm spearheads expansion with new look - May 07
Bristol Call Centre is Ringing the Changes
A Bristol telephone answering company has won industry recognition after completing a major improvement programme.
Office Response, which handles more than a million calls a year, beat off competition from hundreds of other entrants to reach the finals of the prestigious CCF European Call Centre Awards 2007.
The Portland Square firm is one of six companies to be short-listed in the Best Small Call Centre category following a year long restructure to improve customer service and staff training.
Heather Dawes, Call Centre Manager at Office Response, oversaw the recent changes and was responsible for putting the company’s award bid together.
“We’re thrilled to have reached the short-list for the Best Small Call Centre,” said Heather. “Office Response started out eight years ago as a small telephone answering company and today we still see this as a core activity however we have now developed the skills to act as full service contact centre. Our clients include a multitude of small businesses as well as household names, such as Easyjet and MORI, so it’s about time we started competing on a national level.
“Over the past 12 months the company has undergone a major restructure, which has included the creation of a new staff training department,” she added.
“We have also introduced new procedures and looked at the way the business is perceived by clients and their customers to help us continually improve the services we offer,” said Heather.
“It’s been a massive change, but it means that we can now rival many of the larger contact centres in terms of the range and quality of the services that we offer,” she said.
Established in 1999 by directors Martin Blain and Iain McGregor Office Response has grown into a £2.7 million turnover business (year end March 2007) with a 150 strong workforce.
It is the first time that Office Response has been selected for the prestigious CCF awards, which recognise excellence in the call and contact centre industry.
Altogether, 1300 of the industry’s elite are expected to attend the presentation ceremony, which takes place in September.
“An independent panel of judges worked through a record number of impressive entries this year,” explains Claudia Hathway, editor of Call Centre Focus (CCF). “Each short-listed centre will be personally visited and evaluated by members of the judging panel, giving the awards programme an integrity and professionalism that CCF is proud to be a part of.”
The awards, which are now in their 12th year, will take place at the Birmingham Metropole on September 26.
Employers urged to get on their bikes for national Bike Week
A BRISTOL telephone answering company, which launched its own Cycle to Work scheme, is urging city firms to sign up to the initiative during national Bike Week (July 16-24).
Office Response, which employs over 150 at its offices in Portland Place, currently has over 15 staff signed up to the scheme, including director and cycling enthusiast, Martin Blain.
Martin, who regularly cycles into work from Holcombe, near Bath, thinks that many businesses aren’t joining the initiative because they think it’s too complicated to administer.
“It’s very straight forward to set up a Cycle to Work scheme, so it’s a shame more companies aren’t doing it” said Martin. “We’ve been administering our own initiative for the past 2 years, without any outside help, and it’s proved to be a resounding success.
“As well as cycling enthusiasts, there are many staff who aren’t that sporty joining the scheme. I’d far rather see my staff cycling to work than sat in a car. It’s a great way to encourage people to get fit and reduce their carbon footprints, whilst saving money at the same time,” he said.
Call Manager, Chantelle Davies, 27, joined the company’s Cycle to Work scheme three months ago and regularly makes the journey into work from St George.
“I joined the scheme mainly because of rising bus fares,” explains Chantelle. “It was costing me £65 every month just to get into work, but now I’m only paying around £20 – that’s a £500 a year saving!
“I’m not naturally sporty, so it’s also a great way for me to get fit and also gets me to work much faster,” she adds.
Chantelle regularly cycles into work with work colleague, Natasha Leahy, 23. Natasha said: “You can spend ages sat in traffic during the rush hour and I used to find it very boring. Now I’m cycling, getting into work is a totally different experience. I’m definitely a lot more awake and full of energy than I used to be,” she said.
Launched in 1999, Cycle to Work is a Government scheme, which uses tax incentives to encourage employees to use a greener mode of transport.
“We’ve created an information pack for businesses interested in setting up a self-administered scheme like ours,” said Martin. “This is made up of a straight forward agreement, whereby the company buys the bike and cycling accessories, on the condition that the employee makes a monthly salary sacrifice to pay for it.
“The bike remains the property of the company at the end of the agreement, but employees are given the option to purchase them back at their market value,” he said.
“There are immediate cost savings with the scheme as the VAT can be claimed back, whilst the salary sacrifice payments made by employees are tax deductable,” adds Martin.
Bristol firm spearheads expansion with new look
BRISTOL-based telephone answering company, Office Response, has launched a major rebranding campaign as part of a new expansion drive.
The company, which was established in 1999, is one of the UK’s leading independent telephone answering companies handling more than a million calls a year for the likes of Easyjet and Mori, as well as a host of smaller businesses.
Over the past four years business has been booming, turnover has increased by 145 per cent to £2.7 million (year end March 2007), and staff numbers have doubled to 150.
Following the launch of its new branding and company website, Office Response aims to increase turnover by almost 20 per cent, whilst taking on more staff and expanding its range of services.
In order to accommodate the extra growth, Office Response has just leased two more floors at its Portland Place premises to occupy the entire 10,000 sq ft building.
“We expect to grow by at least another £500k turnover over the next year and recruit more than 30 additional staff,” explains co-founder and director of Office Response, Martin Blain. “We will continue in the markets we are in, but with a particular focus on companies requiring out-of-hours support services, such as those in the facilities management sector.
“Our existing customers have also indicated that they would buy other services from us and we are currently researching various areas which could complement our call handling. We expect these additional services to be rolled-out over the next 12-18 months,” said Martin.
Office Response directors, Martin Blain and Iain McGregor, attribute their success to their fresh approach to the industry.
“Neither of us had any experience in the call centre industry before starting Office Response,” explains Martin. “We came into the call centre business because we thought providing a telephone answering service for SMEs was a young market with lots of potential for growth. Previously, Iain and I had been working together in the trade association marketplace, providing support services to small businesses, and saw a market opportunity,” he said.
Since its launch eight years ago, Office Response has diversified from the SME sector into other markets. Current clients include several blue chip corporations, Government organisations, charities, as well as small businesses.
“Broadly speaking, our clients are grouped in three areas,” says Martin. “Small businesses, where we act as their reception when they are out of the office, or unable to answer calls, larger organisations, where we either help them with response calls from advertising, or take calls from their customers as part of their customer service.
“We also provide 24-hour support services to organisations like air conditioning companies, for example, where callers are reporting breakdowns and need to call-out an engineer,” he said.
Unlike some call centres, Martin is keen to point out that Office Response has remained largely unaffected by the growth in outsourcing to foreign call centres, due to its niche position in the marketplace.
“Many of the larger UK call centre outsourcing companies seem to have suffered lost business at the hands of the overseas competition,” he said. “For Office Response it’s had no effect, because we are in a different marketplace altogether.
“Most of our customers give us between 100 and 2000 calls per month - these volumes are too small to be sent overseas. The value of our service to our clients is in the successful outcomes of the calls and this vastly out weighs the cost savings to be had from the calls being handled overseas,” he said.
“We have very close relationships with our customers, where there is open and regular feedback between both parties, ensuring that objectives are met. If a face-to-face meeting is required, then it’s a lot easier to travel to Bristol than to Bombay,” adds Martin.
To find out more about Office Response and its telephone answering services, contact Adam Andrews on 0845 5000 150, or visit the website, www.office-response.co.uk.