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
Posts Tagged ‘Telephone Answering’
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
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
Boy do some companies do a terrible job answering their calls!
Whilst completing my University degree and working part time answering incoming calls I estimate I’ve answered (roughly) 24,000 calls and I’d like to think I became quite skilled at what I did – perfecting the art of handling all types of calls and in all kinds of situations dealing with a range of callers from the angry to the hysterically.
Now I’ve graduated and I’ve moved on into the mysterious realm of the sales team I am now very much on the other side of the fence. I’ve now made hundreds of calls to different companies and I’m now experiencing all kinds of receptionists and they are not all doing a very good job.
I have pinpointed my top 5 pet peeves …continue reading
We get regular visits from prospective customers and at the end of their visits they often state that they “Just wanted to check that you weren’t trading from a mud hut in Bombay”.
On seeing this picture of an “International Call Centre” I can see why they want to check us out.
Thanks to our Contact Centre Manager, Heather Dawes who took the picture during her annual trip to Argentina following the international Polo circuit.
Martin Blain
Could this catch on in the UK? Um…..I’m not sure. It’s the Annual All-Japan Telephone Answering Contest which is held in November every year.
According to the contest’s official website, “The purpose of the Telephone Answering Contest is to preserve correct, eloquent Japanese, as well as measuring the improvement in the service-level and words of each firm’s response to telephone calls.” It is held annually by the Nihon Denwa/Denshin Yu-za Kyoukai (Japan Telephone and Telegraph User’s Association).” The contest has been held since 1962, and at last year’s contest in Tokyo, there were 10,510 entrants.
This seems to be a really big event, rather bizarrely, the entrants are given the caller’s lines beforehand, and are allowed to plan out their responses. They are judged on first impression (15 points), basic answering ability (20 points), communication skill (20 points), sales ability (30 points), and final impression (15 points).
Last year’s winner was a receptionist from Yasukuni-jinja named Hitomi Tanino. She practiced her three-minute conversation for two hours a day over a period of four months.
We have won awards for our staff training but even we don’t go to these lengths and as you can see from the Youtube video it’s serious stuff in Japan;
Martin Blain
Martin Blain, Sales Director of Office Response, recently posted a great blog item here and invited me to respond from a telemarketer’s perspective to give a view from “both sides of the fence”.
In our business, it’s fair to say that one of the biggest challenges is reaching the senior decision makers we need to engage with for our clients. They are usually jealously protected by “gatekeepers” who understandably won’t put through calls that they think might be a waste of time. We carefully choose who we call to make sure that our client’s solutions are being pitched to contacts who are really going to benefit, but there is a real skill in persuading receptionists, PA’s and switchboard operators that you’re worth connecting to a busy senior manger or director.
Unscrupulous and unethical telemarketers will try all kinds of “dirty tricks” to get through, causing real damage to the brand they are calling for. The worst example I’ve personally experienced was a call that was put through to me by someone claiming to be “from the police”, only for me to discover it was a telemarketing call once they got through. Given my profession, I’m especially inclined to take telemarketing calls, but his approach was little short of disgraceful and the feedback I gave him was pretty “direct”.
It goes without saying that we wouldn’t dream of doing anything underhand like this, or our hard won reputation would quickly be in tatters, but we surveyed some of our agents to get their perspective….
What is the best way to persuade a gatekeeper to put you through to a senior decision maker?
“Always be polite and stay calm”
“Using the correct name and job title for the decision maker is really important”
“Be friendly, open and co-operative and try to build a relationship without being smarmy, this usually means you’ll be put through on a second or third call”
“Be direct and up front with a clear purpose, giving enough information up front to give the decision maker a fair idea of what the call is going to be about”
“Be professional and polite – ask for the named contact and try to speak to them conversationally, it’s easy to sound “scripted” when you are calling all day, even though we’re not…”
What are PA’s, receptionists and other gatekeepers usually like?
“Very helpful if you mind your p’s and q’s”
“Some are very helpful indeed, especially high level PA’s”
“It’s 50/50 – about half are really willing and happy to help, provide names and check diary availability”
“Most are actually OK, but it’s the really awkward ones we remember. Some are actually very apologetic about not being able to put you through”
What are the toughest gatekeepers like?
“Difficult – the toughest won’t give you any time at all to explain what the call is about.”
“Stern, short in their responses and sometimes impolite; they will always pick up on the weakest point in your explanation and positioning”
“Horrible….”
How do Gatekeepers typically respond when they understand that you are making a telemarketing call?
“Most are positive – generally a good introduction earns a good response”
“Some will block the call outright and will ask for email to be sent first, either to themselves or the contact directly – when we do so this often opens things up on successive calls”
“It depends, some are fine and some will put an absolute block on the call – it’s generally not worthwhile trying to persuade them to put you through if this is the case”
By Niall Habba
Managing Director
The Telemarketing Company
Here are the results from an online survey that asked people about how we use voicemail and answering machines in the UK.
Rather than make unfounded and sweeping generalisations like “80% of callers won’t leave a message on voicemail” we decided to survey a wide range of telephone users on their voicemail habits. And guess what? Nearly 90% will leave a message if they know the person they are calling. But most of people said they won’t leave a message if they’re looking to order products, responding to an advert or calling about customer service.
It supports what we have always thought – Voicemail is a valuable tool (indeed how did we ever survive without it?) for your close contacts but it is less suited to handling advertising response, supporting product ordering and in customer service situations if you want to build customer loyalty. We asked about the reason for the call, who they were trying to contact and what their relationship was with the person or organisation they were calling. We now hope that the survey will help organisations to decide when and where voicemail works best.
Over 500, both business people and members of the public, completed the 10 questions between April and June 2010.
The survey results are:
- When calling a business during office hours in response to an advert more than half of people will not leave a message on voicemail
- 83% of people are comfortable leaving voicemail messages on mobile phones
- Nearly two thirds of people will not leave a message on voicemail if they are calling to make a complaint
- The majority of people expect to be called back the same day if they leave a voicemail message
- 88% of people will leave a message on voicemail if they personally know the individual they are calling
- More than half of people leave less than 5 voicemail messages per week
- 79% of people will not leave a message on voicemail if they are calling to place an order for a product or service
- More than three quarters of people think that voicemail has a place in today’s fast moving business world
There’s no doubt voicemail is useful. But. Think long and hard before you rely on people to leave messages in response to adverts or if you are not giving your customers personal service. When they ring you they want to talk to you.
We will think a little deeper about what the results mean and we’ll use the blog to discuss our points. Because we answer telephone calls for lots of other organisations you may think, correctly as it happens, that we have a vested interest in encouraging people to rely on the telephone. So feel free to give us your comments to put a brake on our enthusiasm.
The full survey results can be obtained by contacting us at marketing@office-response.co.uk
By Steve West
Marketing and Business Development Manager
Telephone answering skills are critical for businesses. The telephone is still most business’s primary point of contact with customers and the way you answer your company’s phone will form your customer’s first impression of your business. These telephone answering tips will ensure that callers know they’re dealing with a winning business – of course, if you dont want to do it yourself Office Response can handle all your calls for you:
1) Answer all incoming phone calls before the third ring if possible – this shows whoever is calling you that you value their call.
2) When you answer the phone be warm and enthusiastic. Your voice at the end of the telephone line is sometimes the only impression of your company a caller will get.
3) When answering the phone,welcome callers courteously and identify yourself and your organization. Say, for instance, “Good morning. ABC Construction’, Andrew speaking, How may I help you?” No one should ever have to ask if they’ve reached such and such a business.
4) Enunciate clearly, keep your voice volume moderate, and speak slowly and clearly when answering the phone, so your caller can understand you easily.
5) Control your language. Don’t use slang or jargon. Instead of saying, “OK”, or “No problem”, for instance, say “Certainly”, “Very well”, or “All right”. If you’re a person who uses fillers (known as vias) when you speak, such as “uh huh”, “um”, or phrases such as “like” or “you know”, train yourself carefully not to use these when you speak on the phone.
6) Train your voice and vocabulary to be positive when phone answering, even on a “down” day. For example, rather than saying, “I don’t know”, say, “Let me find out about that for you.”
7) Take telephone messages completely and accurately. If there’s something you don’t understand or can’t spell, such as a person’s surname, ask the caller to repeat it or spell it for you. Then make sure the message gets to the intended recipient.
Answer all your calls within one business day. The early caller can get the contract, the sale, the problem solved… and reinforce the favorable impression of your business that you want to circulate.
9) Always ask the caller if it’s all right to put her on hold when answering the phone and don’t leave people on hold. Provide callers on hold with progress reports as the call progresses. Offer them choices if possible, such as “That line is still busy. Will you continue to hold or should I have ________ call you back?”
10) Don’t use a speaker phone unless absolutely necessary. Speaker phones give the caller the impression that you’re not fully concentrating on his call and make him think that his call isn’t private. The only time to use a speaker phone is when you need more than one person to be in on the conversation at your end.
11) If you must use an answering machine to answer calls when you can’t make sure that you have a professional message recorded and gives callers any other pertinent information before it records their messages. Update your answering machine message as needed. For instance, if your business is going to be closed for a holiday, update your recorded answering machine message to say so and to say when your business will reopen.
12) Train everyone else who answers the phone to answer the same way, including other family members if you’re running a home-based business. Check on how your business’s phone is being answered by calling in and seeing if the phone is being answered in a professional manner. If they don’t pass the test, go over this telephone answering tips list with them.
For a long time now our staff planning managers, Simon Ede and Chantelle Davies, have been pouring over the World Cup fixtures and entering data into our resourcing software. The strange thing is there has been no discussion about who will start in goal or what Capello’s formation will be in the first game. Instead, they have been concentrating on what will happen to incoming call volumes during the key games.
Will South Africa’s match with Mexico on Friday afternoon have an impact and will lots of people choose to wait until half time to report faults with the air conditioning? The important thing for Simon and Chantelle is to ensure that we have the correct number of people available to answer the calls when they come in and we use market leading workforce management software that calculates its accurate predictions through complicated formulas.
Fortunately, this is Simon’s 3rd World Cup at Office Response and he’s already made his prediction of what % of our normal call volumes we expect to receive during England’s first match and the staffing rotas were planned a long time ago.
As a bit of fun we’ll give an England football shirt to the closest prediction for the % of calls we’ll get from 7pm to 10pm compared to our normal call volume on a Saturday. To give you a fair chance, the competition is not open to Office Response employees.
Please send entries to business.support@office-response.co.uk and we’ll announce the winner through the blog.
By Martin Blain
Jun07
Using an Outsourcer to qualify Sales Leads
Posted in Tips, Knowledge and Experience | No Comments
One of our customers uses our telephone answering services to ensure that their sales people are maximising their time. Their problem was that many of their sales enquiries were actually enquiries for information – the callers weren’t ready to buy yet. This meant that they were spending lots of money staffing a sales team that had become an information line!
The solution was to outsource the calls to us and reduce the size of their sales team. We developed a call script that took the caller through a qualifying process to see where they were in the buying cycle. By using conditional scripting (i.e the caller is asked different questions dependant on their circumstances) it now means that only qualified callers that are ready to buy are transferred to the sales team. All information from other calls is used by the customer to provide information to the callers and prepare them through marketing methods for when they are ready to buy.
If you have a service or product that attracts callers seeking information, guidance or assurance before buying, or you seem to attract lots of calls from timewasters, we might be able to help you.
By Steve West
Marketing and Business Development Manager
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