Posts Tagged: call center services

When Disaster Strikes, We’re Here to Make Sure Your Customers Are Taken Care Of

Hiring an Answering Service Before a Disaster Strikes

We have recently seen the damage that a natural disaster, such as a hurricane, can do to a community. A natural disaster can happen at any time, sometimes without warning and if we are lucky, the worst that we will deal with is a lack of power. Therefore, it’s important to always have a disaster recovery answering service ready for action.

But, if you own a business, especially one that has customers all over the country and relies heavily on Internet access, phones, and electricity to run successfully, a storm could wipe you out.

While some businesses can take months to years before they fully recover, a lot of businesses don’t come back because the loss of business during the aftermath was too financially damaging. The government actually estimates that roughly 40% of small companies never reopen following a weather-related disaster.

If a lot of your business is conducted over the phone, it is critical to have a back-up plan to safeguard your business, such as a disaster recovery call center.

Plan for the Worst and Hope for the Best

The idea of a natural disaster coming in and wiping out our communities is horrible in and of itself. And while the chances of this happening are slim, we have to plan for the worst.

In areas that are prone to earthquakes, all new construction takes this into account. In areas where extremely cold weather can turn into dangerous blizzards, our city government plans for school closings. Homes in hurricane areas often come with hurricane shutters or impact windows, but what are we doing to protect our businesses? Most often, the phone lines are down as well, so these solutions will not help our business function as usual.

Keep Business Booming – While You Work on the Repairs

Professional answering services can manage business calls, such as canceling appointments, notifying customers of the situation at hand, or even taking orders for customers who are not in the same area. An answering service can also manage notifying your employees about the current conditions at your business and whether or not they will need to report to the office. All of these duties taken off your hands, can bring you peace of mind.

Every region of the globe faces potential risks for natural disasters and the best way to handle them is to be prepared. Stock up on food and water, learn where the nearest shelters are, have backup generators, come up with an emergency plan and having a safeguard for your business to avoid experiencing downtime.

Call Responsive Call Center to discuss how we can help you be better prepared when disaster strikes.

Industry Spotlight: Leisure & Travel

Industry Spotlight - Leisure and Travel

Planning a vacation is an exciting time that can also be overwhelming to the vacationer especially if they are traveling to an area they are not familiar with. A great experience can start with the first phone call to book the trip and can extend beyond returning home.

For businesses who are in travel and leisure, things are often hectic. Guests that are currently on-site need assistance, making it difficult to manage incoming calls and reservation bookings. A professional call center can ensure that all of a customer’s needs are met, regardless of where they are.

Never Miss a Call or a Potential Booking

When it comes to vacationing, an idea for a trip can spark at any moment. Whether it is good friends who are discussing an island getaway over Sunday brunch or a couple who are celebrating their anniversary and are interested in a last-minute getaway, calls can happen when you least expect them to. Each call is an opportunity to educate potential guests about your services and to set the stage for what can be expected by traveling with you.

Call centers can remain open 24/7 with no blackout dates or times so each call is answered when it comes in.

Don’t be Limited by a Language Barrier

Everyone enjoys taking a vacation or holiday, which means that anyone from around the globe could call your business to book a trip. But employing staff with multiple language options can be costly. Look for a professional call center that staffs individuals that are bilingual, or even multilingual.

Receive Calls from All Over the World with International Numbers

One of the first steps toward creating a quality experience for your guests is making it easy to contact you via international numbers. A professional call center can handle providing numbers for any location you plan to market your vacation or travel packages.

Monitor, Track & Record Calls to Guarantee Quality Service

Without a quality call tracking system, you cannot guarantee that customers are receiving the best service. Imagine a call from a guest to book a trip and then the guest has a change of heart and calls to say they did not authorize a charge on their credit card. With a professional call center, you can leverage high-quality technology to show proof that a trip was booked and from there can discuss your refund policy.

Give your customers the experience they deserve from the first minute they decide to book a trip with you. From answering simple questions about your location to having us do a follow up call to learn how the trip went, Responsive Call Center can do it all!

Contact us today to see how we can help you grow your business and increase your bookings.

 

Our Menu of Services Includes…

Responsive Outbound and Inbound Call Center Services

Managing a call center goes far beyond answering calls. Here at Responsive Call Center, we understand that no matter what service your call center offers, a lot happens on the backend. What is important to an outbound sales call center may not be relevant to inbound tech support. This is why we offer a wide range of services to accommodate call centers of all types.

Inbound Call Center Services

An inbound call center may offer customer service to existing clients who are looking to update their account, get information about their bill, or place orders for new products. Responsive Call Center specializes in managing customer service calls by ensuring the tone and process fits your brand.

Customer service representatives play a critical role in any business. When customers feel as if their business is not appreciated or their problem is not being solved, they may take their business elsewhere. This is dangerous for any answering service or call center. Our trained agents are prepared for critical calls and will work to defuse situations to avoid potential loss.

Additionally, our quality assurance process includes recording all calls in the event that they need to be referenced later.

We offer several inbound services including order management and fulfillment, tech support, virtual receptionist services and bilingual services.

Outbound Call Center Services

When it comes to outbound call center services, Responsive Call Center offers everything you need to capture quality leads and reach outbound goals.

Our outbound call center services can begin long before a call is made. We know the time and effort that goes into contacting prospects. Poor quality leads can be a waste of time and money. We offer lead screening service to ensure that poor quality leads are removed from the database.

Responsive Call Center offers a wide range of services to empower outbound call centers to build their business at every stage of their customers’ journey. We offer credit card processing, ACH services and other payment options in order to move customers forward. Whether your customers are behind on a payment or need to update the card on file, we can handle it.

Our answering service acts as an extension of your business, making it easy to stay open longer hours without worrying about staffing and maintaining professional conversations with your clients. After forty years of partnering with industries of all types, we have learned what drives business in the right direction. We are proud to partner with you to increase sales, build client relationships and minimize customer turn over. Let’s do business together!

5 Things to Look for in a Call Center

Things to Look for in a Call Center

We all know how frustrating it can be to be put on a lengthy hold. No one enjoys waiting on the phone to speak with someone when there is a pressing need or concern. However, making your employees bounce between providing customer service in addition to completing their job can result in unanswered calls, rushed responses and uncompleted tasks. These problems can damage your customer rapport and ultimately hurt your company. Outsourcing your calls to a call center alleviates a lot of stress on your company and provides customers with the individualized attention they want and need. Finding the right call center can be quite tricky, as the differences between various companies lies in the services offered. By hiring a call center, you are creating an extension of your company; be sure to select a call center that understands the needs of your company and your customers.

Tips for Finding the Right Call Center

Take a look at these 5 tips for finding the right call center for your business:

1. Variety of Call Services
Finding the right call center service provider has a lot to do with finding a company that is specialized in a variety of services. You want to make sure the company you select can offer the services that match your company today and can keep up with your company’s future growth. Look for a company that offers Inbound Services such as customer service, order management and CRM systems, as well as Outbound Services such as quality assurance, telemarketing, credit card processing and employment screening. By hiring a company that offers both inbound and outbound services, you are assuring a long-term relationship and consistency for your clientele; both of which promote customer loyalty and drive your business toward success.

2. CRM Loyalty Call Center Services
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software solutions help call center agents connect to clients by accessing the correct information and knowledge about a customer’s history in order to ensure customer satisfaction. This provides call center agents the tools to understand your customers and meet their needs quickly and efficiently. There are many different platforms for CRM and finding a call center that offers customized CRM platform options and can integrate with your existing company platform is vital. By employing a call center who can seamlessly join your company, you can improve your company without changing it.

3. More than Calls
Find a company that offers more than call services in handling customers. Some call centers offer services such as database management. This means that the call center is doing more than just answering or making calls; they are analyzing calls and providing insight about your customers for your company. By hiring a call center that offers database management, you are helping your company improve your customer base by creating segmentation models that enable targeted marketing campaigns. This can also improve customer retention rates by studying customer behavior and satisfaction. Other services such as lead screening, fulfillment services, and credit card processing can greatly improve customer satisfaction as well.

4. Human Capital
Be certain that the call center you hire employs agents that are constantly trained and updated in call center service skills, product knowledge and business understanding programs. These agents should also be in close contact with supervisors who are well versed in problem resolution and effective management. Find a call center that consistently examines and evaluates service representatives to ensure proper training, knowledge of your company and how to tend to your customers. Finding a center with onshore representatives in addition to bilingual representatives promotes customer comfort and acquisition.

5. Experienced and Prepared
Finally, consider qualities in a call center that would ensure your company is properly cared for during emergencies. Find a company that is experienced and prepared. Your services need to be available 24/7 regardless of emergencies. While hiring a call center to handle customer support alleviates your work load, it also places a lot of responsibility in someone else’s hands. Find out whether the call center offers several onshore and offshore locations and can continue to function despite natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes or earthquakes in case services need to be transferred temporarily. Make sure the call center offers recovery strategies and recovery teams as well should emergencies such as fire or flood occur.

Responsive Call Center has 40 years of experience managing inbound calls as well as outbound call center services such as telesales, telemarketing, lead and employment screening, credit card processing and disaster recovery among other services. Responsive employs specially trained agents available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in several call center locations across the United States in addition to international call center operations. They offer state of the art technology through telecommunications hardware and software solutions as well as customer management, database management and fulfillment and order tracking. Contact Responsive Call Center to help you improve customer satisfaction and growth today!