As a call center, TeleDirect is always looking for ways to provide additional support to our clients. Its so important to be able to keep in close contact with your leads and prospects, and make sure that there needs are handled in a timely manner.
We have introduced our IVR product, Work The Lead Messenger functionality, Live Chat, Call My Leads (real time follow up to your web leads) and our fulfillment services. Our new clients have found these products a great help to them in getting their call center setup most efficienty for their business. In fact we've had several new clients who've signed up for IVR, Messenger and have requested more information on our referral program, which can help TeleDirect become a revenue stream for your business.
If you would like more details about any of these products, please contact us directly at 800-776-1081, email us at: sales@teledirect.com or come to our webinar on August 12th. We would love to talk in more detail regarding your particular business needs and different ways that we can help that business grow.
Thank you!
Friday, July 31, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Outsourcing: Horizontal Vs Vertical Hour
An important concept to understand when deciding to outsource to a call center is the horizontal hour vs the vertical hour. When you hire a dedicated employee you pay them "horizontally." The employee is paid for eight hours so they are only available to you during that
When you outsource you are paying for a vertical hour. You are only paying for the
When you are comparing the cost of an outsourcer to the hourly cost of hiring a dedicated employee you have to understand the significant differences. Instead of comparing a dedicated employee to a outsourced call center you need to consider comparing the overall cost of the outsourced call center with the overall cost of the total number of employee's you would need to hire in-house to handle the same work. Don't forget to include soft costs for employee's such as benefits, vacation
Monday, July 27, 2009
Introducing IVR by TeleDirect!
One of the challenges that many clients face is a way to route their calls to different destinations based on business hours, or what a caller may be looking for. If this is a problem that you face, then contact TeleDirect regarding our great new IVR product.
Using our IVR product you can send the calls directly to your business during the day and to our call center after hours. You can ask simple qualifying questions up front to determine if this is a lead that you want to talk to, for example, you can send callers from a state you cannot work with to a voicemail box instead of to your sales people.
IVR can be a great way to make sure that your callers are handled in a timely manner by the right people. For more information call 800-776-1081 or email: sales@teledirect.com.
Using our IVR product you can send the calls directly to your business during the day and to our call center after hours. You can ask simple qualifying questions up front to determine if this is a lead that you want to talk to, for example, you can send callers from a state you cannot work with to a voicemail box instead of to your sales people.
IVR can be a great way to make sure that your callers are handled in a timely manner by the right people. For more information call 800-776-1081 or email: sales@teledirect.com.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
PBS & NPR Brainstorming Webinar - July 22nd 10:00 AM PST
We invite all PBS, NPR and other non-profits to attend our upcoming webinar which is going to cover three basic areas, security, outsourcing and pledge drive planning.
If you would like to register, please sign up at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/469146362.
Please bring any questions you may have for our panelists!
If you would like to register, please sign up at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/469146362.
Please bring any questions you may have for our panelists!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Work The Lead Tips & Tricks V.1
Editing your location information:
Sometimes the need to make immediate changes to where your leads are being e-mailed or where and when your calls are being warm-transferred arises. Work the Lead allows you to make these kinds of changes (and more) on your own through your Work the Lead account.
First, log into your Work the Lead account. Click on the link on the left side of the page that says Locations/Leads. You may have one Location, or you may have several. Each Location has a link that says View Location. Click on this link for the Location you need to modify. The next page will show you the current settings. To change settings, you can click on the link at the top of the page that says Edit Location Information.
The Name field allows you to change the name of the Location in the system. The Phone Number field is the phone number that your leads will be transferred to. The Address field is only for your reference; the system does not use it in any way, and CSRs cannot access your Location information (why do we even have address fields in Location Information?).
Below the Address field, you can see a section called Lead Delivery Preferences. We offer 3 different e-mail formats: HTML, XML, and ADF. The checkboxes represent whether or not a format is in use, and the boxes next to it determine what e-mail address(es) each format is sent to. XML and ADF are designed for computers to read, whereas HTML is designed for people to easily read. Most clients use HTML e-mails exclusively. If you want to add or edit an e-mail address, you can make the changes in the boxes. If you want the leads to be copied to multiple e-mail addresses, just separate each e-mail address with a comma. We also offer faxing of the leads for $0.25/lead (confirm this?). Just check the box next to the word Fax and fill in the 11 digit (including the 1) phone number of your fax machine. Once you're done making your changes, click Update. You'll be brought back to the information page for your Location.
It is possible to set up the Location so that it only receives leads from certain area codes or zip codes. To set up this filtering, click on the Add/Edit link in the Assigned Zip Codes area. On this page you can add the acceptable zip codes and area codes. You would then need to change your location to 0% in your campaign's Lead Distribution table and add another Location to take any other leads that may come in.
The next section is the User Name section. Here you can specify the username and password for this location. This is useful if you want to give a salesperson access to the leads, but not access to your entire account. Just click Change Login and enter a username of at least 6 characters, and an alphanumeric password with at least 8 characters. You can then give this username and password to your salesperson and they can log into Work the Lead at www.teledirect.com/client_login.asp. They will need to select the Work the Lead option before clicking the Log In button.
To change the hours during which we attempt warm transfers, you can use the Edit Business Hours link above the Business Hours section. On the next screen, you can specify when you are open and closed each day of the week. If you uncheck a box, that signifies that you are closed all day on that day of the week. The Lunch section enables you to specify a timeframe during your business day where we should not transfer calls. The Time Zone dropdown menu allows you to specify what time zone you are in. Once you're finished making changes, click the Update button. These Business Hours settings do not have any impact on cold transfers. Cold transfers are attempted regardless of the time of day or day of the week. However, we can set up your call script to accomodate certain business hours for cold transfers, but that is not something we recommend trying to do on your own.
The next section is Appointment Settings. This section only applies to you if you are setting appointments using the Work the Lead Appointment functionality in your call script. You can specify how far apart appointments should be, and how many appointments can be set at these intervals. To do that, just click Edit Appointment Settings, update your settings, then click the Update button.
Finally, we have the section called Closed/Holidays. This section allows you to specify certain dates and time frames on those dates that you will be closed (for example Independence Day). You just click the Edit Closed Hours link and enter the date that you will be closed. By default the whole day will be closed, but you can adjust the From Time and To Time if you wish. Once you're done specifying the date and timeframe, click the Add button. You can add as many Closed dates as you wish.
Please let us know if you have any questions or suggestions on how we can make Location functionality better. Thank you and have a great day!
Sometimes the need to make immediate changes to where your leads are being e-mailed or where and when your calls are being warm-transferred arises. Work the Lead allows you to make these kinds of changes (and more) on your own through your Work the Lead account.
First, log into your Work the Lead account. Click on the link on the left side of the page that says Locations/Leads. You may have one Location, or you may have several. Each Location has a link that says View Location. Click on this link for the Location you need to modify. The next page will show you the current settings. To change settings, you can click on the link at the top of the page that says Edit Location Information.
The Name field allows you to change the name of the Location in the system. The Phone Number field is the phone number that your leads will be transferred to. The Address field is only for your reference; the system does not use it in any way, and CSRs cannot access your Location information (why do we even have address fields in Location Information?).
Below the Address field, you can see a section called Lead Delivery Preferences. We offer 3 different e-mail formats: HTML, XML, and ADF. The checkboxes represent whether or not a format is in use, and the boxes next to it determine what e-mail address(es) each format is sent to. XML and ADF are designed for computers to read, whereas HTML is designed for people to easily read. Most clients use HTML e-mails exclusively. If you want to add or edit an e-mail address, you can make the changes in the boxes. If you want the leads to be copied to multiple e-mail addresses, just separate each e-mail address with a comma. We also offer faxing of the leads for $0.25/lead (confirm this?). Just check the box next to the word Fax and fill in the 11 digit (including the 1) phone number of your fax machine. Once you're done making your changes, click Update. You'll be brought back to the information page for your Location.
It is possible to set up the Location so that it only receives leads from certain area codes or zip codes. To set up this filtering, click on the Add/Edit link in the Assigned Zip Codes area. On this page you can add the acceptable zip codes and area codes. You would then need to change your location to 0% in your campaign's Lead Distribution table and add another Location to take any other leads that may come in.
The next section is the User Name section. Here you can specify the username and password for this location. This is useful if you want to give a salesperson access to the leads, but not access to your entire account. Just click Change Login and enter a username of at least 6 characters, and an alphanumeric password with at least 8 characters. You can then give this username and password to your salesperson and they can log into Work the Lead at www.teledirect.com/client_login.asp. They will need to select the Work the Lead option before clicking the Log In button.
To change the hours during which we attempt warm transfers, you can use the Edit Business Hours link above the Business Hours section. On the next screen, you can specify when you are open and closed each day of the week. If you uncheck a box, that signifies that you are closed all day on that day of the week. The Lunch section enables you to specify a timeframe during your business day where we should not transfer calls. The Time Zone dropdown menu allows you to specify what time zone you are in. Once you're finished making changes, click the Update button. These Business Hours settings do not have any impact on cold transfers. Cold transfers are attempted regardless of the time of day or day of the week. However, we can set up your call script to accomodate certain business hours for cold transfers, but that is not something we recommend trying to do on your own.
The next section is Appointment Settings. This section only applies to you if you are setting appointments using the Work the Lead Appointment functionality in your call script. You can specify how far apart appointments should be, and how many appointments can be set at these intervals. To do that, just click Edit Appointment Settings, update your settings, then click the Update button.
Finally, we have the section called Closed/Holidays. This section allows you to specify certain dates and time frames on those dates that you will be closed (for example Independence Day). You just click the Edit Closed Hours link and enter the date that you will be closed. By default the whole day will be closed, but you can adjust the From Time and To Time if you wish. Once you're done specifying the date and timeframe, click the Add button. You can add as many Closed dates as you wish.
Please let us know if you have any questions or suggestions on how we can make Location functionality better. Thank you and have a great day!
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Read Reviews On Our Service
We recently posted several reviews submitted by our clients over the last year or so. Now, we would like to invite all of our clients to post their own review. We think this is a great place for our future clients to visit as they consider doing business with TeleDirect and want to read first hand how we treat our clients and how we grow our relationships. These are real reviews by real customers… we encourage you to post your thoughts. Your input is important to us and will help us better serve you. To post a review visit us at: www.teledirectcallcenterreviews.com.
If you are a business serving consumers or are in the B2B arena, then you no doubt struggle with the best way to get your message out in the most effective way. Many businesses utilize a pay per click campaign and we have found that a review site is a wonderful way to make your campaign even more compelling. And who doesn’t need an effective SEO strategy? A review site that gets thicker with pages every time a customer does a review is an amazing way to get your company additional “page one” presence. To read about this inexpensive way to get your company better organic positioning and to better understand the importance of how reviews sites are viewed by your customers visit: http://www.prestoreviews.com/great-article-from-ad-age/.
For more information on creating a review site of your own through Presto Reviews, you can visit them on line at www.prestoreviews.com, alternately you can reach out to Scott Falcone who has designed this great product so that your business has a public forum that gives its customers a transparent and open line of communication with your executive management staff. Your clients will truly appreciate your open mindedness in how better to serve their needs. Thank you!
If you are a business serving consumers or are in the B2B arena, then you no doubt struggle with the best way to get your message out in the most effective way. Many businesses utilize a pay per click campaign and we have found that a review site is a wonderful way to make your campaign even more compelling. And who doesn’t need an effective SEO strategy? A review site that gets thicker with pages every time a customer does a review is an amazing way to get your company additional “page one” presence. To read about this inexpensive way to get your company better organic positioning and to better understand the importance of how reviews sites are viewed by your customers visit: http://www.prestoreviews.com/great-article-from-ad-age/.
For more information on creating a review site of your own through Presto Reviews, you can visit them on line at www.prestoreviews.com, alternately you can reach out to Scott Falcone who has designed this great product so that your business has a public forum that gives its customers a transparent and open line of communication with your executive management staff. Your clients will truly appreciate your open mindedness in how better to serve their needs. Thank you!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Seminar Edge Tips & Tricks V.2
How to access custom download answers in your Seminar Edge account:
Accessing the answers to custom Seminar Edge questions is a quick, simple process. From the Control Panel (the first screen that appears once you've logged into a Seminar Edge account), first locate the proper seminar. It will usually be listed under the Active Seminars heading unless the mailing date is in the future. If the mailing date is in the future, the seminar will be listed under the Pending Seminars heading.
Once you've found the seminar, click the View/Edit this Seminar link. Scroll down and locate the meeting that you would like to access. Click on the View Reservations link that is located in the Capacity Booked column. You will now see the current roster. Find the Download link at the top of the page. This imports the roster information into an Excel spreadsheet. Once the information is downloaded into the spreadsheet, you will see columns titled Question 1, Question 2, and Question 3. Any answers to the custom questions will appear in the rows under each of these columns.
Accessing the answers to custom Seminar Edge questions is a quick, simple process. From the Control Panel (the first screen that appears once you've logged into a Seminar Edge account), first locate the proper seminar. It will usually be listed under the Active Seminars heading unless the mailing date is in the future. If the mailing date is in the future, the seminar will be listed under the Pending Seminars heading.
Once you've found the seminar, click the View/Edit this Seminar link. Scroll down and locate the meeting that you would like to access. Click on the View Reservations link that is located in the Capacity Booked column. You will now see the current roster. Find the Download link at the top of the page. This imports the roster information into an Excel spreadsheet. Once the information is downloaded into the spreadsheet, you will see columns titled Question 1, Question 2, and Question 3. Any answers to the custom questions will appear in the rows under each of these columns.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Client Testimonials
The true measure of any service is how the people using it talk about it, here are some testimonials from TeleDirect's clients:
I appreciate the professionalism that your company displays. I like the fact that I can monitor my customers results on line, this allows to me to be involved. I also like the way you break down each seminar by date with the number of attendees. Keep up the good work. I will keep them coming.
- Acquire Financial Marketing
I appreciate your support. I love your system. It's very user friendly.
- Financial Education Counsel
Thank You So Much for your good service. We will be back to schedule more seminars. I have recommended your services to other people.
- Senior Wealth Planning Institute
While working with TeleDirect, KPBS has had it’s largest pledge drives ever. We have exceeded pledge goals consistently over that last 4 years. TeleDirect is very responsive to unexpected call volume, which has allowed KPBS to take advantage of additional revenue that may have been missed otherwise.
- KPBS
I have to say that WGVU made the correct choice going with TeleDirect as our new in-bound phone service vendor. We were impressed before last Friday night, but that sealed the deal. When Buying the War aired we expected it to be a normal pledge program for us that may have a call or two straggle through to TeleDirect. We could not have been more wrong. TeleDirect took 236 calls for us in that two hour period as we were completely overwhelmed. TeleDirect never missed a beat proving that your service is worth it’s weight in gold.
- WGVU
Over the three years that KPCC has used TeleDirect, they’ve proven to be responsive to our needs and sensitive to our messaging. Each drive, the service they provide just gets better and better. From the training of their call takers, to the awareness of the staff, TeleDirect gets the job done. Working with the TeleDirect team has not only been beneficial and cost effective, but very pleasant as well.
- Southern
First I wanted to thank you for what seemed you’re never ending support and professional advice during our implementation. While you are familiar with your product and implementation procedure we were not the
- RPRW, Inc. dba Mold Remedies
Sunday, July 12, 2009
PBS & NPR Call Center Webinar - July 15th 10:00 AM PST
Please join us for our very first TeleDirect webinar. This will be held July 15th at 10:00 am PST. If you would like to attend please register at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/832879922.
The webinar will cover our PBS & NPR on demand application, demonstrating how to load premiums, enter schedules, breakcodes, upload your member database, view your reports and download your pledge information. There will also be a question and answer portion where you will be able to have your specific questions answered.
If you would like more information, but this webinar is scheduled at a time that is not good for you, please contact us directly at: 800-955-9863 or email pbssupport@teledirect.com.
Looking forward to seeing you on Wednesday!
The webinar will cover our PBS & NPR on demand application, demonstrating how to load premiums, enter schedules, breakcodes, upload your member database, view your reports and download your pledge information. There will also be a question and answer portion where you will be able to have your specific questions answered.
If you would like more information, but this webinar is scheduled at a time that is not good for you, please contact us directly at: 800-955-9863 or email pbssupport@teledirect.com.
Looking forward to seeing you on Wednesday!
Saturday, July 11, 2009
TeleDirect was a PRDMC Sponsor
This year TeleDirect sponsored the CyberCafe at PRDMC. It was our first year at the event, which brings together managers and staff from public radio stations around the country so ensure that they keep in touch on the latest technology and marketing ideas for their individual stations.
For TeleDirect the event was a rousing sucess. We made contact with many stations directly, and want to invite everyone who was an attendee at PRDMC to contact us directly so that we can show you our on demand software which gives you 100% access and control over your call center during a pledge drive.
For more information email sfennema@tele-direct.com or contact me directly by phone at: 800-955-9863.
Thanks and I hope to see you next year!
For TeleDirect the event was a rousing sucess. We made contact with many stations directly, and want to invite everyone who was an attendee at PRDMC to contact us directly so that we can show you our on demand software which gives you 100% access and control over your call center during a pledge drive.
For more information email sfennema@tele-direct.com or contact me directly by phone at: 800-955-9863.
Thanks and I hope to see you next year!
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