TeleDirect's Pledge on Demand Software

It has just gotten easier than ever to accept donations, thanks to TeleDirect’s Pledge on Demand software offered by our call center. The software allows your company’s donors to call in 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year and experience a friendly, professional and (most importantly) efficient donation process. This “moment of truth,” as we call it, will let your donors know exactly how much you appreciate their contributions.

Real-time reporting on the web allows your programming staff and management team to stay up to the minute on what is popular with your donors. TeleDirect provides you with features like live demographic look-up and instant revenue reports, which can be ordered by gifts, program or the geographic location of your donor. Online ACD reports allow you to see the number of calls received, true minute usage and average call time. You’ll also have the ability to create user accounts to give permissions to your support staff and on-air talent.

When it comes time to send gifts to your donors, TeleDirect provides you with plenty of options, including email gifts, time-based premiums, controlled inventory for tickets, charge incentives and more.

The pledge page also allows you to keep track of your donors and arrange them by “comments” or “no comments.” This gives you a smaller list of donations that may require further review.

There are also plenty of features with TeleDirect’s Pledge on Demand software that will save you both time and money, including schedule uploads, break codes, premiums and your membership database. You’ll be able to edit frequently asked questions as you wish so that all critical information is available immediately to your donors without them having to spend call time on those issues. A scripting tool allows you to change your call scripts on the fly so that they are personalized for each donor.

The best part about the Pledge on Demand software is the way it connects you with your donors. The interactions through the software are as seamless as if they contacted you directly. Meanwhile, their data is completely safe, as evidenced by TeleDirect’s ISO certification.

What are you waiting for? Maximize your donations today while increasing your donors' security with TeleDirect Call Centers. Contact us today to learn how you can get started!

Instant Messaging Services from TeleDirect

At TeleDirect Call Centers, we’re focused on providing you with the highest level of customer service possible. This means we have to go above and beyond outstanding phone service. We venture into all different realms of communication, including the instant messaging services that we use on a daily basis at our call center.

Some people with more traditional views on the way business should be conducted are put off by the idea of using instant messaging in the workplace. However, the high level of efficiency that this tool provides means that you’ll save a tremendous amount of time and money upon implementing it. Since mobile devices have made so many people come to rely on quick, easy forms of communication, instant messaging can be exactly what your company needs to get business done in the most efficient manner possible.

The greatest use for TeleDirect’s instant messaging comes when a customer has an extremely detailed question that may take some time to answer properly over the phone. Let’s face it, we all hate being put on hold, and so do your customers. This is where instant messaging can be so effective. Rather than placing the customer on hold, our customer service representatives can fire off an instant message to ask other representatives for solutions to the customer’s problem. This process allows you to completely wipe out the inconveniences of transfers and lost time.

Since instant messaging helps you get business done faster, it’s also saving you money. Since customer service representatives will be able to find solutions quicker than ever before, they’ll also be able to address more customers in any given day. Meanwhile, your customers will be more satisfied than ever, because they don’t have to spend much time on a phone call to have their problem addressed.

Don’t think of instant messaging as being a distraction or a time-waster; think of it as something that can help your business achieve its maximum efficiency levels. When used correctly, chat or instant message services can give your call center the edge it needs to provide the highest level of customer service you can!

Are you ready to implement an instant message service with your call center today? Talk to TeleDirect to find out how you can get started! www.TeleDirect.com

TeleDirect’s “Fill the Lot” Program

Losing a sale on your first call is a frustrating experience, but TeleDirect Call Centers has a program that aims to limit and even eradicate those difficult moments. The “Fill the Lot” program from TeleDirect is a live lead capture and appointment setting system that enables our customer service representatives to bring your auto dealership the highest level of customer service possible, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

One of the greatest things about Fill the Lot is that there are no per-minute charges. TeleDirect will provide patient, excellent customer service that will guarantee us to get the leads you need. We give the caller step-by-step directions to your dealership, using MapQuest if needed. We will listen to all of their stories about credit trouble or all of their concerns about making purchases, give them sound and helpful advice, and not charge you a penny, no matter how long the call goes.

To get started, go online and create your free account. In creating an account, you are under no immediate obligation to begin our services or make any payments, and you are able to set up a Customer Service interface! You’ll be able to explore the software and see how easy it is to use, before you even begin using it for actual business purposes.

Once you’ve created your account, you can begin to create your custom call scripts that will be used on all calls with your leads. The scripts will automatically be sent to our customer service representatives, and will allow for seamless openings to each call.

You also have the ability to organize your leads however you like. You can arrange them by location (or assign them to multiple locations), mark the status of an order and update an appointment all online. TeleDirect will provide a complete seminar registration system, order entry system and lead management software.

Are you interested in beginning the “Fill the Lot” program? Get in contact with TeleDirect Call Centers today, and we’ll help you to get started with our service. It’s quick, easy, and free!

Training in a 24/7 Environment

Hopefully, if you’ve worked with us in the past, you know that the customer service representatives (CSRs) at TeleDirect Call Centers provide great customer service. And that’s no accident. In fact, while we hire people who clearly have a desire to help people and who can pleasantly answer calls, the real secret to the success of our call center is the ongoing training we provide.

Because TeleDirect does not believe in giving our employees only a week to learn their jobs, our CSRs are constantly learning and improving in order to provide you with the most outstanding service they can.

All of the customer service representatives at TeleDirect are set up with their own personal dashboard. This area presents them with any training “quizzes” that need to be completed, or training issues that must be taken care of. The dashboard also features a training center, which is put into place to make sure that every CSR is held to the same level of accountability.

Any supervisor or manager can change or update training issues or tasks. If any problems or updates arise, they can be addressed with self-trainable methods. The representatives read through these on their own, although there are no self-trainable issues that must be addressed in a classroom environment. Regardless of the type of issue, we make sure to emphasize the importance of completing the training. Not a single CSR will be answering calls without having completed all of their training items that have been allotted to them.

Our representatives are entrusted with keeping up their own training databases, but we do make sure they stay up to date. A significant portion of the bonuses our CSRs earn are based on how well they keep up their databases.

When representatives finish their training issues, their progress is logged and they are able to return to work. Our quizzes are specifically tailored to ensure high retention rates, and trainees must score at least 80% to pass the quiz. Should they fail three times, they must meet with a supervisor or manager to discuss why they failed and what they can do to improve.

These training methods allow TeleDirect Call Centers’ CSRs to offer you the highest level of customer service possible. You can be sure that our employees at our call center are constantly learning and improving, with the goal of doing great things for our clients’ businesses!

The Benefits of Having a Live Chat at Your Call Center’s Website

Just because we're a call center doesn’t necessarily mean that all of our customer service interaction needs to happen over the phone! These days, there are plenty of options available for personal, online interactions, not the least of which is using a live chat feature on your call center’s website.

Here are some of the most prominent benefits that come along with using a live chat feature:

• The ability to multitask. Many live chat features allow customer service representatives to chat with more than one customer at a time. This exponentially increases the amount of work your call center can get done within the same amount of time! In a world where time is money, the importance of multitasking can not be underestimated. 
• Great first impressions. Live chat enables customers to get instant and brief answers to their questions. Many people don’t want to spend the time on a phone call, so these instant answers give a great impression to customers. 
• More feedback options. Live chats can be coupled with a post-chat survey that asks customers to rate their experience with the customer service representative and the company itself. These surveys take less time than a survey over the phone would, so response rates will likely be greater. 
• Build instant leads. Live chats allow your customer service representatives to give links to the company’s website or to quickly gain contact information from the customer. This is a great way to build up business. 
• Instant statistics. Some of the best chat providers offer the ability to see statistics about the customer’s referring URL, IP address, geographic location, and more. This allows you to see who is contacting you, where they’re coming from, and how they found you! 
• It’s easy! Live chat is easy to set up and easy to use. For the amount of benefits you can reap from such a simple feature, there is no reason to not take advantage of it.

Are you interested in learning more about live chat? Check out the live chat feature at www.teledirect.com to get some first-hand experience! Then, contact us to let us know what you think!

Maximizing the Productivity of Your Call Center

Let's face it—distractions happen in the workplace, and there’s simply not much we can do to completely avoid them. As much as people may enjoy their jobs, every workplace occasionally suffers from days where productivity is lower than normal. This is particularly true at certain large call centers, where employees might feel as though they’re just another face in the crowd.

At TeleDirect Call Centers, we have made specific efforts to maximize productivity in our workplace by keeping our employees engaged through our business and its processes. The following are some of the efforts we've found to be effective in getting the most from our customer service representatives, and we'd like to share our knowledge with you:

• Get your employees involved. Arrange different types of contests, or possibly days devoted largely to fun activities. These ideas allow your employees to interact with other people in the company outside of their department. This serves as a reminder that there is more going on in the company than what they’re doing, and gives them a sense of being an important part of a team. Plus, people just enjoy having a good time!
• Reward people for a job well done. Employees like to be told they’re doing a good job, especially when it comes from a superior. It really increases people’s sense of motivation to know that all of their hard work doesn’t go unnoticed. This is especially effective when congratulating people in front of other employees, by giving an Employee of the Month award or simply giving public recognition of their hard work.
• Break the monotony. Working in a call center can occasionally grow monotonous, so find ways to occasionally change up the daily work life of your employees.
• Avoid micromanagement. People should know that their managers are there for them should they need anything, but managers also shouldn’t interfere too much in their employees’ work. It often comes off as insulting and even a bit condescending. Employees will get much more work done if they are not being constantly badgered.

At TeleDirect, we know the importance of keeping employees happy and motivated at our call center, and because of that our productivity is constantly at high levels. If you’re looking for a call center full of enthusiastic, hard-working employees, contact us today to learn how to get started!

Save Time and Money with Interactive Voice Menus

 

 Whether you have a hot lead or a customer concern, you want to be sure that your incoming calls are routed to the right department. If there’s a potential client on the line, for example, it would be great to get that person to one of your crack sales staff members; on the other hand, if there is a customer who’s unhappy and needs support, it is in your best interest to give them the service they need through a qualified customer service representative.

Let’s face it—one of the biggest customer complaints out there is the hassle that is associated with calling customer service lines. Hold times can be long and the automated voice that greets you can direct you to places you never wanted to be in the first place. It’s frustrating to be asked to select from confusing menus when all you want to do is speak to someone about your issue.

While the ideal situation would be to have an actual person answer the phone right away for every customer call, we know that this is neither practical nor efficient. However, with an effective interactive voice recording menu, or IVR, you can be sure that your calls are going to the correct destinations, while significantly cutting down on customer frustrations.

At TeleDirect Call Centers, we use quality tested IVRs to direct the calls of our clients’ customers efficiently and in a timely manner, no matter the time of day or call volume. Because of this, our clients are able to set up their phone systems so that callers are pre-qualified to speak with different departments without the numerous transfers or hold times.

We have worked hard to perfect the IVR process to make it as efficient and hassle-free as possible for your customers, sales leads and more. Our proven methods are sure to get your calls into the right hands, providing helpful assistance to your most important callers.

Whether you have high or low call volume, using the IVR system from TeleDirect is a great way to provide 24/7 support for everything from routing calls and voicemails to communicating automated information about your company.

If you have yet to discover the power of an IVR menu for your company, contact TeleDirect Call Centers today. Visit www.TeleDirect.com for more information!