SeminarEdge Services from TeleDirect

Are you looking for the most efficient way possible to get all of your guests registered for your next seminar? Try out TeleDirect’s SeminarEdge services! SeminarEdge provides your company with the most professional and user-friendly online reservation answering services that you’ll find anywhere. Using SeminarEdge, you will revolutionize the way your company is perceived by all of your seminar attendees, and increase the efficiency of your operations!

This answering service is a type of program that provides you with online access to manage all of your seminar’s guests. When you use SeminarEdge, your attendees will be given a wide variety of helpful features to help make their seminar experience go as smooth as possible.

To start with, all attendees will be given exact driving directions to the seminar from their location so that they will arrive precisely on time to your venue. They will also have access to a free dedicated 800 answering service, giving them the ability to get answers to all of their questions no matter when they need them! If they prefer to have their questions answered online, SeminarEdge also contains a free message center with professional operators. Printable labels and letters are sent to these guests as well, giving an extra personal touch to your upcoming seminar. There even will be meal selections that fit every attendee’s tastes and preferences.

Of course, SeminarEdge isn’t just meant for the attendees—it’s meant for you, too! Should you need to change your custom scripts for calls, you can do so on the fly whenever you need to! The 800 answering service also provides you with confirmation call programs that keep detailed records of whether your invited guests are coming or not. This saves you time from having to deal with the inconvenience of bookings that get left unfulfilled.

The SeminarEdge you will also have toll-free numbers, online access to your seminars and constantly updated attendee lists. Any changes you make to your options are instantly updated so that our representatives can always give accurate information on your behalf.

Contact TeleDirect today to learn more about what SeminarEdge can do for your business. This 24/7/365 service is exactly what you need to take your seminar planning to the next level!

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!

Tips for Retaining Great Customers

You might have built up an outstanding customer base, but the work doesn’t end when you’ve attracted them to your business one time! A great business works just as hard to keep the patronage of its existing customers as they do to attract new ones.

Retaining your customers isn’t extremely difficult, but it does take a willingness to go the extra mile in a lot of situations, particularly customer service. Here are some tips we've found at our call center for how you can keep your customers coming back to you over and over again.

• Customer Service should always be extremely positive and friendly. People don’t want to deal with negativity! Their experience with your business should be pleasant.
• Aim for perfection. Customers won’t be able to help but be amazed at your dedication to providing the perfect customer service experience.
• Listen. Customer service representatives should be as good at listening as they are at communicating. Make sure your customers know that you are listening to them and understand what they’re telling you, and that what they think is important to you and your business.
• Go above and beyond. Exceed your customers’ expectations by giving them a little something extra, whether it’s a coupon, a gift of some sort, or simply a genuine compliment. People love to feel as though they’re receiving special treatment, so this is a great way to keep your customers happy.
• Give options. If a customer comes to you with a question or a problem, give multiple possible solutions and then recommend which course of action to take. This will show that you are knowledgeable about the situation and are personally invested in helping them solve their problem.
• Make your service efficient. You can be the most pleasant person in the world, but in the end, people don’t want to be dealing with customer service representatives for a very long time. Be polite, yet help solve their problem or address their question as quickly and easily as possible so that they can happily go about their business.

TeleDirect Call Centers' customer service representatives practice all of these tips every day, and love the feeling that comes with seeing a satisfied customer. Visit our website or contact us at TeleDirect today to learn more about the outstanding customer service we can offer you and your company!

 

TeleDirect: Helping You Grow Your Business

Here at TeleDirect, our top goal is to help you grow your business in all regards. Our daily operations at our call center are performed with your business in mind, and all of our customer service representatives are trained to work in a manner that facilitates constant growth for your business. All of our software, training tools, and telephone services will put you on the cutting edge of customer service. The people who call in to your lines will notice the professionalism we provide!

Here are a few of the many ways TeleDirect Call Centers is able to help spur growth for all of our clients:

• We send leads for warm-up, appointment setting, and hot transfers back to your closers, allowing for a more streamlined method of doing business.
• We keep an extremely high level of organization through tracking tasks, milestones, due dates and who is or is not performing up to expectations. In this manner, we are also able to hold all of our employees accountable to make sure they are doing everything possible to aid in our business’s continued success!
• We route calls to different locations based on the time of day or how a caller answers certain questions. This helps us weed out wrong numbers as well as give the optimal level of service your customers desire!
• We reach out to your customer base ad prospects immediately through text and/or email. This allows for quick, efficient and personal means of direct communication with the people who are interested in your product or service!
• We perform careful research of your market and your customer satisfaction levels. By gaining a thorough understanding of your company, we are able to provide customer service that is tailored to fit your exact needs.

Our reputation at TeleDirect speaks for itself; we provide quality customer service that simply cannot be matched. You don’t have to take our word for it, either; check out the reviews that previous and current TeleDirect customers have written at teledirectcallcenterreviews.com!

Are you interested in learning more about TeleDirect? Perhaps you’re ready to jump aboard and get started with our services? No matter what the purpose, our representatives eagerly await your call!

 

Google AdWords’ Click-To-Call Technology

Since its inception, Google AdWords has been changing the way online marketing is performed. Now, a new “Click-to-Call” feature promises to once again revolutionize Internet advertising for the foreseeable future. For businesses with call centers, this feature will be key in generating new customers and expanding business possibilities.

The Click-to-Call feature is meant for mobile web browsers. All non-clickable phone numbers in AdWords advertisements will be converted into Click-to-Call numbers. Now, mobile users will be able to tap on these phone numbers and immediately place a call to them through their phones. This new technology adds a great level of convenience to mobile web browsing, and serves as an effective new way to generate business for advertisers.

The click-to-call enhancement must be enabled through your AdWords account. Once it is enabled, you will begin to receive clicks and calls to the number in the advertisement (it should be noted that it is against AdWords’ policy to place phone numbers in the ad headline). Just like phone calls placed via a call extension, you will be charged for any clicks on your phone number that result in a call.

Through the “Campaigns” tab in your AdWords account, you will then be able to review exactly how many calls have been placed through the clickable phone number in your advertisements. Simply select the “click-type” option under the “Segment” drop down menu, and you will be able to view your full report and analytics.

You don’t necessarily have to change your phone number in your advertisements if you don’t want to. Google, however, recommends that you remove the current phone number in your ad and replace it with a call extension, along with your phone number. This strategy will allow you to get the most value from your click-to-call advertising campaign.

At TeleDirect Call Centers, we are excited to begin using this brand new technology, and will work carefully with all of our clients to make sure that the implementation process goes smoothly. If you have more questions about Google AdWords’ Click-to-Call, feel free to contact us at www.TeleDirect.com today!

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!

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!

 

How a Call Center can help your business with lead management

Your business, regardless of its size, can make a highly profitable use of a real time and effective lead management system. However, creating such system on your own would require the commitment of tremendous time, energy and expertise. That commitment can seriously distract you from your core business operation. Getting distracted in this economy can be fatal to your business.

The good news is that leading call centers have a state-of-the-art lead management system that is already in place and ready for your use. All that your business has to do is link up with the call center. In an instant, your business can enjoy increased leads without being plagued by huge capital expenses and maintenance costs. Most importantly, you enjoy the benefits of the lead management system without getting distracted from your core operation.

The lead management system in top call centers provides your business with a complete view of your prospects and customers. Your key departments, such as the sales, marketing and customer service departments, can then share and use the information in real time. As a result, your business turns more prospects into customers, and new customers into repeat customers. Efficiency in these conversions puts your business way ahead of your competition.

The key to lead management is consistency. The lead management system consistently monitors inquiries for your business. It then routes these inquiries to the right department in your business organization. Because timing is critical, this process has to happen in real time and without glitches.

State-of-the-art lead management systems in call centers allow your business a mix of automated and manual routing systems. This way, every piece of information lands on the lap of someone in your business organization who would use it productively. Nothing gets wasted.

How do top call centers develop the database? The lead management system gathers information from your online forms. Visitors of your website encode requested information on these forms. Information usually includes the name and email address, along with information on what the visitor is interested in. The system then captures this information and integrates them into the lead management database of your business.

The other sources of leads would be the database of prospects gathered from your other online and offline sources. These include your seminars, conventions, trade shows, direct mails, and the like. The lead management system can import the data from these sources and integrate them into your lead management database. There is minimal need for manually typing the information.

The integration process is where the rubber hits the ground in lead management. Data from all sources come in different formats and data structures. Duplication among leads and existing accounts is also solid reality to be dealt with. Manually done, integration can eat up precious time and resources of your business. By the time it’s done, information is most likely stale. That’s not a good thing for your business.

However, the expertise of call centers in the integration process helps your business digest and store information fast, so that your business can use it while it is still hot. That’s the bacon that you really want to bring home.

In lead management, there is absolutely no need to reinvent any wheel. Your business just has to engage a leading call center. It already has a lead management system in place and ready to use. Your business can then instantly focus on your core business operation and pursue hot leads. You leave all lead management headaches to the experts.

Automated Voice Menus Can Save Your Business Time & Money

What exactly comes to mind when you hear “Automated Voice Menus”, even more what is this foreign language that you have just been asked about? Does it talk to you when you are bored, when you may need a listening ear or even to listen in while you practice an important speech? Of course not, but it can help to save you time and money when you break down exactly what its role is with you – company side or client side.

Automated Voice Menus have been around for years now and if you are not too sure exactly what we are talking about, call up the first large company you can think of. That little voice inside the phone that picks up to help you navigate through the system, that’s your AVM working hard to take care of you the client, to make sure your needs for that company are met and handled with ease, quick & simple.

Not all automate voice menus are built the same, and it’s true! You want to make sure the AVM that you are using for your company does exactly what it should; it needs to be able to recognize many voice types (even with accents) in a clear and precise manner in order to route the call to the proper department. There are many people who hate AVM systems for this reason alone, however doing it right the first time prevents you from having to back pedal later to fix a useless IVR.

Think of the time and money that you spend for your company or charity; whichever the case may be. How many man hours, the building rental fees (or mortgage) take up another chunk of funds, the electric bills, the furniture, and everything else you could add in cut into your bottom line? How much money are you spending on an entire staff to take care of the needs that an AVM can drastically cut?

What would you do if you were able to save those funds, put them to better use and still have the top shelf service that everyone expects from every company out there right now? Would it be worth it? Of course it would, but how can you start a slow trickle of change and focus it onto the larger picture over time? An automated voice menu allows just that, an auto attendant that lets you do the same job for more savings to better fund other areas of your business.

The options are almost endless. If you have high or low call volumes, need support help 24/7 or just part time, an AVM is a great asset to have. As a menu system that allows for the routing of calls to specific departments of your company to others which allow for line coming in which can be routed to another extension for support representative, something general like taking a voice mail or even a greeting after hours that can help to provide information for your company.

How to Dramatically Reduce Shipping & Fulfillment with TeleDirect

This is a fast paced business world we are working in these days. If you want to keep a leg up on the competition in the shipping business, you will want to make sure your response times are competitive. In this article, we will discuss how TeleDirect will help you in this regard. Organization is the key here. And this includes being able to streamline your entire process. No process is perfect, but you can work on reducing your errors, and the right call center will help you do just that.

TeleDirect has been a leader in the industry for 39 years, and in that time has streamlined the process to meet any and all of your needs. Their order fulfillment software and 24/7 live support call center work seamlessly with each other to keep your needs flowing in real time. 2 shipping bays that store product as well as perform same day shipping services work with web-based software to give you a seamless view of your customer requests and the fulfillment of those requests. Their up to date web based software is what makes it all happen.

Their live support call center is highly trained in every aspect of the business. Not only will they keep you informed of your highly maintained inventory levels, but they can also help you stay on top of what moves the fastest. In addition, automated voice menus are used to separate customer service calls from order calls, essentially pre-qualifying leads before sending them back to TeleDirect. Interactive voice response, or IVR direct, works together with their call center software providing you with real time oversight of your customer’s experience. This is all part of the process that helps you dramatically reduce the response time between you and your customer.

Getting in front of your customers is also a good business practice that TeleDirect is expert at. E-Mail and SMS messages that automatically go to your leads and customers will keep your communications on top of the game. They will also keep on top of your internet leads. An online request for services that is handled promptly and professionally will not only help greatly in acquiring a new customer, but it will give the customer a good idea of how quick and efficient your services are. If your response time to their initial request is an indicator as to how expedient your shipping and fulfillment services are, you’re as good as gold.

So if reducing your shipping and fulfillment response times are a main concern to your business right now, they shouldn’t be. With TeleDirect you have a leader in the industry with all the latest software, and the most highly trained call center staff at your disposal 24/7. Whatever it is that you need for them to do, they are not only up to date in the methods by which they need to get done, but they are highly trained to implement them. Their response time to your needs, translates into the response times to you customers’ needs.

Increasing Sales With Hot Transfer Leads

A lead is essentially a potential customer, a way that you get that person on the hook and reach out to them. Once the lead is contacted, you must talk to them as if they are a customer. And when your bottom line is suffering because of slow sales, you need new leads to get new customers. But you’re a business owner, not a salesperson, so you don’t know how to go about it. There are professionals who can do this for you, or you can take care of some of the basics yourself. Getting leads online will surely produce the volume you’re looking for, while acquiring target data will tell you where to look for the leads. Once you find them, call centers are a very effective way to get in contact with potential customers.

Getting to your target audience is priority number 1 in increasing your sales. This is where target data comes in at, and it’s something you can do yourself. You simply analyze your sales alongside with who bought the product and where they bought it. This will pinpoint where you should be looking for your leads. Otherwise, you will be wasting your time trying to contact people who won’t be interested in your product. Once you get your target audience and demographics in line, you can start with your marketing campaign.

E-mail marketing produces a significant amount of leads in a very short amount of time. It focuses on who is most likely to buy your products in the area where sales are needed the most. In the e-mails, you can include surveys instead of a sales pitch so as to get your leads interested in the company without telling them to buy, buy, buy. A soft, subtle approach such as this tends to work better then appearing to try to force people to try your products or services. Newsletters are also an effective way of catching peoples’ eye. They essentially tell people what the company is up to and if there’s any new products or services offered that may interest them.

And what is marketing without telemarketing. This method of gathering leads for businesses has been around for so long because, put quite simply, it works. Their methods of contacting people have advanced through the years to the point that they can gather almost, if not as many, leads for your company as the e-mail method. Their pre-recorded message technique is simply a soft sell approach that seems to be working. It is run by an automated calling system that can call up to 10,000 numbers per minute. That’s a lot of leads that can potentially help turn your business around. It would be well worth the investment.

So whether you try to garner the leads yourself, or have a professional do it for you, it is something you will need to work into your schedule ,and/or budget, from time to time to keep your sales brisk and to stay competitive. It is a small price to pay to keep your business afloat.

The Value of Direct SMS Messages and Email Marketing

When it comes to customers, effective marketing is invaluable. Any business that can't connect with their customers using modern technology will be left in the dust. That's why it's important to consider email marketing and direct SMS messaging as a method to connect with your clients and target demographics.

Thanks to spam, SMS messaging and email marketing get a bad reputation. Done right, email and text can actually enhance your connection with your clients and increase return business. Opt-in marketing lists offer the advantage of value-packed newsletters leading to customer desired up-selling and cross-selling. Direct SMS messaging has the distinct advantage of reaching customers when it comes to time-sensitive events and sales.

Both methods of customer contact are low cost but can produce high returns. They allow instantaneous and individual contact with consumers, while giving customers an immediate chance to consume, investigate or purchase. Online or offline, they put your brand immediately in your customer's mind.

SMS messages are short and simply crafted, saving marketing resources while reaching the consumer on the go. Have you set appointments with your clients, losing time and money when they don't show up? Do you have time-sensitive sales, such as lunch specials or super bowl deals, that could use immediate contact? What about important information that needs to reach employees or a younger, more connected target group?

Direct SMS messages can be sent to remind clients of the time and location of meetings, increasing attendance and punctuality. Other reminder messages can be invaluable in ensuring client interactions go smoothly. They can also be sent at lunch hour or in the middle of game time when consumers are unreachable by mail or television. Non-profits can send effective public service messages to critical demographics. In certain cases, this function can be used to garner immediate feedback from the customer through the use of surveys, RSVP's or mobile web inquiries by the recipient.

SMS direct-to-mobile increases conversion of prospects to customers, and customers to repeat clients. In addition, the convenience to consumers who have opted into such communication is highly valued.

Email marketing shares similarities with SMS messaging with some added bonuses. Have you ever exited a purchase when the phone rings or kids come home? Do you like the convenience of getting related, dependent products in one buy?

When consumers get distracted, sales can be lost. Well-crafted email campaigns allow you to maintain contact with potential customers until they can be converted at low cost and high ROI. Knowing your target groups can lead your customers to purchase more through cross-selling and be grateful for the opportunity to buy. A client may not have thought to add an SD card to a cart filled with digital equipment, but an informative campaign gives them an opportunity to meet their needs while increasing sales. Even offline businesses can benefit from email marketing campaigns since customers research bricks-and-mortar purchases prior to buying, and forward information on products they like to friends and family.

Both marketing tools allow you to update consumers on successes, press releases or other important news regarding your business. The value of direct SMS messaging and email marketing is unbeatable.

The Importance Of Making A Great First Impression

We always hear that a first impression is important but why? We hear both in our personal lives, in our business worlds and everywhere in-between the two. A first impression is going to last a lifetime and this applies for the personal side of an individual as well as the business side. For personal reasons it could be the person you are courting for marriage, the banker who is about to give you a loan for your first home or even your child’s first grade teacher.

What happens when you need to make a first impression within the business world? Is it for your boss, your employees’ or your potential clients? Making a good first impression lets others know that you can and will know what to do, when to do it and how to do it.

They need to know that they are able to put their full trust into you and the company you represent for their needs. Are you going to have any issues meeting their needs? Are you able to back what you say when you give your word?

Even meeting a person for the first time either by phone conference you still need to remember that first impressions do count. You always want to make sure the person you are making a connection with will feel at ease with you, having a positive image of you. Even when you meet with someone for the first time you can do little things that can go a long way to help create this positive image.

If you are treating the person as if you are meeting someone you have known for years, rather than being timid it’s going to be a great icebreaker. Are you welcoming and friendly? Simple things like having a welcoming voice can go a very long way in extending the handshake (even a virtual handshake) to a person who has just met you. What you say is just as important as how you say it. Remember that knowing what your role is and making sure the other party has complete faith in your work is part of the deal. If they think they are reaching out to the wrong contact they will end up passing you over for the person who can help them.

First impressions are more important than most anyone can think. Within moments a person can summarize you and know if they plan to continue the conversation (let alone the business) with your organization. You need to be able to give top notch information to make sure they are fully satisfied with what you can bring to the table.

Keep in mind that some will base their judgments’ alone on person appearances (what they can see: attire, manners, eye contact) and others can do the same with only your voice (the tone, if you are paying attention, can they hear the confidence in your voice). In person or over the phone someone can always take a first impression of you – make sure you are doing your best to give them exactly what they deserve, your best.

10 Reasons Your Company Can Benefit From A Call Center

Is your company growth reaching the volumes that there are not enough hands in the office to answer all of the calls that are flooding your lines? You never want to turn business away but what else can you do? What exactly is a call center (known also as a call centre) and how can you benefit from one?

Do you need to save more time, and the overtime money that you have been paying out for far too long? No matter how much you try you can not be in the office 24/7/365 and neither can your employees so saving time is important just like saving funds are. What if there is a place available to handle such a request that you need along with the level of service you would give? If you try to have your local employees’ work extra hours to man the phones it’s going to cost more, you want to save money not lose it.

When you decide to launch a large advertising campaign are you going to be prepared for the growth that comes along with it? What happens if you go from “decent sales” to “an explosion of sales” to the point you cannot keep up with the demand?

All hands on deck – even if you have a dozen employees dedicated to answering all calls, what happens during peak time? The time when the phone lines flood and you still do not have enough hands to answer those phones. Having a full staff dedicated within a call center means there will always be more available “just in case” rather than having a potential client on hold for 20 minutes waiting for someone’s line to free up they disappear with disappointment of never be answered at the same time you lose a sale.

Some people still want to talk to a real person, not an automated system that gets confusing and not someone who cannot really help them. If you can still provide real support with real people clients will always be appreciative of this.

Is your office in your home? Do you need to sound a little more professional even when you deal mostly with the back end issues and not the hands on day to day issues of your clients? Why not take the time to hire a professional call center to deal directly with your calls so that you can spend more time doing what you do best, the management.

You could be all management but you still need someone who is all customer service oriented. This still allows you to be hands on in taking care of your normal duties and allows the customer to get the information they need before ordering with your company.

The other possibility is that inquires vary between different positions within your company that you just may not have enough people to handle the call needs, then what train more people? A call center can be equipped from the start to handle all phone inquires needs; no matter the level of support may be needed.

Realizing Potential

Potential customers won’t reach their potential for you if your business doesn’t give them an easy toll-free way to contact you and an immediate response when they do.

If your business uses the right Call Center, your ratio of conversions of leads into customers will be much higher than if you leave it to chance, or to a traditional answering service, whose answer for everything is “We’re just the answering service, ma’am.”

Using TeleDirect you'll set up your online account, snag a toll free number for your potential customers to call, set up your scripts, and know that your potential customers will receive great quality customer service 24/7/365.

Set up a free account and see how it works. You’ll be able to configure your account and your script so that every step of the customer’s experience is within your control, including the capture of the customer information most important for your business, and answers for the most commonly asked customer questions. Once the script is set up, you’ll be able to configure the lead, reservation or order management. Multiple locations? No problem. You can also mark the status of your orders, and update appointments all online from any location.

TeleDirect's software system provides you with a complete order entry system, a seminar registration system, and complete lead management including appointment setting. It’s been designed to streamline every step of the setup process, making it easy for you to tailor the call-in process to the needs of your customers. There’s an easy to access FAQ if you need help with any step of the setup.

Once you’ve configured your account you’ll have a good idea if it will work for you. At that point you’ll be able to fund your account, grab a working toll-free number or ring-to number for your potential customers to call, and put the system to work for your customers. The system will automatically tie the phone number to your custom script and lead management system.

Listening to the potential customer’s story is part of our customer service. The customer will be given step-by-step directions to the nearest location at no additional cost to you, but with huge benefits for you and your customers.

Give TeleDirect a spin. Your customers will be glad you did.

TeleDirect Price Challenge

Introducing the new TeleDirect price challenge. Many times other companies will offer you a low price per minute for your customer service minutes, which they often make up by requiring you to commit to more minutes than you will use a month, or charging you monthly programming, TRAINING, or setup fees. If you are being offered a very low per minute rate, TeleDirect WILL PROVIDE you that same rate for your initial funding with us. Purchase your first block of minutes and we will give you free minutes to get you to the same low rate you were offered by the competition SO YOU DON"T HAVE TO MAKE THE MISTAKE OF SELECTING THE WRONG PARTNER. (Extremely low quotes will need to be verified.)

Remember, our minutes never expire, they roll from month to month and there are no hidden setup fees. In fact, we work closely with our clients during the start of their campaign making sure that the script and FAQ’s are fine-tuned as the calls are handled by our CSR’s. This fact combined with our on-demand scripting tools is just another one of the things that sets us apart from our competition.

If you would like a one-on-one demonstration of what sets TeleDirect apart please contact us at: 800-776-1081 or by email: sales@teledirect.com.

Introducing Advanced Lead Distribution

In the three years that we have been building and adding to our Work The Lead application at TeleDirect we have worked closely with our clients designing scripts and features to ensure that clients needs are met.

We have built the ability to assign leads based on questions in a script, area code, zip code and percentage. We are now proud to introduce our new advanced lead distribution rules. This feature is great for businesses who sell leads, if the business wants to buy no more than 10 leads a day, you are able to set a cap on the number of leads they will receive. You are also able to assign a percentage of leads based on the answer to a question, and still assign a percentage. If you have a new client who has just signed up to purchase leads, you can give them a higher priority on the same percentage to ensure that they receive the first lead of the day.

Our lead sellers and buyers are excited about this advanced functionality, if you would like to see a demonstration of how our software can work with your business, please contact us at: 800-776-1081 or email sales@teledirect.com.

Back By Popular Demand!

We are excited to announce that due to the great success of our recent Operational webinar we are adding more dates for clients and potential clients. It's important that all of our clients have a chance to view the tools that we use to measure the success of our Customer Service Representatives and the job that we are doing for our clients. Please join us for one of the upcoming dates:

September 24th 1PM PST/2 PM MST/3 PM CST/4 PM EST. Register here: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/176564538

October 15th 11 AM PST/12 PM MST/1 PM CST/2 PM EST. Register here: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/865447755

October 21st 1 PM PST/2 PM MST/3 PM CST/4 PM EST. Register here: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/975284570

We look forward to seeing you there!