It’s never a bad idea to aim for improvements in the area of customer service for your business. After all, your company’s reputation will be based heavily on the perception your customers have of you, and customer service is the most direct way that you can positively influence that perception.
Improving your customer service doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated; there are a variety of different ways that you can improve how you handle customer relations without having to make significant changes to your business operations. Here are some tips for how you can do this:
Hire the right people. The people you have representing your business in customer service should be reliable, knowledgeable and, most of all, personable. There’s nothing worse than having a condescending or easily annoyed representative dealing with your customers. Of course, one of the best ways to combat this issue is to make use of a reputable call center to deal with your clients!
Know your customers. The best way to provide great customer service is to know the personality of your customers. If you work with technology products, for example, your customer service representatives may need to take a more technical tone. If you run a nonprofit organization, your representatives may need to be more empathetic.
Use the internet. Online chat features, customer management software, social media and more can all be extremely helpful in gauging what your customers are thinking and in helping you to serve them most effectively. Some people simply prefer internet conversations to telephone conversations.
Be helpful. Even if you don’t necessarily have the answer your customer is looking for, point them to somewhere they can get it. Stay in touch even after the problem has been solved to ensure that they’re satisfied with the solution. Make it easy for your customer to back out if your company isn’t a good fit for them. All of these tips are ways that you can be helpful and respectful of your customer’s time and wishes.
Go above and beyond. Offer discounts or other special incentives, or attempt to solve problems before the customers even have time to complain about them. These are great ways to show your customers that you care about the quality of your product or service and their satisfaction with them.
TeleDirect has a great deal of experience in managing customer service for businesses, and our highly trained customer service representatives are passionate about helping others. If you’re interested in gaining a customer service team that follows all of these tips, contact TeleDirect today and find out how you can get started!
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Best Practices in Improving Customer Service
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Why a Domestic Call Center is Better than an Overseas One
It’s a natural instinct for many business owners; when figuring out how to take care of your customer service, you want to opt for a service that will provide the lowest cost. For this reason, many businesses choose to outsource their customer service to countries like India, Indonesia and many other countries in Eastern Asia that have much lower labor costs.
However, it’s important to take more than just the cost of a call center into account. There are many ways in which domestic call centers have a significant advantage over overseas call centers, and all of them bear worth considering.
One of the most obvious of these advantages is the lack of a language barrier with a domestic call center. Many people who call customer service lines get frustrated when they can’t understand the person on the other end of the phone. The easier it is to understand someone else, the shorter the call will take, which means the happier the customer will be.
Another advantage of domestic call centers is the level of training that call center employees in the United States receive. Unlike many foreign call centers, representatives for American call centers undergo a high amount of intensive, job-specific training that can be specific for the call center that they work at. This means that you’re getting a higher quality of service from representatives that will actually be understood by your callers.
While choosing a large, overseas call center might seem more economical, but these call centers are also more impersonal and harder to manage. When you choose a smaller domestic call center, you’re able to keep up a constant stream of communication in terms of how you want your calls to be handled, and be sure that the information is getting to the right people.
Finally, choosing an overseas call center may not even be as economical as you might expect; quite opposite of popular belief, many foreign employees are paid only 15% less than representatives based in the United States. This isn’t a very significant difference, especially when you take into account the other advantages that domestic call centers can provide you with.
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With TeleDirect, you have a call center based in the United States filled with highly-trained and courteous representatives who will take your calls eagerly and professionally. Contact us today to see what outstanding services we can provide your business with!
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Low Cost Ways to Market Your Business
Quite often businesses get so caught up in the intricacies of their advertising schemes that they forget to focus on some of the most basic, low-cost ways to market their products or services. Don’t let this happen to your company!
Keep these simple, low-cost marketing tactics in mind every day and maximize your advertising results.
- Everything that leaves the office should market your business. Whether it’s an outgoing letter, an email, a document being faxed, a business card or otherwise, make sure that everything that leaves your office and goes to other people has your business’s name and contact information.
- Promote with your company vehicles. If your company has a set of vehicles that it owns, be sure to place your contact information on the side so that it is legible and noticeable. This basically turns your vehicles into moving billboards!
- Give out free stuff. Customers absolutely love getting free anything, so take advantage of this. Advertise promotions that give free memorabilia to the first 100 people in your store on a given day, for example, and be sure to include your contact information on that memorabilia.
- Use “buddy marketing.” Do you have another nearby business that you’re on good terms with? You might consider exchanging brochures, business cards or other materials to set up inside your business as a favor to each other.
- Go online! Post on web forums related to your business, or other link-sharing sites. Use your own social network pages to stir up interest.
- Send out press releases. If you have any newsworthy information, send it out in the form of a press release in order to reach larger audiences that you might not otherwise be able to tap into.
- Encourage reviews. There are plenty of online review sites where people can give their thoughts on your business, or you can even have customers do this on your website. Have your customer service representatives encourage customers to give reviews about their experience with your business. The more positive reviews you build up, the more people will check you out! Even if you get negative reviews, at least you’ll have a chance to publicly respond to them and address their concerns.
Contact us today to learn more about what we can do for you!
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Getting Started with TeleDirect Call Centers
In today’s business world, there are so many things to keep track of, between finances, marketing and the day-to-day operations. For this reason, many businesses choose to outsource one of the most time-consuming portions of their operations—customer service.
Some businesses hear horror stories of outsourcing their customer service, especially when it comes to language barriers. At TeleDirect, this is not a concern at all, as our customer service representatives are all based right here in the United States and are thoroughly trained to take your calls and provide helpful information to all of your customers. In addition to all the outstanding phone and online chat service that we directly provide, we make your customer and lead management easier than ever with our various programs, including Instant Sales Expert, Instant Project Expert and more!
Do you need a hand with your customer service? Getting started with TeleDirect Call Centers is easy! Go online to www.teledirect.com and create a free account to set up a script, set your FAQs, build a catalog, enter meeting information and seminar data and more, all for free. That’s right—you’ll pay absolutely nothing until you need a toll-free number.
Once you’ve decided to begin full service with TeleDirect, you’ll have access to all of our outstanding call center service benefits, including:
No charge toll-free numbers for your customers to call for information.
Instant setup of scripts, toll-free numbers and more.
Thorough lead management that allows you to update and track leads, measure ROI and assign leads to locations and employees. Your leads will never disappear, and your account never expires!
Guaranteed 24/7/365 service that allows you to change your scripts, add FAQs, view your data and have your calls answered at any time of any day, all year long.
There’s no reason to wait any longer to revolutionize your business’s customer service. TeleDirect can maximize your company’s efficiency by taking your customer service to new heights.
If you’re interested, you can sign up for our service online or call our consultants today at 800-776-1081. Connect your callers to live, professional representative with TeleDirect, and never look back!
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
TeleDirect is ISO Certified!
There are a number of ways in which TeleDirect truly sets itself apart from the call center competition, not the least of which is the fact that we are officially ISO certified! This is a security level that only a handful of companies throughout the company have managed to achieve, yet we provide this level of security to our clients every single day.
What does it mean to be ISO certified? It means that your data is extremely secure in our hands. More secure, in fact, than the vast majority of the companies in the entire world. When you grant us access to your data, we make it our sworn duty to carefully guard the integrity of all the customer information that we process.
When we say that this level of security is rare, we mean it. Only 57 companies in the United States have achieved certification in ISO 27001 Information Security Management, and TeleDirect takes great pride in being the only call center on the list. The certification process is quite rigorous, and involves passing an in-depth network and in-office systems audit. We also need to follow a stringent daily management system to help create a working environment that is absolutely intolerant of any insecure information practices. This ongoing discipline of ours forever ensures the safety and security of your data, as long as it’s in our possession.
The trust you can place in TeleDirect’s security can’t be overstated. These are extremely tough times for data security. As technology continues to evolve, data theft becomes easier, since we are performing so many information transactions electronically or online. Identity theft is a rampant crime these days, and being able to fully protect yourself from it is a priceless commodity.
TeleDirect is based in the United States and is fully secure. It only makes sense to place your trust in the only call center to achieve ISO certification. With us you will find stability, security and, of course, a thoroughly pleasant working relationship. Contact us today to find out how the full extent of our services can truly transform your business.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Choosing Your Perfect Call Center
Once your business has reached a certain level of success, you’ll find that you might be unable to keep up with customer service without outsourcing to a call center. Of course, the choice of which call center to use is an extremely important one. You’re handing the reins over to a group of people that aren’t employed by your company and don’t necessarily have any previous experience with your business, so you need to be sure that what you’re getting is high-quality, trustworthy service.
Once your business has reached a certain level of success, you’ll find that you might be unable to keep up with customer service without outsourcing to a call center. Of course, the choice of which call center to use is an extremely important one. You’re handing the reins over to a group of people that aren’t employed by your company and don’t necessarily have any previous experience with your business, so you need to be sure that what you’re getting is high-quality, trustworthy service.
The next step is to begin researching different call centers. Definitely take the time to meet with multiple different centers, and don’t accept the first offer you get. You should be diligent in your search until you find the company that offers you the best balance of quality, price and value.
More things to consider about call centers: what are their values? How long have they been in business? How do their other clients feel about them? It can definitely be tempting to choose the cheapest service, but remember that most times, you get what you pay for.
Once you’ve found a call center that you think works best for you, don’t be afraid to ask for a small testing period. See if you can listen in on a few of their calls to see how their customer service representatives handle customer relations. Talk to the call center manager and see how he or she controls the workflow of the center. This is all an important part of choosing your perfect call center.
If you’re looking for high-quality customer service, be sure to look into TeleDirect Call Centers. For over 20 years, our highly trained customer service representatives have been answering calls with a friendly, helpful demeanor that has endeared us to our clients. Visit our website or contact us today for more information about what TeleDirect can do for you!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Making it Happen: TeleDirect
At TeleDirect Call Centers, we have all the tools necessary to transform your business’s customer service into a service you can be proud of. Whether you’re looking for excellent lead development, professional calls, instant messaging software or much more, TeleDirect can make it happen.
Here are some of the benefits your business will receive from a partnership with our call centers:
- The Call Center. Our customer service representatives are highly trained and professional, ready to take your calls and provide ample information to your customers. Our On Demand Call Center software gives you an unprecedented amount of control, giving you access to immediate script changes and working toll-free numbers.
- Pledge On Demand. For over 20 years, TeleDirect has been supporting pledge clients. This experience gives us a true understanding of the unique needs that they come with. Our services include live, web-based on air reporting and toll free numbers. You will have the ability to record a custom greeting with your president, or even a celebrity who endorses you. All of this and much more, from TeleDirect’s Pledge On Demand.
- Instant Sales Expert. This online customer relations management tool helps you to avoid missed sales, overdue tasks, poor follow-up and any other missed opportunities. It is integrated with our 24/7/365 call center, giving you fast and easy lead follow-up, customer surveys and more. The power of your sales team will increase exponentially with the instant access to TeleDirect’s customer outreach base through ISE.
- Instant Project Expert. This project management software helps us manage projects with our clients and helps our clients organize their own internal projects. This service is completely free and will instantly streamline your project management.
- Operations. We can talk up our software as much as we want, but we know that means nothing in comparison to a friendly, professional, efficient group of customer service representatives. We have exactly that, as our team is trained to create powerful Moments of Truth that will have your customers coming back for more.
