latest call handling & answering news

May has just begun and everybody is holding their breath as to what the weather will be doing this month. April was awful with constant showers, high winds and dark clouds putting a shadow over everything including everyone’s hopes for a nice summer.

People in the Midlands were badly affected with gale force winds accompanied by lashings of rainfall- 10 days worth in just 12 hours. Trees blocking streets and flooded fields were a common sight in Birmingham towards the end of April along with roof tops ripped off shopping centres. Rail commuters in Kent also had a hard time when a tree lay on the railway tracks causing havoc as people were told to expect delays on their journeys to London.

When unforeseen events like this take place it is very important to have procedures in place to make sure your business can carry on as normal. Staff shortages are very common in these times as people struggle to get to the office, but something like the loss of power to an office can be crippling especially if you do not have a back up source of power.

Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery plans are becoming more and more important, companies can not afford to miss a days worth a trading especially with the current state of the economy.  There are no set Business Continuity or DR plans; each business requires different levels of cover depending on their business activities. Some may require the use of an external data centre in the event that theirs go down, some require the use of external office space in case they need to evacuate and relocate. Other business’ continuity plans consist of using an external call centre to handle the telephone activity. 

What ever plans you have in place, it is important to make sure they can be easily implemented and readily tested. There is nothing worse then paying for a DR Service for it not to work when you need it the most. Ansaback provide a wide range of professional and reliable DR services, from 24/7 call handling services, automated telephony solutions, through to the use of a purpose built DR site.

As part of the on-going development of our North West office, Ansaback 24/7 Contact Centre are pleased to announce that they are now members of the Lancaster District Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber provides an excellent platform for Ansaback to network with local businesses and promote their call centre services. As Lancaster Chamber of Commerce also partners with other district Chambers in the North West the business development opportunities are not just restricted to Lancaster. Iain Murray, Ansaback’s Business Development Manager says “Joining the local Chamber of Commerce was always in the forefront of our plans when setting up the office here in Lancaster. We have a fantastic range of call handling services to offer and the Chamber provides an excellent platform to do business with local companies”

A motivated workforce is a key factor to any business, in the call centre industry it is vital that the call handling agents feel valued and motivated as they are fundamental to the success of the services that a call centre provides.

At Ansaback 24/7 contact centre and business services bureau we have various schemes in place to ensure our call handling agents feel happy in the workplace and feel engaged with the work they are doing. In previous posts you would have seen that we adopt a ‘Call Centre Superstars’ scheme and ‘Call Centre Agents of the Month’ which are just two of the ways we motivate our employees and reward them for exceptional service.

The health and wellbeing of our agents is also something we are keen to promote. The agents have access to fresh fruit throughout the day which encourages healthy eating which in turn leads to healthy agents. The Bike to Work scheme is another system we have in place where we offer assistance to our staff in purchasing bicycles to enable them to cycle to work, offering a healthy alternative to driving to work, which also promotes the reduction of our carbon footprint.

Call handling agents are on the front line when it comes to operating a contact centre. They are the face of the business and our success is directly linked to their customer service abilities, so it is unquestionably important to make sure they are motivated and well looked after which will help Ansaback continue to be at the forefront of the contact centre industry.

Fault Solutions 365 are today and tomorrow exhibiting at Convergence Summit North, at the Manchester Central exhibition centre.

Our Call Centre offers unrivalled 24/7 fault reporting services, if you are attending the event please do come along and see us on stand 69. We will be demonstrating our full range of 1st line support solutions that we can offer Telecoms providers and ISP’s. If you are attending, Fault Solutions 365 look forward to seeing you there!

Did you know that Maundy Thursday is the beginning of the Easter celebrations and it was tradition for the reigning Monarch to wash the feet of the poor.  This went on until 1699 at which point the Monarch would send an official in his place. Things have certainly changed since way back then and the tradition has been altered whereby instead of washing the feet of the poor, our Queen will give out money to a group of pensioners.

At Ansaback we have our own tradition; Every year our Chief Financial Officer Stuart Gordon goes and collects an enormous amount of Hot Cross buns to be enjoyed by call handling agents and back office staff alike.

Keeping with the Easter theme, two call handling Agents also received chocolate related prizes for winning the the Ansaback Superstars draw. When a call handling agent receives 100% on their call monitoring report they have their name added to the Superstar board, two names were picked at random from the superstars featured on this board. The winning agents were Carla Thomas and Emma Stokes. Well done to both agents and we hope you enjoy your prizes. Ansaback will also be having 2 dress down days over the Ester period, raising money for Ormiston Childrens Charity.

As Ansaback is a 24/7 (365) contact centre our call handling agents will be busy handling calls over the Easter period, but for those that have time off we wish everyone a very happy and enjoyable Easter break.

Ansaback attended the ECMOD TV Shopping Week Conference on the 27^th March 2012, which as held at the Lancaster London Hotel.

Chief Executive William Catchpole, Managing Director Christian Pawsey and Matthew Lawrence from the Ansaback Client Services team attended the conference along with some of the biggest names in the world of TV Shopping such as Argos TV and Ideal Shopping Direct.

It was a very focused conference which included seminars, case studies and in depth looks at the sector whereby some of the biggest names could discuss, converse and share stories about their experiences within the area and also looked at ways of improving growth, getting a more positive ROI and featured a host of speakers.

As DRTV call handling specialists, Ansaback also had a stand at the conference, which was a great opportunity to promote their inbound call centre services to some of the DRTV giants.

An award ceremony took place in the evening to recognise achievements reached within the direct-to-customer retailing across traditional and emerging markets. Ansaback’s MD Christian Pawsey says “The TV Shopping Week event was both interesting and useful. It gave Ansaback the opportunity to meet all of the main UK business representatives in this important and growing market sector, in one place, some of whom are valued customers. Ansaback’s call centre receive inbound calls for several different TV shopping campaigns, both on-going and short term, so it was great to receive some insight into differences between long and short form advertising opportunities from the customer point of view. We also enjoyed the Direct Commerce Awards in the evening, which ran very smoothly and was well presented by Dermot Murnaghan. We saw many familiar names from the industry receiving their awards and congratulate them all on their achievements”.     

 Ansabacks Telecoms division, Fault Solutions 365, will be exhibiting once again at Convergence Summit North on the 17th and 18th of April at the Manchester Central Conference Centre.

Convergence Summit North is the UK’s leading Telecoms exhibition for the reseller and channel market. Fault Solutions 365 has established itself as the leading fault handling call centre in the UK and will looking to enhance their position within the Telecoms market place. Fault Solutions 365 will be exhibiting on stand 69 and looks forward to meeting new companies that are interested in our 24/7 call handling services as well as networking with our existing clients who will also be exhibiting at the show.

Ansaback has a very strong not-for-profit client portfolio. We are offering both inbound and outbound telephone fundraising services. Whether we are handling DRTV, press, mail response or reactivation or donor acquisition campaigns we will ensure an effective dialogue with your supporters in order to meet the needs of your donors at all times.

By outsourcing your call handling you will be able to save time and reduce operational cost but most importantly you will be able to maximise your fundraising revenue in order to provide more help in the future.

There is always going to be hundreds of challenges when you are managing a busy call centre. From HR to technical capabilities such as software integrations. Where do you start? In this article we are going to cover three problems that are constantly coming up. These issues need to be addressed no matter if you are a 24/7 call centre outsourcer and are providing inbound and outbound call handling services or an in-house call centre within an SME or a global conglomerate.

Building success is not that easy; it takes time to identify the processes that works for your call centre. We all know that cultures can be different from call centre to call centre so it is important that you align you strategies with your contact centre’s core goals. Ask yourself – where do you want to be in 3 years’ time and what do you need to do to get there?

The first issue for a call centre is: High staff turnover. This issue is very important as you can appreciate the staff is your biggest asset especially in this industry. It is important to invest in your staff by incorporating a retention programme and career plan.

The second problem is: poor first call resolution. The first step to achieve customer satisfaction is successful first call resolution. Make sure you can help that customer right there & now. Be prepared by thinking outside the box and what the customer might ask you.

The third issue is technology integration: As technology is moving forward so must we. It is important to have the right tools in place in order to provide multi-channel services and support. Be careful though, as agents often find it hard to tackle different software – make sure you have a good training programme in place to improve agents’ efficiency and knowledge.

Today’s companies are doing everything they can to ‘be there’ for potential and existing customers 24/7/365. As you know by now customers are an inpatient breed when it comes to waiting on the line, so the big question we need to ask us is, what are the best ways of tackling increased inbound call traffic? What are the paths to success?

We all know that effective call handling results in an enhanced caller satisfaction and an improved company image. What do you do when the volumes of inbound and outbound call traffic across multiple sites become too high?  One option is to get your call centre outsourced. There are a number of operational benefits why companies should outsource their call centre to a 3^rd party but most importantly it is a very cost effective option.

Have you decided where you would like to take your call centre in 2012? With new emerging technology you have to be on top of your game. The way we are going - a multi-channel approach is a must! Can you do it in-house? Great! Can you do it 24/7/365? Fantastic! You are on the right track! If not, then perhaps you need to consider call centre outsourcing services. If you don’t – you will be left behind!