I have owned a U.S. based national telephone answering service called SUITE 1000 for 20 years. My clients outsource overflow calls, after-hour calls or entire campaigns to us. We provide telephone sales lead capture, appointment scheduling, inbound customer service and outbound customer service.
I am fortunate to have had experience working with the sales and customer service departments of hundreds of companies both large and small. It has allowed me to see the processes that successful organizations use and the common pitfalls and problems that they experience in providing national telephone answering services.
Most of the people who contact me are not call center experts. They need someone who will guide them through an organized process to help them determine what they really need, how it should be accomplished and how it can be done cost effectively. No one should even begin to work with a call center until they have the answers to important questions like:
- What are the goals that need to be met by my call center?
- How will the work that the call center does for me be tailored to fit seamlessly with my company’s internal processes?
- What will my total costs be each billing cycle?
- What systems will be put in place to ensure that I can control my budget and my service levels?
If you decide to work with a call center, they should earn your trust by educating you about your options and by explaining how those options will impact your total costs. Only you can decide what is best for your business and you need to be able to make informed choices.
I would like to share my experiences by telling you real stories about how companies have created successful live telephone answering processes that helped them make more money and reduce their customer turnover rate. I want to give you specific “how-to” information that you can use yourself, regardless of whether or not you work with an outsourced call center.
The purpose of a blog is to share knowledge and best practices. Whether you work with a large organization or you are a one-man-band, I am happy to answer any questions you may have about managing your live telephone answering services, processes, technologies and personnel.
– Laurie Leonard
This blog was written by Laurie Leonard, the President of SUITE 1000, a U.S. based national telephone answering service, inbound call center and outsourced call center service. Her company has specialized in handling legal intake, sales leads, email lead response, appointment scheduling, customer service and help desk calls for over 20 years.