Get Me a Person!

Get Me a Person!

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No one really likes to get stuck with an automated response system. Talking to a live person over the phone is so much easier and less time consuming. Customers often get frustrated and annoyed when they have to deal one.

One customer had a specific question regarding his account with a particular company. So he decided to give them a call. The first thing he heard was a prerecorded response instructing him to press one for one thing, press two for another and so on. However, there was one little problem. His unique circumstances, along with the concerns he had, was not really covered in the menu options given to him by the automated system.

Because the menu options weren’t in his favor, he just decided pressed zero. He figured that a representative or at least an operator could assist him better by pressing it. Isn’t this what you’re supposed to press when you just want to talk to a human being? Turns out, he hit the zero a bunch of times only to be bounced right back to the main menu and prompted to start all over again. Talk about getting the run-around!

In addition to being redirected several times, he found himself having to repeat things over and over, which was very unsatisfying. He thought that maybe saying a certain keyword would connect him to someone. Instead, he just got an automated response, “I didn’t catch that,” and was redirected for the fifth time. Eventually he just screamed at the phone, “Get me a person!”

Can you guess what happened next? You got it! “I didn’t catch that. Press one for …”

When speaking with a live person, customers can be sure that someone will be there to actually listen to concerns and address unique circumstances. Let’s face it. A robot or a prerecorded message just won’t be able to relate to someone like a person can. Good thing that Contact One’s call center connects with contractors, small businesses and professional establishments to give customers the opportunity to talk with a real receptionists on a 24 hour basis.

A Guide to HIPAA-Compliant Medical Answering Services

A Guide to HIPAA-Compliant Medical Answering Services

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There are several components to a good medical answering service, but one of the most important jobs of any service is to remain HIPAA-compliant. Compliance isn’t just part of a good customer service experience for your patients; it is also the law. At Contact One Call Center, we’ve developed a medical answering service solution that gives your patients the attention they need while adhering to HIPAA guidelines. Here is a look at medical answering service problems and how we can help.

 

Component of a Good Medical Answering Service

Your patients—and your practice—need a medical answering service to perform very specific tasks. Your patients have to feel confident that the answering service is responsive to their concerns and will act quickly to get their questions to the doctor. As a provider, you need to feel confident that your service is taking accurate notes and moving quickly to get critical information to you. Your service also needs to be part of a network that gets information to you efficiently no matter where you are, and that provides message delivery confirmation and reply capability. However, while good customer service is crucial for any medical answering service, HIPAA-compliance is equally important.

 

HIPAA-Compliant Medical Answering

At Contact One Call Center, we partner with a few different HIPAA-compliant providers to make sure you get the messages you need. One company we work with closely is OnPage. OnPage is secure smartphone app that relies on an encrypted, secure cloud-based paging system. Your medical messages are delivered into a secure inbox, and each message has a time-stamped audit trail. You get a clear alert every time you receive a new message, and we receive delivery and read confirmations, so there is no chance of a message getting lost in the shuffle. OnPage works with all smartphones, and you will get messages via wi-fi and cell coverage.

 

Are you confident that your medical answering service meets HIPAA guidelines? Call Contact One Call Center and find out what we can do to help your practice. Contact us with your questions at (800) 278-3347.

 

Media Summary

Media Summary

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How An Answering Service Can Increase Your Law Firm’s Profits
How easy is it for new clients to reach your law firm? If you don’t have an answering service, you could be missing out. An answering service is an important part of providing support to your existing clients and of attracting new business.
Watch this video to learn how you can boost your law firm’s profits by hiring an answering service. An answering service means that your firm is always available to existing and new clients, even after-hours, when you’re on other calls, and during lunch breaks. An answering service can boost your efficiency by helping you manage your business more effectively.
If your business needs an answering service, call Contact One Call Center. We can help with everything from live chat to after-hour call answering. Let us help you build a better customer service experience for your clients. Call us today at (800) 278-3347.

How to Make It Easy for Customers to Contact Your Business

How to Make It Easy for Customers to Contact Your Business

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Easy access to support for your customers is a cornerstone of good customer service. The easier you make it for your customers to contact your business, the more likely they are to become repeat customers in the future. By providing multiple avenues of communication for your customers, you make contacting your business as convenient as possible. Here are a few of the ways you can open up the channels of communication with your customers to boost their overall customer service experience.

 

Live Chat

Chances are, many of your customers spend hours every day in front of their computers, both at work and at home. By offering live chat on your website, you make it convenient for your customers to get answers they need from your business without disrupting their daily activities. A customer who is interested in one of your services is much more inclined to open up a chat when they have a free moment in their work day than they are to remember to call you and ask about it later.

 

After-Hours Support

Depending on the nature of your business, your after-hours support may be as important—if not more so—as the customer service you offer during regular business hours. If you provide disaster relief services, medical services, or technical services, quality after-hour support is crucial. If your customers can’t count on your business to come through when they need your services the most, then they may not use your services at all.

 

Contact Page

The contact page of your website should clearly present all of the avenues your customers can use to communicate with your business. Even more important, make sure all of those avenues are closely monitored so your customers always get a timely response.

 

Let Contact One Call Center help you deliver the best possible customer support to your clients. We offer live chat services, after-hours answering services, and much more. To learn more about how we can help your business, call us at (800) 278-3347.

For More Tips On Providing Excellent Customer Service, Visit These Websites

For More Tips On Providing Excellent Customer Service, Visit These Websites

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If you’ve enjoyed our recent posts, then check out these links for more reading about customer service and e-commerce best practices. Get in touch with Contact One Call Center at (800) 278-3347 to improve your answering services, appointment setting, or order taking.

  • Businessweek.com shares more tips for handling a stressful customer situation.
  • Shopify.com shares e-commerce tips for great holiday sales revenue.
  • This Forbes.com post shares seven tips for dealing with angry customers.
  • Get some more customer service tips from Mashable.com.
  • Find out how reputation management drives small business success here.

What Would A Lifetime Customer Mean For Your Business?

What Would A Lifetime Customer Mean For Your Business?

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If your company had a loyal customer for life, what would that mean for your company? It would mean that you had someone who would represent your brand in a positive way and tell others about your excellent products or services. In addition, a lifelong customer would bring in a consistent revenue stream for decades.

Happy Customers Want Others To Know About The Company

A happy customer is going to go out of his or her way to make sure that everyone knows about the incredible company that he or she does business with. This person will be sure to highlight your great customer service, low prices or whatever else sets you apart from the competition. In short, you are getting free advertising and positive brand exposure from a credible source.

Loyal Customers Won’t Shop Anywhere Else

Customers who are loyal to your company are guaranteed sources of revenue for your company for years to come. Instead of having to constantly search for new customers, you have a base that you can build upon for as long as you own the company. As time goes on, the brand will become popular enough that people will come to you instead of the company having to solicit customers through advertising.

Satisfied Customers Will Pay More

Those who have come to rely on your products or services will pay more to ensure that they get the type of quality that they expect. This means that you can charge more than your competition and still stay in business. The extra profit that you make can then be reinvested into higher salaries for workers or charitable donations that benefit the community. Doing things that benefit your workers and the community provides your business with more positive attention that yields even higher levels of customer loyalty.

A lifelong customer is important to a company in a variety of ways. Loyal customers provide the type of positive brand exposure that your company needs to grow and thrive. In addition, the increased revenue and profit gained from each loyal customer can be used to help your company cement its reputation as the only company in the area to do business with.

Ready to take the next step toward making your customers more loyal to your business? Call Contact One today.

How To Retain Key Customers

How To Retain Key Customers

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Customer loyalty is essential for business success. Retaining key customers with excellent support and service increases the customer’s lifetime value. Happy customers will come back to do repeat business with you.

This video shares interviews with three business owners in the Denver, CO area. The owners discuss their tactics for maintaining a loyal client base. One shop holds special events with in-store sales and sends postcard mailings to customers. A more service-oriented business staffs qualified technicians who are experts in their field and tells employees to go above and beyond when interacting with clients. A third business owner says that most of his customers come to his shop through positive word of mouth from other happy buyers.

How does your business ensure customers are happy? Learn how Contact One Call Center can assist your organization with answering services, e-commerce order taking, and more! Call us toady at (800) 278-3347.

How To Improve Your Business Reputation

How To Improve Your Business Reputation

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What’s your most valuable business asset? Most people would say it’s their real estate holdings, equipment, or even personnel. What about your business reputation?

If your business has a bad reputation online or in the community, then it could negatively impact your sales and revenue for years to come. Here are a few easy ways to improve your business reputation:

1. Online Review Sites

There are dozens of inline review sites such as Google Plus, Yelp, and Trip Advisor. Many industries even have their own review forums or directories. Start by claiming your business profile on the leading review sites. This allows you to control the information, hours, location, and photographs for your organization. You can also see what customers are already saying (good or bad) about your company online. Many platforms will allow for communication between owners and customers, giving you an opportunity to redeem your reputation when a customer is dissatisfied.

2. Customer Feedback

Collect real feedback and implement changes to boost your reputation. Conduct an online or telephone survey to poll your customer base about how they view your company and what might be improved. Maybe you’ll find out that your packaging becomes damaged during shipping or that your invoicing system is confusing. This process lets customers know you are listening to them and working to provide better service.

3. A Professional Answering Service

If you are too busy to pick up the phone, have long phone wait times, or become disorganized about scheduling appointments, it can leave your customers with a bad impression. Many small businesses lack the time and resources to handle high call volumes or multiple bookings. Keep customers happy and maintain a stellar reputation by partnering with a professional answering service. A call center team can step in and provide top-notch support for your clients while you run your business.

Don’t let customers wait on hold. Work with a call center that can answer calls quickly and professionally. If you want to learn more about Contact One Call Center’s capabilities, give us a call at (800) 278-3347 or visit us online.

Call Center Tips for Handling Stressful Customer Conversations

Call Center Tips for Handling Stressful Customer Conversations

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What do you do when a customer confronts you with a problem or complaint? This can be one of the trickiest and most stressful situations for a business owner.

At Contact One Call Center, we specialize in diffusing stressful conversations. Our customer service team follows these four steps for handling stressful customer interactions. These tips can help any business owner to provide top-notch support and service.

1. Don’t Get Emotional

If you elevate your tone and messaging to the same angry and emotional level as the customer, it will spell disaster. Even if the customer is irate, maintain a calm and serious demeanor.

2. Listen Well

Be sure to let an angry customer vent and articulate their problem in full. Listen actively so you can be ready with the right steps and solutions to remedy the person’s problem. Reassure the customer you are listening by asking any necessary questions and nodding or verbalizing that you can hear them.

3. Express Understanding

A good practice is to wait until the customer has finished explaining a problem. Then rephrase their problem by saying, “Let me be sure I understand you correctly,” or “As I understand it,” before reiterating their issue. This step can help ensure that you do grasp the problem and have identified what’s frustrating the person on the other end of the phone. It also shows that you are empathetic.

4. Find A Solution

Identify the best solution for the problem at hand. Present a solution to the customer as soon as you can, and let him know what the timeline will be like for implementing the solution. After the conversation, when the customer’s problem has been remedied, take measures to follow up with him and find out if all of his needs have been met. This way, you can provide additional support or services if the customer is still not satisfied.

If your business needs assistance handling incoming calls, orders, or appointment setting, then get in touch with Contact One Call Center at (800) 278-3347. We offer customer service and support for businesses and medical and legal practices.

Find out How to Offer Excellent Customer Service With These Resources

Find out How to Offer Excellent Customer Service With These Resources

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Learn more about the customer service issues featured in our recent blog posts by checking out these websites. Get even more information by calling Contact One Call Center at 1-800-278-3347.

Take a look at this page from LexisNexis.com for ideas that can help you design a great attorney website.

Check out this article from WebSearchSocial.com for tips on creating a successful contact page.

Use this guide from DesignShack.net to find out how to design a contact form for your website.

Discover some of the most common e-commerce customer service mistakes on this list from PracticalECommerce.com.

Head over to AllBusiness.com, for a look at some of the most common mistakes made in customer service.