I recently wrote these tips for Lyndsey Gilchrist for her call handling clients and it occurred to me that you may be considering a call/telephone answering service yourself.  To get the best out of the service, here are my Top Tips!

• Don’t be scared to provide  too much information.  The more information we have about you and your company, the better we are prepared to deal with enquiries.  What do you do, who are your top clients, are you currently running marketing campaigns? etc.  We have a central CRM that all our handlers use and can add and remove relevant information instantly.
• Provide us with an alternate number such as a mobile phone; this way if there is an urgent message we can get an SMS to you quicker than waiting for you to read email.
• Share your calendar with us!  Even if all we have is busy/available it makes a huge difference to how professionally your business is presented.  It can be very frustrating for callers if the person they called isn’t in the office and the handler doesn’t know when they will be back.  Sharing a calendar is really easy with Call Team.  We’re experts at booking appointments for your clients.
• If you aren’t sharing a calendar then a daily email works well.  Just let us know when you are out and what time you can return calls.  Your customers and clients would prefer us to give them a time/day that you will be around to return calls.  This works really well if you have a number of staff as well, if Person A is out of the office but Person B can take a call instead, it helps us provide a much more seamless service.
• If we send you a message and you need to return a message or make a note for our handlers, then simply reply to the message and we can update our system.  That way if the caller rings again, we can give them an update and they don’t get frustrated or feel ignored.  Similarly, if you’re getting sales calls and aren’t interested, reply to the email and we can ask the callers to remove you from their databases.

Of course these tips relate to our fabulous handlers but very few call handling services would disagree with them.  We aim to provide a service where your clients and customers feel as if they are speaking to a member of your organisation, that they feel valued and ultimately that you are represented professionally.

If you want to know more about our call handing services, which range from simple message taking, to full  virtual receptionist services then read our Call Handling Page and get in touch.  Don’t forget that if you contact Call Team you can get a two week free trial for mentioning our name or simply call me to discuss further.