Posts Tagged ‘telephone’

In today’s tough economic climate businesses need to work hard to ensure they are maximising every customer and opportunity they have. This article will show you how you can use your existing or a new telephone system to make the most out of your customers and prospects alike.

Mobility

What happens when you or your staff are out of the office? Does the phone just ring and ring. Perhaps the customer can speak to someone else or leave you a message on your voicemail. You could give out your mobile number but then you’re contactable 24/7.

Mobile twinning allows you to take calls made to office numbers from your mobile phone. Then use software installed on your mobile phone to place the call on hold, transfer, conference or record, just as you could using your fixed office phone.

Voicemail

Voicemail offers businesses many ways to save money and increase productivity. The capability of some voicemail systems stretches well beyond the simple message taking functions of early voicemail systems. Today voicemail systems control call flow by automatically answering calls and directing them to the correct person or department. The voicemail will also queue calls and give announcements to update callers to their position in the queue.

Voicemail has many other money saving features such as call recording which allows supervisors to listen to calls via a password protected web browser application. Call recording can help train staff correctly, maintain service quality and encourages staff to adhere to company regulations. It also helps to avoid ambiguity in difficult situations by allowing both customer and company to listen to a call.

CTI

Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) is where there is a connection between your data network and the office phone system. CTI allows ‘click to dial’ from applications such as Microsoft Outlook or Goldmine.

CTI applications like Avaya’s Phone Manager Pro offer a graphical user interface which allows you to control telephony features such as forwarding, conference initiation, message control, company directory and much more.

When customers call, some CTI applications can ‘pop’ the customer record from the company CRM so the customer can be greeted personally and the person that answered the call is ready to action the call immediately.

IVR

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) makes everyday orders easy. Callers never have to speak to a person. The phone system will answer the call and ask the caller to make selections from a list based on the callers response. Eg. A book company wants to be able to sell its books 24/7 both online and on the phone. Their staff work 9-5 so how can non web users place their order after 5pm? IVR will answer the call and ask the caller to input the product code, read back the product name and then take payment details.

Call logging

It is estimated that call logging can increase productivity by 15-20% as staff know their calls are being counted. The saying goes that ‘you can’t manage what you can’t measure’. This is especially true for call data. Call logging can show how many calls an individual takes or makes and reports can be emailed to a supervisor automatically at the end of each day. Call logging can also be used to individually bill departments or other companies using the same telephone system.

Telephone job interviews are becoming more and more popular. Organizations are receiving increasing numbers of job applications for each opening and the phone interview provides a cost-effective and time-efficient means of initially screening out unsuitable applicants. Using phone interviews allows employers to be selective about the candidates they invite for a face to face interview. Use these important tips to get the most out of the phone interview.

Be prepared

Unlike a planned face to face interview telephone job interviews can come at any time. Sometimes you will get a call to schedule the interview but often they call hoping to interview you straight away. Prepare an interview portfolio that you keep with you. It should include details of the job opening, a copy of your resume, background research information, some key words you have prepared for answering likely phone interview questions and a list of good questions to ask the interviewer.

Practice your phone skills

If you don’t feel confident about how you come across over the phone you can practice answering questions with a friend over the phone. Ask for honest feedback and work on any areas for improvement. Or you can record yourself and listen to how you sound. Check your voice pattern, the level of enthusiasm in your voice, the clarity and pace of your speech. It is common to talk too quickly during the phone interview. Take a conscious pause before you answer the question and between sentences.

Pay close attention to the interviewers verbal message

You have no non-verbal cues from the interviewer to help you to understand how you are coming across. Instead you need to pay close attention to their voice pattern and tone. Listen very carefully and maintain a high level of concentration throughout the call. If you sense that the interviewer’s attention is wandering bring them back with a well-timed question.

Make sure the place you take the call is free from any distractions. Preferably sit at a table where you can  lay out your portfolio documents and take notes. A relaxed but upright posture helps you to breathe properly and improves voice clarity.

Monitor your rate of talking

Speak slowly and clearly.  Avoid interrupting the interviewer and make sure they have finished their question by waiting a few seconds before you answer. Give yourself time to organize your thoughts before answering. You can rephrase or repeat the question to give yourself time to think about your answer. People fail in telephone job  interviews because they tend to dominate the conversation and speak too fast. Don’t feel you have to fill the silences. Breaks in conversation happen and are usually because the interviewer is making notes are referring to you resume. Allow time for this. 

Close the call

Ask the interviewer if there is any other information they require. Restate your interest in the position and find out what happens next. Get the correct name and title of the interviewer for your thank you note. Follow up with a thank you within 24 hours of the phone interview.

The goal of the phone interview is to get the face to face interview. Be well prepared for the call and stand out from the competition.

The Telephone Interview Guide includes common phone interview questions, phone interview tips and techniques and helps you to succeed in your phone interview.

This technology has made a huge impact on how we talk to others. Do you already use this new form of communication technology? Has your business adopted this means of communication? A VoIP telephone is the new way to talk. You make calls over your internet connection. The VoIP market is predicted to expand rapidly. There are many things to consider when choosing a provider.

This year the market for VoIP or Voice Over Internet Protocol has heated up. With this newer technology, speech is compressed and turned into data which is then transmitted via the internet to the party you wish to speak with, much like mp3 music. Cable companies offer special lines, but usually you will only be able to get them if you have their cable modem service.

If you are considering implementing VOIP into your business for communications, shop around for the best rates. Many carriers will give you a business discount to have you as a new customer.

Telecommunications companies have been developing and making changes to this communication technology since its introduction approximately ten years ago. No matter where you are calling — or how often — there is a service that is right for you. There are VoIP telephone providers that will charge you a one time fee and there are others that charge a monthly fee, but some providers do not charge you anything to use them.

Internet telephony is a category of hardware and software that enables people to use the Internet as the transmission medium for telephone calls.

This technology creates a phone system that eliminates many problems. Virtual Office allows users anywhere in the world to group multiple Packet8 VoIP lines into a virtual business telephone system that includes a host of PBX features.

This form of communication eliminates the need for having separate lines for your Internet connection and dedicated voice transfer lines. If you have a reasonable quality Internet connection you can get your phone service delivered to you through your Internet connection instead of from your local phone company. The low cost in processing this data has meant that there are now growing number service providers who can compete with the large Telcos. Service providers usually offer lower rates than the traditional phone companies, but sometimes don’t offer additional services, such as 911, etc.

If you are not using this new Telephone Technology, than you will be doing business in the stone age. In order for your business to thrive you will need to adopt this form of communication to keep up with your competition.

In today’s advance world, the rapidly modernizing communication technology and feature improvements have been moving telephone systems forward with unprecedented speed and diversity. Nowadays it is becoming a portal for connecting several people at once. With today’s telephone systems one can simultaneously conduct a conversation between persons sitting in New York, another in London, and a third in India.

In order to be technological up-to-date, variety of telephone systems are available depend various functionality and demand. Here we are throwing lights over different types of phone systems depending upon the phone traffic:

Single Line Telephone Systems – These are just the basic telephones for average use in homes having no additional extensions. These are best suited where no need of multiple lines is required for eg. home, office or business.
Multiple Line Small Business Phones – To handle moderate-to-large phone traffic efficiently, multiple-line small business phones are the best options. This multiple-line phone with 2 or more extensions (depending on number of people are in the office), along with a digital line hook-up, can manage a small office/ business effectively. And to manage missing phone calls, voice mail system with 2 to 10 ports can prove efficient.

Multiple-Line Large Business Phones – For business / offices having more than 50 employees who need large number of phone calls with larger number of extensions and having advantage to hold up to hundreds of outside lines, Multiple-Line Large Business Phones are the best solution. Through this phone system, the voice mail system will need a large number of ports.

When planning your new system, especially for your business it is important that you enquire about the potential cost for the addition of more extensions or ports. It is important that when choosing new business telephone systems, you ensure expansion will come not only easily but as affordable as possible for your company.

You have decided to talk to your employees about telephone communication. Customers are complaining and problems are not being resolved in a timely manner. And while your employees are not always “in the wrong” when problems occur, you know there are some things they could do to be more professional, courteous, and effective. For example:

1. Ask more specific questions about problems callers are experiencing before “automatically transferring” callers to another department or trying to solve the problem personally

2. Apologize when callers complain about poor service, being disconnected, or some other encounter they view as negative

3. Use professional language when talking to callers; avoiding jargon, slang, or overly casual statements

4. Tell callers when their problems will be resolved, how they will be notified that the problem is resolved, and what action they need to take (if any) once the problem is resolved

5. Before concluding calls, confirm that all issues have been resolved and all callers’ questions have been answered

Your challenge now is to talk about telephone communication in a way that encourages your employees to improve. Do this by explaining how any or all of these behaviors could lead to:

1. Less time spent locating information needed to communicate with callers

2. More situations where callers are willing to wait patiently while a problem is being resolved

3. Less time spent having to process a request or resolve an issue that should be handled by someone else

4. Fewer instances of callers having to “call back” with additional requests or questions about services and products

5. Increased instances of receiving more accurate and complete information from callers during initial conversations

Develop your own list of results by thinking about the things employees complain about when it comes to communicating on the telephone. Then, match their list of complaints to your list of performance-improvement behaviors. Keep this information handy. And whenever you have individual or group discussions about telephone communication, use it to show your employees how they can reduce their frustration by improving their performance.

By using this approach, you emphasize how better telephone communication helps employees have better telephone encounters. You show employees that improved performance benefits them and their customers. This approach also allows you to keep the focus on the results you want and steer the conversation away from complaints about customers, processes, or procedures. Try it the next time you want to talk to your employees about being more professional, courteous, and effective. The results may positively surprise you.

Telephone conference calling is utilized on a very large scale every single day in businesses all around the globe. But did you know that they have also gotten quite popular for personal use from home?

At work, you have most likely used teleconferences for attending meetings with clients or colleagues at other company locations of your company. These types of audio meetings are usually a somewhat regular occurrence for many retail store managers.

Generally speaking, a retail store is subset of a very large chain and each store is usually part of a certain region or district that includes a number of other stores. It simply would not be very convenient for all the region store managers to gather every week at one location, and it certainly would not be very cost effective. The solution to this is for the district or regional manager to schedule weekly meetings via conference call with all of the store managers who can listen in and provide their input as needed.

Personal telephone conference calls are somewhat different because at home you can only participate with two other parties at once, but this type of call is still known as a conference call.

At home teleconference calling is a feature that you can select when you set up your telephone service. This feature is generally referred to as three-way calling, but there are a few phone services that offer actual conference features where you can talk with even more than three people at one time.

As you may guess, this feature for personal phone have become very popular among teenage girls who have a strong desire to talk on the phone with all of their friends at one time. Without this telephone conference calling feature, the teenage girl using call waiting on a home phone will most likely go back and forth between two friends and perhaps even using the call waiting on her cell phone on the other ear. No doubt that this could become very costly when you pay for those cell phone minutes.

Telephone conference calling has also become a very popular feature those who work at home or for people who telecommute. With the rising price of gasoline, there are more and more people who are telecommuting or working from home these days. These folks need a way to have meetings with their home offices or talk to clients via conference calling. This is one of the main reasons why more and more phone service providers are offering true conference calling to personal accounts as an option these days.