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20th January 2021 blog, Customer Service

Top 9 Customer Service Trends You Must Know in 2025 [Updated]

How have customer service expectations changed in 2024?

20th January 2021 blog, Customer Service

6 Ways Customer Service Expectations Have Changed for 2025

23 incredible customer service tips in 2024.

18th January 2021 blog, Customer Service

23 Incredible Customer Service Tips for 2025 [Updated]

An image of the best UK virtual number providers.

18th January 2021 blog, Business Phone Numbers

Top UK Virtual Number Providers in 2025

7th January 2021 blog

Meet Our 2020 International Business Communications Scholarship Winner – Jasper Moh

5th January 2021 blog, Business Insights

Becoming an Entrepreneur in 2025

2nd January 2021 blog, Call Management

What is Call Center Quality Assurance

28th December 2020 blog, Business Phone Numbers

NANP: The North American Numbering Plan Explained

23rd December 2020 blog, Call Center, Call Management

7 Best Practices for Call Center Scripts that Convert

Top 9 Customer Service Trends You Must Know in 2025 [Updated]

Nadine Sampson 20th January 2021 blog, Customer Service

In 2021, due to the pandemic, customers and businesses started working from home. They are considering ways to change their lifestyles to support their work-from-home lifestyle. This may lead them to your business as a possible and comfortable solution. If that is the case, then you need to up your customer service game to support all types of customer queries. Here are some important customer service trends to keep in mind this year.

9 Top Customer Service Trends in 2025

Ensuring your customer service and support efforts are always top-notch is important to maintaining customer satisfaction and retention. If your teams don’t do their best, then it becomes easy to lose valuable customers. Therefore, you must check your customer service strategies and tools every year to see where and how you can improve.

So, if you are looking to upgrade your customer service and stay of the game, here are the top 9 customer service trends to keep in mind.

1. Offer Multimodal Communication

If you are only responding to phone calls and emails, then you are way behind the game. Most companies are adopting multi-channel communication tools so they can assist customers no matter how they choose to reach out. This includes live chat, support tickets, text messaging, video conferencing, social media messaging, and more.

2. Become Mobile-Friendly

Most potential customers will find your business through their smartphones. This may occur due to a targeted ad that pops up on their social media or they do a quick mobile search for services like yours. For this reason, you want to make your website and reaching your customer support team easy for mobile users. Consider optimizing your website for mobile-view and adding click-to-call buttons that allow users to call instantly from their phones. You may also want to add easy-to-fill forms on the website for customers who want to send a quick message or email.

3. Include More AI and Automation

Use office automation to streamline processes and save time spent on simple, mundane tasks. Project management systems that automate tasks and enable file-sharing are essential for keeping offices well-connected and functioning seamlessly. Well-designed CRMs or customer information storage systems, IVR systems, chatbots, etc., are some additional ways to incorporate AI and automation in the office.

4. Be Active on Social Media

Having social media accounts is a must in this day and age. Not only does it give you the opportunity to market and target a different demographic, but it also gives you the ability to advertise and run social media campaigns. These campaigns can help bring new customers to your business while also adding another quick customer service tool. Be active on your social accounts, educate customers about products and services, and respond regularly to comments and messages.

5. Offer 24/7 and Real-Time Support

Besides offering various channels for customer support, you also want to provide 24/7 and real-time support. Consider live chat and chatbots to answer common customer queries, solve problems quickly, offer product/service descriptions, and guide them to completing a purchase. A phone equivalent of live chat is your IVR system. You can design the IVR to offer 24/7 service with troubleshooting support and self-service options. This way, callers can get assistance even after hours or on the weekends.

6. Invest in Easy-to-Use Software

Provide your team with simple and user-friendly software. Complicated software takes longer to learn and has more room for error. If your team is spending more time navigating through the software, that is less time spent on providing excellent customer service. Research and find easy and more efficient solutions for your business phone system, CRMs, and project management tools.

7. Offer Work-from-Home Opportunities

One of the most important customer service trends this year is remote work. Working from home is growing more and more popular because it accommodates productivity. And your customer service team may want the option to work remotely, possibly until the end of the year. Prepare for this by considering call forwarding that can keep your remote workers and teams connected without increasing your monthly business communication bill.

8. Consider Video Streaming

A new development in customer service trends is the inclusion of video streaming and conferencing. Video is a useful form of communication and should be incorporated as much as possible in sales, marketing, and customer service. You can use videos for product descriptions, service education, launching new items, and more.

9. Personalize and Customize for Each Customer

Finally, continue to personalize your services for your customer. Stock emails and responses can easily disenchant prospects. Based on their search and purchase history, offer personalized offers or discounts, rewards, and recommendations that mean something to them.

Improve Customer Service Today!

All of these trends may not be applicable to your business. However, identify the ones that do and make an attempt to include them effectively and creatively so your business can care for their customers better. Happy customers lead to a happy business, after all!

6 Ways Customer Service Expectations Have Changed for 2025

Nadine Sampson 20th January 2021 blog, Customer Service

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed the way companies conduct business as well as the way customers interact and purchase from these companies. As such, customer service expectations have changed for 2025 with more customers expecting high-quality support, personalized care, multiple communication channels, and more.

Customer Service Expectations in 2025

Customers switched to online shopping in 2020. However, this is not limited to just purchasing but also in terms of having conversations with businesses through video conferencing and emails. Many businesses had to transform their sales pitches and customer support to fit video screens, social media posts, and email marketing. And these businesses had to try harder to improve overall customer experience: from finding the business website online to offering easy customer support options.

So, how have customer service expectations changed since 2020, and what are the most common customer service expectations in 2025? Let’s have a look.

1. Offer Higher-Quality Support

The pandemic led to businesses and their customer support teams finding new ways to connect with customers. However, customer service expectations rose to new heights. According to a 2020 Hiver survey focused on customer support expectations in 2020, 80% of consumers expect better and more empathetic support.

More and more customers are shopping online and expect to continue to do so. This means businesses need to develop their websites and e-commerce platforms to prepare for higher volumes of online traffic and movement. Customers will expect quick responses, easy navigation, and high-quality products. Some ways to improve your customer service include:

Updating website content to be more relevant and informative.
Create mobile-friendly webpages that load quickly.
Convenient online purchasing and order-placing abilities.
Better business phone system with advanced features such as call forwarding, routing, cloud IVR systems, call recording, and so on. These features can help with better call management and improve quality assurance.
Offering multiple channels of communication such as live chat, email, video conferencing, etc. You may even consider a chatbot for common FAQs and troubleshooting where customers don’t need to get in touch with a rep.

2. More Personalized Care

Customers are also looking for personalized care. Here is where a customer-centric strategy comes into place. Customer experience (CX) is highly significant with respect to business growth. If your customers are unhappy and don’t feel valued, they won’t hesitate to leave.

Personalization or customization means tailoring customer experiences to make them more relevant and useful to their particular situations. This means:

Paying attention to their profile and their past purchases and interactions
Offering recommendations based on past purchases
Understanding their needs and goals
Visualizing their goals through customer journey mapping
Offering customized solutions

Improving customer service and providing personalized care is as simple as knowing your customer and understanding what they need. Then, making your products and their interaction with it more relevant and personal.

3. More Modes of Contact

Since in-person contact was reduced during the pandemic, businesses had to get creative and find new ways to stay connected with their customers. For many businesses, this meant:

Updating website content
Creating support and knowledge bases for self-support
Staying active on email, chat, and social media channels
Considering automation tools such as chatbots and automated IVR phone systems

And so, customers expect to contact a business through the channel they prefer. The Hiver survey suggests that:
Gen Z customers and millennials prefer email and chat options more than phone conversations.
Baby boomer customers prefer phone conversations over others.

If your business supports all generations of customers, then you need to cater to their preferences and behaviors.

4. Focus on Empathy

According to a survey conducted by Hiver, 34% of customers state that customer support needs to be more responsive and empathetic. And this does not mean during the pandemic exclusively. Customers expect more empathetic and quick responses as everyone is dealing with a global issue. In fact, research has found that millennials and Gen Z customers are more likely to connect with businesses that offer empathic support.

So what does a more empathetic customer service approach look like? Here are a few examples:

Try to see the problem from their perspective.
Allow them to express themselves and their concerns and frustrations without interrupting.
Pay attention to your own biases and actively work on them.
Maintain positivity.
Respect your customer and don’t treat them like another number.
Gather and learn from feedback (peers, customers, mentors).

Striving to be more empathetic in your customer interactions can help you develop strong relationships and find better ways to help them. This, in turn, leads to greater customer satisfaction.

5. Pay Attention and Understand Them Better

Similar to the need for empathy, customers expect to be paid attention to, listened to, and cared for. Customers know what all businesses do to track their preferences and capitalize on them — such as targeted ads, personal recommendations, and so on. As such, they expect that businesses have the information to know what they like, prefer, and need. And so, when businesses don’t, customers are typically left disappointed and frustrated.

So, what can you do to work better with your customer? Listen to them carefully and do not make their issue seem small or irrelevant. The Hiver survey found out that 23% of customers will claim good customer support if they don’t have to explain their issue over and over again. Don’t make them repeat their concerns and issues or transfer them to multiple reps and employees.

Paying attention to them and repeating their concerns to confirm them can go a long way in reducing customers’ frustrations and increasing appreciation.

6. Be Clear and Follow-Up

Lastly, be clear in your communication and avoid vague and confusing phrases. Customers appreciate clear communication without any hidden agendas. This is one of the top customer service expectations. They expect honesty and clarity. If, as a customer service rep, you do not know the answer to a query, tell them that you will follow-up. And make sure you follow-up soon.

Meet Customer Service Expectations with Virtual Communication

We, at Global Call Forwarding, can get you set up with a robust virtual phone system that can help you become more accessible to customers, no matter the location. Call us today at 1 (888) 908 6171 to find out more about international call forwarding and other communication tools.

23 Incredible Customer Service Tips for 2025 [Updated]

Meryl D'Sa-Wilson 18th January 2021 blog, Customer Service

Providing good customer service is key to the successful running of any business. Customers are what drives a business and therefore if you are not focusing on providing excellent service, then your company is more likely to lose valuable customers. Here are 23 incredible customer service tips that can boost your customer interactions in 2025.

23 Customer Service Tips You Must Use in 2025

The following customer service tips have been used by various businesses across the globe. While not all of them may apply to your company, it is a good idea to experiment with these tips and adapt them to fit your mission.

1. Treat Customers Well

Remember that customers are important for the proper and successful functioning of your business. And so, you want to make sure your employees and agents treat your customers like gold. When interacting with customers, employees should be empathic and take time to pay attention to the customer and their concerns. Interactions should be transparent with no hidden agendas or fine print. Offering personalized service and care can go a long way.

2. Use Positive Language and Attitude

A positive attitude and the use of reinforcing words can lead to good interactions and higher resolution rates. A dull sounding call center agent that does not stick to the script nor follow best practices to engage the caller or make them feel heard can lead to losing a valued customer instead of retaining them. Avoid taking things personally or arguing. Instead, remember the larger picture and the company’s goals.

3. Address Issues Immediately

Most customers are calling to resolve an issue they are dealing with and most often they want to do that urgently. Therefore, agents and employees should be equipped to address their concerns immediately. Help callers get to the right department soon, instead of being bounced around. This way, they are closer to a resolution. Additionally, provide your employees with the tools they need to quickly assist callers with the most common complaints and issues. This may require market research to understand what your product or service’s most common issue is, or the reason why customers call most often.

4. Personalize and Customize

Personal touch is the key to good customer service. When talking to customers, remember their name and their case or history with the company. Use their name throughout the conversation. Demonstrate that you are paying attention to what they are saying. When following up, ask when they are available instead of giving them a set time. And so on. It’s the little things that matter.

5. Improve First Call Resolution Rates

This goes along with addressing customer concerns immediately. First call resolution rates measure the number of calls resolved on the first call itself. A higher FCR indicates good customer service and improved customer satisfaction. Identify areas that need improvement and train your employees so they can resolve concerns quickly or, at the latest, in a follow-up email or call.

6. Consider Self-Service Options

One of the 2025 top customer service tips is providing more self-service options to customers through self service portals and interactive knowledgebases. Customers are growing more tech-savvy and prefer if they can do things themselves rather than wait on a person to help them out. See if your business can provide such tools, either through a modern IVR system or a knowledge-base with support and troubleshooting content, etc. This way, customers can help themselves and can reach out to your business if an issue is more complicated.

7. Provide Multi-Channel Customer Support

It is no surprise: not every customer likes making phone calls. This is where multi-channel support comes in very handy. Most companies currently offer a variety of ways for prospects and clients to get in touch with them:

Toll free numbers: for free calling
Local numbers: for inexpensive calling
Email: with 1-2 day response times
SMS / instant messaging: with quick response times, preferably within the day
Live chat: with live agents, monitored 24/7
IVR within the phone system: which can provide 24/7 support and self-service options
Mail: for those who prefer and need it
In-person meetings: for local offices

8. Offer 24/7 Customer Service

If possible, try to offer 24/7 customer support that includes after-hours and weekends. You can do so by hiring off-hours or remote agents and have incoming calls forwarded to them through your IVR system.

Another indirect way to provide 24/7 service is through an informative IVR that can assist with account information, register complaints, process payments, offer troubleshooting help, etc. You can also have an online knowledge-base with “help” articles that can walk users through common issues and how to resolve them.

9. Consider Automation

Another one of the top customer service tips this year is adopting automation to provide support. An automated IVR system and chatbots are two ways you can cut down on agent workload while still assisting those in need. Automation can help with simple and common issues, provide 24/7 customer support, reduce the number of support tickets submitted, collect customer information and add it to their history, and free employees up to handle more complex issues.

These systems should, however, always have an option to connect to a live representative in case the user is unable to resolve their concern.

10. Pay Attention to Customer Satisfaction Scores

It is also important to measure and improve CSAT scores. This is because these scores directly impact your business’ customer retention rates. That is, they measure your business’ ability to maintain customer loyalty and long-term relationships with their customers. Bad interactions and experiences will deter customers away from your brand. It is, therefore, necessary to pay attention to customer satisfaction by collecting feedback and opinions. Utilize email or live chat to collect feedback about specific products, services, or interactions.

11. Focus Efforts on Marketing and Reputation Management

Use effective marketing strategies to showcase your brand’s values and mission. Demonstrate your team’s expertise, highlight important and valuable customer reviews, and so on. Marketing is a good way to maintain your business’ credibility and reputation. You can also choose to run active social media accounts where you can make viral TikTok videos or post engaging Instagram content, interact with customers and interested prospects, answer their queries, run promotions, and so on.

12. Humanize Customer-Business Interactions

While automation can make business processes easy and efficient, you want to keep automation to a minimum and only if necessary during customer-business interactions. For example, a caller should not have to jump through various hoops to get in touch with a live representative. A struggling caller will end up being frustrated if the automated service does not help resolve their concern. And you may lose a valuable client this way.

Some issues and interactions should be conducted with a human as opposed to bots. When mapping out your IVR or chatbot application, always have an “out” available for callers who need to interact with an employee.

13. Evaluate Team Productivity and KPIs

One of the most important customer service tips is to consistently measure your team’s productivity through key performance indicators (KPIs). Some of the common customer service KPIs are:

Average response time
Average handle time
First call resolution rate
Average resolution time
Customer satisfaction rate (CSAT)
Number of calls
Number of interactions across different channels (chat, support tickets, emails, etc.)
Abandon call/chat rate
Net promoter score (NPS), and so on

14. Be Proactive: Reach Out to Customers Before They Have to Reach You

Depending on the service you provide, you may find it useful to be proactive in your customer interactions. Be the first one to reach out and check in with repeat customers. Is there anything else you can help with? Follow-up on recent purchases to make sure everything went well. Ask for feedback and how the service can be improved. Such interactions will show your customers that their opinions and business are valued.

15. Give Importance and Priority to Customer Complaints

Prioritize customer complaints as these are the experiences that can quickly turn bad and sour. Identify the problem and find ways to fix them quickly. If the issue seems to be a common one across a particular model, then improve it before the next batch is out. And reach out to customers who have purchased the model to inform them about the issue and its fix. Additionally, check in with customers regularly and collect feedback to learn how to make processes smoother or how to make the product better.

16. Collect Feedback Regularly

Use surveys either via email or text messages to study how customers are interacting with products and services you offer. It is important to see things from the customers’ perspectives. And feedback is the best way to do so. Whether it is about a certain product or their recent customer service call, it is important to always look for ways to make your service better.

17. Provide Your Team with the Right Tools

Provide your customer service agents and employees with the right tools to offer good and efficient service. Use CRMs to keep track of customer information, history, interactions, and more. This way, your agents are prepared to offer support that is personalized and customized instead of generic. We recommend Zoho or Salesforce, but there are plenty of great options for keeping track of your customers.

You may also consider investing in call recording software and forwarding tools. Recordings can be used to conduct performance reviews, training new employees, protecting against liabilities, reducing errors and misunderstandings, and more. Call forwarding and routing can help distribute calls evenly among employees so that no one employee is over- or under-worked.

18. Train and Re-Train Employees and Agents

Keep training new and current employees by providing refresher training, past recordings to highlight strengths and weaknesses, webinars and workshops, and more. When training employees, it is important to ensure that everyone is on the same page regarding the goals of the company.

19. Invest in Customer Loyalty Programs

Customer loyalty programs will help you retain valuable customers and their businesses. These programs are designed to do so by providing rewards to customers who continue to bring your business. Offer deals, promotions, and special offers to members of your loyalty program to retain a steady flow of sales.

20. Follow Up When You Do Not Have the Answer

Most customer service teams are expected to have an answer ready for any query or concern brought up. However, oftentimes, you may find yourself in a situation where different troubleshooting methods or common answers do not suffice. In such cases, you may need the assistance of a supervisor or manager. Follow-up with these customers as quickly as you can with better solutions or transfer them to someone who can help. Not doing so leads to the client seeking a better service elsewhere.

21. Be Consistent Across All Communication Channels

Two of the most common customer service tips are having multi-channel communication and being consistent in all channels. Ensure that all customer service reps are aware of the goals, mission, and voice of your brand. Train them to use these different channels (email, phone, live chat, social media, etc.) with ease and keeping with the support process. This will help with consistency across different communication channels.

22. Offer Premium Support to Loyal Clientele

Just how loyalty programs can help you retain good customers, offering premium support and prioritizing loyal and valuable customers can also increase customer satisfaction and retention rates.

23. Share Customer-Focused Content

Keep your website and social media accounts up-to-date by providing relevant and informative content. This content should not only focus on your services but how customers can benefit from these services. You may include customer reviews, case studies, and testimonials to see how your product or service ranks with customers.

Give These Customer Service Tips a Try!

Happy customers will give your agents peace of mind so they can focus on what matters. While not all of these tips may apply to your type of business, try the ones that do and modify them to your needs. To learn more about telecommunication tools that can support your customer service efforts, speak with one of our experts!

Top UK Virtual Number Providers in 2025

Luke Genoyer 18th January 2021 blog, Business Phone Numbers

Need UK virtual numbers to support your business plans to expand to the UK? We’ve got you covered. Here are the top providers for UK virtual numbers along with information about the types of numbers, their costs, and included features.

Types of UK Virtual Numbers

Before we discuss different UK virtual number providers, we first need to look at the different types of UK virtual numbers that exist.

Toll free numbers (0800 and 0808):
UK 0800 and 0808 numbers are business phone numbers that are free for customers to call. Instead of the caller, the receiver is charged for calls made to these numbers. Individuals and businesses located anywhere within the UK can reach these numbers and call them for free.

National numbers (0330 and 0845 numbers):
UK national numbers are not geographically spread across the UK. They are national phone numbers, with recognizable national codes, that are charged normal local calling rates.

Geographic numbers:
Local UK numbers, on the other hand, are business numbers with specific area codes for UK cities — such as Cambridge, Glasgow, London, etc. Calls made to these numbers incur local calling rates.

Mobile numbers:
UK mobile numbers are telephone numbers that are capable of receiving instant text messages (SMS)

Now that we have listed the different types of UK virtual numbers available, let’s look at the top providers and what they offer.

1. Global Call Forwarding

Global Call Forwarding was launched in 2007 and since then it has become the world’s leading outlet for business toll free and local numbers. Currently, it supplies businesses spread across the globe with virtual phone numbers (from more than 160 countries), VoIP and SIP technology, as well as diverse communication features.

Types of virtual numbers offered: Global Call Forwarding offers:

UK toll free numbers as well as mobile-accessible
UK geographic numbers
UK national numbers like 0330 numbers
UK mobile numbers
Universal toll free numbers (UIFN)

Virtual number plans: Global Call Forwarding’s UK virtual business number plans start at $12.95/month (£9.90) and go up to $628.95/month (£480.62).

Features included:

Hosted call recording software
Unlimited extensions
Advanced cloud IVR
Call forwarding options:
- Time-based call routing
- Select country forwarding
- Failover forwarding
- Sequential forwarding
- Simultaneous ring
Voicemail to email
SMS to email
Outbound calling (dynamic caller ID)
Call transfer

2. United World Telecom

United World Telecom has been in the telecommunications industry since 1996. The company offers virtual business numbers and international call forwarding for more than 160 countries across the world.

Types of virtual numbers offered: United World Telecom provides:

UK toll free numbers as well as mobile-accessible
UK local numbers (SMS optional)
UK national numbers (330, 345, 843, 845, 860)
UK mobile numbers
Universal toll free numbers (UIFN)

Virtual number plans: United World Telecom’s UK virtual number plans range from $12.95/month (£9.90) to $628.95/month (£480.62).

Features included:

Hosted call recording software
Outbound calling (dynamic caller ID)
Extensions for different departments
DID numbers for individuals and teams
Cloud IVR
Call forwarding options
Call transfer
Voicemail and SMS to email

3. Vodafone UK

Founded in 1980, Vodafone UK has been serving the UK with telephone (landline and mobile) solutions for personal and business use.

Types of virtual numbers offered:

UK Freephone numbers
Local numbers
International inbound numbers

Virtual number plans: Vodafone UK offers two phone number plans: £14/month and £17.99/month.

Features included:

SIP trunking
PBX for business
IVR system
Call queueing
Call recording
Voicemail
Regular call rates

4. VirtualPhone.com

VirtualPhone.com helps businesses develop better communications through their virtual phone systems. They offer comprehensive features, monthly calling minutes, and more, for businesses to operate with ease from any location.

Types of virtual numbers offered: VirtualPhone.com offers:

UK toll free numbers (0800 and 0808)
UK national numbers
UK mobile numbers
UK geographic numbers

Virtual number plans: VirtualPhone.com’s UK virtual phone number plans start at $9/month (£6.88) and go up to $399/month (£304.90).

Features included:

Softphone
Call forwarding
IVR
SMS
Live chat
Call recording
Call scheduling
Voicemail & fax

5. Telecoms World

Telecoms World is a provider specifically for the UK. They offer local UK numbers for over 520 areas within the UK.

Types of virtual numbers offered: Telecoms World provides

UK freephone numbers
UK national numbers
Charity numbers
Rebate numbers

Virtual number plans: Telecoms World’s virtual phone numbers plans begin at $6.53/month (£4.99) and go up to $26.16/month (£19.99).

Features included:

Working from home solutions
Call routing
Call queuing
Virtual receptionist
Call analytics
Call recording
Callback service
Conference calls

Get UK Virtual Numbers Today

Here at Global Call Forwarding, we can help you get UK virtual numbers for business with quick installation and fast activation. Sign up on our website today or call us to get started!

Meet Our 2020 International Business Communications Scholarship Winner – Jasper Moh

Nadine Sampson 7th January 2021 blog

Every year, Global Call Forwarding offers an International Business Communications Scholarship to support the academic endeavors of students from all over the globe. As part of our dedication to nurturing the next generation of forward-thinking entrepreneurs and professionals, our scholarship is a way to express our caring for our community.

Celebrating Our 2020 Scholarship Winner

We are pleased to announce the winner of our 2020 International Business Communications Scholarship: Jasper Moh. Jasper Moh is a University of California student who chose the essay topic: “The Opposite of 1-800 Numbers: Explain the rise, fall, and controversy behind 1-900 numbers.”

Global Call Forwarding, since 1996, has been providing businesses around the world with advanced and intelligent communication systems. From international toll free phone numbers to features and services that offer better call management and remote team management.

Besides striving to offer small businesses and established enterprises the communication tools they need, we also use our platform to educate users about telecom services and how communication systems work through our web content and blog.

As a part of this initiative, we launched the International Business Communications Scholarship in 2018. Our intention was to give interested students an opportunity to excel in their academic endeavors, while tackling a thought-provoking topic that sheds some insight on international communications in daily life.

Like all previous years, this year we received countless applications from students who are creative, detail-oriented, and focused. Our topics for 2020 included:

The opposite of 1-800 numbers: Explain the rise, fall, and controversy behind 1-900 numbers.
How have vanity toll free numbers impacted marketing across the globe?
How can virtual phone numbers be used to execute political outreach campaigns?
How have vanity toll free numbers impacted marketing across the globe?

What is the International Business Communications Scholarship?

The International Business Communications Scholarship was launched in 2018 as an initiative to support college students in their academic ventures. Every year, we provide interested participants with a list of topics related to the telecommunication industry. Participants then submit their entries in an essay or blog format.

All submissions are viewed and checked thoroughly for plagiarism, and a winner is selected based on the quality of their submission. The winner then receives a set scholarship amount to be used towards college. The announcement of the winner is shared on our websites and social media platforms.

How Can You Enter the Scholarship Program?

To enter the scholarship program for the year 2021, email our Scholarship Program team at scholarships@globalcallforwarding.com for questions and the upcoming year’s topics and prompts. Then, prepare your entry and submit it to us for review. We check each submission thoroughly for plagiarism. Note that plagiarized content is not acceptable and will be automatically disqualified.

For more information, email us at the above email address or call us at 1-888-908-6171 (our US toll free number) or +66-948-09-4530 (our Bangkok office).

Becoming an Entrepreneur in 2025

Tom Senkus 5th January 2021 blog, Business Insights

There has never been a time more convenient to launch a successful business than now. Would-be entrepreneurs that have been contemplating a shift to starting their own successful venture now have the tools to create businesses that would not have been possible in years past. With the stability of 9-to-5’s becoming a thing of the past, more people want to take control of their future and steer their destiny towards achieving their dreams. Becoming an entrepreneur isn’t easy but the rewards are worth the push.

Becoming an Entrepreneur using Technology

Thanks to Global Call Forwarding’s innovations in telecommunications, you can upgrade your business using some of the technologies now available, thanks to cloud computing, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), and more. So, if you are considering the launch of a new business venture, here are some tips for success.

Think 24/7/365 Availability

One significant change in our modern world is being able to harness the 24 hours in a day, the full 7 days in a week, and the 365-day markets that are available at our fingertips. Furthermore, being able to instantly access new customers and clients in different countries can further scale your idea from just a thought you had on the way to work to a booming, successful entity quickly.

By using virtual phone numbers equipped with an add-on called “time of day routing,” you can handle inbound calls around the clock and for different time zones around the world. For instance, if you have a side business with regular business hours, you can forward those calls and voicemails to call centers and other staff using time of day routing. This can help you balance the transition of working a day job while waiting for your business to grow so you can strike out on your own.

Think Outside the Box

Because virtual phone numbers from Global Call Forwarding are an evolving technology, your business can use them in creative ways that can gain a competitive edge. For instance, you may have found that your business is popular in the New York City metropolitan area. However, as you may be aware, New Yorkers prefer to handle their business locally. In response, your business can use virtual phone numbers, with area codes in the NYC area and its 5 boroughs to appeal directly to local communities. Best of all, your business doesn’t have to be based there, especially considering the high cost of living and expensive real estate. Using the techniques of building a virtual office, virtual phone numbers take care of the communication aspect of your business – even if you’re located outside of the country.

Why is this possible? When a virtual phone number is dialed, the call is immediately routed to another phone number, the destination phone number. This destination phone number can be located in nearly any country around the world, immediately broadening your company’s appeal and allowing your new business to be instantly located in favorable business climates.

Becoming an Entrepreneur in 2019 — Source: Stockphoto.com O#23559 ID#5073704

Leverage Technology to Scale Your Business

When it comes to modern businesses, the keyword is “scale.” In other words, does your business have the capability to grow exponentially while still maintaining the quality of service that you provided beforehand? If the answer is yes, then you should seriously consider using Global Call Forwarding’s add-ons, such as “outbound calling.”

Outbound calling is a popular add-on that enables your business to call phone numbers in other countries to call recipients directly. Without this option, the caller ID will register a long string of numbers and letters that callers aren’t likely to answer. With outbound calling, your business can use a virtual phone number – which is identical to “normal” landlines – and have this reflect on the receiver’s caller ID, ensuring they never know the number calling isn’t a local, standard landline.

As an example of outbound calling, if you have a Canada virtual phone number and want to contact potential clients in Montreal, those numbers will appear on their caller ID. Contrast this with calling from the United Arab Emirates, where a +971 country code will appear on the caller ID – not to mention the charges of hefty long-distance fees, or even worse, the potential blocking by either party’s service provider.

Avoid Being a Perfectionist

It is only natural to want everything to go smoothly in the early days of your business. Achieving perfection may be ideal, but in business, it can be detrimental to your new endeavor. For instance, you may be handling a large number of potential contracts with distributors for your new product. By using “call recording” – a popular add-on – you can record those conversations when you’re weighing the various options available. And for some absent-minded entrepreneurs, it helps to have a useful reference for when things become less than perfect. This can help reduce stress in the early days of your business when you’re bootstrapping a new idea with minimal resources and limited attention.

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Global Call Forwarding can help you start your new business in 2019. For more information on the most recent advancements in telecom services and subscription services available from the leading service provider, visit www.globalcallforwarding.com

What is Call Center Quality Assurance

Meryl D'Sa-Wilson 2nd January 2021 blog, Call Management

The process of call center quality assurance ensures that the results of your customer service practices match your desired outcome. Because you want to provide exemplary customer service, you must monitor the performance of your call center. This is a continuous process of collecting and analyzing data, training call center agents, and improving your service.

Set Goals for Call Center Quality Assurance

The first step is to evaluate the areas in which your call center needs improving. Outline the goals you intend to reach. Without a concise idea of where you want to start, you will not be able to develop a strong monitoring strategy.

Ask Your Customers Their Opinion

A good way to improve your customer service is by asking your customers what they want. But don’t simply contact them for their opinions as this is not likely to meet with a response. Instead, offer them some incentive. For example, offer them a coupon or reward if they take a few minutes to complete a short survey.

Monitoring Your Call Center With Software

Now you’ve set your goals for call center quality; it’s time to put your plan into action. The first step to assessing the quality of your service is to select the right software. When choosing monitoring software, there are several factors you need to take into consideration. These include:

Features: This aspect will largely depend on the size of your call center and the volume of calls you handle. Some software solutions enable you to automate parts of the monitoring process by analyzing speech and metadata.
Scalability: This is important if the number of your call center agents fluctuates seasonally.
Ease of use: You shouldn’t need to spend too much time training staff how to use it. Make sure the program is intuitive.
Security: The safety of your customer information it a top priority. When you are using software to track it, it must be secure within that program.

Which Metrics Will You Analyze?

There are many key indicators involved in call center quality assurance. However, it’s not possible to monitor all of them. Not only would it be too time-consuming, but you would not be able to analyze the overwhelming results. Choose indicators that are relevant to a particular type of activity and will interact to create a coherent result.

Record a Selection of Calls

Call center agents receive thousands of calls per month. It’s impossible for you to listen to them all. However, many software solutions enable call recording, but be sure to use it judiciously. Recording a random selection of calls can be a waste of time because it won’t be a sampling of a larger trend. Use the metrics you have already gathered and select calls which are not meeting your goals, for example, calls which ran on too long, or which were handled poorly, or those in which customers had to call back several times about the same issue.

Write Professional Scripts

Scripts are a customer call center staple. They help to ensure that your agents are maintaining the standards you’ve set for the quality of your customer service. A script is a necessity whether your call center deals with inbound calls. A professional script reflects the results of your monitoring. Your agents should be able to go off script when a situation demands it. This is where good training comes in.

Provide Regular Training

Training should begin with each new hire and should continue on a regular basis. Your quality assurance specialist should educate new hires about your customer service goals and how to meet them. Have your best agents buddy-up with new members of the team. This will give them extra confidence and encourage them to emulate your most successful agents. Training isn’t just for new hires, it should be continuous, but you need to make sure that it doesn’t become monotonous. Otherwise, you are defeating the purpose. Make sure agents stay engaged in training by varying your training methods and activities. Agents should also feel they are able to ask for extra training if they feel they need it. Training sessions should be tailored to suit individual agents as much as possible; if not, it won’t be relevant to his or her needs. Everyone’s time is better utilized when training is a direct result of call monitoring, and it will strengthen your call center quality assurance system as a whole.

As you can see, there’s much more to call center quality assurance than just watching over your agents. It’s about monitoring services and using the data to highlight areas where improvement is needed. It’s also about training staff on a regular basis, so they continue to improve. But that’s not all either. You must maintain a company culture of trust and cooperation to optimize your call center.

NANP: The North American Numbering Plan Explained

Beny Mouen 28th December 2020 blog, Business Phone Numbers

Need to get a phone number within the NANP plan but don’t know anything about the plan? Here is everything you need to know about the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), dialing codes, phone number formats, and more.

What is the North American Numbering Plan (NANP)?

The North American Numbering Plan — also known as the NANP — is a telephone numbering plan that serves 20 North American countries (listed below). The NANP region mainly covers the US and its territories, Canada, and some Caribbean countries.

The participating countries share numbering resources among themselves. The NANP was developed in 1947 by AT&T and implemented in 1951. The purpose was to simplify and facilitate easy direct international calling.

Format of NANP Phone Numbers

NANP phone numbers are assigned the country code (1) by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). NANP numbers are ten-digits long. This includes a three-digit Numbering Plan Area (NPA) code — an area code followed by a seven-digit local number or subscriber number. The format is usually represented as: +1 NXX-NXX-XXXX.

Which Countries are Included in the NANP?

Anguilla: 264
Antigua & Barbuda: 268
Bahamas (the): 242
Barbados: 246
Bermuda: 441
British Virgin Islands (the): 284
Canada: multiple local area codes
Cayman Islands (the): 345
Dominica: 767
Dominican Republic (the): 809/829/849
Grenada: 473
Jamaica: 876/658
Montserrat: 664
Saint Kitts and Nevis: 869
Saint Lucia: 758
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: 784
Sint Maarten: 721
Trinidad and Tobago: 868
Turks & Caicos: 649
United States of America: multiple local area codes
US Territories:
American Samoa: 684
Guam: 671
Northern Mariana Islands: 670
Puerto Rico: 787/939
US Virgin Islands: 340

Additional Facts about the North American Numbering Plan

Dialing between two NANP countries is quick and easy. Users simply dial the country dialing code, followed by the NPA area code, and a 7-digit local number. For example, when calling from the US to Barbados, users will dial +1 (246) xxx-xxxx.

Even though all numbers within the NANP share the same numbering plan and resources, calls made between NANP countries are not considered domestic calls. They are considered international calls and are charged international or long-distance calling rates. Fortunately, these rates are not much higher than domestic rates.

To call a NANP country from outside the NAN plan, users need to dial their exit codes, trunk prefix (1), and the national subscriber number (NSN). The format is:
(exit code) 1 (area code) xxx-xxxx.

For example, someone calling a Canada number from France would dial the exit code (00), trunk prefix (1), Jamaica’s area code (876), and the subscriber number (xxx-xxxx):
00 1 876 xxx-xxxx.

Learn More About NANP

You can learn more about the North American Numbering Plans by visiting our homepage. We provide international phone numbers from countries participating within the North American Numbering Plan. Find your new NANP phone number or buy a USA phone number by browsing through our website or receive assistance by contacting our sales team.

7 Best Practices for Call Center Scripts that Convert

Miguel Isabal 23rd December 2020 blog, Call Center, Call Management

How your agents communicate over the phone can make a huge impact on the success of your call center strategy. Convert more callers into returning customers and reel in the sales with effective call center scripts. We even include a downloadable template below!

How Does Using Call Scripts for Customer Service Improve Communication?

Call center scripts can make or break the way your business interacts with its customers. These scripts carry information about your products and services intending to convert callers into recurring clients and, ultimately, generate sales.

However, if agents and reps are not trained to understand the flow of different conversations, they may end up offering poor service. Call center and customer service scripts can be used in these instances to train agents and provide easy-to-apply guidelines to follow. This way, your sales and support teams will be able to respond to and resolve customer queries more quickly and accurately, improving overall customer service.

What are Call Center Scripts Used for?

Call center scripts and customer service scripts are guidelines agents use to communicate with customers and users. These templates are ready-to-use based on different customer interactions and scenarios. Agents can use these to respond to queries and complaints or help customers find better products and services. Some customer scripts can be used to collect customer feedback or product reviews.

How to Create Effective Call Center Scripts: 7 Best Practices

When creating your call center script, focus on developing scripts for both inbound (incoming) and outbound (outgoing) calls. This way, your customer support teams are prepared for callers seeking customer support and product inquiries and your sales teams are prepared for sales pitches and lead calls. Additionally, call center scripts can help reduce training time and agent turnover. Businesses that don’t have time to offer rigorous training and provide in-depth knowledge can use scripts to get the job done quickly.

Here are 7 call center script best practices to consider when developing your business’ scripts. We also include tips for effective scripts and how to train your employees to meet your standards.

1. Hire Excellent Customer Service & Sales Reps

First, hire quality customer service and sales talent. Use business networking sites to find agents and reps that have experience, training, and certification. This will ensure you have a robust team ready to tackle whatever issue comes their way. Plus, they will have developed the right personality needed for delivering scripts naturally and effectively.

2. Keep Call Center Script Writing Tips in Mind

When creating your script and training your agents to make the most of the script, keep these key tips in mind:

Develop scripts that lead to action and be clear in their purpose.
Plan for multiple scenarios.
Allow for flexibility (but not too much) and more genuine interaction with customers.
Write scripts keeping common customer complaints and preferences in mind.
Emphasize the importance of understanding customer needs so they can be helped efficiently.
Include positive phrases and reword negative phrases.
Focus on personalization and train agents on proper etiquette.

3. Create an Effective Call Center Script

Your call center script should include these useful elements:

Greet the customer and say the name of the business.
Introduce yourself.
State the purpose of your call (outbound call) or find out why they are calling (inbound call)
For outbound calls: go through your script at a decent pace and pause for questions or concerns.
For inbound calls: listen carefully and attentively to the caller. Take note of key issues or questions, repeat to clarify, and offer practical solutions. Provide accurate information or offer a follow-up call, if you do not have the information on hand.
At the end of the call, ask if they need any additional assistance, thank them for calling, and add a pleasantry.
Score the call.

4. Train Agents & Employees Well

Besides merely providing your employees with quality scripts, you also need to train them in how to use the scripts well. Spend sufficient time teaching employees bad and good call center practices. Help them understand the company’s goals and standards. When training employees:

Focus on making customer service a top priority.
Keep communication two ways; adopt active listening.
Demonstrate examples of bad customer interactions and provide solutions.
Use call recording to identify positive and negative behavior.
Use call monitoring to listen in on calls with new employees so you can train them “on the job.”

5. Emphasize the Importance of Utilizing Customer Data When Using the Script

Part of executing a call center script well is personalizing it for each individual customer. This means using customer data alongside your script. Businesses with a customer-first strategy or those that are customer-focused need to use customer data to offer better, more customized service.

Before your agent or rep answers the call or calls a customer, they must pull up the customer’s data, history, purchases, and so on. This ensures your agent is prepared for the conversation and has all the context needed. Additionally, the customer won’t have to repeat their query again and again or bring the rep up to speed. You can save time for both your agent and customer. And move towards resolution faster.

6. Use Call Recording to Analyze the Effectiveness of Scripts

Recording business calls can help you and your teams listen in to calls from the past. This is a good way to identify what is working and what isn’t and how to improve your phone interactions. Pay attention to your best-performing agents. How are they effectively bringing new clients on board? What techniques and strategies are working? Then integrate their practices into your call center script so others may attempt them as well.

7. Provide Agents with Knowledge Bases and Support

Finally, make sure your reps can provide accurate responses to customer questions quickly. And to do this, they will need access to knowledge bases or support resources that outline common customer questions, product descriptions, company policies, and so on. This way, they can consult accurate resources if they are hit with a question or query they do not have an answer for.

Improve Sales with Call Center Scripts

Call center scripts have a great impact on whether a customer continues to do business with your company. Ensure your scripts are customer-centric as well as informative and helpful. Train employees to have an upbeat attitude and treat each call as a new slate. And before you know it, your scripts will be an effective aspect of your strategy that brings more and more customers to your business!

Downloadable Call Center Scripts Templates

Ready to get started? Then, grab these call center scripts and share them with your teams. Here are scripts to help you handle different situations and phases during customer calls.

Download Your Free Call Center Scripts Here