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France Phone Number Guide: An Explainer

Vasudha 25th June 2025 blog, Business Phone Numbers

A France phone number is a cost-effective way of growing in or entering the thriving French market. You can build and foster relationships with current and potential clients. Plus, receive …Read More »

Global Call Forwarding Opens New Office in Brazil to Accelerate Product Innovation and Strengthen Regional Support

Luke Genoyer 23rd June 2025 Business Insights, Press

The new hub will focus on IT development, technical support, and customer success in response to growing demand from Brazil and South America. DELRAY BEACH, FL, June 2025 – Global …Read More »

Global Call Forwarding Inaugura Novo Escritório no Brasil para Impulsionar Inovação e Reforçar Suporte Regional

Luke Genoyer 23rd June 2025 Business Insights, Press

O novo hub será focado em TI, suporte técnico e sucesso do cliente, atendendo à crescente demanda no Brasil e em outros mercados sul-americanos. SÃO PAULO, BRASIL – 16 de …Read More »

02 Numbers – the Gold Standard for Bangkok Businesses

Luke Genoyer 28th May 2025 blog, Business Phone Numbers

02 phone numbers for businesses in Bangkok

A few years ago, at iFX Expo Asia, I had several conversations with sales and support leaders from Hong Kong and Malaysia-based forex companies. They were curious about Bangkok 02 …Read More »

How to Add Global Coverage to Your Business Phone System

Luke Genoyer 24th May 2025 blog, Business Phone Numbers

Today’s most competitive businesses aren’t just thinking local — they’re building for global. From APAC to the Middle East and Africa, the opportunity to scale customer support and sales reach …Read More »

How to Manage Global Voice: 10 Tips

Gulme Pal 28th April 2025 blog, Cloud Telephony

Tips for managing a global voice network

Expanding your business globally is exciting, but staying connected across borders is an entirely different challenge. Managing voice communication across time zones, underdeveloped in-country telecom infrastructures, and complicated regional regulations …Read More »

9 Ways for a Call Center to Use a Web Dialer

Nadine Sampson 17th June 2020 blog, Call Center

More and more companies (call center or not) are using a call center dialer or a web dialer to support their outbound calling strategies. The main reason is that this type of dialer can be used on any device and from any location. Here we will discuss what these dialers are and 9 practical ways you can use them to increase productivity and customer relations.

What is a Web Dialer?

A web dialer or call center dialer is a keypad tool that allows your employees to make business calls through a computer or smartphone. Call center dialers and web dialers are not meant for call centers exclusively. Regular businesses that engage in outbound calling for sales or customer retention purposes can use this dialer to connect with local and international customers. Virtual phone service providers like Global Call Forwarding offer web dialers with their outbound calling service.

Who Can Use a Call Center Dialer?

Businesses of every kind — start-ups, remote and hybrid workspaces, small businesses, large enterprises — can use a web dialer to manage their inbound and outbound calling efforts. Depending on what type of company you operate, there are two types of calling:

Inbound calling: incoming calls by customers, prospects, and vendors usually for customer service and support.
Outbound calling: outgoing calls made by your team to customers and prospects to increase sales.

A web dialer allows you to receive and make calls from your computer or smartphone. This means that you do not need to invest in desk phones for every employee. They simply download a software, application, or browser extension. Most providers will offer a call center dialer with additional features such as the ability to save caller notes, update contact information, check voicemail, CRM integrations, etc.

Web Dialer: 9 Practical Uses

Here are the top 9 ways your team can use a call center dialer to increase productivity and efficiency.

1. Sales and Lead Generation

Use the call center dialer to quickly contact various prospects on your sales list and generate new leads. You can store and update prospect information, notes on the interaction regarding whether they qualify, whether they demonstrate an interest in the product, need a follow-up call, and so on. This way, you create a contact and the next time you call them, you have a history to build off of, and can quickly dial the number. Dialers are a call center favorite when it comes to calling large volumes of customers.

2. Increase Brand Awareness

Besides merely calling to make a sale or appointment, you can use a web dialer to promote your brand and increase visibility. Use market research to identify target audiences and demographics. Then, contact these potential prospects from this list and introduce them to your brand and its products and services. You can offer them a promotion or direct them to your website where they can learn more about the services you offer. This will help you get closer to target consumers.

3. Connect with International Clientele

Global Call Forwarding’s outbound calling service comes with a customizable caller ID capability. This means you can customize your outgoing caller ID and override it with a toll free or local number (of the location being called) previously purchased. Customers who receive such calls will see a toll free number or a local number and are more likely to answer the call. The main reason is that local or toll free calls are inexpensive compared to international calling.

You can get multiple international toll free and local numbers for countries across the world. With this service, you can call internationally for much cheaper rates and avoid paying long-distance calling fees.

4. Welcome New Customers

Use your call center dialer to welcome and verify new customers when they sign up or make their first purchase. This will demonstrate customer care as it shows that you value their business. You can verify purchases, offer to help them understand your service better, activate accounts, and so on.

5. Follow-Up on Recent Purchases

Check in with customers who made recent or repeated purchases with follow-up calls. Ask for feedback, how the experience was, or anything that can be done to improve the service. This too will display that your business cares about how customers interact with it. Your team should always try to improve customer service and this is one way to do so.

6. Reach Out to Abandoned Carts

Abandoned carts occur when an interested customer starts the check-out process but does not complete it. In other words, they abandon their cart and don’t make a purchase. Follow-up on abandoned carts with calls to identify reasons why customers may hesitate to purchase your product or service. Inquire how processes can be made simpler or help them complete the purchase.

7. Execute Customer Retention Strategies

Bringing new customers abroad can be more expensive than retaining customers. Having the ability to quickly contact important and valued customers can help you improve customer relations. Some good customer retention strategies include calling customers and prospects to:

Schedule new appointments
Set sales appointments at more convenient times
Remind them of upcoming appointments, payments, renewals, etc
Help reduce abandoned carts, and more

Keeping in touch with customers shows that your business is customer-focused and this will help you retain existing customers.

8. Raise Funds/Donations

Another useful application of a call center dialer is when your organization is conducting a fundraising campaign. You can reach out to members or prospects, present your campaign, and more through an outbound calling service.

9. Collect Customer Surveys and Feedback

Finally, a call center dialer can speed up phone surveys and help you collect feedback from customers about certain services, products, or interactions. Use this feedback to improve your overall service and offer better customer care.

Need a Call Center Dialer for Your Business?

Voice IP and web dialers can work together to give you the right tools to support inbound and outbound calling. Your business may fall behind if you do not take advantage of the right tools.

You can get a web dialer with our outbound calling service attached to your virtual phone number plan. Sign up today on our homepage or contact us for more questions!

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6 Practical Tips for Managing Virtual Call Center Agents

Chase Rogers 9th June 2020 blog, Call Center

What are some ways that you, a virtual call center manager, can encourage your employees and agents to perform well? Agents who do their job well will bring more business to your remote contact center and therefore, it is important to keep them motivated and trained. Here are 6 tips to motivate your agents while executing your duties in the most effective manner.

How to Manage Remote Call Center Agents

Managing work-from-home call center agents can be tricky if you do not know where to start. A remote call center works through virtual agents and offices. And this lack of physical office location can prove difficult when it comes to monitoring agents and their interactions. However, there are tools and options available to make this process much easier for managers. Here we will look at the different methods you can try to motivate your agents, monitor their work, and train them to do better.

1. Set and Reiterate Goals

It is important to always be on the same page about the goals and standards of the company. As an agent, what is the agent’s ultimate goal and what steps do they need to take to reach these goals? Provide clear and easy-to-follow instructions and make yourself approachable for any questions or concerns that may arise. Refresh these goals in team meetings or group chats to keep it fresh.

2. Train and Retrain Your Employees

No matter how experienced an agent may be, it is always a good idea to have them go through a brief period of training. This may include refreshing the way certain things are done or running through new software together or doing some practice calls. You may even choose to listen in on a few calls to study how the agent handles themselves. On a similar note, conduct online workshops or group seminars to run through essential training as a refresher for existing agents.

3. Provide Helpful Training Materials

Besides workshops and training, give them access to sales webinars, software tutorials, textbooks, and classes that may help them improve their sales techniques or outbound calling strategies. Having access to these materials will help them stay in touch with the system and processes being used. It will also help them learn about new trends in sales and customer service.

H3: 4. Explain the Importance of Building Strong Customer Relationships

Since this is a virtual call center, efforts must be focused on building strong customer relationships. Therefore, it is important that your agents understand why and how they need to pursue this goal. Educate them on the value of having long-term and returning customers and how loyalty can impact customer retention rates. This information should motivate them positively and encourage them to provide stellar service. This will help improve CSAT scores.

5. Provide Agents with the Right Call Center Tools

Helping your call center agents also includes choosing the right call center software for your call center. Whether it is getting an outbound calling service with an easy-to-use dialer or an IVR system that distributes calls evenly so that no agents become overwhelmed. Having the right resources can make sure your agents are not overloaded with calls and are able to provide solid support.

6. Focus on Improving Quality Assurance

Consider using VoIP call recording to evaluate how agents interact with customers and callers. Here you can identify areas of improvement and highlight appropriate agent behavior. This can also be used for training purposes with the goal to improve virtual call center quality assurance.

Improve Your Virtual Call Center with Global Call Forwarding

Global Call Forwarding offers virtual call center tools such as IVR, outbound calling, call recording, and more. Learn more about our services by talking to an expert today!

5 Surefire Ways to Improve Call Center CSAT Scores

Meryl D'Sa-Wilson 7th May 2020 blog, Call Center

As a virtual call center manager, it is your job to ensure that your center’s CSAT scores are high and continue to remain in good standards. Here we will detail 5 useful ways you and your agents can improve call center customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores.

What are CSAT Scores?

CSAT scores are the measure of customer satisfaction your call center generates. That is, after interacting with your service, how happy are your customers and how likely are they to recommend your service to others. CSAT scores are essential for collecting customer feedback and making much-needed improvements to your product or service. Common questions you’ll see on a customer satisfaction survey include “How would you rate your experience/stay with us?” or “How likely are you to recommend our service to others?” And customers can rate the service on a scale of 1-10 or Good-Bad or Very Likely-Not Likely At All.

How to Calculate CSAT Scores?

To calculate Customer Satisfaction (CSAT), divide positive responses by the total number of responses. Then multiply that number by 100. This gives you a CSAT percent.

CSAT score formula: (#) positive responses / (#) total responses X 100 = CSAT (%)

Why are Call Center CSAT Scores Important?

Satisfied customers can easily convert into returning customers and will be the ones that bring new customers to your business. For this reason, improving and maintaining high CSAT scores becomes essential. To succeed, your cloud call center should implement the following methods.

1. Increase Personal Interaction

More recently, a lot of technology has been developed to automate cloud call center processes in an attempt to increase productivity and efficiency. While these are positive influences, it may lead to a decrease in personal interaction between your call center and its customers. Personal interaction is important in order to thoroughly resolve issues.

Many times, customers call a business or call center to get an immediate response. Being bounced around a complicated IVR system or interacting only with the automated system can increase frustration, especially if their issue is rare and complex.

Try to ensure that there is some personal interaction that takes place during a call, as often as possible. Your IVR system is built to make your virtual call center run smoothly, but it does not need to overtake all calls and interactions. Even if it is at the end of the call, have an agent connect to ask: “Is there anything else we can help you with?” Keep in mind that more positive personal interaction equates to more resolutions which, in turn, leads to higher CSAT scores.

2. Increase Quality Assurance

Maintaining quality assurance (QA) is another important factor in improving virtual call center CSAT scores. Call center QA focuses on providing high-quality customer service that matches the business’ standards. And so, QA pays attention to the customer, their issues and needs, and how to improve caller experience. All of these lead to better customer interaction and higher CSAT scores.

Some essential call center QA strategies include training your agents to understand and maintain business standards and goals. For example:

Are agents following the necessary scripts?
Do they ask questions about the customer’s needs, history, and experience to better understand the issue?
Are they following protocol?
Is there any misunderstanding or miscommunication?

Virtual call center managers can listen in on calls or review recordings of calls to study and analyze different factors or aspects of agent/customer interactions. They can then provide more training, highlight strengths and weaknesses, strategies that work or that need improvement, and so on. All with the same goal: improving caller experience and increasing customer satisfaction.

3. Pay Attention to Customer Issues

This goes in line with quality assurance. It is important to understand what issues the customer is facing in order to better help and serve them. Here, as a virtual call center manager, you may consider market research to provide data about certain products and services and their most common issues and concerns. This way, your agents are better equipped to help or resolve upcoming issues.

The aim should be to provide solutions and resolve the issue on the first call itself. This is called first call resolution. Call centers or businesses with a higher first call resolution rate have more satisfied customers and higher CSAT scores.

4. Purchase the Necessary Virtual Call Center Technology

It is imperative to invest in the right tools. As with any project, to do a good job, you need the right tools and support. The same goes for a virtual call center. Consider investing in call center software from a provider like Global Call Forwarding where you can customize your options, features, and services to create an ideal phone system.

Most virtual phone service providers offer tools that can support remote and virtual call centers. These include:

Call forwarding and routing options
Call recording to record incoming and outgoing calls
IVR system to manage and distribute incoming calls
Outbound calling to make local and international calls with customizable caller ID
Local, toll free, international, and vanity numbers that route calls via the internet, and more

5. Track Call Center KPIs

Another way to improve your CSAT scores is by tracking and monitoring important metrics such as:

Call answered
Calls abandoned
Average hold time
First call resolution rate
Number of calls answered by each agent
Time taken to answer a call, etc

These key performance indicators (KPIs) can give you insights into areas of strength and improvement. And they can help you understand your center’s customer service levels and even its current quality. This information will lead you to your next step in improving the service you provide.

Improve Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) at your Call Center

Increase your CSAT scores by improving the way your call center interacts with its callers. Provide better customer service, pay attention to your callers, and watch your customer satisfaction and retention scores increase. For more information about virtual call center software from Global Call Forwarding, call us at 1 (888) 908 6171.

On-Premise vs. Virtual Call Center Software: How to Choose

Meryl D'Sa-Wilson 10th April 2020 blog, Call Center

Want to know if your business can benefit from an on-premise or virtual call center? Here we will run through a comparison between these two call center software types so that you can determine what is best for your needs.

The Call Center You Need: On-Premise or Virtual?

Deciding which software to use depends on the requirements, budget, and goals of your business. Let’s look at what each software type does and how each can be beneficial.

On-Premise Call Centers

On-premise call center software is run and controlled by the business itself. The hardware, software, and other infrastructure is held in-house. This means that the business is responsible for its maintenance, upgrades, and expenses. It also means that you have control over it and how it functions, which is a benefit for some companies. But others may not want to deal with hiring an IT team and the added costs.

Virtual Call Center Software

A virtual call center software is hosted by the server but runs on the cloud. This cloud call center handles customer support and success communications. The benefit of such a virtual call center is that all interaction between the business and its customers remains accessible from anywhere, via the internet. This includes inbound and outbound calls, email, instant messages, etc. Since customers are using digital channels to connect with businesses — such as email, instant messaging, etc — companies are switching to modern virtual call centers.

On-Premise vs Virtual Call Center Software

So, while both types of call center software have their advantages and disadvantages, how do you decide which is right for your business? It all depends on what you need and what you prioritize. Would you like full control of your inbound and outbound calling? Do you need to cut down costs? Determining what you want to get out of a call center software will help you identify which will work better for you.

Costs: An on-premise call center will require set-up costs. For example, you will need equipment, hardware, licenses, servers, and full-time agents. Additionally, you will have to spend on installations, upgrades, and maintenance.

On the other hand, using a virtual call center software will mean that you can build a virtual call center or virtual office and hire remote agents instead of needing on-site agents. Additionally, you won’t need to spend money on equipment or a physical office space. All of this helps increase savings.

Scalability and Reliability: Virtual call center software offers the same functionality and benefits of an on-premise solution. However, the former is far more scalable, reliable, and flexible. Changes to certain lines or numbers can be made quickly by the account manager or by contacting the provider.

Mobility: An on-premise call center will need an in-house team to run and maintain the system. This may even require you to be present on-site to ensure everything works according to the plan. If you desire a centralized, physical location, then an on-premise call center software will be more appropriate.

On the other hand, if you have employees working remotely or spread across the world, then a virtual call center will prove more beneficial, as everything can be monitored and tracked through the online account management system and your softphone. All you will need is a strong and reliable internet connection.

Advanced Features: An on-premise call center software can give you basic, traditional call center features such as call transfer, extensions, hold, voicemail, call logging, etc. However, a virtual call center will give you access to premium services such as advanced IVR, click-to-call, call recording and forwarding, and more.

Virtual Call Center Software with Global Call Forwarding

You can get the necessary tools to set up a virtual call center from a cloud-based phone service provider such as Global Call Forwarding. We offer local, international, and toll free numbers. Additionally, you can get advanced features such as Call Recording, Interactive Voice Response (IVR), Outbound Calling, Call Reports, and more. All of these services can support your virtual call center. To learn more about virtual call center software or to start setting one up for your business, call us at 1 (888) 908 6171 to talk to an expert.

Advanced Call Center Technologies for Sales and Support

Meryl D'Sa-Wilson 5th December 2019 blog, Call Center, Sales Management

As 2019 comes to an end, it is time to review and explore advanced call center technologies that are becoming more popular for sales and support. These technologies and tools help centers drive traffic and work through leads and calls effectively. Some companies have already started investing in advanced tech and more relevant features. Read on for the latest advanced call center tech many companies are considering.

Technologies Used by Call Centers

Call centers assist companies in telemarketing and sales efforts, tech and customer support, and making reservations and appointments. They, therefore, require different kinds of technology to support the work they do. These technologies help centers and employees sort through calls and information, keep and maintain records, and increase customer interaction. Oftentimes, it is through call centers that customers interact with a company. Thus, it becomes important for these centers to utilize tech and tools to their advantage in order to improve customer relations. Let’s have a look at some of the advanced call center technologies available and understand why centers are gravitating toward them.

Virtual Offices With Cloud Communications

Remote call center agents and customer service agents are on the rise. Companies are hiring more and more remote agents in an effort to expand their business without increasing costs. These agents can work from across the world, making it easier for companies to tap into those consumer markets. Having remote agents and a virtual office enables seamless team communications and also ensures that customers can always reach your business.

Advanced Call Center Technologies for Sales and Support — Source: Depositphotos.com Lic#166648450 ID#92821256

How to Start Using Cloud Communication

The first step to adopting cloud communications is by getting a virtual phone number. This can be a local or international toll free number based on your requirements. Phone service providers like Global Call Forwarding can help you with a variety of virtual numbers. These include local and international virtual numbers, direct inward calling (DID) numbers, or international toll free service (ITFS) numbers. You can also benefit from additional features like rollover numbers, outbound calling, call forwarding, and so on.

Call Center Analytics

Companies are increasingly investing in various software and applications that provide call analytics and reports. These reports provide statistics about the number and types of calls made, what day/time is most preferred, etc. Likewise, such data provides insight into understanding customer preferences and the target demographic. They help predict customer engagement and improve call center quality assurance (QA). They are also used for evaluating agents’ performances by studying average speed to answer calls, hold times, customer satisfaction ratings, and call recordings. Then, if necessary, agents can be re-trained to help them perform better.

Multichannel Communication Lines

Opening more channels of communication — calls, emails, and text messages — between your business and its customers is essential. The more channels, the more likely customers will interact with your company. There seems to be a growing demand for texting or instant messaging services for call centers. Text message outreach makes it possible for agents to reach customers through yet another path. Most people prefer texting or emailing over phone calls and so, this feature will enable ease of communication on the customer’s part.

Other Innovative Features To Note

Besides the above-mentioned trends, some of the advanced call center technologies also include features and tools to improve customer service. These features help reduce agents’ workload as well as time that may be lost by prioritizing and distributing calls. Keep reading to learn more about these features and how they can be of benefit to your business.

Self-Serving Troubleshooting and Solutions: Today’s customers often want to resolve their customer service issues on their own. For this reason, many companies are looking into self-serving options such as displaying problem-solving information and FAQs on websites.

Callback Features: A new feature gaining attention is the Click to Call feature for customers to request callbacks. Global Call Forwarding has a similar feature called CallMe Click, a widget placed on the business’ website. Customers who visit your website can click on the button, fill in their contact information, and automatically receive a call from your company.

Predictive Dialing: Another popular feature, predictive dialing, is programmed to automatically dial a set list of numbers. When a call is answered, it is switched to a representative. These dialers can also screen for voicemails and busy signals and use statistics to predict the best call times.

Staying Up To Date

Now that you are up to speed on the advanced call center software available, it’s time to see what you can use for your company. Get your business a phone system that helps you conduct call center QA and also make you more accessible to your customers. Check out Global Call Forwarding’s rates and plans today. Invest in an easy-to-use phone service aimed at improving your customer relations. Happy customers make for a happy business!

Call Center QA: Effective Quality Assurance Strategies

Meryl D'Sa-Wilson 5th December 2019 blog, Call Center

When running a call center, it is important to pay attention to Call Center Quality Assurance (QA). Call Center QA is a process that focuses on and ensures customer service and interactions are aligned with business goals. QA is customer-centric. That is, it is concerned with understanding customer issues and concerns, improving customer experience, and improving communication. QA is typically conducted by identifying ideal customer service agent behavior. Maintaining a good schedule and interacting in a professional tone are just a few ways to achieve good customer service.

Call Center QA

It is best to look at QA as an on-going process. This way, customer service agents or representatives will be motivated to always be on their best and most efficient behavior. Representatives should be made aware that their calls, emails, and chats are being recorded. This is important because these are the most crucial areas of customer communication that affect the business.

Essential QA Strategies

There are different ways to ensure good customer service practices benefit your company. Analyzing call and customer metrics include monitoring average response times, call logs, handling times, customer ratings, etc. You can determine QA data through assessments made by team leaders.

Call Center QA Effective Quality Assurance Strategies — Source: Depositphotos.com Lic#166638900 ID#25727499

Training and Motivating Your Agents

You should make call recording a significant part of the supervisory process. This way, you can review calls with customer service agents and help them identify areas to improve. Here you can also encourage and acknowledge their strengths, keeping them content and motivated to continue their good work. Additionally, knowing their calls are being recorded will give them an incentive to do a commendable job.

Appointment setters are responsible for contacting leads to generate appointments. Essentially, the company suffers if the appointment setter is unable to do their job. So, how do you make sure that appointment setters do a good job? Train them to learn the script and sound excited about the product they are offering. It is important that they are knowledgeable of the product so they can efficiently answer customer questions. Additionally, they should have the ability to listen to their customers’ doubts and queries. This way, they can make the customer feel heard and respected. Finally, they should send email confirmations with important details immediately after phone conversations.

Another way to train your agents is through evaluation. Evaluating agents will ensure they understand what is expected of them and are able to meet your standards. When assessing an agent’s interaction with a customer, using a Call Center QA Form will help you judge important elements. Here are some examples of assessment questions:

Did the agent greet the customer?
Did the agent ask questions to understand the customer’s needs?
Did the agent answer the customer’s questions accurately?
Did the agent follow protocol?
Did the agent display a professional, yet empathetic manner?

With questions like these, one can evaluate the agent’s strengths and weaknesses, and rectify areas that need refinement.

Utilizing Customer Feedback

Customer service feedback provides companies with a good idea of the customer’s perspective. With such feedback, companies can understand what they are doing well and which areas need improvement. To improve call center productivity, use recordings to compile data to set future goals and develop more effective approaches. Here, you can also identify frequently asked questions and develop customized messages to save time. Using an interactive voice menu can also answer questions by letting customers select a number to hear frequently asked questions. Such interactive voice responses (IVRs) can be set up by your virtual phone number provider and they are highly customizable.

You can also utilize call recordings to learn more about your customers and their preferences. For instance, how do they respond to certain questions? Why do they prefer one product over the other? What issues or concerns do they have? Are they asking for a product or service your company doesn’t offer and should you consider investing in it?

Consider Virtual Phone Numbers For Your Call Center

In conclusion, virtual call center software solutions focus on increasing productivity and reducing time spent on answering calls. Virtual numbers also make it easy to facilitate remote agents. Therefore, enabling you to host your call center from anywhere. Global Call Forwarding provides virtual phone numbers with additional features such as call recording, call transfer, IVR, customized greetings, and more. Call Global Call Forwarding 1-888-908-6171 for help with your call center QA today!

Average Attrition Calculation for Call Center

Meryl D'Sa-Wilson 25th November 2019 blog, Call Center

As a call center manager, understanding attrition rates and how it may affect your business is of utmost importance. Attrition rate refers to employee turnover, that is the hiring and letting go of employees. And the call center industry outdoes other industries with one of the highest rates of employees coming and going. So, why are employees fleeing customer service and how can you, as the manager, calculate and improve attrition rates?

Why is the Attrition Rate High for Call Centers?

It is no surprise that customer service is a difficult and stressful job. Agents have to deal with making and answering calls all day, repeating the same script over and over, and unpleasant customers. If appointment setters ― who initiate contact with customers and set them up for a later appointment with a salesperson ― don’t make appointments, the company they represent suffers. Therefore, a lot is banking on call center employees doing their best. High attrition rates can negatively affect these services.

Reasons for High Turnover

Here are some reasons why employees end up quitting their call center job for something more fulfilling and better paying:

Repetitive work: referring to the monotonous nature of work.
Lack of professional development/ advancement: no path to climb or ability to go higher.
Insufficient compensation: most call centers pay an average of 10-12% per hour.
Poor team culture: no opportunity to build relations.
Job content: employees are more likely to stick with a job they are interested in or enjoy.
Low employee satisfaction: all of the above can lead to low satisfaction which results in an employee trying to find another job.

How is Attrition Calculated for Call Centers?

To calculate and keep track of your call center’s attrition rate, it is important to make a note of the number of employees at the beginning and end of each month or year. Then, use the below formula to calculate the attrition rate:

Number of Attritions (no. of employees who left) ÷ Average no. of employees × 100

For example, if you had 28 employees leave in a year and your average number of employees is 220, then your attrition rate will be 12.7%. Using this formula, you can calculate attrition rates on a monthly or annual basis and note when or why employees are leaving.

How Can You Make Your Employees Stay?

Now that you know what causes high attrition rates in call centers, let’s look at some ways managers can reduce the rates by creating better work environments for their employees.

Invest in their Wellbeing

Keeping your employees happy and satisfied is extremely important to ensure they do their job well. Research shows that a strong employee experience (EX) leads to better results. Key aspects that improve EX reflect the employees’ mindset and goals. That is, having the ability to achieve one’s potential, opportunities for growth, a connection with the company’s purpose, and trust in leadership. Improvement in these areas will generally increase EX.

Motivate and Educate with Training

Provide your employees with a variety of opportunities to learn and better their skills. Training can be used to refresh old routines and goals. They can also help an employee advance and develop in their field. Think webinars, workshops, textbooks, on-going conferences. The more they learn, the more they are motivated to do better.

Focus on Recognition and Provide Constructive Feedback

Spend time appreciating good employee behavior and providing helpful feedback for behavior that needs improvement. Well-designed compensation and reward systems can reinforce the desired employee behavior and help them focus better on the company’s goals. This also helps with improving team culture. Peer recognition and teamwork build self-esteem. Feeling appreciated by your superiors and also your peers leads to great team culture.

Happy Employees, Happy Company

High attrition rates cause instability within the company as employees come and go unpredictably. It is difficult to keep track of tasks and develop strong relations in this case. It is, therefore, important to pay attention to your employees and encourage them. You will definitely see the results in their work and by extension, in your business.

Global Call Forwarding is a phone service provider offering virtual phone numbers designed for call centers. We provide unlimited extensions, international call forwarding, simultaneous ringing, call recording, and more, to help you create a strong network for your call center. You can forward calls, have them ring at multiple lines, and record calls for future reference. Have a look at our features and rates or reach out to us at +1-800-908-6171 for more information.

Work From Home Call Centers You Can Apply For Now

Meryl D'Sa-Wilson 4th November 2019 blog, Call Center

Tired of working out of an office every day from 9-5? Well, you’re not the only one. Certainly, the regular day job is not for everyone. Believe it or not, 9-5 burnout is a real thing. Many people are starting to consider work-from-home options. Likewise, many of these jobs are generally well-paying and offer flexibility. As a result, you can find remote opportunities from a variety of industries and job types. These range from freelance creative services to customer service to lower-level management opportunities. In this vein, let’s look at the benefits of working from home and which work-from-home call centers are hiring.

Benefits of Remote Work

There are countless benefits of remote working. Likewise, these jobs may be full- or part-time and usually allow employees some flexibility in terms of hours worked. Above all, working from home eliminates the need to travel to the office. Therefore, saving on travel time and cost. Additionally, remote jobs also let you juggle two-three different jobs, adding some variety to your work life. These are all reasons why many people are switching to work-from-home jobs, aimed at reducing various stress levels. In other words, when you choose a remote job, you can take more control over your work-life balance.

Virtual Call Centers

Virtual call center jobs can be done remotely from one’s home or office space near the home using voice over internet protocol. Most often, these jobs focus on technical support, customer service, sales, appointment settings, and reservations and ticketing services. So, these work from home call centers are always looking for call center agents, customer service agents, and appointment setters. Likewise, for those interested in landing one of these jobs, it’s important to know that there are two typical paths to obtaining them. First, businesses either hire companies for their own needs or secondly, they may contract with business process outsourcing firms (BPOs).

Work From Home Call Centers Looking to Hire

Accolade Support

About the company: New Mexico-based, brick-and-mortar call center company
Industry: Customer contact BPO
Position type: Independent contractor
Duration/hours: Full-time, part-time
Pay Rate: about $10/hour
How to apply?: On their careers website https://www.accoladesupport.com/agent-application.html

Amazon

About the company: Seattle-based e-commerce giant operating in many countries around the globe
Industry: E-commerce business
Position type: Employee
Duration/hours: Part-time
Pay Rate: about $10-12/hour
How to apply?: Sort through virtual opportunities on their careers website https://www.amazon.jobs/en

Work From Home Call Centers You Can Apply For Now — Source: Depositphotos.com Lic#163588836 ID#55236183

Apple at Home

About the company: Apple at Home is the tech giant, Apple’s work-at-home call center program
Industry: Technology
Position type: Employee
Duration/Hours: Part-time with the possibility of full-time during busy periods
Pay Rate: Varies based on the position
How to apply?: On their careers website https://www.apple.com/careers/us/aha.html

Enterprise

About the company: Parent company of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Alamo Rent-A-Car, and National Car Rental
Industry: Car rental
Position type: Employee
Duration/Hours: Full-time
Pay Rate: about $12.50/hour, French/Spanish-speaking agents make more
How to apply?: Keyword “work from home” search on their career website https://careers.enterprise.com/

Hilton Hotels

About the company: Hilton at Home program provides work-at-home opportunities for reservation and customer service agents
Industry: Hotels and hospitality
Position type: Employee
Duration/Hours: Full-time and part-time
Pay Rate: about $9.70-14/hour
How to apply?: Check the “work from home” box next to remote jobs on their careers website https://jobs.hilton.com/us/en

U-Haul

About the company: DIY moving company
Industry: Transport
Position type: Employee
Duration/hours: Part-time
Pay Rate: $7.50-14/hour
How to apply?: Search for “work from home” on their careers website https://jobs.uhaul.com/

Ver-a-Fast

About the company: Provides subscription verification services for newspapers and telemarketing services for other industries
Industry: Call center verification
Position type: Independent contractor
Duration/Hours: Part-time
Pay Rate: Varies on base pay and incentives
How to apply?: On their careers website

Working Solutions

About the company: BPO providing tech support, sales, ticketing, and customer services
Industry: Call center
Position type: Independent contractor
Duration/Hours: Temporary, project basis
Pay Rate: $7.20-30/hour
How to apply?: On their careers website https://workingsolutions.com/careers/

Virtual Numbers When Working From Home

Some of these companies provide the required equipment, while others do not. However, some companies also provide benefits and incentives where you can get more out of the job. While some experience in these fields is required, some companies also provide paid training. So, if you’re interested, you may find a great opportunity to invest your time into. To keep the communication open and available, freelance or remote workers may also want to consider getting a virtual phone number to handle their business and work calls. Global Call Forwarding provides virtual phone solutions to keep your work and personal life separate.

Make Your Work Life More Engaging

The bottom line is, if you’re interested in finding a work-from-home call center position, there are a good number of opportunities out there. As a result, you can gain a better work-life balance. Additionally, the benefits of less cost of travel, more flexibility, and decent pay are among the greatest deciding factors for those who opt to ditch the office and work from home. Above all, if you’re willing to do the work of researching and applying, you have a great shot at securing a work from home call center job. What more can you ask for? Let freedom boost your creativity!

Things To Know When Starting a Medical Answering Service

Magaly Fuentes 2nd October 2019 blog, Call Center

For decades, medical professionals have relied on medical answering services to provide after-hours telephone support to their patients. Many medical offices even use answering services during office hours, to allow their staff to focus on patients while a virtual receptionist handles incoming calls. As a result, a great answering service adds value to medical practice. With that said, there are many things to keep in mind that separate a medical answering service from other types of answering services.

Why Start a Medical Answering Service?

Medical providers give countless hours of care to their patients each week, but their work doesn’t stop outside of office hours. Therefore, patients often turn to the phone for questions and emergencies after business hours. Even during business hours, medical care providers are seeing patients and juggling phone calls. This is not optimal.

A well-run call center helps a medical practice increase efficiency, improve patient care, and reduce overall costs. This fulfills the ultimate goal of every patient-focused, growth-oriented, forward-thinking medical practitioner today. This type of business provides much-needed support to medical practitioners. Patients benefit from the support given to their doctors.

Services Your Medical Answering Service May Provide

Services offered may include:

Answering incoming calls
Giving responses to general questions
Transferring calls to a staff member, as needed
Handling new patient information
Scheduling appointments
Ensuring the medical practice is HIPAA compliant

Things To Know When Starting a Medical Answering Service — Source: Depositphotos.com Lic#160702298 ID#48158333

Hiring Highly Trained Staff

The cornerstone of a medical answering service is its staff. A business owner must continuously invest in training and workforce development to ensure every call center agent responds, empathizes, and engages with patients in the most effective way. Medical answering service staff will handle sensitive information. A business owner must ensure the staff is highly trained and training is supplemented regularly. These are critical aspects to this type of business.

Customer Service is Important

You may not think of serving patients as customer service, because you are not selling a product, per se. However, the truth is that the principles of great customer service very much apply when dealing with patients. Communication skills are extremely important. Medical answering service staff should aim to always interact with patients in a friendly, helpful, and positive way. Pay close attention to things like the length of hold times as this is also a great way to ensure patient satisfaction. The goal of a customer service agent is to exceed expectations with patience, attentiveness, knowledge, time management, and the ability to read the needs of customers and fulfill those needs.

HIPAA Compliant Standards for Business

HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. Several aspects of HIPAA relate to doctors, their medical practices, and the care of their patients. The key element concerning HIPAA and medical answering services is protected health information (PHI). Medical practices and their service providers must safeguard protected health information at all times. PHI requires secure storage and secure transmission, as well.

Under HIPAA, a medical practice is what is referred to as a covered entity or CE. The medical answering service is a business associate (BA). Both the CE and BA must adhere to HIPAA regulations. The fines for not adhering to HIPAA regulations are significant. Being HIPAA compliant is extremely important for a medical answering service’s credibility.

Cost Savings Provided to Medical Practitioners

We have all heard the saying time and time again – “time is money.” Every minute that a medical practice staff member spends on the phone is a minute that they could have devoted to more important tasks. Taking care of patients is always the most important task of a medical services provider. Medical answering services help medical care providers to refocus attention from phone calls to patients. You can also provide service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. A 24/7 response time ensures a call is never missed and this helps patients feel they always have the attention they need.

By outsourcing duties related to inbound calls, your answering service will help medical service providers reduce employee costs, increase efficiency and profitability, and reduce potential liability by being HIPAA compliant.

Best Communication Systems for a Medical Answering Service

A business owner starting a medical answering service will most likely start small and grow over time. You may think you have to invest in heavy-duty telephone equipment and the installation of numerous phone lines. Though that is always an option, there is a much simpler and cost-effective way to go about setting up communication systems. With advances in technology, virtual phone numbers have been in place for some time now, and they are quickly becoming more widespread.

A business owner can avoid the cost and hassle of equipment by using virtual phone numbers. Virtual phone numbers also offer mobility and cost savings that surpass traditional phone lines. In the case of an emergency, such as a weather-related incident or power outage, an off-site medical answering service acts as an emergency phone system and is extremely helpful.

Where to Buy Virtual Phone Numbers

Virtual phone numbers allow for medical offices to provide a phone number for their patients and calls to that number are easily forwarded to the number of a virtual receptionist. With virtual phone numbers, a business owner modifies call forwarding numbers quickly and easily. You can also opt for other features, such as adding phone extensions, time of day routing, and call recording. Features such as these will help your medical answering service run more smoothly and efficiently.

With time of day routing, you may have a virtual receptionist in another time zone answer the calls at certain times of day or night. This is the typical solution when providing around-the-clock service.

Call recording acts as a tool for quality control and training purposes. A business owner can go back and listen to how certain situations were handled. Call recordings provide valuable insight, specifically in regards to the handling and processing of calls.

When dealing with information as sensitive as medical records, it is important to keep the medical practice safe. Calls made through an answering service that records calls helps to provide accurate and irrefutable records whenever needed.

In Closing

The sheer fact that you are handling the important personal information of patients makes this service stand apart from other answering services. Doing your research will help you to prepare to offer your services with excellence.

The benefits you bring to a medical provider with your answering service will help to create a more satisfying patient experience. It will also help medical caregivers to do their job to the best of their ability. A medical answering service represents a win-win for everyone involved.