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Up your sales quote and performance with these sales best practices and management advice. Train better salespeople, track metrics, convert more leads.
What is the best way to sell to a new lead? This is the age-old question. Salespeople and marketers have tried and tested different methods and approaches and have collected varied results. Two of these methods that salespeople continue to use are cold calling and warm calling. But what is the difference between these methods and which approach is more helpful for your business?
The Difference Between Cold Calling and Warm Calling
Both cold calling and warm calling are outbound calling sales approaches. In these approaches, salespeople reach out to prospects and try to sell or move them down the sales funnel. Let’s take a deeper look at each of these methods and their pros and cons.
What is Cold Calling?
Cold calling is a sales technique where a sales team reaches out to prospects and leads who may or may not have heard of the business. In other words, these prospects have not interacted with your business or purchased products and services from you. They have not heard from your business or representatives before. Some of these prospects may not have even heard of your business.
Cold calling then is the attempt to increase brand awareness and sell products and services to these prospects by introducing them to your brand. Usually, sales teams are given a list of prospects deemed fit for specific products and services. This list is put together through market research of target audiences. Your job then is to reach out to them, educate them about the brand and product, and make a sale or set up a sales appointment.
Pros and Cons of Cold Calling
So, what makes cold calling successful and why do some business managers say that cold calling is dead? Here are the benefits and issues that come with cold calling:
Pros of Cold Calling
Cons of Cold Calling
Solo hunting; reach out to customers on your own
Customers are usually wary of unknown phone numbers and may not answer
Connect with new customers
Customers are usually annoyed by cold calls
Lets you weed out bad leads and uninterested customers
Warm calling, on the other hand, is an inside sales process where sales representatives reach out to prospects and customers who have previously interacted with the brand. These individuals are aware of your business and demonstrated some interest. Maybe they liked a social media post or downloaded an eBook from your website or submitted an inquiry about a product.
Additionally, warm calling also includes gathering feedback through surveys, informing regular customers about new promotions, or inviting them to webinars, etc. In some cases, calls made after cold emails may also be considered warm calling. This is because you have already established a connection and familiarity with the customer.
With warm calling, your job as the sales rep is to answer their questions, provide more information, and engage them. By doing so, you are moving them down the funnel and closer to a sale.
Pros and Cons of Warm Calling
If cold calling isn’t the way to go, can your business benefit from warm calling? Let’s look at how warm calling can convert more customers and what potential issues to keep in mind.
Pros of Warm Calling
Cons of Warm Calling
Leads are aware of your business and interested
Sales reps may not take these calls seriously enough
Leads are more likely to become customers
Over-calling may discourage the prospect
Personalize calls to meet prospects’ needs
Customers may prefer other channels of communication
Whether cold calling or warm calling is right for your business depends on your business structure, values, and goals. Also, another factor is where your business lies in its growth process. If you are a new business, then cold calling is the way to increase brand awareness and identify key markets and audiences. On the other hand, if your business is relatively established and has a strong online presence, then warm calling and inside sales will help maintain credibility and attract valuable customers.
How Can Global Call Forwarding Help?
Global Call Forwarding offers a variety of virtual call center tools and features that can support both your cold calling and warm calling efforts. Get outbound calling, particularly, to connect with customers and leads around the globe with local and toll free numbers. You can even use call routing services to maintain connectivity across different locations and time zones. Speak with our representatives to learn more about how we can help your specific business. Call us today at 1 (888) 908 6171 or chat with us online!
Market research is essential to understand your target audience, their pain points and goals, and how you can serve them better. Without these insights, your product or service does not reach its full potential. Learn how to use local phone numbers when conducting market research to achieve the best results.
Local Market Research: Definition
Local market research is the process of evaluating a current or new market. More specifically, when researching a market, researchers pay attention to customers’ and prospects’ needs, pain points, goals, and motivations. These insights then fuel product development and marketing efforts. If you do not know who your target audience is and where they are, you will be selling to the wrong crowd. Market research can help your business find the right customers and the best ways to reach them. There are many different ways to conduct market research such as interviews (in-person, phone, video), observation, surveys, etc. Check out our comprehensive guide to local market research.
Why Should Your Business Research Your Market?
Local market research helps your business gain insights into various aspects such as:
How customers view your business
What lucrative markets should you target
How to best develop buyer personas
How to develop your product in comparison to competitors
In what ways you can improve customer experience and loyalty
Market research studies current and new markets so your business can develop good and relevant products and market them effectively.
How to Conduct Market Research with a Local Number
Here we will look at how a business can use local phone numbers when conducting market research. Businesses can get local phone numbers for various countries, cities, and regions around the world. Local numbers have specific area codes and formats assigned to them which are recognizable by locals within that area. This makes local numbers great tools for conducting research and test marketing. So, how can your business use local numbers to conduct research?
1. Market Segmentation
You can segment your target audience into smaller groups to get more detailed information and feedback from them. This process is called market segmentation. You can then use different local numbers for each segment to track responses and measure results. The four main types of market segmentation include:
Demographic (B2C): based on individual attributes
Firmographic (B2B): based on company/business attributes
Psychographic (B2B/B2C): based on attitudes, traits, values, motivations, etc.
Behavioral (B2B/B2C): based on usage, user status, purchasing/researching habits, etc.
Depending on what information you are looking for, you can either focus on behavioral or demographic elements or more. Information that you receive through market segmentation can help you tailor the product and its features as well as refine your marketing strategies to better appeal to each segment.
2. Brand Awareness Research
You can also use local phone numbers to learn more about your brand awareness. In other words, how much do customers know about your business, and how aware are they of its existence. Furthermore, you do not need to limit yourself to your own country. You can measure brand awareness in neighboring countries as well as target markets.
Your marketing and sales teams can take this a step ahead and study your customers’ awareness of the problem your business can solve. Most customers do not know that they have a problem or that there is a solution (your product or service) to their issues. Teams can take this opportunity to learn what stage of the buyer’s or customer’s journey your target audience is in.
You can also use local phone numbers to improve brand awareness in these target areas. You can do so by purchasing local numbers and advertising your product locally as well as focusing sales efforts in those regions.
3. Campaigning & Marketing ROI
Next, local numbers can help with marketing and campaigning efforts as well as measuring ROI. Use local numbers along with specific campaigns and promotions and study the results. How many customers are coming through specific campaigns or promotions? How many of these customers are converting? And how many stay on as repeat customers? The customers who don’t convert, what are they looking for?
These questions can help you determine better ways to appeal to customer pain points and display your product as a valuable solution.
4. Qualifying Leads via Presale Surveys
Presale surveys include questions marketing and sales teams use to qualify leads and determine quality prospects. This is a good way to weed out low-rank prospects as well as customers that won’t add value to your business. It also helps reduce time spent chasing bad leads. Your teams can use local numbers to easily connect with potential customers and vet them before they move further down the pipeline.
5. Customer Satisfaction & Loyalty Research
Lastly, use local numbers to keep in touch with existing customers. Your current customers are much more valuable than new customers because they are the ones who are likely to stay and become advocates for your brand. And so, you want to ensure your business and products are satisfying current customers. Measuring customer satisfaction and loyalty can help you understand how your product is performing and how much customers value it. If it is not performing well, you will need to make changes and improvements.
Survey New Markets with Local Numbers
You can get local phone numbers from Global Call Forwarding for target countries and areas. We offer international virtual numbers for more than 160 countries around the world and provide call management tools to effectively organize calls when conducting research. Browse through our inventory today or call us to learn more!
Telemarketing, telesales, cold calling, inside sales; they’re all the same, right? Sales approaches where a salesperson calls a lead and tries to sell a product or service? There is some truth to that. However, these approaches differ in their methodology and how involved salespeople need to be to convert leads. Learn about the key differences between telemarketing and inside sales so you can adopt a sales approach that is most effective for your business.
The Difference Between Telemarketing and Inside Sales
Telemarketing, inside sales, and cold calling are terms often used interchangeably. This is because they are similar services that make outbound calls to prospective customers and try to convert them. However, each approach and its methodology is different. Here we discuss telemarketing and inside sales so you can better understand the differences between the two sales approaches.
What is Telemarketing?
Telemarketing as a cold calling sales tactic has been around for years. The general understanding of telemarketing is that it is a scripted, one-call closing sales technique. In other words, telemarketing calls are highly scripted and they aim to close a deal or disqualify a lead in one call. These calls or prospects are usually about small-ticket, B2C products while the leads are low value.
Most people have come to expect telemarketing calls as spammy, disrespectful of time, and monotonous. Telemarketers get to the point; they engage with potential customers just once and decide if it is a closed or lost deal.
On the contrary, some businesses view telemarketing as more than just impersonal and monotonous selling. In this case, telemarketers don’t just try to close a deal in one call. Instead, they work on prospecting, building relationships, and sourcing opportunities, all during a phone call. And more recently, there has been a shift from scripted conversations to more personalized ones.
In short, telemarketing is quick and supports smaller sales cycles for low-ticket products.
What are Inside Sales?
The inside sales approach takes telemarketing to the next level. Inside sales includes multiple calls at various touch-points. The selling process in these calls is more complex with the reps taking a more involved approach and working closely with prospects. These calls are not scripted and tailored to the prospect’s specific situation and needs.
Inside calls target B2B and high-end B2C sales; that is, high-ticket sales. And they require longer nurturing and strategic targeting. Salespeople performing inside sales are well-trained and focus on personalization and relevance to bring new customers aboard. Inside sales also include:
Building rapport and trust with the customer or prospect
Providing expertise and information to help prospects make informed decisions
Developing genuine relationships with prospects
In short, inside sales is more detailed, has a higher value, and a longer sales cycle.
Telemarketing Versus Inside Sales
As you can see, the key difference between telemarketing and inside sales is how involved the salesperson is.
Telemarketers may not be required to study leads beforehand or work closely with prospects to help move them down the sales funnel. They may use call center software and predictive dialing to go through their list of prospects.
Inside sales teams may use more advanced call center software and virtual communication tools such as outbound calling, web dialers, engagement tracking, sales forecasting, and more. The sales acceleration technology used by these teams helps them identify and convert valuable prospects by finding the best times to call and preferred methods of communication. This leads to a better experience for both the prospect and the salesperson.
Making Sales Calls with Outbound Calling
Global Call Forwarding offers a variety of call center software tools that help businesses make sales calls more effectively. You can use our outbound calling service with our web softphone to make sales calls from any location. Our virtual phone numbers enable you to increase your local presence in a variety of markets the world over. Want to learn more? Speak with our global specialists or chat with us online today!
More and more customers expect their brands and businesses to offer 24/7 customer support. This is significantly important for businesses with a wide and international customer base. The Follow the Sun customer service model can help your business become more reliable and accessible. Secure valuable global clients and increase their trust and faith in your business by letting them reach you easily!
So, what is the “Follow the Sun model”? Follow the Sun is a customer support method that focuses on providing consistent customer support without regard for geographic location or time restraints. In other words, Follow the Sun is a 24/7 customer support approach for local and international clients.
Medium to large companies, especially international and multinational companies, can use Follow the Sun coverage to offer 24/7 global customer support without relying solely on one customer service team. With such a model, customer service reps are not overburdened or forced to work late shifts. Instead, businesses can use remote or distributed customer support teams or BPOs to offer uninterrupted customer service. This constant workflow helps businesses:
Offer accessible customer support and assistance
Increase response times
Build customer trust
Position your business as a reliable one
3 Principles of a Follow the Sun Support Model
The main purpose of such a model is for businesses to offer uninterrupted customer service without geographical and time constraints. To accomplish this goal, Follow the Sun coverage is based on the following principles:
1. Availability Across Multiple Time Zones
For this approach to work effectively, customer service and support teams need to be spread across different locations and time zones. This way, businesses can maintain continuity of workflow and support, and customers can find help wherever they are located.
2. Faster Responses
Customer service teams need to be on top of their jobs and resolve queries quickly and accurately. First call resolution rates should be high with agents available 24/7, not only for phone conversations or chats but also to resolve support tickets.
3. Knowledge Hand-Outs
Finally, a system should be designed where information, knowledge, and business processes are seamlessly transferred from one team to another. Handoffs for pending tasks and queries are essential so the next team member can resolve them and the customer does not have to connect with the business again for support.
Pros and Cons of a Follow the Sun Service Desk
There are numerous customer service approaches and models out there. All are trying to help businesses offer excellent and uninterrupted service. However, which model works best for your company depends on the type of business you run, your communication infrastructure, and your budget. More importantly, what are you hoping to achieve with a new customer service model? To determine if a Follow the Sun support schedule can help your business, let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages of such a model.
6 Ways Follow the Sun Schedule Can Benefit Businesses
1. Increased availability and accessibility
By having your customer service team work around the clock or in multiple locations, you greatly increase the chances of being available to every customer who calls your business. Every customer call is valuable and a potential sale. And so, losing out on customers who call during off-hours can hurt your business. Additionally, your business also becomes accessible to customers outside your target market. And this can help you find new leads (more on that later).
2. Faster responses and problem-solving
By employing agents at all times and locations, you can train your customer service teams to offer quick and accurate responses. Customers calling for assistance want their issues resolved as soon as possible and correctly. And if your business’ response times and first call resolution rates are high, your customers will come back for more and recommend you to their networks.
3. Consistent and reliable customer service
By doing all of the above, you can position your business as a reliable source of customer support. Current customers will rely on your service and continue to invest in it. You can then showcase them through customer reviews and testimonials that will inspire other similar customers to connect with your business.
Ah, the new leads. By making your business available in multiple time zones and locations, you have the opportunity to get customers in multiple countries. These may even be customers your business does not ideally include in top business personas. You can get insights into other areas for growth, new customer bases, and new ways to improve your product.
5. Considerate employee experience
Follow the Sun support schedule means not having to make your employees work overtime or odd shifts. Employees can work within their regular daytime office hours and provide support to customers in those time zones. This can help employees maintain a work-life balance and do a better job when interacting with customers.
6. Establish a global presence
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, your business gets to be on the global stage. You can establish a global presence without needing to open up multiple physical locations around the world. Some companies don’t need a physical presence to do business. However, an approach like this helps your company maintain a virtual presence in multiple locations and offer support to all customers.
Issues to Consider With This Approach
1. Communication and collaboration issues
When teams are distributed or spread across multiple locations, there’s a possibility of miscommunication and it is harder for teams to collaborate and be on the same page. However, we now have technology and communication tools that can help ease this process. Project management systems, chat, cloud-based CRM, and so on. Users can use these tools to enter and update customer info, assign tasks, update progress, and more.
2. Lack of coordination
Similar to the above point, a common issue with a Follow the Sun model is improper hand-off coordination. This happens when the previous team does not properly hand off pending or incomplete tasks to the new team or individuals in the next shift. Again, a well-designed CRM or project management system can help ease this process. However, employees need to take the time to update their records.
3. Unfamiliar tools and tech
Most of the issues mentioned above can be solved if efficient processes are set in place and advanced tools are used to streamline these processes. However, this means that your employees are well-versed in the different tools and technologies used. If not, then employees may spend more time learning the software or re-doing simple processes instead of taking care of customers.
How Can Your Business Offer 24/7 Global Support?
If you think your business can benefit from offering global 24/7 customer support, then you need to start planning how to provide this service.
First, Make a Plan
Establish goals and create a plan for how your business and customer service teams will offer round-the-clock, global customer support.
Some companies do this by having multiple customer service hubs or remote teams. They will use separate phone lines for each country or hub. Then, these companies get time-based routing or location-based routing from a virtual number provider like Global Call Forwarding. These routing strategies enable incoming calls to forward or route to different locations based on specific rules set by the business.
For example, time-based routing forwards calls to specific locations or numbers based on the time of the call. Location-based routing forwards calls to specific customer service teams based on the location of the caller. These strategies help callers connect with the most appropriate customer service agent in their time and location (and at times, language) preferences.
Another way to offer 24/7 service is to have all incoming calls (from different countries) forwarded to your main customer service hub and have employees work in shifts.
Next, Invest in the Right Technology and Tools
Don’t just “go with the flow.” Pay attention to the ways your teams can streamline and standardize the communication and hand-off process. Your teams will need the right tools and phone system to make this strategy work. For example, consider global SIP trunking to easily configure and manage your shift to a Follow the Sun model. Additionally, you will want project and content management systems that can help your managers and customer service teams communicate and collaborate virtually in real-time.
How you plan to adopt the Follow the Sun support schedule depends on your communication infrastructure, business phone system, remote teams, and budget. Make a decision that works best for your business.
Reach More Customers by Being Active
Follow the Sun coverage, if adopted and executed well, can help businesses reach more customers and a wider audience. More importantly, by offering reliable and responsive customer service, your company can secure valuable customer relationships and attract new leads. Learn how our call routing and call forwarding solutions can help your global expansion efforts. Call us today at 1 (888) 908 6171 or chat with us online!
Customers drive a business to success. Understanding your customers — who they are and where they come from — can help you offer better service. This is especially important when entering new markets. How do you know if this new market is going to be lucrative for your business? Enter: market research. Local market research helps businesses understand prospects and customers in target markets and regions. By gaining insights into your customers — their habits, preferences, goals, and motivations — you can improve your service and develop stronger relationships.
What is Local Market Research?
Local market research is the process of collecting specific information about your customers and prospective buyers. Your marketing or sales teams gather information about buyer personas and target audiences as well as existing or returning customers. The goal is to identify how your product will be doing in a new market or is doing in an existing market.
Benefits of Conducting Market Research
Market research helps your business slow down and pay close attention to your customers and buyer personas. More specifically, who are they? What are their pain points? What goals and solutions are they trying to achieve? And so on. Your business can then use this information to develop better products and a marketing plan that is more naturally appealing to prospects. Market research can help you identify:
Where your customers are looking for products and services
Where and how they conduct their research
What features and services (solutions) they are looking for
Which competitors prospects are looking at
What’s trending in your industry
What customers expect from a business or service like yours
Specific customer challenges and pain points
Who and what influences their purchases, and so on
By conducting market research, your business can identify strong markets, new areas of investment, strengths and weaknesses of your product, and new customer bases. Your teams can then create more effective marketing strategies.
Types of Market Research
There are many different ways to conduct market research and your teams do not have to do all of those mentioned below. Before doing any research, make a plan. Determine the goal of this research. Do you just want to learn more about your buyer personas or do you want to learn more about how your business stacks up against the competition? Similarly, do you have the budget to conduct a full-fledged analysis or can your teams make do with interviews and case studies? We have listed the different types of market research below so you can decide which ones make sense for your business.
1. Interviews & Focus Groups
Interviews (in-person or online) are one of the most common market research methods. Your teams take the time to speak with customers and prospects going through a series of questions and taking important notes. By speaking directly with the consumer, you can get a feel for their needs and preferences.
Focus groups are another common method of conducting research. With focus groups, a handful of pre-selected individuals are asked questions, test out products, watch product demos, and provide feedback or ask questions. This way, your teams can identify what aspects of your product and brand are clear and which areas need improvement.
2. Market Segmentation
Local market research gives insights into the new market that you plan to enter. And market segmentation helps you identify the best target audience for your product or service. Market segmentation is the process of dividing your target audience into smaller, more approachable groups or segments. Four main types of market segmentation include:
Demographic (B2C): based on individual attributes
Firmographic (B2B): based on company/ business attributes
Psychographic (B2B/B2C): based on attitudes, traits, values, motivations, etc.
Behavioral (B2B/B2C): based on usage, user status, purchasing/researching habits, etc.
By segmenting your market this way, you can approach product development, marketing, and sales with a renewed focus and cater to a wider audience.
3. Buyer Persona Research
This type of research is focused on creating realistic buyer personas that can help you develop better products and market more effectively. Buyer personas are semi-fictional representations of a target audience. Buyer personas are detailed and take into account a target audience’s:
Demographics
Work situation
Challenges
Desire, motivations, goals
What products or solutions they need
What they expect from your business
Your business can have multiple personas. Nailing these personas can help you target this audience better. Also note that personas develop over time so be open to modifying and updating your personas as new changes and expectations emerge.
You can also use market research to determine how well your brand or business is known in target markets and areas. Customers that are not aware of your brand will look to other brands for solutions that you offer as well. This part of local market research lets you know how much attention you need to pay to increase brand awareness.
You can even take this one step further to identify how well your solution is known. For example, customers in another market may not be immediately aware of how your product or service can solve an issue they might be facing. For that matter, some prospects may not even know they have an issue that your product can solve. This is an important aspect of market research because it lets you know where and how to market to these groups.
5. Qualifying Leads with Pre-Sale Surveys
Before entering new markets, every business needs to be certain that this new market is going to benefit the business overall. Otherwise, you might end up wasting money, time, and other resources. One way to test new markets is by conducting pre-sale surveys to qualify leads and prospects.
Pre-sales surveys are questionnaires reps use when speaking with prospective customers to collect qualifying information about them. These surveys help sales reps identify good leads, understand the leads better, determine their needs and pain points, etc. By doing this, the business can reduce time spent on acquiring bad leads by focusing on good prospects instead. This further streamlines the sales process making it more efficient.
6. Product or Service Use Research
This type of market research looks at how and why your customers use your product or service. More specifically, what features or benefits do they use the most and why. And also, what features are they struggling with. This type of research focuses more on the purpose and usability of your product so you can refine and create better products.
7. Observation-Based Research
Observation-based research is, as the name suggests, research pulled together through observing how customers and prospects interact with your product or service. This is similar to Product Use Research because it helps identify how usable your product is and what areas need to be clarified.
8. Pricing Research
If your business is a new one or you find that customers are not going through with the purchasing process, you may need to look at your pricing structure. One way to determine if your pricing strategy is well-developed is by observing what similar products and services or your competitors are offering. Pricing research focuses on getting insights into the prices similar products sell at, what target customers expect to pay, and what the competition is doing. These insights will help you build a better pricing strategy that customers are comfortable with as well.
9. Competitive Analysis Research
This type of market research looks closely at what your competition is doing. More specifically, what competition does your business have? What’s working well in your industry right now? What is your target audience looking for when it comes to products like yours? What additional features and services are competitors offering? These insights can help you develop better products and processes while being at the frontline of your industry.
10. Budget & Campaign Research
Businesses can also use local market research to plan out budgets and measure ROI on marketing campaigns and investments. Your sales and marketing teams can track call records, visit times, customer preferences, and customer pain points, to name a few. And then use this information to streamline marketing efforts and budget more effectively.
For instance, market research and metrics can highlight popular service times. In other words, periods of time or certain days that the business is more likely to have customer interactions. The business can then offer more services during those periods. Similarly, test marketing can identify which marketing and promotional efforts are working well and which are not producing desirable results. Your business can then decide to allocate funds and which strategies to pay more attention to.
11. Customer Satisfaction & Loyalty Research
Next, you can use local market research to improve your customer relationships. Connect with existing customers to understand how they use your product, how satisfied they are, and how likely they are to stick with your business. This information is essential in retaining valuable customers and learning how you can improve your product or service to attract more customers.
Take the time to understand your customers’ pain points and how they use your product to solve their problems. This can give you new insights into how you can refine your product and market it better.
To conduct original research, your business will need a research team (or your marketing or sales team) and a plan of action. Here are some things to consider when researching markets:
1. Make a Plan
Start by making a plan and setting goals. Consider these questions:
What do you want to research?
What core customer or target group do you want to research?
How will this research be conducted? In-person interviews? Observations?
What type of questions do you want answered?
Who will conduct this research?
How much do you want to spend or invest in this research?
2. Choose a Buyer or Audience Group
Next, identify your buyer personas and audience groups. Define and flesh out buyer personas so that they are specific and can help you narrow down core customer groups. Then, use this information to identify groups to target for your research. Compile lists, review your market segments, and create customer groups for engagement.
3. Decide on Methodology
Once you have your groups ready, decide what type of market research you want to conduct and how your teams will conduct it. Think: in-person interviews, video or phone conversations, on-field observations, social media polls, email exchanges, and so on. Make sure your methodology and budget go hand-in-hand.
4. Prepare a List of Questions
Based on your focus and goals, prepare questions or questionnaires that customers will answer. If you are doing a usability test, then prepare steps that customers will follow to complete a task or achieve a goal. Either way, give customers clear instructions and simple questions, then follow up based on their responses.
5. Use Local Phone Numbers
Local phone numbers make it easier to connect with local customers and prospects in different countries. This is especially significant for companies that have an international customer base. Make customers and prospects feel comfortable answering your research or survey questions. And if they receive a call from an unknown number, they will be less likely to answer your call and provide feedback. Your business can get local phone numbers from a virtual phone service provider like Global Call Forwarding.
6. Summarize Findings & Results
Finally, once all research and tests are complete, review answers and results and summarize your findings. Then share this data with the rest of your teams, especially with marketing and sales teams. The next course of action is to decide how this information can be used to create better experiences for your customers and prospects.
Conduct Research to Build Better Customer Relationships
Local market research goes a long way in understanding who your customers and prospects are and what matters to them. These insights can help you develop better products and experiences that draw more customers to your business. They can also show you how to develop better relationships with your customers so that they come back for more and recommend your business to others!
When you call a company for customer support, often you will hear the message “this call is being recorded for quality assurance and training purposes.” Call recording and call monitoring allow managers to supervise customer service and sales agents to provide feedback. To continue this trend of supervision and monitoring, VoIP providers now offer call barging as a feature. In this post, we will outline how call barging works and its benefits.
What is Call Barging? Benefits of Using a Call Barging Feature
Call barging builds on call recording, call monitoring, and call whispering to allow managers to conference in on a call. Users are often confused by the above terms, so let’s do a quick review:
Call recording — records incoming calls and saves the recording to be reviewed later.
Call monitoring or call listening — allows users to listen in on an employee or agent’s call without interference.
Call whispering — allows users to interact with the employee or agent during the call without the customer’s knowledge.
Call barging — allows users to jump in on the call and interact with both the agent and the customer.
This way, call barging allows for conferences to occur between a manager/ supervisor, the employee, and the customer to resolve issues and provide alternatives and support.
So, how can your business benefit from using call barging?
1. Train Agents Thoroughly
Managers can join in on conference calls and train new agents by highlighting appropriate and successful behavior as well as teaching best practices for a call center. This way, agents can see firsthand how to handle customers and what moves are more successful than others.
2. Improve Quality Assurance
Call barging can improve quality assurance by letting managers and supervisors listen in on calls and jump in to help agents if required.
3. Implement Conflict Resolution
Reduce escalated calls by bringing managers in to resolve calls with angry or upset customers. Furthermore, call barging helps increase customer satisfaction and retention as agents don’t need to transfer the call to have a colleague or supervisor resolve issues.
Finally, you can offer special VIP service to valuable customers by having the manager join certain calls. This can help increase customer satisfaction by showing your loyal customers how much you care about their business.
When and How to Use Call Barging
Call barging should only be used when needed most. This includes training new agents, de-escalating an issue, or when an agent needs additional information that only a manager can provide. Avoid using this feature for every call as that can have negative effects on caller experience. Here are a few ways you and your teams can use call barging.
1. When Training New Agents
Call barging is useful when training new agents because managers not only get to monitor the potential of the new agent, but can also provide onboarding help. For example, during test calls or calls made early in the agent’s tenure. Being able to jump on a call can be a safety net for new agents as they start working.
2. When a Rep Needs Additional Guidance
If the agent is stumped by a question or doesn’t have the answer to a query asked by the caller, then bringing their supervisor in on the call can be helpful. The supervisor can answer the question and other follow-up questions and then leave the agent to close the deal or wrap up the session.
3. When an Angry Customer Requests the Manager
Finally, when an angry or upset customer asks for the manager, reps can quickly and easily bring managers in for de-escalation. This is useful as customers will appreciate not being transferred or having to wait to speak with the manager.
Improve Customer Support with Call Barging
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The best way to provide A+ customer service is to identify common customer complaints and be prepared to resolve them. Having your agents and reps trained to quickly and effectively handle complaints will lead to better and improved customer service. And this sets you on the path of gaining loyal and returning customers.
Resolving Common Customer Complaints
Customers reach out to a business for a variety of reasons ranging from help with signing up, product inquiries, request for quotes to assistance and support. However, they do not always have a good experience. This is why over the years so much emphasis has been placed on good and effective customer service.
So, what are some common types of customer complaints and how can they be resolved?
1. Waiting in Queue for Long Periods
Problem: Most of the time customers calling a business for customer support end up waiting in line for 15-45 minutes. Waiting on hold can be extremely frustrating for customers who have a small inquiry or an urgent issue.
Solution: Have more agents on call during high call volume periods. For most businesses, these periods occur between 12 pm – 2 pm (during lunch) or 4 pm – 6 pm (end of the workday). Additionally, use call routing to forward calls to different agents or office locations, when one is overburdened.
2. Long Response Times
Problem: One of the most common customer complaints is long response times. This includes customers sending emails, queries through webforms, responding to voicemails, etc., and not receiving a response within 1-2 business days.
Solution: Prioritize responding quickly and actively. Ensure your employees are on top of the emails, queries, voicemails within 1-2 business days. Longer than that and a potential customer will go with a competitor instead. While automated responses can do the trick, personalize these responses to make them less “mechanical.”
3. Frustrating Automated Systems
Problem: Dealing with chatbots and IVR systems can be hard, especially for customers that have a unique issue. Automated systems are useful for handling simple, common, mundane tasks such as:
Transferring calls to the right department
Offering troubleshooting help
Providing company information
Activating or renewing services, etc.
Customers love self-service. However, more complex tasks will need a real agent’s help. Additionally, some customers may not even know how to use and navigate through an IVR system. Some may select the wrong option and end up in the wrong department. While others may find the long menu options more annoying than helpful.
Solution: Have a simple and easy-to-use automated system with an option for voicemail or “speak with a representative” easy to find. Keep menu options short and clear. Avoid jarring hold music or repeating your services on a loop when calls are transferred. And also, be sure to allow for the option to “speak to a representative.” This way, customers can request to speak with an agent if all else fails.
4. Being Passed Around
Problem: Customers being passed around from one employee to another will definitely leave your business for another more organized and efficient one. This includes in-person, phone, and email conversations.
Solution: When they connect with your business, it should be easy for them to find the right person to speak with. Therefore, your teams need to be organized with useful department extensions or email addresses. An IVR system will come in handy here; offer menu options to callers such as Press 1 for Sales, Press 2 for Customer Support, Press 3 for Billing & Accounting, etc. Route calls effectively using attribute-based routing to ensure customers get the help they need with their preferences in mind.
5. Impatient or Rude Staff
Problem: This is a no-brainer. Agents that are impatient and trying to quickly resolve a call without making the customer feel welcomed and valuable or are rude and condescending will lose customers promptly.
Solution: Train your agents and reps to adopt active and empathetic listening, be patient on their calls, and behave appropriately with customers. We recommend that you use these customer service tips for 2020.
6. Staff Not Helpful or Knowledgeable
Problem: Customer complaints also include staff or agents being unhelpful or unaware of a solution. When customers interact with your business for customer support, it is usually to inquire about a product or resolve an issue they are facing. And so, they expect to talk to someone who has the knowledge and expertise to assist them.
Solution: Train agents in the subject matter of your product and service as well as the industry they serve. Create knowledge bases for employees to use when they are in a pinch and need additional support. Furthermore, you may even consider call barging and call whispering to have supervisors and managers enter a call and provide support.
7. Poor Product or Service
Problem: Another common complaint is that the quality of the product or service is poor and deceptive. Customers may feel that the description of your product or service doesn’t match the result which can lead to cancellation and refund requests.
Solution: Take these complaints seriously because they may be an indication of a much larger problem with your product or service. Customer feedback is useful not only in improving the development of your service but also in understanding your customers’ expectations and preferences. Train your staff to deal with unhappy customers. Once you see a common issue with your product, be prepared with solutions, alternatives, refunds, or promotions for future customers that may experience the same issue.
Why Paying Attention to Customer Complaints is Important
Listening to your customers and their complaints can help you improve how you serve them. Additionally, it will help you offer better and more efficient service. This can directly enhance customer support and increase customer retention, as these two factors are necessary for any business’ success!
Advances in technology have made it possible for businesses and their employees to work from different locations with ease. For most companies, being present in the office and using office equipment is no longer the only option. With voice over IP, BYOD, quick and easy video and audio conferencing, and more, it is easier than ever to manage distributed teams. In this post, we will look specifically at how a business call forwarding service can benefit remote or distributed teams.
What are the Challenges of a Distributed Team?
“Distributed teams” refers to business teams that work from home, different locations, remotely, etc. These teams are “distributed” across different locations and do not necessarily work out of the main office.
Distributed teams or remote working teams are a growing trend in 2022 year amidst the “great resignation.” However, not many businesses were equipped to comfortably switch to a work-from-home process. But for companies using an advanced or virtual phone system, this move was easy. And one reason for that is the call forwarding feature.
What is Call Forwarding?
Call forwarding is a small business phone service feature that lets you forward incoming calls to any location, number, or device. This way, you can easily route calls to specific agents and employees no matter where they are. So, who can benefit from call forwarding?
Distributed teams
Remote working teams
International teams
Traveling employees
4 Ways Call Forwarding Can Benefit Your Distributed Team
Call forwarding keeps you connected even outside the main office. All you need to do is connect your device to the internet and your VoIP service. And then, you can easily turn this device into a business powerhouse. Here are the top benefits of using call forwarding for your remote team:
1. Forward Calls Geographically
Calls can be forwarded to any geographic location. And so, you can have calls routed to local employees as well as international employees that are providing customer support to your international clientele in their own time zones. This means that users and remote employees have flexibility and are not limited to one location.
2. Forward Calls to Any Device
A call forwarding service will let you route calls to any device such as a computer, laptop, smartphone, tablet, VoIP phone, etc. This means that if one device fails or is stolen, employees can quickly use their own device to continue doing their job. It also means that users and employees are not limited to one device in the main office.
3. Set Up Forwarding Rules That Will Benefit Your Distributed Team
Call forwarding from a virtual phone service provider comes with useful routing rules and strategies. The most common routing and forwarding strategies include:
Time of day routing – Forward calls based on time. You can have calls forwarded to remote locations during off-hours to match the location’s time zone. You can also have calls forwarded to specific locations and devices over the weekends.
Select country routing – Forward calls from different countries to specific locations.
Voicemail to email – Send voicemails to your email as a recording.
Fax to email – Send important faxes to email.
4. Change Forwarding Strategies Anytime
The best part of such a service is that you can change the forwarding settings as and when needed. Forward calls to the main office when everyone is present. Or, forward calls to remote teams when remote working is applicable. Either way, you can change these rules as and when needed to make a system that works best for your business.
Get Call Forwarding for Your Small Business Today
A call forwarding service can help your business maintain connectivity and productivity even when teams are distributed and working remotely. Getting call forwarding is easy. You can sign up on our website and start forwarding calls to locations and devices as needed. Call us or chat with our experts to learn more about this service today!
The rise and comfort of remote working have led to employers considering the different ways to allow remote working without losing employee productivity. In this post, we will look at Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Policy and what important elements to include when creating one.
Building an Effective BYOD Policy: 8 Key Points
A Bring Your Own Device or BYOD policy refers to the work policy of allowing employees to use their own devices instead of company-sponsored ones. This policy is known to make employees more productive and efficient as they would be using devices and applications they are familiar with. Furthermore, such a policy paves the way for an easy switch to remote working, if need be. Lastly, it can also help companies save on yearly costs that would otherwise be spent on purchasing and maintaining equipment.
Here are some important elements and rules to keep in mind when creating your own Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy, as suggested by IBM Security:
1. Create Policy First: Then Purchase Technology
The first step is to start creating your BYOD policy before purchasing any technology, even mobile device management or MDM tech. BYOD policies affect almost every team or department in the office: IT, HR, legal, security, and employees using the devices. Therefore, rules of use should be determined beforehand.
The Most Important BYOD Policy Factors to Consider:
When creating your BYOD policy, consider the following factors:
What devices will be supported and accepted for use? Who determines device use, employer or employee?
Who will pay for data usage? Will there be a stipend or will the employee be responsible for expenses?
What security measures will be implemented?
What apps will be allowed and which ones forbidden?
What resources and services can employees access on their devices?
What data will be collected from the employee’s device?
What will your Acceptable Usage Agreement (AUA) consist of?
2. Plan to Keep Personal Info Private and Separate from Company Data
Since a BYOD policy allows employees to use their own devices and apps, it is important to pay attention to privacy. Big data is so large that it’s raising privacy and ethical issues for major corporations around the world. In this case, keeping personal information private and separate from the company’s data is necessary.
Make your privacy laws easily accessible and help your employees and users understand what data will and will not be collected from them. For example, personal emails, contacts, text messages, call history, etc. Furthermore, help them understand why you are collecting what you are collecting and how it benefits them.
The next step is to keep personal and professional data separate. Important and valuable corporate data, documents, and other files must be protected by your IT team. This is helpful in the case of an employee leaving the company; IT can quickly wipe information from the employee’s devices and keep company data safe.
3. Decide How to Manage Data Usage
Whether or not you are paying for the plan, you will want the managers or the users to be able to track how much data they are using. Furthermore, you will want to be upfront about in-network and roaming charges while also tracking them or providing warnings for excessive use.
Make sure users understand how the data plan works and how to effectively use data. There should be a system of checks and balances. Use data to elevate employees, not penalize them. Help them understand the importance of WiFi and to use it whenever available.
4. Make Enrollment Simple
Use technology that is user-friendly, simple, and does not involve complex procedures. Include instructions and troubleshooting advice in your emails or text messages. Also, let them know who they can connect with in case they encounter an issue.
Make the enrolling of devices and users secure and easy to follow. For example, users may receive an email or text link. When they click on this link, they will be led to a webpage where they can register their MDM profile for a device. Here, they will also be able to read and accept the user agreement.
One of the main advantages of a BYOD policy is the ability to reduce the time spent on troubleshooting or contacting the help desk. For this, you want to help your employees or users help themselves. Easy passcode recovery, geo-locating for locating lost devices, being able to quickly wipe a device to protect corporate data, and so on, are a few ways to help employees as well as your business while ensuring efficiency throughout the processes.
6. Enable Easy Configuration
An important part of successfully running a BYOD policy is being able to configure devices quickly and easily. The best solution is configuring devices over-the-air for optimization. Your platform or system should give the employee everything they need such as access to email, contacts, WiFi, VPN, relevant documents, apps, virtual phone numbers, etc. You may even make a note of applications that are unacceptable or include data usage warnings.
7. Monitor Devices for Usage
Now that you know how much data will be allowed and the stipend or budget allotted for usage, monitor your employees’ usage to ensure they do not go beyond the allocated amount. Furthermore, monitor how they are using their data. Some circumstances to watch for:
Attempting to disable management
Attempting to jailbreak or root a phone to get paid apps for free
Not complying with the security policy
Using apps that are not allowed or unaccepted within the policy
Some ways to battle devices that do not comply with your BYOD policy is to use your MDM solution to selectively to wipe their devices or to send warning messages. You may also choose to make additional adjustments based on what you are seeing.
8. Using Call Forwarding for Communication
Lastly, BYOD policies work very well along with call forwarding. A call forwarding service allows users to use their devices to make and receive business calls. You can use call forwarding to keep your team or office connected even when they are working from home or traveling. This way, your employees are reachable through inexpensive communication while continuing to be productive.
Create Your BYOD Policy Now
Keeping the above points in mind, take time and consideration when creating a Bring Your Own Device policy for your workplace. For call forwarding services or to learn how call forwarding can support BYOD, call us or chat with our experts today!
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