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September 29th, 2010Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!
Aligning Your Call Center with Marketing
August 16th, 2010As a marketing professional who works for a call center, I can clearly see the correlation between a company’s proactive marketing efforts and their customer service department. Establishing your company’s brand is like running on a treadmill if your company can’t back up your marketing strategy with a consistent customer service experience. You can run as fast as you can, but you are never going to get anywhere.
Companies such as Zappos, Apple, Amazon, etc. have established effective brands by aligning their customer service interactions with marketing efforts. Click here to read more about the top 10 companies that treat you right.
Your call center is the voice of your company. So it’s imperative to offer customer service representatives who are friendly, professional and aware of your company’s mission, values and branding efforts. A combination of knowledgeable and experienced agents, in addition to the proper technology, will sustain an environment for generating the type of interactions necessary to build your brand.
How should this environment look?
Working with a call center that provides relationship building efforts between your company and your agents is a MUST to create interactions that build your brand. Real time access to all of your call recordings will help you effectively monitor conversations. In addition, having one of your own employees on location to assist with training, monitoring, and live audits is essential. These efforts will benefit the success of your call center and help align your goals with each agent. The call center should also be able to work with you to create result-driven incentive programs to motivate agents towards particular interaction goals that are important to your company.
Answer Center America, Inc. Welcomes Intern from Step Up Women’s Network
July 30th, 2010
Chicago Ill. – Answer Center America (ACA) is pleased to welcome summer intern Diamond Dillard from Step Up Women’s Network (SUWN). ACA’s six week internship is designed to offer Dillard a glimpse into marketing, sales, billing, and customer service. ACA is working in partnership with SUWN to help young women explore career options after graduation.
“I love and respect Step Up Women’s Network for its ability to provide young teenage girls with opportunities that would otherwise be unavailable in its community,” says Janet Livingston, founder of Answer Center America. “Step Up Women’s Network boosts self esteem and confidence in young women. I am committed to helping spread their message.”
With Chicago’s unemployment rate hovering around 10 percent this summer, teens face fierce competition to find part time work or summer internships. SUWN lends a hand to its young teens and helps them land internships among local Chicago businesses in areas that personally interest them. Dillard will perform tasks for multiple departments throughout ACA, with a strong focus in the marketing department.
“Step Up is thrilled to partner with ACA for a second year and I could not ask, nor hope, for more from a company,” says Rachel Bronson, program manager for Step Up Women’s Network. “These internship opportunities are a vital part of our programming that helps teen girls become confident, college-bound, and career ready.”
ACA looks forward to continuing its relationship with Step Up Women’s Network for many years to come. Dillard hopes to one day own a company of her own within the pet care or fashion design industry. ACA’s goal is to give Dillard one more stepping stone towards her dream.
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About Answer Center America
Based in Chicago, Ill., Answer Center America, Inc. is an experienced partner in providing seamless call center and answering solutions. Founded in 1995 by Janet Livingston, ACA has proven itself as an industry leader through cutting-edge technology, unwavering customer service, and customized services. For additional information, please visit www.goacanow.com.
About Women’s Step Up Network
Step Up Women’s Network is a national, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to connecting and advancing women and girls. By bridging communities of professional women and underserved teen girls through mentorship, networking and advancement, we ensure women and girls have the opportunities they need to create a better future. Connect with us at www.suwn.org.
ACA Krispy Creme Showdown
July 2nd, 2010Our General Manager and HR Manager battling to win the Krispy Creme eating contest. Our General Manger was the first one to finish a dozen donuts in a little more than four minutes. Watch his victory here…
You Had Me at Hello
June 25th, 2010
Soft Skills versus Hard Skills in the Call Center
In the call center environment, hard skills are easily enforced, measured and monitored without hesitation. With these skills, there is a clear distinction between right and wrong. For this reason, hard skills are often used as a measurement of an agent’s success. Soft skills, however, prove to be more elusive and indefinable. Soft skills involve the ability to communicate, motivate, listen, solve problems and manage stressful situations. What many contact centers fail to recognize is that encompassing a blend of these skills creates a recipe for success. One skill set without the other is ineffective and unproductive. Failing to address the significance of both skills will quickly lead to low morale, frustrated employees, and failure to meet customer expectations.
Hard skills can only help an agent get so far with the caller. To effectively ease and resolve the caller’s concern, an agent needs to possess effectual communication, listening and conversational skills. Something as simple as answering the call with a friendly demeanor, “Hello, thanks for calling ______”, can set the tone for a positive call experience. An agent may say all the right things and follow all the correct procedures, but without the soft skills to communicate with the caller, the agent will quickly fall short.
Investing in equal training time and tools for soft and hard skills will provide agents with the right talent to succeed in their role. Simple role-playing exercises or call reviews can help agents see where, and if, they fall short in soft skill techniques. While soft skills are not as definable and trainable as hard skills, the impact of training and employing a team of individuals who possess these skills will undeniably create an environment that will sustain long-term success for agents, as well as clients.
Bio: Sarah Wilson is a marketing communication specialist for Answer Center America, a leading provider of inbound, outbound and answering solutions.
How Available is Your Company?
June 10th, 2010
Multi-Channel Enhancement Service Options
Most companies are available by phone; however, to beat the competition, this isn’t always enough. Today’s consumers have much higher expectations than ever before. 24/7 live agents are critical to maintaining a positive customer service experience, but supportive communication channels ensure a more comprehensive and complete solution. Voice, email, click-to-call and Web chat are quickly proving to be a worthwhile investment to a company’s bottom line.
According to Forrester Research, “An investment in reactive chat is likely to produce a small positive return on investment (ROI) of 15%”. Chat is a cost-effective motivator to convert more Web site viewers into Web site customers. Web chat, in addition to other customer service interaction channels, creates an environment where call center agents can provide support to multiple users at the same time. Together, these channels create a bundled approach of interactive touch points to obtain and retain customer relationships.
Communication channels available…
Web Chat – Web Chat allows the customer to connect with your company instantaneously through your Web site with the click of a mouse. All chats are in real-time and are proven to be a convenient way for customers to connect with your company.
Click-to-Call – Click-to-Call makes it easy for web site visitors to call you. This service allows web site viewers to make an immediate connection to a live agent by phone.
Email Response – Email response makes certain that customer email responses are rapid and consistent. Live agents are trained to respond to email inquiries in a way that would not be possible with an automated system.
With the right technology, best practices, and properly trained agents, these communication channels can address the needs of every customer. Multiple touch points allow the user to interact with your product/service in a way that is most convenient for them. In order to face the competition, companies are using these tools to get ahead and work proactively to obtain new customers.
Answer Center America Expands with New Hire
May 27th, 2010
Chicago, Ill. – Answer Center America (ACA), a full service call center, is happy to announce that Tara Kern has recently joined the ACA team as Human Resources Manager. In this role Kern will be responsible for developing and maintaining the ACA culture of excellence. This includes recruiting and staffing; performance management and improvement systems; employee relations, compensation and benefits administration; and employee safety, welfare, wellness and health.
Answer Center America is a leading provider of inbound and outbound call center solutions. The company has more than doubled its size in the past three years. Due to ongoing growth, ACA continues to hire on a weekly basis. With a recent increase in hiring, Kern’s role at ACA will ensure the employee hiring and retaining process remains seamless. ACA maintains an above average employee retention rate within the call center industry and has hired Kern to maintain their employee friendly culture of excellence.
Kern’s professional experience most recently consists of serving the last five years as a Senior Recruiter for one of ACA’s personnel staffing partners, Banner Personnel. Prior to this, Tara has numerous years of experience in the management and human resource arenas.
Kern is a graduate of Iowa State University with a Bachelor of Arts in marketing. In her free time, Kern is an avid marathon and half-marathon runner and stays active in the Chicago running community.
About Answer Center America Inc.
Based in Chicago, Ill., Answer Center America, Inc. is an experienced partner in providing seamless call center and answering solutions. Founded in 1995 by Janet Livingston, ACA has proven itself as an industry leader through cutting-edge technology, unwavering customer service, and customized services. For additional information, please visit www.goacanow.com.
Modeling Vs. Scripting in the Call Center
May 12th, 2010In the call center and answering service industry, there are two commonly used methods of managing the call process. Depending on your business vertical and complexity of calls, both methods have an advantage. So which method is best for you? We’ll help you identify the advantages of each.
Scripting (ACA Contact Management Solution)
The scripting method is the most commonly used conversation flow method. This process leads callers through the call process with prewritten answers and responses based on the information exchanged. Generally the script consists of a predetermined introduction, information exchange and closing statement. Scripts can be easily modified and customized to accommodate the individual needs of the client and their callers. With today’s advance technology, call flows and scripts can be easliy delivered to the agent’s computer screen.
The ACA Contact Management (scripting) Solution can be an effective process to improve call center efficiency, reduce labor, and provide a consistent message to customers. A well engineered script, in addition to accurately trained agents, can hit key performance metrics. Scripting can help reduce human error on calls and still allow call flows to be flexible during interaction with customers.
Conversation Modeling (ACA CISR Model)
For more complex calls, a modeling approach can benefit the client and caller. Modeling requires the agent to be trained on all aspects of the account and prepared to answer questions off the cuff. An information guide is provided for the agent but the call flow is not as detailed as a scripted account.
ACA uses our proprietary conversation model, called CISR, to train customer service representatives to lead conversations with customers and to clarify each customer’s specific service need. The CISR model consists of four steps. These steps are used in sequence while interacting with the customer. A customer service representative is able to guide the conversation and determine all of the information needed to identify and deliver solutions that are customer focused and results driven.
C = Concerns
I = Indicators
S = Solutions
R = Responsibilities
Answer Center America can help determine which call method works best for your company. Contact an ACA sales consultant to determine a customized contact solution for your company.
The Great Salsa Challenge
May 11th, 2010In order to celebrate Cinco de Mayo properly, ACA made sure the food was plentiful, hot and tasty. Two of our management team members challenged each other with a Cinco de Mayo tradition…The Great Salsa Challenge. Employees were asked to taste and vote on their favorite salsa. Judging was fierce but at the end of the day, we found out whose salsa was truly the best. Here’s a few pictures from our day.
Answer Center America Expands with New Hires
April 19th, 2010Chicago, Ill. – Answer Center America (ACA) has hired Troy Berry as manger of customer service and Leslie Walker as manager of call center operations. ACA, a leading inbound and outbound call center, continues to expand their management team due to company growth. Both positions were created to assist ACA through this growth process.
Walker holds 15 years of leadership experience in strategic planning, telecommunication, system design and human resources management. She comes from Rush North Medical Center where she worked as director of telecommunications for more than 10 years.
“Walkers experience in the healthcare industry will be a tremendous asset to our organization.” says Trey Bynum, general manager of Answer Center America.
As manager of call center operations, Walker will oversee the operations team. Major responsibilities include implementation procedures, managing daily workforce, tracking team productivity and additional responsibilities.
In addition to Walker, Troy Berry is a recent addition to the ACA team. Coming from Navagon as director of customer service, Troy Berry brings a wealth of knowledge to the table. For more than 15 years, Berry has managed operations, new business development, CRM and technical support in call center settings.
“It’s rewarding to enter a position with such an enthusiastic team,” says Berry. “The environment here fosters a strong sense of commitment and innovation. I look forward to collaborating with my team to offer ACA customers the ultimate customer service experience.”
In his role at ACA, Berry is responsible for managing account development, implementations and management. These three functional groups outline the strategy for ACA’s entire relationship with their business-to-business client base.
“In response to the growth we’ve experienced in the past year, we realize the value of bringing in external employees to accompany our growing family of clients,” says Bynum. “Their fresh perspective and previous experience is sure to bring innovative ideas and solutions to the table.”
Berry is a graduate from the University of Iowa with a Bachelor of Science in sociology. He was raised in Ottumwa, Iowa. Walker attended DePaul University and earned her certified telecommunication technician license through AT&T. She is a native of Evanston, Ill.
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About ACA Inc.
Based in Chicago, Ill., Answer Center America, Inc. is an experienced partner in providing seamless call center and answering solutions. Founded in 1995 by Janet Livingston, ACA has proven itself as an industry leader through cutting-edge technology, unwavering customer service, and customized services. For additional information, please visit www.goacanow.com or call 1-800-270-7030.