- When I hire
several new people and need to add their names,
home telephone numbers and mobile phone numbers
so Business Connections can reach them, what should
I do?
- When is the best time to
inform the Telephone Receptionists who will be on-call
for the evening, weekend, etc…?
- What is Call forwarding?
- I’m having problems
with my account; whom should I talk with to get
the problem corrected?
- If someone calls to ask for my
Fax number or any other information and a message
is not taken, does this count as a call?
- How many telephone secretaries
do you employ…I want my phone answered as quickly
as possible?
- How much background noise
will my callers hear?
- What are my options for picking
up messages?
- When an emergency call comes in
and you page the on-call person, how do you remember
to page the back-up person in the event the primary
on-call doesn't respond in time?
- Can I set up my mobile phone
to forward calls to Business Connections answering
service when I don’t answer my mobile? Sometimes
I’m using the phone and don’t want the
interruption or I’m out of coverage area.
My callers would rather talk to a person then leave
a message on voice mail.
- What is voice mail with
operator assistance?
- What happens if there is
an electrical outage at Business Connections Call
Center?
- Can Business Connections
Telephone Receptionists access my Web Site while
talking with callers?
1. When I hire
several new people and need to add their names, home
telephone numbers and mobile phone numbers so Business
Connections can reach them, what should I do?
Fax us an updated list of the names (first
& last) and phone numbers and we’ll update
your account. Please allow us a few hours to make
the necessary changes. Updates after 4pm may not occur
until the next business day. Our fax numbers are listed
above.
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2. When is
the best time to inform the Telephone Receptionists
who will be on-call for the evening & weekend?
Between 9am-11am and 2pm-4pm. Our peak calling
times are early in the morning, during lunch hours
and after 4:30pm when clients’ offices are closed.
If you call during our peak calling times, our service
to your callers and other accounts is degraded since
a Telephone Receptionist is taken out of call rotation
updating your account. A better alternative is to
fax us your on-call list each week or month.
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3. What is
Call forwarding?
Call forwarding is a feature of your phone
service from your telephone company, usually Qwest,
Verizon, Eschelon, Integra, Oregon Telecom or SBC.
Here are the two most popular types of call forwarding.
Call forward busy or don’t answer:
Calls are automatically transferred to Business Connections
when all of your lines are busy, or after a preset
number of rings. (+) Everything is automatic. You
never need to activate or deactivate call forwarding.
If all of your lines are in use, calls will be transferred
to Business Connections. A GREAT way to prepare for
a disaster (i.e. contractor digs up your phone line,
Ice Storm, Earthquake, Wind Storm, Tornado or Flood
eliminates electricity at your office)…remember
multi-line phone systems need electricity to operate.
If the above disaster occurs your phones will still
be answered 24 hours a day by a Helpful Human at Business
Connections since the call forwards to us after the
3rd ring and this is done at the phone company central
office.
(--) Unanswered calls will ring three to four times
at your office before transferring to Business Connections.
If you’re in a meeting and don’t want
to answer your phone, the calls may disrupt the meeting,
since you’ll hear the phone ringing before it
transfers to Business Connections.
Variable call forwarding:
Allows you to choose a number to which all incoming
calls will be directed. Once this feature is activated,
you cannot answer calls. When activated, multiple
calls can be answered by Business Connections, even
if you only have a single telephone line. (+) Calls
are immediately transferred to the answering service;
therefore your customers are greeted A.S.A.P…fewer
rings means better service. (--) You need to remember
to activate and deactivate call forwarding whenever
you leave your home or office.
To Activate Variable Call Forwarding:
A) Dial “*72” or “72#”; after
you hear the dial tone, dial the number you wish to
Call Forward to.
B) You will hear two short tones, then the normal
ringing signal. As soon as you hear normal ringing
signal hang up and dial “*72” or“72#”
again. This second time you’ll hear 2 short
tones and a dial tone. This confirms that Call Forwarding
has been established.
To Deactivate Variable Call Forwarding:
A) Dial “*73” or “73#”. You’ll
hear two short tones followed by a dial tone. This
confirms that Call Forwarding has been de-activated.
Please Note:
1) When utilizing Call Forwarding Variable, as a reminder
signal that your service is activated, your telephone
will ring a half ring each time an incoming call is
forwarded. The call cannot be answered at your location.
2) Your telephone can still be used for outgoing calls
even though we are answering your incoming calls.
3) When activating Call Forwarding Variable, you must
dial from the phone number that you wish to Call Forward
calls from. (FYI – some phone companies offer
Remote Access where you can call a toll free number
from anywhere to activate or deactivate call forwarding)
4) All calls will continue to be forwarded until you
deactivate your service.
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4. I’m having problems
with my account; whom should I talk with to get the
problem corrected?
Call one of the above phone numbers and ask for Dirk
or Stuart. We can also run detailed statistics on
any call providing us with the following data: How
many times your phone rang before we answered, if
the call was put on hold, total hold time, total time
we spoke with the caller, amount of time taken to
contact on-call people, what time we answered the
call and what time the call was delivered, etc.
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5. If someone
calls to ask for my Fax number or any other information
and a message is not taken, does this count as a call?
Yes. Any activity on your line is counted as a call
(i.e. calling emergency messages to on-call personnel,
paging, giving out information to the caller, etc…).
Even though you’re not getting a message, your
caller is provided personalized service, which generates
work for the Telephone Receptionist.
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6. How many telephone
secretaries do you employ…I want my phone answered
as quickly as possible?
Our goal is to answer your telephone within the third
ring or less. We achieve this goal within a 95% confidence
level every day. Another statistic we look at each
day is how many calls do we put on hold.
|
#
of calls put on hold |
Average
hold time |
| National Average |
15% |
39 seconds |
| Business Connections |
7-10% |
30 seconds
or less |
|
Staffing enough people at the right time is the key
to success. Every day we print out a graph that shows
the number of calls we took in 30-minute increments
and we are able to forecast our staffing requirements
for the next day. We utilize the fastest, most state
of the art equipment and employ 28 Telephone Receptionists.
During the last 15 years our Telephone Receptionists
increased productivity 63% due to new technologies,
and we’re providing much better service to your
callers today.
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7. How much background noise
will my callers hear?We’ve designed
the call center to minimize background noise. Each
Telephone Receptionist uses a special noise-canceling
microphone on his/her headset – when he/she
isn’t speaking and is listening to the caller,
the microphone automatically stops transmitting.
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8. What are my
options for picking up messages?
There are four methods for receiving your messages:
1) Receive your text messages (words
+ numbers) on your Cellular phone (i.e. Verizon, Cingular,
T-Mobile, Sprint/Nextel, etc…). After our telephone
secretary has completed taking the message from the
caller, he/she enters another keystroke and sends
your complete text message. We can also send a copy
to your office e-mail address. You benefit because
you can immediately review your detailed message and
decide exactly what response is appropriate without
calling in. Beat your competition by responding to
new business immediately.
2) Internet/E-mail Messages –
your messages can be delivered to you via your Internet
connected E-mail. You may use this service as your
primary message retrieval method, or to simply have
back-up copies of your messages archived at your location
on your PC.
3) Fax Messages – copies of
your messages are faxed to you at a set time each
day.
4) Call in at your convenience and
listen to messages from voice mail. Over 80% of our
customers utilize this method. Benefits – you
can call from any telephone and listen to your messages,
and the secretary who takes the message also delivers
it…better accuracy and detail.
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9. When an emergency
call comes in and you page the on-call person, how
do you remember to page the back-up person in the
event the primary on-call doesn't respond in time?
When we page an on-call person to check-in with
us, we instruct the computer to automatically bring
your account back up on the screen if the on-call
person hasn’t checked-in after a preset time
(usually 10, 15 or 20 minutes).
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10. Can I set up my mobile
phone to forward calls to Business Connections answering
service when I don’t answer my mobile? Sometimes
I’m using the phone and don’t want the
interruption or I’m out of coverage area. My
callers would rather talk to a person then leave a
message on voice mail.
YES! This is very popular. You know more about your
business than anyone, but if you’re not available
to talk with the caller, Business Connections operators
are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
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11. What is voice mail with
operator assistance?
Callers are greeted by our digitally mastered voice
mail system and press Zero if the call is urgent.
Example greeting…Thank you for calling XYZ company.
Your call is very important. If you need immediate
assistance please press Zero and you’ll be transferred
to our 24-hour telephone receptionist. Otherwise leave
your name, telephone number and detailed message and
we’ll return your call during regular business
hours.” The caller presses Zero and is immediately
connected to our Telephone Receptionist. “Good
Evening XYZ Company”. The Telephone Receptionist
takes the caller’s name, telephone number and
detailed message and contacts the On-call person for
XYZ Company.
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12. What happens if there
is an electrical outage at Business Connections Call
Center?
We have a back-up battery system that is
connected to a generator. Once a week the generator
automatically runs for 20 minutes to exercise the
starter and engine. The generator can run for over
a week before needing refueling. For those clients
who manually activate their call forwarding, it would
be wise to also subscribe from your local phone company
to “Call Forward Don’t Answer”.
In the event of a power outage at your location, your
phone system may not operate. With the use of both
types of call forwarding you can manually activate
or deactivate call forwarding; in the event of a power
outage the “Call Forward Don’t Answer”
would automatically transfer calls to Business Connections
after a preset number of rings. To add “Call
Forward Don’t Answer”, contact your phone
company (i.e. Qwest, Verizon, Eschelon, Integra, SBC).
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13. Can Business Connections
Telephone Receptionists access my Web Site while talking
with callers?
Yes, all our workstations are Web Enabled. We have
several accounts where we enter the orders directly
on their web site. It’s also helpful for the
Telephone Receptionists to see pictures of what the
caller has questions about.
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