“Its only one or 2 missed calls; I don’t need a receptionist – what’s the big deal?”  -A common thought amongst business owners.  They assume that they will just call back if it’s important.  Sadly, this often isn’t the case.  What if that call you just missed was a new client?  What if that call was from a supplier about a project you’re under a deadline to complete?  We could continue the “what if” game, but I think you can see the point.

Let me provide another perspective.  Consider a small business with an annual revenue of $800,000 and a client base of about 250.  Each client would be responsible for about $3200 of revenue every year.  Reconsider that lost call now.  The “big deal” is $3200 in potential revenue lost.  Every call counts and utilizing a live receptionist will help regain that lost potential.  Considering that the cost of a virtual receptionist starts at $4 a day, the value is pretty clear.  The cost of having a receptionist to filter calls and provide customer service seems very small in comparison to the chance to capture $3200.

Just what does a receptionist do?  If you asked most people, they answer and route phones.  So what is the difference between a girl in your office and an answering service?  A receptionist in your office could handle tasks and projects when needed.  She could do outbound calls, appointment verification, process orders, and handle all of your customer service, while a typical answering service can only answer calls and take messages.  The appeal for the receptionist is pretty clear, which is why we wanted to create a different type of virtual receptionist

The New Virtual Receptionist would do more than just takes messages.  She would really listen,  create a great business image, and offer fantastic customer service – but hidden values are there?  Filtering incoming calls is a definite time saver – but what if you didn’t have to do all of the outbound calls as well?  A live receptionist can return phone calls about order status, booking appointments, changing appointments, or any item that might come up.

While most people associate outbound calls from a call center with negative telemarketing, that’s not what we do.  When a live receptionist is making calls, they are an extension of your office.  In today’s world, texting back a quick one sentence answer is faster but not very professional.  But, many of our clients can do just that – sending the answer to us and have the receptionist will provide the professional image you need, all while saving time and saving money.

We live in a world where technology is king, we assume everyone has a smart phone, and we forget to be human.   We solve problems via email, talk to our kids via text, and live by Facebook notifications to know what’s happening in the lives of those we care about.   In business, we want to just get things done and technology has made it faster and easier to do everything, but we lose focus on what is really important– our clients.   A business answering service can be the key to bridging the gap between what your customers want –your time and attention, and the amount of time and attention you have to give.

Running a business is demanding and time consuming and often inconvenient.   Taking phone calls from clients is vital to your business – you wouldn’t have a business without clients, but so is actually DOING your business.  More often than not, phone calls from clients come when you can least answer them – while you are on a roof, with another client, or even driving between appointments.  An assistant would be great – let them answer the calls and sort out what you really need to address directly and what you don’t.  But an assistant can be costly with limited hours and availability.  A business answering service is the opposite.  They can cover more hours and more days each week than one person alone and are a fraction of the costs and without the headache that just managing employee’s always entails.  The great trick to a business answering service is being able to “just do” your business without sacrificing the human factor your clients want and need.  Hire someone who “can just deal with the little stuff” and you handle the big stuff the way you want to.

Smiling affects how we speak, to the point that callers can actually identify the type of smile based on sound of our voice alone.  People are listening to the cue’s that we are sending out, and unconsciously use those cues to interpret what the other person is saying.

The receptionists at Novus Call Centers understand that our attitudes are influenced by many things such as how we are dressed, our drive to work, or even what we ate for breakfast.   We encourage receptionists to take the time to look good, so that they feel good as well. They know that they will portray  emotions through speech and those emotions will affect the caller and their attitudes.

Smiles are emotionally contagious—they can go “viral” just by how we treat a caller.  They are just like a yawn.  But did you know, your just the physical at of smiling can also affect your emotions?  When you activate muscle groups they link to specific emotions and the body will react as though they are really experiencing that emotion.  So if you wrinkle your nose and narrow your eyes you’ll start to feel the beginnings of anger. If you smile will start feeling better!

A Live Receptionist, needs to be warm and inviting on the phone with clients.  Smiling will not only make us feel better, but it will increase the control we have on the call, will put the caller at ease, and increases customers service.

Our receptionists keep a mirror at every work station, and always remember to smile.

Our callers can hear it.

What does it mean to listen – to really listen?  Is it just hearing?  I used to think this definition was adequate, that listening only consisted of making an effort to hear what someone is saying. I am a live receptionist for Novus Call centers and I get to listen to all kinds of people tell me all kinds of things (good and bad . . . and sometimes more than what I’d ever like to know!) I have realized that listening is so much more than simply hearing what someone is telling you. Listening involves dialing up those eardrums and really tuning into not only the words being spoken, but the emotions, fears, and anxieties of the person on the other end. I’m going to deem this what I’d like to call insightful listening. A live receptionist must not only learn how to route calls correctly and take detailed messages, but they must learn how to read people and make customers feel confident that their concerns are being dealt with. I do this through insightful listening.
Insightful listeners know when a caller is distressed. They can tell by the tone of their voice, the urgency of their words, and their demanding nature. It is our job as live receptionist to deescalate the situation and calm those fears by responding appropriately and reading their emotions. By being attentive and confident, I can calm the fears of callers. They need to hear more than an automated reply or script of words spoken without meaning. Callers need to hear assurance and confidence in your voice. They need to feel that you care about them and their problem, which really isn’t hard to do since these are real people with real concerns. Caring comes naturally. It is demonstrating that caring appropriately that contributes to insightful listening.
Each caller is unique and not only has a different personality than the last, but a different problem and concern. It is through learning how to accurately read callers and the situation that a live receptionist is able to accommodate callers and perfect our insightful listening skills. When callers feel cared about, their positive associations with the company they are calling grow and their loyalty to the company increases.

I love Fridays at the office.  Everything is a bit more laid back and its one of the slower days.  Especially as we approach the holiday next week, many people have started traveling.  Today, our conversation turned towards Thanksgiving and what plans we have for the next week.  How many of us will be traveling, who is cooking and who is not, or if we have a big family activity planned.  Everyone has something different planned, from a small intimate dinner with a spouse to large family parties, even to traveling to Korea!  The only constant was the underlying reason for the holiday -gratitude for much in our lives.

We wanted to share with all of you what we were thinking.  Not everything is serious because sometimes gratitude for the silly is needed.

We hope all of you enjoy this upcoming Holiday Season

Novus Call Centers

I am thrilled to announce, that Novus Call Centers doesn’t charge for telemarketers, wrong numbers, and hang up calls!   Now only your business calls are counted towards your call volume.

All logs will still be available though our client dashboard, www.accessnovus.com – but you can review them at your leisure, and the messages we sent will be more business content and less waste.

email info@novuscall.com for more details.

But what is the value of your time?  How do you determine what your time is worth?  That is a difficult question for every business owner; one that is often over looked.  In our industry, we speak to business owners every day, many of whom disregard their time as an asset to their business.  This is a mistake that can cost your company thousands of dollars.   So how do you avoid it?

We recommend that you begin by evaluating your strengths.  What motivated you to start your business?  What is it about your business that you excel at? Where should your focus be, in order to grow your business?  Step back and review your list.   We would bet that answering the phone didn’t even come close to being included.   So now ask yourself, if its not the most important part of your job, why do you spend so much of your time doing it?

The Live Receptionist and Front Office Support services provided by Novus Call Centers provide the opportunity to focus on the most important items on your list.  We are available to answer your calls, provide the same level of customer service that you would, and free up your time – so you can focus on what you want to – your business.

When deciding which answering service to start an account with, you will no doubt encounter two different billing methods, per call and per minute. Although each has its own pros and cons, you should consider your budget, you company’s needs, and specifically how you would use the service. What might work great for one company could be needlessly costly for another. As a result, it is best to first look at your own company before considering which company to hire to take your calls. Some questions you might want to ask yourself are whether you will require call patching, if you are interested in order taking or appointment setting service, or if you need any other specific specialty features.

One of the best parts about per call billing over per minute is if you need call patching. Many companies use their answering service as a receptionist to direct calls to the appropriate department or staff member. Where per call billing excels here is that most companies that bill per minute will continue to bill you on a per minute basis even after transferring the call out to somewhere else. For companies who frequently use the phone or find themselves on long calls, this can push your answering service expenses through the roof. With per call billing, it doesn’t matter how long a caller spends with an operator nor does it matter how long they spend talking to someone in your office. Per call billing frequently helps businesses project their costs better than per minute.

One area where per minute is needed instead of per call is when bilingual service is required. Many companies have increased their business by including Spanish speaking people in their target market. Quite often, the only thing holding a company back from gaining non-English speakers as customers is the language barrier. When setting up an answering service, standard service billed per call usually does not support bilingual service. Many per minute services allow bilingual service to be added at a later date or can support it for a bit extra. Either way, it is worth considering especially if you do business in an area that has an especially prominent Hispanic population or you provide services needed by certain demographics such as immigration legal services.

Per call billing is sometimes helpful in assessing performance over the course of a month. More calls usually mean more interest and more customers. When a company using an answering service billed per call sees a sudden drop off in volume, they might try and ascertain the reason. Sometimes business is slow during certain months, usually for seasonal businesses. Other times a company will look at their monthly call volume along with other factors and decide to change their operations slightly or take on a new advertising or promotional campaign. It is worth considering, however, that per minute records might give insight as well. Many short calls might signal something as opposed to fewer calls longer in length, depending on your particular line of work.

This all might seem confusing, especially if you are new to using an answering service and you don’t know where to start. One of the best things you could do in this situation is contact a reliable answering service and consult with a sales representative who has experience in these areas. Any service worth doing business with would be more than willing to take the time to speak with you about your needs and plans for the future in order to come up with an effective and affordable solution for your specific needs. The most important thing to remember is that answering services aren’t “one size fits all”.

Answering services are not all created equally. Have you come to this website because your current telephone answering service is not performing? If so, you are not alone. Most companies offer packages with a fixed number 0f minutes (i.e. 100 minutes), options, contract terms, and overage rates forcing their customers to select a higher plan to get the minutes and features they need.

At NovusCall we don’t play games with our customers. We offer customizable packages with a fixed number of calls per month (i.e. 50 calls, 100 calls), no contracts, giving business owners true flexibility and insight to grow their business as they wish. Since the industry average call length is about 2-3 minutes it’s only logical to offer this type of setup to our customers.

First impressions do matter! With a live receptionist, you can provide a personal touch for your customers and project a first-class image for your business. Our professional team of live receptionists will transfer calls to your staff at any location around the world. You can also customize your service by adding fax lines, appointment scheduling, and much more.

Plus, live Receptionist services will save your business money!  Hiring an answering service at a fraction of the cost of hiring your own in-house attendant or staff can  increase productivity by freeing you up to focus on the most important thing – growing your business.

We aim to raise the bar for lead management by offering lead capture and distribution to your staff at no additional costs beyond your monthly call plan. Our friendly business support team has experience integrating direct links to your CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software so our agents can input new leads into your website in real-time. Our goal is to speed up response time and close more business.

Call NovusCall answering service team today at 1-866-634-0971, or register online for an overview of what we can do for you. NovusCall’s live receptionist answering service solutions will redefine what you expect from your answering service provider.