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What Does an Appointment Setting Service Do?
An appointment setter’s goal is simple: to get a salesperson in front of a potential buyer. Research shows that sales go up considerably when done face-to-face, although conference calls can be arranged as well. Appointment setters cold-call a large list of prospects, pinpoint businesses in need of specific services, and identify decision-makers who are ready to meet. This is a crucial but time-consuming process, which is why using an outside service allows businesses to concentrate on their core functions.
Strengths to Look For
The number-one ability an appointment setter must possess? A relaxed but effective pitch that makes potential buyers want to know more about a service. An appointment setter should also master sales skills such as working with gatekeepers, knowing how to handle objections, and gathering business intelligence quickly and efficiently. Excellent phone manners and respect for the customer are also integral to success. A first-rate appointment setting service emphasizes these proficiencies when training their representatives.
Quality versus Quantity
Of course, an appointment will only lead to a sale if the buyer and seller can truly benefit each other. Therefore, the quality of leads an appointment setting service generates is more important than the quantity. A successful appointment setting service will run a campaign tailored specifically to the business utilizing them. In the age of specialization, it’s also important have knowledge of and experience in the industry the appointment setter is representing.
Questions to Ask Appointment Setting Services
Get answers to these questions before choosing an appointment setting service:
Choosing the right appointment setting service can give time back to a sales team--and ensure a high return on investment.
Sources
Ecommerce Times
VendorSeek.com
It is a well-known phenomenon that evolving and new technologies can create a variety of ways to run a business or even a life. This can result in both a positive and/or negative impact on the way we work and live.
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On the negative side, the breadth of applications can cause confusion as multiple parties suggest different ways to get the most benefit from the technology. And while most of the suggestions probably have some merit, it takes time before standardization occurs and the technology becomes universally applicable.
In a way, that’s what we’re seeing with Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) – a development that is pretty much universally viewed as a good idea, but one that is also being clouded by the sheer volume and diversity of opinions as to what it’s good for.
With that in mind, let’s get back to the basics of VoIP and see if we can understand if there is a common denominator for what makes it good.
The essential point about VoIP is that it adds functionality to voice. It is voice plus whatever else you want to do. How the technology achieves that isn’t really relevant, as long as it stays affordable. What really does matter is that voice plus contributes to the financial benefits every single organization wants to realize from technology. It enables you to do more with less--much more.
Improving Service Levels
With the current economic climate biting hard in all areas, one way in which voice can make a real difference is increasing the efficiency of IT users across the organization. VoIP does this by effectively turning your telephony system into a self-help service.
In a typical IT help desk, at least 30 percent of inbound calls are for routine queries such as password resets and account unlocks. By using VoIP to facilitate self-service, help desk operatives can be freed up from mundane tasks and instead redeployed to work on second and third-line support roles, which can often add a lot more value back to the business.
The immediacy of self-service also has a positive impact on customer satisfaction, as users often prefer the ability to log calls and resolve problems without the need to wait on hold or explain issues to human operatives. While external customers sometimes bemoan the inability to talk to a human, it seems employees often prefer it that way!
Beyond the IT Department
The same increase in productivity and customer satisfaction applies in other areas of business operations, such as Human Resources, where routine queries about leave or payroll issues can be serviced by voice-enabled self-help technologies.
Even the approval of leave applications can be handled by the system. The evidence provided by customers using FrontRange voice solutions suggests that, provided employees can make contact by voice, rather than keyboard, then both acceptance and satisfaction with the self-help system are high.
Ultimately, voice-enabling routine activity allows multiple departments to improve efficiency and productivity across the entire organization.
Looking for the Big Savings
One of the factors that makes VoIP so appealing is that no matter where you make the initial investment, be in the service desk or as part of your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution, the technology can be introduced to other parts of the organization to increase its overall return to the organization.
Imagine, for instance, that you’re about to make a PowerPoint presentation to a customer. As you’re setting up in his board room, you find the presentation you are about to give won’t work because the version of PowerPoint on your laptop is older than the one your corporate marketing team used to create it. No problem, because your own office is voice-enabled. You phone the help desk, which re-provisions your laptop using 3G via your company’s virtual private network (VPN). Within a matter of minutes, the system has checked company policies and established that you are allowed to have PowerPoint 2007, checked that your laptop is out of compliance, done an automated reinstall or self-healed the laptop, checked that everything is working, and turned your machine back over to you.
In the process it has logged an incident, which will, in turn, form part of a management report that will help executives make decisions about the sales pipeline, operations, and long term strategy.
And there’s so much more that voice plus makes possible. The critical consideration is not to simply look at voice for its own sake – but identify how voice plus can make a real tangible difference to existing areas of your business.
Steve Feeney is UK Strategy Director of FrontRange Solutions.
Office telephones are so pervasive that they are taken for granted in the same way that desks and chairs are taken for granted. After all, how much work could get done without desks, chairs and telephone systems? Yet those little dark gray boxes that look pretty much the same from office to office and company to company conceal all sorts of technology, features and choices. Read full article >>
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]]>Telemarketing doesn’t always get a favorable reaction from people. But telemarketing calls can be an effective way to reach new and repeat customers. In fact, telemarketing is a $15 billion industry, according to WKBW.com. So theres a lot of opportunity for businesses to increase their revenues with the right sales and marketing plan. Read full article >>
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]]>The acronym VoIP stands for voice over Internet Protocol. This phenomenon allows one to make phone calls using an Internet connection rather than a standard telephone line. Since it is recently conceptualized, there will be a growing number options and services provided, being several immediately present. For instance, some services may limit the user to calling others with the same service, while others allowing you to call any telephone number, from local, national, to international. VoIP can be a very convenient means of communication especially for those whose jobs warrant them to use the Internet in conjunction with communicating to others. Read the full article >>
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Businesses lose money when they don’t communicate effectively with customers. Telephone systems assist in initiating and maintaining contact with consumers and partners. One of the most important factors involving a phone system is choosing a provider. Pricing and resources available can vary amongst vendors, so companies should assess their needs in addition to following these tips. Read the full article >>
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]]>We are all aware of the clichés relating to telemarketing. How they always call at the least convenient times, they are pushy, and just might be the most annoying people on the planet. If you are in telemarketing or interested in a telemarketing service provider, then do not fret. There are ways to alter peoples’ perceptions. Read the full article >>
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]]>There is little wonder why so many successful businesses and organizations see their call center as a profit center. By following some basic guidelines, any business can transform its inbound call center into a critical customer touch-point that handles challenges and saves sales. Read the full article >>
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]]>Has there been any industry that has gotten a worse rap in the past decade than telemarketing services? First, the Federal Trade Commission slams the door with the Do Not Call registry and then follows that move up by waffling over enforcement. Telemarketing is still around for one reason and one reason only: it works. Coupled with a little direct marketing savvy, telemarketing is still a viable way to build a brand. Read the full article >>
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]]>As integral as they are, phone systems can be costly. It is important to survey several telephone system vendors before making a final decision. Phone systems help businesses make money, but businesses do not want to pay astronomical amounts for the phone system itself. Here are some tips for saving on business phone systems. Read full article >>
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]]>How important is establishing effective tools of communication to your business? Small businesses depend on keeping good relations with partners, associates, and customers. That is why it is important to purchase premier telephone systems. Read the full article >>
]]>Businesses lose money when they don’t communicate effectively with customers. Telephone systems assist in initiating and maintaining contact with consumers and partners. One of the most important factors involving a phone system is choosing a provider. Pricing and resources available can vary amongst vendors, so companies should assess their needs in addition to following these tips. Read the full article. >>
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]]>When is the best time for a business to close? The answer is never. Ideally, businesses want the ability to cater to their current and potential customers at all times. Many companies opt to outsource their phone responsibilities to answering services. Answering services engage in a variety of tasks in the name of other businesses. Read the full article >>
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]]>Traditional public switch telephony network along with PBX has taken a back seat with the advent of VoIP telephony services. It is not a hidden fact that the popularity and dependency on VoIP services has been increasing over a period of time, and it does not seem like this is going to change anytime soon. In fact, several researchers of the telecommunication field have pointed out, and rightly so, that in the near future, the entire communication structure would come to rely upon Voice over IP services. It is thus essential to understand how this technology works, in what way can residentials and businesses benefit from it and what are its disadvantages, if any.
How VoIP Works?
Voice over Internet Protocol is a mode of transmitting voice over the Internet by converting it into small digital IP packets from analog signals, so that it could be understood by the computer. The voice is decompressed and reconverted into analog signals before it finally reaches the receiver.
Equipments That Are Needed For Utilizing VoIP Solution:
A residential client would only need a computer or a SIP phone, a sound card, headsets, and an Internet connection in order to make VoIP calls. From the back-end side, all the technical equipments that are required for utilizing VoIP services are owned and maintained by the VoIP service providers. Wholesalers of VoIP procure VoIP minutes from service providers in bulk and then further sell them to resellers. VoIP Wholesale carrier service providers have their own network consisting of equipments like gateways, routers etc. VoIP resellers do not have to make any substantial capital investment for venturing into the voice over IP telephony field. The entire technical part of VoIP services is handled by the providers or wholesalers.
Functionality of VoIP:
1. It is the most cost-effective way of making local, long distance and international calls even while getting the same voice quality as with the traditional mode of calling.
2. It helps in unifying the communication structure of an organization, thereby increasing the productivity along with it.
3. It is mobile. One can take it anywhere along with them and still be able to make calls at the same reduced rates. Not only this, but all the calls will automatically be routed directly to your VoIP number, irrespective of the network from where you are connected to the Internet.
4. VoIP service providers offer other service features free of cost which PSTN providers normally charge for. For instance, call forwarding and call waiting. They increase your businesses functionality.
5. It is easy to integrate your existing services with business VoIP.
The only negative aspect which had hampered the growth of VoIP services the time it was invented is its poor voice quality. However, with time, several improvements have been made as a result of which VoIP solution gives us the same voice quality as with any traditional PSTN service.
Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com/Article/A-Look-into-VoIP-and-Its-Services/285708
Hosted IP Telephony for small businesses, if developed well, should be easy to use, intuitive and simple to install. This makes it a fantastic, easy-entry opportunity into the IP telephony supply and provision space. When it comes to selling hosted telephony there are a number of fundamental principles that will ease the initial process, and help businesses make it a sustainable success for them.
Small businesses will always be focused on cost containment and, of course, price is very important. But, with hosted IP Telephony small businesses can factor-in and focus-on other equally important elements: efficiency, productivity, image and customer responsiveness.
Key features of Hosted IP Telephony
1) The most significant benefit of hosted telephony over-and-above traditional systems is numbering flexibility. Sales pitches and marketing effort should always heavily feature the benefits of flexible numbering. Most businesses may never realise that they can have different dialling codes for a single office regardless of its location. It is also worth remembering that many small businesses relocate as they grow. The ability to retain their numbers, no matter where they relocate to, is an extremely powerful proposition. The voice service provider must know how to port numbers; otherwise a compelling service feature could easily turn into a difficult migration to hosted telephony.
2) Consider central directories as a focus for the product positioning. Hosted services can provide these for businesses; they are accessible on-line and can be used to provide a short code dial plan across multiple sites for fixed lines and mobiles – all this can be set up and managed by the businesses themselves.
3) A Disaster recovery solution isn’t something a small business would ordinarily expect to hear about when purchasing a telephony service! But with the right hosted IP telephony service (one with real time and on-line customer control of call divert and forwarding features), it is very much achievable.
To make utmost use of IP Telephony you need to take care of following factors as well:
Get the broadband right
Broadband access is the foundation of any hosted IP service, so make sure your service is built on a solid foundation. Where possible provide the broadband access through your chosen provider. Make sure the supplier conforms to following qualities.
• The supplier should only serve business users
• They must be VoIP-aware; and can demonstrate that they manage VoIP appropriately across their network
• They should manage VoIP services issue differently to data service issues
• They are peered directly to the hosted platform being used (avoiding any unnecessary network elements and associated degradation)
Ensure availability of bandwidth
Ensure you have the right product for your customer base – i.e. enough available bandwidth for the expected maximum number of calls and for the Codec that is to be used – the program that encodes/decodes the data stream. Always ascertain the availability of bandwidth at the beginning of your sales process.
Know your router
Where there is broadband, there is a router! And where there is a router, there are interoperability considerations. Always try and provide the router and standardise the model and the configuration used. Where you can’t provide the router, then build the likelihood of variation in to your sales and support processes; start by understanding common issues encountered with broadband routers and VoIP.
Find a hosted supplier who takes an interest in access
Although it will always be your responsibility to source and support the correct access where it is not supplied as a part of an end-to-end solution, some hosted suppliers are only interested in their “software” and nothing else.
Use a hosted supplier who provides tools that monitor the status of the broadband line connected to their platform and a supplier that has thought about the common issues surrounding broadband access and has developed a set of support processes around them (line retraining and session drops for example).
Decide whether managed installation is right for you
For multiple user opportunities consider providing a managed installation. This won’t eat in to your cost of sale as it’s a service that can easily be charged for (and a model that is successfully being used by a number of providers). The upfront effort of managing an installation always pays off in the long run; a correct and known configuration across all service components means less support calls and headaches.
Having someone on site installing the service also provides a very valuable opportunity to train the customer on using the service. More importantly it’s an opportunity to show the user, according to their behaviour and requirements, how to get the most out of their new hosted system. This reinforces customer loyalty and could even be enhanced with a follow up review.
For single user or SoHo installations a managed install would be inappropriate, but the installation has to go right for customer to stay with the product. Make sure you always follow up orders with a support call. Be ready to help customers who are having installation problems – create a robust telephone support process to help users get the installation right. Do this through having an in depth understanding the common issues that will be encountered – this is something your hosted IP telephony supplier should be able to help with!
Stanley Gallor is a contributing author at Gamma Telecom, the provider of various voice services including IP Telephony to UK and International operators.
Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com/Article/Making-A-Success-Of-Hosted-IP-Telephony-For-Small-Businesses/441193
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