Author: Peter Lyle DeHaan

Author Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD, publishes books about business, customer service, the call center industry, and business and writing.

Categories
Telephone Answering Service

Match AI Technology with Answering Service Strategy

AI Answering Service Strategy

Embrace Artificial Intelligence to Help You Meet Your Goals More Effectively

By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD

Many people worry about how artificial intelligence (AI) might impact our world, including their telephone answering service (TAS) business. They fear AI will emerge as a disruptive force that fundamentally changes their day-to-day operations. It probably will.

Author Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD

But there’s no need to fear AI. Instead embrace it. The key is to align the promise of AI with your business strategy. Tap this burgeoning technology to better accomplish your goals for your TAS operation.

Here are some scenarios to consider.

Basic Service

Some clients are on a budget. They know voicemail won’t cut it, but they only need the basics of name, number, and message. They view anything more as frivolous. AI can come to the rescue. This will first be in supplementing the work of your staff, with an eventual potential to replace much of their work, but not all.

Low-Cost Service

If your answering service strategy is to be a low-cost provider, AI will be a great tool to help you save on labor costs, while still providing the level of service your clients want and expect and pay for.

But don’t expect AI to replace your staff. Instead view it as a tool to help your agents do more in less time and to do it better with greater ease.

The result is that AI will help you maintain your low-cost paradigm and maximize it for your clients’ benefit.

Premium Service

A third consideration is the value-added approach. Your goal is to offer more than your competition. In the past, the premium service strategy drove up payroll, not only in needing more staff but also in paying them more.

In offering premium service, however, there comes a point of diminishing returns. At some level, clients will balk at paying more for the extra value. They’ll decide it’s not worth a higher bill, no matter how much better your service is.

In this instance, you can tap AI to handle supplemental activities that increase the value of your service without growing your payroll. This can be on both the front end and the back end. Use your imagination. Get creative.

Summary

These three examples show how AI can help you achieve your answering service strategy in a cost-effective way. But these are just the starting points. Develop your ideal service strategy, and then look at how AI can help you better achieve it, not the other way around.

Learn more in Peter Lyle DeHaan’s book, How to Start a Telephone Answering Service.

Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD, is the publisher and editor-in-chief of TAS Trader, covering the telephone answering service industry. Check out his books How to Start a Telephone Answering Service and Sticky Customer Service.

Categories
Writing and Publishing

Do-It-Yourself Marketing

Do it yourself marketing, by Peter DeHaan

After several years of unsuccessfully hiring book marketing experts, I realized I had two choices. The first was to not do any book promotion. The other was to do it myself.

With great reticence, I decided to do it myself. I did this knowing it would detract from my writing and reduce my output.

I looked at the conventional book promotion strategies of traditional book publishers, all the while suspecting that much of it no longer applies in today’s rapidly changing publishing landscape.

I made a list.

Next, I added what leading indie-published authors were doing. Some of the items seem doable and others turned my stomach; just thinking about them made me nauseous.

Then I divided the list into three categories: the yes list, the maybe list, and the no list.

My yes list included all the marketing I was open to do. The second list of maybe items contained activities I was willing to do if needed. And the final list, which contained my no tasks, were things I was unwilling to do, my non negotiables.

With clarity in place, I set about developing a book marketing strategy that would tap into my yes list and avoid my no list. It’s what works for me, and it may work for you.

Takeaway

Do the marketing activities you’re willing to do and avoid the ones that suck the life out of you. This won’t maximize sales, but it will keep you moving forward in a healthy way for the long term.

Learn more about writing and publishing in Peter’s book: Successful Author FAQs: Discover the Art of Writing, the Business of Publishing, and the Joy of Wielding Words. Get your copy today.

Peter Lyle DeHaan is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book Successful Author FAQs for insider tips and insights.

Categories
Healthcare Call Centers

Finish This Year Strong

How We Conclude One Year Prepares Us for the Next

By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD

How has this year been in your healthcare call center? I suspect you’re ready for it to end. Though you may feel that way every year, the magnitude may be more pronounced this year.

Author Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD

All the rapid changes and stressors in the healthcare industry pile on additional burdens on the call centers that support them. Practitioners expect you to do more, and patients want you to do it better.

You’re stuck in the middle. In addition, there are staffing issues, employee compensation expectations, and budget constraints.

In situations like these the tenancy is often to merely hold on for the rest of the year and enjoy whatever holiday respite you can squeeze out. You won’t think about—or worry about—next year until the time comes.

But I encourage you to do just the opposite.

Strive to finish this year strong. Though you may feel like coasting, don’t. Continue the momentum you have behind you to make the most of this year’s remaining days. This will best set you up for success next year. Doesn’t everyone want that?

Here are some ideas to help you finish this year strong:

Enjoy This Season

Though your work is important, it’s not everything. At least it shouldn’t be. Take time to enjoy this holiday season in your nonwork moments. And whenever you have the opportunity, enjoy the holidays at work too.

Remember the adage about all work and no play. Don’t be that person.

Thank Your Staff

Just because Thanksgiving in the United States has passed, doesn’t mean the time of being thankful is behind us. Take the time to thank your staff. Be intentional.

In a job that is short on appreciation and too often focused on criticism, a heartfelt thank you can go a long way to let your staff know you care.

Smile whenever you can. Do this even when you don’t feel like it—especially if you don’t feel like it. Smiles are contagious. Never forget that. Let your countenance communicate your thankfulness throughout the day, even when you don’t say the words.

Celebrate Your Stakeholders

Remember why you do the work you do. It’s to help others in better addressing their healthcare needs and making their life better. Without them you wouldn’t have a job. Don’t forget to celebrate them.

The patients and callers who contact you every day are your biggest group of stakeholders.

Yes, they may be crabby at times and occasionally critical. But use this as a reminder to know how important the services you provide are to them and their lives. After all, if what you did for them didn’t matter, they wouldn’t care how you did it.

Your stakeholders also include your boss, your employer, and your organization—be it a for profit business or a nonprofit entity. These are all stakeholders in your call center operation. Celebrate them, all of them.

Wrap Up What You Can

As you go about these initiatives, look at your project list. Surely you won’t be able to finish them all this year but resist the urge to let them all carry forward to next.

Each thing you can knock off this year is one less thing on your plate for next. And won’t that be a relief knowing that it won’t be hanging over your head in the coming twelve months?

Conclusion

To finish this year strong, remember to first enjoy the season. As you do, thank your staff, and celebrate your stakeholders. Last wrap up whatever pending projects you can so that they don’t dog you into next year.

When you take these steps, you’ll be poised to finish this year strong, paving the way for success next year.

Read more in Peter Lyle DeHaan’s Healthcare Call Center Essentials, available in hardcover, paperback, and e-book.

Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD, is the publisher and editor-in-chief of AnswerStat and Medical Call Center News covering the healthcare call center industry. Read his latest book, Sticky Customer Service.

Categories
Writing and Publishing

Hiring Marketing Experts

Hiring marketing experts, by Peter DeHaan

Hiring someone to market our books seems like a logical decision. After all, we hire professionals to edit our books and design our covers, so why not book marketing too?

This is exactly what I thought and precisely what I did. Over the years I’ve hired a book launch expert, a publicist, a book marketing consultant, and an SEO (search engine optimization) guru, a social media specialist, and a book marketing professional.

Each one was a complete failure. I was never able to directly attribute a single book sale to the tens of thousands of dollars I spent hiring them. Nor did I ever see an overall bump in book sales during their time with me.

The only hire that came close to working out was the book ads expert. After three months of losses, the fourth month generated more attributable book sales than ad costs. Yet once I paid the fee for their services, I still lost money.

Now I run my own ads. I also do all the other needed book marketing activities—even though I don’t want to.

Takeaway: Though authors can hire professionals to cover many areas, finding an effective book marketer may not be one of them.

Learn more about writing and publishing in Peter’s book: Successful Author FAQs: Discover the Art of Writing, the Business of Publishing, and the Joy of Wielding Words. Get your copy today.

Peter Lyle DeHaan is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book Successful Author FAQs for insider tips and insights.

Categories
Call Center

Don’t Forget the Human Touch

Technology May Save Money but Human Agents Make the Difference

By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D.

We’ve been hearing a lot about artificial intelligence (AI), and we’re going to hear a lot more about it. Some claim AI is the future of the call center industry, saving money and retaining business.

Others fear it’s the end of customer service as we know it. Neither is right, nor are they both wrong.

Author Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD

But AI isn’t the only technology in our call centers. We have digital assistants to help our agents and automated bots to help our customers. Before that we had interactive voice response (IVR) and auto-attendant solutions.

Regardless of the technology or the era it comes from, each innovation brought with it the inherent promise to speed resolutions and reduce labor expenses. To some degree, they accomplished this. Yet they also fell short of meeting expectations.

In most cases, however, the implementation of technology has brought with it a corresponding ire of the customers it’s supposed to help.

In some cases, technology—especially AI—can make a real mess of things. When this happens, human intervention is the only way to correct the problem. This assumes, of course, that people are available to intercede to fix technology’s error.

Here are some things human agents can do that technology can’t do or can’t do well:

Correct Miscommunication

Technology struggles to correct its mistakes. When it determines what path to take, it persists on that course even if it’s the wrong one.

Often, miscommunication devolves into such a quagmire that the simplest approach—sometimes the only one—is to terminate communication and start over later.

Yet this is an ideal time for human intervention to clarify the customer’s concern and redirect action toward the right solution. This means that human agents need to have the ability to override technology. They also need to have both the training and confidence to know when to do so.

Calm Frustrated Customers

Technology isn’t good at realizing when customers are upset and responding in a truly comforting way.

Though through algorithms, AI can detect anger or frustration, customers will likely discern any attempt to diffuse their concerns as disingenuous. This will escalate their tension, not defuse it.

A successful outcome requires a real person, someone who will listen, comprehend, and offer sympathy. Though no human agent can accomplish this all the time, their chance of success is much higher than that of a machine,

Respond to Complex Issues

Convoluted problems can escape the ability of AI to accurately comprehend and successfully navigate. This is especially true when a situation is unique, something AI has not yet encountered and never will again. Yet human ingenuity shines in these situations.

Offer Empathy

Sometimes customers feel a need to vent. Ironically, this is often over the failure of technological solutions to appropriately address their concern. Though AI can determine the need to give an apology and mimic the right words to say, can it do so with empathy?

Will the customer feel they were heard? Will the response come across as sincere?

A person has a much better chance of doing this successfully than a computer.

Conclusion

Though AI technology will continue to improve, causing fewer problems and producing more satisfyingly complete solutions, don’t plan on replacing your staff. Though you will not need as many, you will need some.

And the skill set of these super agents will carry higher requirements than current ones.

Being able to offer the human touch will distinguish contact centers from their technology-only counterparts.

In an era when technology surrounds us and threatens to overwhelm, a human customer service agent stands as a core distinction between offering solutions that are close versus ones that are comprehensive and complete.

Don’t forget to offer the personal touch of a human agent to best serve customers whenever needed.

Read more in Peter’s Sticky Series books: Sticky Leadership and Management, Sticky Sales and Marketing, and Sticky Customer Service featuring his compelling story-driven insights and tips.

Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD, is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Connections Magazine, covering the call center teleservices industry. Read his latest book, Healthcare Call Center Essentials.

Categories
Healthcare Call Centers

Is Your Call Center Centralized?

A Decentralized Call Center Is an Oxymoron

By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD

In the early days of our industry, the label call center fit perfectly. We handled calls from a central location. This was necessitated by the platform we used, which we installed in our office. It consisted of physical hardware to switch calls and network our computers.

Author Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD

Centralized

The physical limitations of our call center equipment required that all agent stations be onsite. It was impractical, if not impossible, to connect an offsite workstation.

Because of this configuration, both our practices and management styles emerged from the idea of everyone working as a team from a centralized operations room.

Though calls could originate from anywhere, they all ended up in one place. Our staff handled them with ease and effectiveness. It was efficient and easy to manage.

Multilocation

With the advent of the internet, it became possible to connect a second location to the centralized telephone platform. Though the offsite agent experience was often not as fast or as reliable as its onsite counterpart, it did, nonetheless, allow for the first wave of a decentralized call center to occur.

This simple change, however, revealed some weaknesses in how we did business.

First, managing staff in two locations required a different management style. The informal—yet proven—management-by-walking-around approach was great in a centralized environment.

Yet not being able to be in two places at once, the manager effectively ignored the staff at the other location. Though some employees worked well without direct in-person oversight, others did not. Too often quality struggled and productivity dropped.

The other issue was out of sight, out of mind. Leaving a box of donuts in the break room as a “thank you” to the staff, dismissed the employees at the second location.

The proven communication technique of posting notices on a physical bulletin board ignored staff at the second site.

And holding an office potluck became more problematic, resulting in further division as opposed to enhancing comradery. Too often, an us-versus-them mentality emerged between two sparring locations.

Yet over time, wise managers adjusted their management style and operational practices to equally embrace employees at both locations.

Home Based

As hosted systems, also called SaaS (Software as a Service), became available, the longstanding dream of many a manager at last became a viable reality.

What was this grand vision? A truly distributed workforce where every employee could work at a different location, such as their own home. In truth, any location with a stable internet connection could become an effective remote agent station.

Though some resisted this opportunity, citing HIPAA and data security concerns, others already had procedures in place to effectively deal with this. And when the pandemic hit, forcing many call centers to close or pivot, some easily switched to a 100 percent home-based operation.

Hybrid

Though some call centers today continue to operate solely in one of these three operational models, most take a hybrid approach.

In this fully decentralized call center model, some staff work in a central office, other employees operate from a second location, and still others work from their home offices. This allows for the greatest efficiency and flexibility.

In this way, our operation benefits, our organization benefits, and our patients and callers benefit. Having a distributed operation is an ideal situation, even if we still refer to it as a call center.

Read more in Peter Lyle DeHaan’s Healthcare Call Center Essentials, available in hardcover, paperback, and e-book.

Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD, is the publisher and editor-in-chief of AnswerStat and Medical Call Center News covering the healthcare call center industry. Read his latest book, Sticky Customer Service.

Categories
Writing and Publishing

Using a Book Advance for Marketing

Using Your Advance for Marketing - NOT

Some publishers strongly suggested that authors use their advance for marketing their book. Though this sounds reasonable, my advice is not to do it unless you have a long-term reason for it.

First, let’s talk about advances. An advance for a book was originally intended as money for the author to live on as they wrote their book.

Nowadays, fiction books must be completed before a publisher offers a contract. Many nonfiction authors also write their book before signing a publishing agreement. Therefore, needing an advance to cover living expenses while writing the book is no longer an issue.

Over time the advances have reportedly decreased to the mid to low four figures. I even know of one publisher who routinely offers $100 advances, though I do question their ethics.

Though you are understandably disappointed about your low advance, it’s not unusual.

This brings us to your publisher’s request to use your meager advance to market your book. The worry is that if your first book doesn’t sell well, they’ll never offer a contract for your second one. Spending your advance to market your first book to ensure a second book is published may be a move you want to make. Just know that the second book contract is not guaranteed.

Consider, however, the reality of book publishing. Most traditionally published books don’t earn out. This means there’s never enough book sales to offset the advance. Therefore, the writer never earns one penny of royalties.

As a result, for most traditionally published authors, the advance is the only money they’ll ever earn from their book. Though you may be an exception to this, the odds are that you won’t.

Do you really want to spend all your book’s earnings on marketing?

Take away: Though there is no right answer, consider carefully how you use your book advance for marketing.

Learn more about writing and publishing in Peter’s book: Successful Author FAQs: Discover the Art of Writing, the Business of Publishing, and the Joy of Wielding Words. Get your copy today.

Peter Lyle DeHaan is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book Successful Author FAQs for insider tips and insights.

Categories
Telephone Answering Service

The Allure of a Hosted System

Now May Be the Time to Say Goodbye to Your Premise-Based System and Move into the Future

By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD

Hosted telephone answering service systems have been around for a long time. Though many operations have praised the benefits of using a hosted system and switched to them, other services have been resistant to make the change.

Author and blogger Peter Lyle DeHaan

In contrast to a premise-based system, which you buy, install, and maintain in your office, a hosted system lives off site that you access remotely via the internet. This requires a mental mind shift from how things have always been to a new way of doing business, but it may be time to embrace that change.

Here are some benefits to consider when looking at a hosted platform to replace your premise-based system.

Financial Advantages

With a premise-based system you have a sizable capital investment to make, which is a balance sheet item. You must deal with financing and depreciation. A hosted system is a monthly expense, which occurs on your income statement. Check with your tax consultant for details, but most services realize a financial advantage by going with a hosted system.

Always Up to Date

When you buy an answering service system, it’s expensive to keep it current, running on the latest version. Though some upgrades come at no cost, others may carry an expense. And even with a maintenance agreement, some upgrades may not be covered. Contrast this to a hosted system, which is always up to date and running the latest software.

Save on Maintenance Costs

System maintenance on a hosted system is covered by your monthly service fee. There is no need for a maintenance contract or to hire expensive IT personnel. Though you will still have operator terminals to deal with, the room full of equipment and the need to keep it running at all times is gone.

Improve Reliability

With real time backup systems and the fault-tolerant infrastructure inherent with the hosted system, the threat of downtime is greatly reduced compared to an on-site system. This isn’t to say downtime will never occur, because it’s a reality with any technology, but it’s much less likely than with a premise-based system.

Free Up Facility Space

How large is your equipment room? Imagine freeing up that space for other uses. Yes, you will still have some equipment in your office, but it’s more likely to fit on a shelf in the closet than take up a full room.

Eliminate Parts Inventory

To minimize downtime with your on-site system, you must maintain an inventory of all critical spare parts. This is a costly investment that offers no benefit other than to give you peace of mind, with the potential to decrease the length of system downtime.

Slash Telco Costs

With a hosted TAS system, you also cut your telephone costs, as most of that shifts to your provider and is covered by your monthly invoice. Yes, you may still have some office phone lines or an emergency backup landline, but that’s minimal compared to your current telephone answering service expenses.

Reduce Utility Expenses

A premise-based system consumes a lot of electricity to run 24/7. When you remove that equipment from your office you also eliminate that expense. A parallel issue is backup power in the form of a UPS system and generator. With a hosted system, these can be much smaller and may not be needed at all.

Something that’s often overlooked, however, is that your premise-based system generates a lot of heat. This carries with it an air conditioning cost to dissipate that heat. If you don’t keep your equipment room cool, your system will overheat, causing increased downtime and reducing system life expectancy.

Conclusion

For all these many benefits, a hosted system deserves thoughtful consideration for your telephone answering service. If you’re still not sure about this, just ask someone who’s already made the switch.

Learn more in Peter Lyle DeHaan’s book, How to Start a Telephone Answering Service.

Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD, is the publisher and editor-in-chief of TAS Trader, covering the telephone answering service industry. Check out his books How to Start a Telephone Answering Service and Sticky Customer Service.

Categories
Healthcare Call Centers

6 Keys to Produce a Happy and Effective Workforce

Address These Critical Items to Better Retain Staff and Serve Callers

By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D.

Operating a successful call center in the healthcare industry is hard. There is a never-ending tension to balance the expectations of patients and callers with the needs of operational staff, all the while remaining fiscally viable.

Author and blogger Peter Lyle DeHaan

Here are six tips to help you produce a happy and effective workforce to keep your operation running smoothly and efficiently.

Compensation Package

I’ve never talked with anyone who thinks they’re overpaid. And only a few people ever think they receive appropriate pay. Most think they deserve more.

Ask any call center employee what’s most important to them in their work and they’ll likely say their compensation. They work to earn money so they can cover their needs and wants.

Though their actual paycheck is a big part of their compensation package, they’re also looking for other benefits such as healthcare coverage and provisions for time off, including vacation, sick days, and personal time.

Though you could bust your budget trying to provide the compensation package your employees think they deserve and expect you to provide, you don’t need to do so if you address other less tangible workplace related items.

Provide a competitive compensation package, along with covering the next five items will help you produce a happy and effective workforce.

Managerial Support

Employees want to feel the support of their supervisors and managers. This starts with listening to what they say and showing them you care.

Let them know you understand what it’s like to answer phone calls all day long. You do know this, right? When they see you periodically sit down and take calls like the rest of them, it will do much to garner their attention and gain their respect.

Appreciation

Most managers say they appreciate their staff. But how often do they take the time to actually tell their employees? How often do they do things to show it?

This doesn’t need to be anything expensive or spectacular. I once had a boss who each payday would look me in the eye, hand me my paycheck, and say, “thank you.” He did this for every employee.

Though I was too often frustrated with him in other areas, I had no doubt he appreciated me and my work.

Though this might be hard to implement if your call center operates 24/7, look for creative ways to produce the same results. And if your staff receives their pay and documentation electronically, look for other opportunities to make eye contact and sincerely say, “thank you.”

Scheduling

Appropriately staffing a call center is a tricky issue. You need to have the right number of people working to efficiently handle the calls and other communications that come in.

If you don’t have enough people present, those who are there will end their shift exhausted, frazzled, and frustrated. Yet if you have too many people working, your labor costs will escalate, and you’ll be over budget.

Seek to find a scheduling balance that doesn’t overwork your staff or tax your budget. When developing a schedule be considerate of the needs of your employees.

If they rely on public transportation to get to work, don’t schedule them on days or times when they’ll have trouble getting to work or making it home. If they go to school, be sure to work around their schedule.

Workload

Call center employees who move continuously from one call to the next throughout their entire shift are less likely—and less able—to give their best to every caller every time.

They’ll soon grow immune to the number of calls in queue and plod through their day from one call to the next. Yet if they have too much idle time between calls, they’ll become bored, and their focus will wane. This doesn’t provide for good customer service either.

Instead, strive to develop a schedule that will give your call center staff a balanced workload that is just right, neither too busy nor too slow. It will make their shift go by quicker and produce better results.

Shared Vision

The final item, having a shared vision, is by no means the least important. In fact, when you and your call center staff share a compelling vision about what you’re doing and what you want to accomplish, the first five points on this list become not as important.

This doesn’t mean you can ignore those items, but when you have a shared vision with your staff, they may be a bit more open to overlooking shortcomings in other areas.

Produce a Happy and Effective Workforce

Though it takes work to produce a happy and effective workforce for your call center, it can happen. Follow these six tips to move you closer to achieving that goal.

Read more in Peter Lyle DeHaan’s Healthcare Call Center Essentials, available in hardcover, paperback, and e-book.

Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD, is the publisher and editor-in-chief of AnswerStat and Medical Call Center News covering the healthcare call center industry. Read his latest book, Sticky Customer Service.

Categories
Writing and Publishing

Writing and Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Writing and Artificial Intelligence

When most people think about using artificial intelligence to write, their mind goes to people who may abuse the technology. Yes, some people will use AI to churn out sub-par books. But don’t worry about them.

Instead, look to how you use AI. View AI as a tool to help you write better, just like word processing software or spell and grammar checkers.

Your goal as a writer should be to produce the best possible book you can to delight your readers, be it to entertain or educate. Use AI tools to help achieve this goal, and don’t worry about others who may misuse it.

If you tap AI as a writing tool to enhance your work, you can be satisfied that you’re properly using it and not abusing it. Then, with a clear conscience, you can move forward to produce excellent work, which should be the goal of every writer.

Takeaway: Embrace AI as a tool to help you write better, and don’t worry about how others may use—or abuse—it.

Learn more about writing and publishing in Peter’s book: Successful Author FAQs: Discover the Art of Writing, the Business of Publishing, and the Joy of Wielding Words. Get your copy today.

Peter Lyle DeHaan is an author, blogger, and publisher with over 30 years of writing and publishing experience. Check out his book Successful Author FAQs for insider tips and insights.