Does your call center have a mission? If you don’t have a mission statement, now is the time to develop one. Start today; don’t delay. A practical mission statement will support and guide your staff; don’t let them flounder. Remember the proverb, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” If you already have a […]
Measure Service from the Caller’s Point of View, Not Just by Metrics Does your call center make the caller and patient a priority? I expect it does. In fact, I suspect the phrase “quality service” is in your mission or vision statement, or even on your bulletin board. But do you actually provide quality customer […]
My Answer in Haiku Linking letters and wielding words to create art for God, my patron [This poem was selected as a finalist for the literary publication Imagine This! An ArtPrize Anthology, published in the fall of 2013.]
This year, marks my sixth year of blogging, with my original blog, Musings, still online, although I’ve moved it a few times. Lately, however, it hasn’t had much activity, with my focus shifting to my other blogs. Over the years, Musings has had various taglines; here are the ones I remember: Musings have over 500 […]
Many healthcare call centers are decentralized, linking multiple centers together and embracing home-based agents. While there are many advantages with home-based agents, the risks are great for those who rush into it without careful planning. Here are some considerations: 1) Formulate a Clear Policy: Your call center either has agents who already work from home […]
When using the Internet, it’s critical to be aware of the risks. You don’t want to take a naive approach toward security on your telephone answering service’s computers. Computer security is a complex issue, deserving serious attention. At the risk of oversimplification, here are some simple guidelines to follow: There is much more to these […]
If you work on the frontlines at your call center, you already know what I’m about to say: The Affordable Care Act (ACA) – more commonly referred to as Obamacare – has people upset. As a result, the number of frustrated, angry, and even hostile people you talk to every day has increased. The bad […]
For years, some answering service owners have pursued remote operator stations, while others have avoided them with staunch opposition. For the TAS, the benefits of remote operators are many, including running multiple offices from one system, tapping into new labor markets, and hiring qualified but homebound staff. For employees, the advantages also abound. They include […]
Although the number varies with who’s doing the telling, it’s many times more costly to obtain a new customer than to keep an existing one. The sad reality is, though, no one at the giant mega corporations gets this – or at least their actions belie that they do. For years, I’ve been trying to […]
I’ve been thinking about self-service lately. Self-service works nicely when I want general information. But when I seek to resolve an issue with a product, service, or bill, online self-service is more likely to frustrate than help. In those cases, a phone number is what I want – a phone number answered by trained agents […]