The Micro Call Centre

Do you have a sales team? A help-desk or technical support function? Do you take enquiries from customers over the phone?

If so, then you already have a call centre, even if you don't think about it in those terms. Most small businesses that do business using the phone would benefit from functionality traditionally used by large enterprise call centres. With a modern PABX like trixbox Pro, you can have access to this technology too.

But what about personal service? I don't want to sound like a call centre!

You don't have to lose that personal touch when using technology. In fact, using advanced call centre featues can help you get call to the right person, first time and make you sound more professional.

Never let a customer hear an engaged signal.

The most frustrating thing a caller can hear is an engaged signal. Adopting some of the strategies that big call centres do can help you answer more calls with the same number of staff. Your strategy for dealing with these calls is up to you, but you could:

1. Route calls to other staff members
2. Route calls to staff mobile phones
3. Put them in a queue, and let them know you'll be with them shortly
4. Give them the option of leaving a message for someone to call them back.

Don't make customers wait if they don't need to.

Often phone calls are people asking simple questions, such as opening hours, directions to the store etc. In these cases, it can be better for everyone if you play a recorded message.

For example, "You've reached Jane's Flowers. If you're looking for directions to our store, or want to hear our opening hours, press 1, otherwise hold and we'll put you through to Jane"

Handle After Hours enquiries gracefully

Rather than letting the phone ring-out after hours, use this as an opportunity to display outstanding customer service.

For eample, "You've reached Jim's Trailers. We're closed right now, but will open again at 7am tomorrow. If you'd like to leave a message, press 1 now and we'll call you back first thing in the morning. If this is an emergency, and you'd like to talk to our road-side service team, press 2 now."

Get calls to the best person first go.

As a customer, there's nothing worse than explaining your problem to someone, just to be transferred to another person and having to explain it all over again. Using trixbox Pro, there are many ways you can use call centre functionality to get calls to the right person first go.

1. Separate in-dial numbers Use a different number for support than you do for sale. 1300 and 1800 numbers are far less expensive than they used to be, so using specialised numbers can help get calls to the right person.
2. Use an IVR. Let the PABX answer the call and play a message like: "Hi, you've reached Smith's Recruitment. To help us answer your call, if you're an employer please press 1, If you're a job seeker, please press 2."
3. Use the Caller ID and a modern CRM system to identify the person, and route the call directly to their nominated account manager.

These features and many others are available in trixbox's Call Centre and Unified Agent Editions. If you have a micro call centre, and would like some advice on how technology can help you better service your customers, please talk to one of our experienced consultants.