#call handling

A typical mid-sized HVAC shop quietly walks away from about $53,779 a year in after-hours revenue. Average job value of $450, a 2.5x emergency multiplier, ten missed calls a week. The money doesn't show up on any P&L because it never enters the business.

Jane Blanchard, who leads brand and marketing at ServiceForge, said the assumption that those calls go to the biggest franchise is wrong. "It ultimately goes to whoever picks up. You don't have to be the biggest business in town to win that call — but you do need to be the one that picks up."

AI isn't the fix. One in three callers hangs up when they reach AI on a business line. At 11 p.m. on a no-heat call, people want a human. Blanchard's frame: AI is a workflow tool — appointment reminders, transcriptions, summaries — not a relationship tool.

The missed-call windows aren't the 3 a.m. ones owners assume. They're 6–9 a.m. (people calling before work), lunch hour, and 5–9 p.m. Owners don't call those "after-hours." Customers do, because the phone isn't getting picked up.

Web forms have a 30-minute shelf life. Homeowners submit to three or four shops at once. Whoever calls back first, qualifies, and books wins.

The starting move: pull one week of call data, count what came in outside your hours. The number tends to do the rest of the work.

Photo by Crew If you have ever travelled to the USA, you know that customer service attitudes are generally excellent, especially in the service industry. Why? Because almost all service industry employees rely heavily on their tips as part of their income. So, no matter how bad a day you are having, you will put on a smile to nail the 20% tip. Also, in the USA, job security does not exist.…

In today's fast-paced business environment, effective communication is vital for success. However, managing incoming phone calls can be challenging, especially for busy professionals or growing businesses. This is where an answering service can prove to be a valuable solution.

Ahhhhhh, 1989 ‘twas a good year……

Nick Faldo became the first English winner of the Golf Masters Tournament

The Ford Escort was Britain’s best-selling car for the eighth consecutive year

Yuppie’s rejoiced with the release of the first pocket-sized flip phone

That iconic Manchester album by the Stone Roses made its debut

Selby Marketing came to existence

1989 was also the year that put The North firmly on the map.  Amidst the bangin’ tuuunes, baggy jeans, flourescent attire and jangly guitar riffs of the Second Summer of Love, there was something else making a bit of noise.  A certain Mrs Selby was getting requests coming in from Marketing folk left, right and centre to set up her own handling and fulfilment centre – she listened.

In the small town of Ashton Under Lyne, on the outskirts of Manchester, there was a hive of activity in a dining room where at the time, lines of communication were pretty much telephone and (ahem…) letter!  Whilst the communication in 1989 didn’t move quickly, Selby’s did!  Requests for fulfilment came in thick and fast and the (then) micro team soon moved into more suitable premises – there’s only so many boxes and staff you can fit in a teeny dining room, isn’t there?

Selby’s celebrates 30 years this year.

Still listening to our clients all these years later has stood us in good stead. Because we’re all eyes and ears when a promotional handling brief drops in (by telephone and email, notably) and having all those years of experience, we’re always happy to offer those pearls of wisdom we’ve acquired to our clients.  “No” is a word we very rarely use however we’ll always be honest and say what is achievable – being straight-talking Northerners, we feel it best to tell it like it is.

Clichéd?  Maybe, but we couldn’t have made our 30 years of trading without the help of our clients – we literally couldn’t!  How else could we push the boundaries of our fulfilment services without their requests?  There’s a world of difference between an outright “No” and “Leave it with us, we’ll take a look at it”.  

Being winners of the much coveted Handling & Fulfilment award with the IPM industry recognised COGS Awards, has seen us building up our trophy cabinet as we go along our journey.  As realists though, we know it’s not always possible to shine the spotlight on every job we do. Sometimes we just have to stay incognito too.  Discretion about the work we do has earned us a lot of trust over the years.  Masters of invisibility, we still offer email and telephone contact centres to compliment the promotions we handle on behalf of our clients, giving them the complete package.

Customer Service Standard Procedure

“There is only one boss in a business – the Customer! And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman to the staff, simply by spending his money elsewhere. (Sam Walton – Founder Walmart).

What is Customer Service?

Customer service is the process of ensuring customer satisfaction with a product or service. More often, customer service takes place while performing a transaction for the…