Suicide Prevention Lifeline phone number: What you need to know for your system
In July 2020, a potentially life-saving law was signed into effect to help prevent suicides. The three-digit emergency number is 9-8-8. It’s a wonderful idea and will hopefully help many people.
In July 2020, a potentially life-saving law was signed into effect to help prevent suicides. The three-digit emergency number is 9-8-8. It’s a wonderful idea and will hopefully help many people.
However, 988 is also a prefix for many area codes including local numbers in our 530 and 707 area. How does your business acclimate?
9-8-8 vs 988
Because 988 is a prefix for several locations, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has mandated 10-digit dialing NATIONWIDE. Ten-digit dialing starts on April 24 and will be mandatory by October 24, 2021. At that point, a call will not be completed unless the full 10-digit phone number is used. 988 goes live July 16, 2022.
What you need to do
Modify speed dials/call forwarding. Anyone using one-touch buttons, speed dial bins or programmed offsite forwarding will need to adjust to include the full 10-digit number.
Modify ARS. Sites with PRI or SIP Trunk programs will need to be adjusted.
Modify existing phone systems. Many phone systems have been programmed to send seven-digit local numbers, dropping the area code. Now the area code is needed.
Test with your Carrier. Some carriers will also need the +1 added. We have seen this in Sacramento, California, where 10-digit dialing has already been activated.
Expand your emergency numbers list. Gaynor Telesystems recommends that your company considers adding 9-8-8 to the list of emergency numbers that automatically trigger notifications to the authorities. In fact, Mitel is planning on adding this number to the default database.
Gaynor Telesystems is available to help with whatever support you may need.
Please contact us for additional information.
For more information, review these resources:
What is Kari’s Law and why is it important to you and your business?
Imagine being in an office building or a government institution. There are phones – landlines – everywhere. The kind that have cords that plug into the wall. Or maybe you’re in a hotel and there, on the bedside table or desk, is a phone. How quaint, you think.
Imagine being in an office building or a government institution. There are phones – landlines – everywhere. The kind that have cords that plug into the wall. Or maybe you’re in a hotel and there, on the bedside table or desk, is a phone. How quaint, you think.
In fact, landlines remain popular for many places like hotels because they offer greater security. While you prefer your Galaxy or iPhone, landlines can actually identify a person’s exact location rather than just the estimated area provided by a mobile device. That matters, especially in emergency situations. What also matters is that when using a landline to summon help in an emergency, dialing ‘9’ to get an outside line is no longer required.
On January 23, 2017, Congress enacted the bill H.R. 582. Known as Kari’s Law Act, it was signed into law on February 16, 2018. It requires direct dialing of 911, without dialing ‘9’ first, from offices, government institutions, educational facilities, hotels, and more. It also dictated that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) develop 911 calling regulations for multi-line telephone systems. These multi-line systems, known as MLTS, are the most common landline systems used in offices, governments, education, and hotels.
What is Kari’s Law?
Kari’s Law is named for Kari Hunt Dunn, a young mother who was stabbed to death by her estranged husband in 2013. The incident took place in the bathroom of a Texas hotel. With Mrs. Dunn at the time was her 9-year-old daughter who frantically tried to call 911 from the hotel bedroom, but was unable to because she didn’t know to first dial ‘9’ for an outside line.
The enacting of this law will now make such a tragedy avoidable. This applies to all landlines including multi-line telephone systems. And it means that any business that utilizes the practice of dialing ‘9’ to reach an outside line, and any business that has an operational MLTS, must comply.
The FCC has also created rules, pursuant to Ray Baum’s Act also signed into law in 2018, for the dispatching of precise location information.
What should you do?
The law requires compliance by February 2020. While that may seem very soon, there is still time to do what you need to in order to make sure your phone systems allow for emergency calls with the universally understood ‘911’.
Create a checklist.
Disable any prefix (like ‘9’) within your office/hotel phone system.
Implement notifications to all personnel when emergency services have been contacted. This can be done via email, SMS/Text, or phone call.
Sounds easy enough, right?
Bottom line
If your business operates with a multi-line telephone system that requires dialing an additional number to reach an outside line, you must allow for emergency calls from anywhere within your business with just ‘911.’ Your system must also be able to provide notification of the call and the exact location the call emanates from. On-site notifications will also allow your employees to help until outside help arrives.
If your organization has yet to comply with Kari’s Law, contact us. We can help you achieve compliance while keeping your company secure and your employees and guests safe.
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What an NEC Phone Systems Expert Can Do for Your Business
Gaynor Telesystems has been an NEC telephone system dealer/integrator for 40 years! NEC manufactures a very cost effective, user friendly, and feature rich unified communication systems that will streamline many business communications within your office. First let’s look at some of the common business communication examples and how a new NEC unified communications system can solve them.
Gaynor Telesystems has been an NEC telephone system dealer/integrator for 40 years! NEC manufactures a very cost effective, user friendly, and feature rich unified communication systems that will streamline many business communications within your office. First let’s look at some of the common business communication examples and how a new NEC unified communications system can solve them.
Processing incoming customer calls and how to route that call to the right worker and satisfy the customer’s needs.
A technical call comes into the receptionist that the company engineer needs to answer. Your company engineer is out of the office overseeing a project. No problem, with NEC’s mobile extension application the receptionist simply transfers the call to the engineer’s cell phone mobile extension. With a consultative transfer the receptionist tells the engineer what the call is regarding and then transfers.
After the engineer answers the customer’s question the customer has a question regarding their current invoice. Again no problem, the NEC phone systems still have control of that call. This application is more than call forwarding, and the engineer simply presses *# on their cell phone and transfers the call to accounts payable back at the office to answer the customer’s question about their invoice.
Instead of playing phone tag you can see that the mobile extension application simply allows you to provide excellent customer service and saves everyone time in the process by not having to leave a voice message and wait for a return call. This in turn creates more profitability and better customer service for your company. Saving little bits of time throughout the day ensures better employee productivity.
A new NEC unified communications system can help streamline and solve business communications with voicemail to email.
For example, the general manager of the office is traveling on business. Generally, the time the general manager is at the office is spent overseeing day to day activities. VIP customers have the general manager's direct telephone number that rings directly to their office, bypassing the receptionist. While traveling, the general manger finds it difficult to call in twice daily to retrieve important voice messages that VIP customers have left. This in turn delays the response of the general manager not providing the best customer service.
With voicemail to email on the new NEC unified communications system you can receive corporate voicemails via email as a .wav attachment file. They arrive in your corporate email on your PC or smartphone. Then while traveling the general manager doesn’t have to call into the office to retrieve messages. They simply show up on their smartphone. Then the general manager retrieves the messages immediately and can provide excellent customer service while away from the office.
These are just a couple of examples of how NEC phone systems can improve your business communication solutions. Check back for our next blog to continue examples and give you more insight into the NEC phone system.
Business VoIP and the Small Business: A Winning Combination
Business VoIP was made for the small business. Some might call business VoIP a hosted or cloud solution. That’s what we are talking about - using the cloud for your small business. Laying out a capital expense can be hard for a small business. You do not always have the cash to plunk down for an office phone system. That is when hosted is your answer. There is no need for a large capital outlay; in fact you pay just a monthly fee. So let’s learn more about why business VoIP for small business is a winning combination.
Business VoIP was made for the small business. Some might call business VoIP a hosted or cloud solution. That’s what we are talking about - using the cloud for your small business. Laying out a capital expense can be hard for a small business. You do not always have the cash to plunk down for an office phone system. That is when hosted is your answer. There is no need for a large capital outlay; in fact you pay just a monthly fee. So let’s learn more about why business VoIP for small business is a winning combination. Buy what you want, when you want
Maybe you are growing, and in the next 6 months anticipate adding 3 to 4 people, even a person every 2 months. With a traditional phone system you would be asked for your growth and sold a system that you can grow into for the next 3 to 5 years, requiring you to pay for that system upfront. Don’t get me wrong, a traditional system is great for many small businesses, but the big difference with a hosted/cloud solution is that you can buy just the 4 lines now and grow as you want; many times without the commitments of having to buy more. Just make sure you work with a provider who understands and prices you for starting small and growing at a slow pace.
Get big company features for a fraction of the cost
Maybe you are a small business who has 20 phones, but only 5 of them are used by sales folks. You have decided you need to record the calls of these 5 people. When you purchase a hosted business VoIP solution you have the ability to purchase a la carte options for your staff. One of these options can be recording. So now, instead of spending money to record all staff you only pay for the 5. Other options include contact center and on-demand conferencing. So look at what features you need for your business and then see if the cloud solution is the best one for you.
Still not sure if business VoIP is right for your small business office phone systems? Contact us for a demo or just to talk about a hosted system. We are here to talk to you about the options and we are a vendor that can provide you the right solution at the right time.
About Us
Gaynor Telesystems Inc. has been proudly serving the North State Communities of Chico, Yuba City, Marysville, Eureka, Arcata, Sacramento, Davis, Woodland, Redding, and Red Bluff for more than 40 years. We hope the information you found in this blog was useful. To learn more about how Gaynor Telesystems Inc. can help you install, maintain or service business communication solutions, please contact us at 877-Gaynor1.
Common Mistakes When Creating a Budget for Your Office Phone Systems
There are three basic types of customers who purchase office phone systems. You are the new business, you are the business that is moving, or you are the business where you have outgrown your system or its technology. When it comes to creating a budget, all of you have the same challenges.
There are three basic types of customers who purchase office phone systems. You are the new business, you are the business that is moving, or you are the business where you have outgrown your system or its technology. When it comes to creating a budget, all of you have the same challenges.
To assist with your budget here is a check-list to ensure you are ready for the new phone system.
Cable Infrastructure
Patch Panels – are you wanting to make ad-hoc moves for your employees? Using a patch panel can be a simple and cost effective way to make these moves. They also give a clean professional look to your data room.
Data and Voice Cabling – this is good to have for each location that will have a phone and computer. Consider cabling for items like the fax machine, credit card machines, network copiers, alarms, and the power-failure jack.
Phone Counts
Normally you take a map and start marking where each person will be sitting, or you look at the current extension list to determine the number of phones you will need. The common mistake is forgetting about those extra phones you have connected to your office phone systems. Common areas, such as the break room, file room, server room, or lobby phone are often forgotten in the counts. If you have a new multi-story building do you need a phone at the front door to buzz people in, or a phone in the elevator for safety?
The next step in the phone counts is your anticipated growth. You only have 12 people today, but you plan on hiring 10 more in the next 2 years. Talk to your office phone systems vendor to discuss the growth. You do not want to fork lift your system, so sizing it correctly now for growth is important. Yes you will have to outlay some additional capital, but in the long run there is a price savings by doing it now, compared to a year from now.
Telephone Lines/Dial Tone
Now each carrier is different and will offer promotions and incentives when you are adding or changing dial tone so it will be important to understand your options. Most carriers waive some if not all of the installation charges if you sign at least a three year contract. But if you are not sure of your needs, you can always have a one-year or month-to-month contract for the dial tone on your office phone systems. The common mistake is not to budget for these installation charges. They can range from $75.00 per line to $600.00 for a PRI.
Specialized Applications
Most office phone systems today come with the basics included: voicemail for each person, 911 calling notification, voicemail to email integration, message notification etc. But the enhanced features such as FAXFINDER, Presence, Conferencing, and a host of others can take that budget and throw it out the window. The best way to know if you need these specialized applications on your office phone systems is to discuss your critical items compared to your wish list with your trusted advisor.
A knowledgeable and licensed office phone systems vendor will be able to discuss these needs with you and determine the ROI for you. No client is the same, and as professionals, we must learn to listen to our clients and help them understand the best approach.
Regardless of your final decision on a budget, if you find you do not have the capital available for purchasing new office phone systems you can look at leasing options. You may be able to get loans from your business bank as well.
With any of these options, Gaynor Telesystems, Inc. as your trusted advisor can walk you through the common issues and challenges with budget and financing. We are here when you are ready to talk. Give us a call today at 1-877-Gaynor1 or contact us for a free demo.
Tips to Help Your Small Business Phone System Handle Summer
Summer is about beach playing, watermelon, vacations, and heat. As a small business owner, you may wonder if you can take time off while still getting calls answered and having your office run efficiently. Your small business phone system may be a few years old and you don't have a maintenance support plan. Our goal is to make sure bosses and employees enjoy the summer, instead of calling us in a panic about phone system related issues. Here are some tips so you can enjoy the rest of your summer.
Summer is about beach playing, watermelon, vacations, and heat. As a small business owner, you may wonder if you can take time off while still getting calls answered and having your office run efficiently. Your small business phone system may be a few years old and you don't have a maintenance support plan. Our goal is to make sure bosses and employees enjoy the summer, instead of calling us in a panic about phone system related issues. Here are some tips so you can enjoy the rest of your summer.
Make sure your phone system is in a cool place
Offices change and sometimes small business phone systems end up in closets or rooms without A/C. Remember, the phone system is a computer and needs cool air to work best. If you’re concerned about the location, please talk to us or even think about adding some venting. If your system overheats, just like a car, it can stop working. Now that would put a damper on your summer vacation.
Change your auto attendant
Are you short-staffed for the summer? Maybe you only have a couple of people answering your calls. It may be better to change your auto attendant so clients don’t leave messages for people who are not there. Also, if you’re closed, change your main greeting. Let clients know if there are options to reach you in case of an emergency. Your auto attendant is a tool that can be used to help your callers get to the correct person without getting frustrated. Do you need samples of an auto attendant script? Check out these sample greetings.
Try out that mobility
You bought the feature, but never really have used it. You know you’ll have a good signal when you’re at the beach, so turn on the mobility and have your phone calls ring your cell phone. If you don’t answer they go back to your office voicemail. You have the flexibility to choose which calls to answer. The caller ID will pass, so you can skip the SPAM calls and answer that important client. If you have not implemented mobility it’s not too late. Many of the newer systems have the ability to add this feature.
Check your call forwarding
If the worst case scenario does happen and you lose power or your system dies, in most cases you can have your calls forwarded by your telco company (AT&T, Frontier, Telepacific) etc. In order to have that happen it needs to be set up in advance. Now would be a good time to check and make sure nothing has changed with your call forwarding. You may have changed cell phones, so yearly checks on this would be important.
Summer is about fun, not about dealing with small business phone system problems. A little planning will go a long way.
If you’d like to learn more about mobility or are concerned about your phone system overheating, contact us today and we can talk with you about options.
About Us
Gaynor Telesystems Inc. has been proudly serving the North State Communities of Chico, Yuba City, Marysville, Eureka, Arcata, Sacramento, Davis, Woodland, Redding, and Red Bluff for more than 40 years. We hope the information you found in this blog was useful. To learn more about how Gaynor Telesystems Inc. can help you install, maintain or service business communication solutions, please contact us at 877-Gaynor1.
4 Things to Compare When Buying New Office Phone Systems
Here you are sitting at your desk with a few office phone system proposals staring back at you. You have done all the leg work that brought you to this stage: Decision Making Time. When you are facing a purchasing decision (one that you will need to live with for at least 5 years and that will take a sizeable chunk of your capital budget) if you are like me the first thing you do is start a list. Now you have a nice blank piece of paper with a tidy heading of New Office Phone Systems. Feeling better already I bet!
Here you are sitting at your desk with a few office phone system proposals staring back at you. You have done all the leg work that brought you to this stage: Decision Making Time. When you are facing a purchasing decision (one that you will need to live with for at least 5 years and that will take a sizeable chunk of your capital budget) if you are like me the first thing you do is start a list. Now you have a nice blank piece of paper with a tidy heading of New Office Phone Systems. Feeling better already I bet!
The Top 4 areas to use to compare your office phone system proposals are:
Manufacturer
The office phone system is manufactured by a high tech firm that could as likely be international as USA based. You should do a little bit of homework to determine their history in this segment of the telecom industry, their R&D budget that allows them to stay current in the marketplace and their basic philosophy of customer service. Some questions to review on your list are:
Where is their product manufactured and are they prepared to deal with geographical crisis?
Are their distributors happy and long term or do they seem to churn on a frequent basis?
Depending upon the size of your office phone systems perhaps you even had the opportunity to meet with a manufacturer representative. If so, were they knowledgeable and committed to your market area?
What types of ongoing support or service level agreements are they offering for purchase via the distributor?
What is their ongoing sales and technical certification processes?
Design
You met with all these vendors and described your business, your challenges, the features you want in your office phone systems, and hopefully your budget. It is time for a side by side comparison of how well they listened and were able to respond to your needs in their phone system design. Some questions to compare proposals include:
Did they meet my budget?
Did they build in both the current and long term growth my firm will need?
Is the system flexible enough for my future unforeseen changes?
Was it designed for ease of use?
ROI and TCO
As with every larger purchase you are always seeking a Return on Investment. With office phone systems you will also be looking at your TCO or Total Cost of Ownership. As you compare your proposals be certain you understand the TCO of this technology. A qualified vendor will have addressed the entire scope of your telecom needs, not just the office phone systems. Your current dial tone circuits, rates and plans, and your infrastructure need to be addressed prior to signing on the dotted line. They are all part of your TCO and possibly an area you can realize significant savings.
At Gaynor Telesystems we recently were able to provide a business with new office phone systems at a monthly lease payment that was completely covered by the cost savings of our redesign on their telephone circuits. If you are utilizing such features as mobility and unified communications for the first time there are some wonderful tools to help you obtain figures to represent the time savings of your team.
Vendor/Var/Integrator
You are down to the final decision piece: WHO do you want to work with? This may sound like an easy choice and maybe it’s clear cut in your decision process, but for some it can be rather difficult. All office phone system vendors have worked hard to prepare your proposal, given you product demonstrations, provided references and possibly have worked with you in the past. How do you decide which vendor is the best fit for your business? Primarily our advice is to choose the office phone systems vendor you trust. Make sure you understand the team that will be working on your project and their experience both in the industry and also with this vendor. It is important to ensure the phone systems vendor can meet your needs today and also for your long term service and growth needs.
3 Big Factors to Consider When Choosing New Office Phone Systems
If you’re in the market for new office phone systems, there are some important things to keep in mind as you go through the research and evaluation process. We’re going to highlight three big ones as a kind of kick start to push you in the right direction so you can be sure you’re asking the right questions. Every company is different, so remember to think about what’s best for your specific company and staff.
If you’re in the market for new office phone systems, there are some important things to keep in mind as you go through the research and evaluation process. We’re going to highlight three big ones as a kind of kick start to push you in the right direction so you can be sure you’re asking the right questions. Every company is different, so remember to think about what’s best for your specific company and staff.
1. Current Company Needs
Start by identifying the specific issues and challenges you have with your current office phone systems. Maybe your business has multiple locations and it’s time they were all connected by a central answering position. Maybe you only have one location, but it would be much more efficient to have an auto-attendant and direct extensions for each department instead of routing everything through the receptionist. Clearly define your needs versus your wants. Sure, it would be a nice gesture to provide your service team with a mobility option, but since they are talking to people all over the world, troubleshooting questions on how different pieces of software work, they’re able do that work from the comfort of their desk and don’t have a need to travel out into the field.
2. Future Company Goals
You might be a small yet mighty company with your two to four unit office phone systems, but you have big plans to expand your business in the next three years. You want any new office phone systems that you purchase to be an investment that can help you now by using some of your existing infrastructure, as well and in the future as both your communication needs and technology needs change. You need to think about options you might want later on such as working remotely, video conferencing, call recording and call accounting, self-management, having an automated attendant, or mobility. You don’t have to implement them now, but you would be planning wisely for the future so they are there when you need them.
Budget
Just because determining your budget is third on the list doesn’t mean it’s least important. It just means that now it’s time to be realistic. You’ve thought about how you’d like to utilize office phone systems for your company and the features you want. Now consider how much you’d like to spend and the maximum you’re willing to spend. Knowing the budget you have to work with in advance will help save you time and give you a little wiggle room as you determine what you actually do need as part of the office phone systems and what you can do without at the current place and time. It’s important to not get caught up in all the bells and whistles of what these office phone systems can do. They are pretty amazing, but you also need to consider the training and maintenance costs that will be involved. You’ll want to consider if there is a recurring monthly maintenance charge or just a per service call when you need help troubleshooting. Depending on the agreement with the office phone systems vendor, training on how to use the system may be part of your package or an additional cost – all considerations that will have an effect on your budget
Finding a new phone system for your business is a big deal. You know your company the best and you want to find the best solution. If you meet with an office phone systems vendor having already considered the factors above, you’ll be off to a good start. If you’d like to learn more about how we can help, download our free offer below or contact us to talk to a sales professional today.
What Your Sales Team Will Love About New Office Phone Systems
For most businesses, without a good sales team there would be no business. A good sales staff is always improving their skills and abilities to convert a new customer or get that referral. Sometimes the sales staff is hard to pin down for formal training. When you get new office phone systems, training your sales staff may be a new challenge. But remember, salespeople like challenges.
For most businesses, without a good sales team there would be no business. A good sales staff is always improving their skills and abilities to convert a new customer or get that referral. Sometimes the sales staff is hard to pin down for formal training. When you get new office phone systems, training your sales staff may be a new challenge. But remember, salespeople like challenges.
Many of the basic features can help your sales staff be more productive, connect better with clients, and just make life a little simpler. The following features are sure to get the attention of your sales staff. When you send out the training announcements for the new office phone systems to the sales staff, consider adding these features into the announcement. Entice them to sit in on the class.
Mobile Extension
This is the one feature that sales LOVE. Mobile extension allows the cell phone they hold near and dear to their heart to become their office phone. No longer will they miss the call or have to give someone their cell phone number. Depending on what new office phone systems you purchase, the function might be different, but the facts remain: you turn on and off mobile extension. When you are away from your desk any call that you would normally get at your desk, would now go to your cell phone. Also, when you want to make an outbound call, you can connect to the office phone system and use the dial tone and caller-id from the office, not your cell phone.
Outlook Integration
It’s common that new office phone systems will have something called unified communication. This is really a fancy term for having all your communication come into one place. Essentially your voicemail, faxes and email all come into your Outlook. The cool thing about voicemail coming into your email is the fact they are just attached as a .WAV file. The sales staff can then listen to the .WAV file from any computer AND they can forward the file as an email to anyone. Talk about providing customer service! Think of it this way, your sales staff is about to go into a meeting that will take several hours. They see a voicemail pop up in their email on their phone asking for some basic pricing, but they need it right away. The salesperson simply forwards that message to the in-house sales team and they get the customer taken care of quickly and easily.
DID – Direct Inward Dial:
This is a private telephone line for the executives and for the sales team. Now instead of clients having to sit through an auto attendant or be screened by the front desk staff, a DID number can send the call directly to the salesperson. With most DID applications caller-id will also be passed along. With caller-id the salesperson can say “Hello Fred,” rather than just “Hello this is Sam, how can I help you?” DID numbers are local phone numbers. So if you have an office in Chico, you will get local Chico numbers.
Working with a proven vendor like Gaynor Telesystems allows you to speak about the challenges your sales staff are having and design new office phone systems to meet the needs of the sales staff. Once the phone system is in place, your sales staff can be trained by the vendor. Call Gaynor Telesystems, Inc. today to see how we can assist you. Learn more about the telesystems world by checking out our Glossary of Terms Ebook below!
How Business VoIP & Unified Communications Bring Your Workers Together
Each day there are more and more articles and information about business VoIP and how you can get the most out of your business phone service, teaching how the next generation expects to work and what is really needed to have efficiency in the office. Gaynor Telesystems, Inc. proudly offers the ShoreTel solution as an option for Unified Communication and business VoIP.
Each day there are more and more articles and information about business VoIP and how you can get the most out of your business phone service, teaching how the next generation expects to work and what is really needed to have efficiency in the office. Gaynor Telesystems, Inc. proudly offers the ShoreTel solution as an option for Unified Communication and business VoIP.
Learn more in the article excerpt below:
Posted by: ShoreTel Blog
How Workers Benefit From Personal Unified Communications
When it comes to unified communications (UC), the idea is that all communications functions in an organization are unified to work seamlessly together on one common platform. However, this promise is now only being delivered due to recent advances in mobility.
As the workforce becomes more dispersed and remote, and expecting to work anywhere and from any device, UC has evolved to accommodate this evolution to become “Personal UC”, noted ZK Research in its white paper, Mobility Drives the Need for Personal Unified Communications.
“The new workplace is highly mobile and dictates that users have the ability to collaborate in real time from any location using any tool they wish,” the white paper states.
According to ZK Research, communications platforms must evolve into truly unified, personal solutions to meet the needs of the changing mobile workplace.
The benefits of such a UC system to the worker are many, including:
[Continue to original article: How Workers Benefit for Personal Unified Communications]
There are 4 main reasons to be looking at a business VoIP system that offers unified communications:
Simplified collaboration
Faster time to information
Greater utilization of collaboration tools
Optimized for generational differences
All of this centers on an easy-to-use and easy-to-manage system.
Once you understand your needs for a business VoIP solution and know that unified communications needs to be part of your business phone service, contact us at Gaynor Telesystems, Inc. to schedule a demo and see how you can benefit from this great solution.
About Us
Gaynor Telesystems Inc. has been proudly serving the North State Communities of Chico, Yuba City, Marysville, Eureka, Arcata, Sacramento, Davis, Woodland, Redding, and Red Bluff for more than 40 years. We hope the information you found in this blog was useful. To learn more about how we can help you install, maintain or service business communication solutions, please contact us at 877-Gaynor1.
Don't Frighten Away Customers With These Automated Attendant Mistakes
Consumers have come to expect an automated attendant when calling a business. Done well, an auto attendant can lighten your call load, expedite customer service, and provide a fast and efficient experience. No more holding and waiting, no more runaround. But when done wrong, it may frighten away your callers.
Consumers have come to expect an automated attendant when calling a business. Done well, an auto attendant can lighten your call load, expedite customer service, and provide a fast and efficient experience. No more holding and waiting, no more runaround. But when done wrong, it may frighten away your callers.
To get the best results, your company simply needs to be aware (not scared) of the best practices and common pitfalls of using an automated attendant. Let’s look at what not to do, so you can prevent headaches for your customers.
Using a poor-quality recording
Your recorded messages should be scripted, rehearsed, and recorded carefully. Have a real employee make the recording with quiet surroundings. Have multiple people review it to ensure that the message is crisp and clear.
Having a bad attitude — or striking the wrong tone
Customers have a better experience when recorded messages sound friendly and upbeat –not spooky! A bored or irritable voice on an automated attendant can sound impersonal. It’s also bad for branding. Strike a tone that suits your industry, and make sure some positive energy comes across.
Failing to provide a way to reach a human
An automated attendant helps reduce your labor and time spent on the phone, but the ultimate goal is always customer satisfaction. If someone needs your business hours, they can hear them in a recorded message. When they have a question or don’t know whose extension to use, a customer expects an easy option for talking to somebody.
It’s complicated — too many menus and options
Walking your customers through a few prompts helps ensure that they reach the right party. Too many options, however, can be frustrating – and frightening! After a welcome message and a few questions about the purpose of the call, your customer should reach their destination.
Failing to customize features to serve your customers
Automated attendants have loads of customizable features. In addition to using individual extensions, you can have calls route to the next-available representative from a department. Calls can be routed to workers’ mobile devices. In short, your automated attendant can be optimized to provide your customers with prompt service and accurate routing. It’s well worth taking a moment to tool around with all the features.
Not teaching your staff about the system
Staff members who speak with customers on the phone — even if only occasionally — should have a good understanding of the system. They should know what the customer’s experience is like. They should also be able to handle basic questions about navigating the system.
With advanced technologies and a variety of solutions to serve different types of organizations, there’s a winning combination out there for yours. Contact Gaynor about finding an auto attendant solution that offers your customers treats and no tricks!
About Us
Gaynor Telesystems Inc. has been proudly serving the North State Communities of Chico, Yuba City, Marysville, Eureka, Arcata, Sacramento, Davis, Woodland, Redding, and Red Bluff for more than 40 years. We hope the information you found in this blog was useful. To learn more about how Gaynor Telesystems Inc. can help you install, maintain or service business communication solutions, please contact us at 877-Gaynor1.