Tag Archive: small business 0800 number
March 27, 2012 2:51 pm |
Making sure you and your staff present a professional image on the telephone is hugely important. Once you have set up your new free 0844 business number from 08Direct.co.uk, your telephone manner could be the deciding factor on whether a potential customer chooses your company, or gets you that all important best price from a supplier.
The steps to take for the perfect telephone etiquette
Remember that the person on the other end of the phone can only hear your voice. This is the lasting impression they will take away from their communication with you. You need to ensure that you get you message across clearly and professionally. Be aware if you have a tendancy to shout, or speak fast, both of these will result in the caller becoming annoyed or confused.
Ensure that you always address the caller by his or her title. Refering to a person as ‘Mr’ or Mrs’ adds to the overall proffesional appearence. This is essential when communicating with an unfamiliar person.
It is very important to make sure that you listen to the caller. If your customer has a problem, take the time to fully understand what they are saying. A good tactic to use to make the caller feel respected is to repeat what they have said you, this always acts a great methond of ensuring you have understand the query.
In a busy office environment it is very easy to get distracted by colleagues. If you do get interrupted while you are talking with a customer, remind them you are talking to a customer and you will speak to them when you are finished.
To perfect your professional telephone manner be aware of your language and your surroundings. Always remember to not use slang words, unless you are familar with the caller. Finally always be aware of your surroundings, if you are in a noisy environment the chances are the caller can hear everything you can. It may be appropriate to end the call and request that you phone back and the earliest opportunity.
October 14, 2011 9:32 am |
The new T-Pylons
With the loss of one of the world’s greatest inventors (Apple’s Founder, Steve Jobs) innovation has been a topic of much debate recently. Lots of people have been pontificating about the increased pace of change and need for continual development so that things work better, faster, harder.
Sometimes, though, innovation takes time.
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October 7, 2011 9:37 am |
As a business owner, I bet you get several calls a week from companies promising to upgrade your office technology with revolutionary new systems that will transform the way you work.
But when you take the plunge and install this technology, you find that these claims were overhyped, or certainly premature, as the technology fails to work as well as you were expecting, or deliver the benefits that justified the investment.
Phone systems are a classic example of this. With the advent of the Internet and mobile communications, many people have forecast the demise of the office phone as it becomes superseded by newer, more advanced technology.
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October 6, 2011 10:45 am |
In his Party Conference speech yesterday The Prime Minister said that you can’t get out of debt by spending more money.
Of course, I’m paraphrasing, because a) party conference speeches are long and boring and b) in business, you are already well aware of this and that’s why in times of recession businesses seek to reduce costs wherever possible.
In many cases, the marketing budget is often the first casualty, but this has a negative influence on sales and profitability. So although there is some sense in what David Cameron said, we believe you have to cut the right costs and spend your remaining money in the most effective ways.
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September 30, 2011 9:08 am |
Not quite equal, but agency workers will have similar rights to permanent staff from 1st October
A couple of days ago we blogged about how red tape for businesses can sometimes be a good thing. But today’s post highlights new rules which are unlikely to be received warmly by UK SMEs.
From tomorrow, agency workers will have additional rights in pay and benefits which are similar to full-time staff once they have completed 12 weeks of service doing comparable work. This means you’ll have to pay agency staff overtime, shift allowances, holiday pay and bonuses not attributable to individual performance, as well as maternity rights after 12 weeks’ service.
Business groups have suggested the changes could cost firms up to £2bn a year.
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September 26, 2011 1:19 pm |
We’re in a vicious circle with our economy at the moment.
We need businesses (like yours) to grow and create jobs so that people have more money to spend with businesses (like yours!).
Unfortunately, banks have been reluctant to lend money to businesses and that’s caused a problem because without that funding SMEs can’t invest and grow.
However, we might be turning a corner today because one of the banks is breaking the cycle with a new campaign to boost confidence among small and medium-sized businesses.
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September 20, 2011 9:35 am |
A decade or so ago, the Dot.com bubble burst and everyone was saying that the Internet was dead and nobody would ever buy things online again.
Of course that hasn’t happened – online sales have grown exponentially and now brands that haven’t invested in e-commerce are not only falling behind but also missing out on huge revenues.
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August 2, 2011 12:59 pm |
Today is the the day that the US Senate is voting on a bill to save America’s economy by increasing its debt limit by $2.4trillion. Now as someone who works for a telecoms business, I like long numbers but in this case I had to write trillion as I didn’t want to type out all the noughts for a million million!
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July 27, 2011 4:31 pm |
Will the 4G licence auction fund rural broadband?
The people of rural Britain are getting fed up….As if slow, or non-existent broadband wasn’t bad enough because of long line lengths and decaying old copper wires, going mobile isn’t even an option to them like it is for urbanites. That’s right, the price you pay for living in the beautiful British countryside is a lack of decent broadband speed or mobile phone services.
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July 12, 2011 11:32 am |
Robbie gets people talking with controversial tactics
So, Robbie Williams is at it again. Where would we be without his media-friendly, attention seeking outbursts? Whether you love him or loathe him, Robbie knows how to get people talking about him, and here I am writing a blog about him for 08 Direct…so, “what’s all this got to do with non-geographic numbers?”, I hear you ask….I’ll explain….
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