Global Messaging Network

With all the technology we have now, 3D cell phones, texting, Skype video calls, video chat on your cell phone, voice mail, etc. One thing remains the same, if you do not answer when your client calls, you are losing money.

Clock by Africa

If your toilet overflows at 2:23 a.m., you will probably call information for a plumber or do a web search. A list of plumbers that says “24 hour service” will pop up. You dial the first one and you get a voice mail. The voice mail actually says “someone will call you back soon”. You have no idea what “soon” means, so you hang up and call the next plumber. For plumber number 2, a receptionist answers and tells you, yes, they can come out right now and yes they do service your area. The receptionist tells you that she will page the plumber on duty right now, and he should be there within the hour and he will call to confirm. You are relieved that help is on the way.

If you are a business owner and worried about your operating costs, please consider this:

Plumber number #1 has voice mail, which was probably very cheap, but he just lost $200 in revenue for the week. Plumber #2, pays $5- $10 per day and with this 2 a.m. service call, his answering service paid for itself for the month. One call, one job.

Are you forwarding your office calls to your cell phone? Do you really want to be called at all hours of the night? Plus answering half awake does not present a professional image for your company. What if you are at a nice dinner, or at the movies? You just lost that client because you could not answer.

The same concept goes for Attorneys, Doctors, emergency restoration companies, and the list is endless. The old addage is true: You get what you pay for.  If you try to save money by using your voice mail, and your type of business requires this type of quick response, you will lose more money than what you are saving. You may not even be aware of how many people are hanging up. If you try to answer yourself, you will be stressed out and always on alert. Any Attorney or plumber, who answers his own phone after hours, does not present a very professional image.

Receptionist by Ambro

The answering service itself: There are hundreds of answering services across the country, many of them good, many of them bad, many of them cheap and many of them expensive. The really cheap ones save money by either outsourcing the calls to another country (and we all know what those calls are like), or by understaffing their call centers, which leads to long hold times and hang ups. The more expensive ones usually have more staff on hand and give a much better service. They trick is to find a good answering service that is well priced for your needs. Many people have the notion that answering services cost about $50 per month. A lot of them do, but what do you get for that money, probably not much and your calls being answered in another country. Consider that for around less than the cost of paying someone for one hour of work, a good answering service has you covered all day. Think $200 or $300 a month is too much? Plumber number 1 thinks so as well, so he pays nothing for his voice mail. Plumber number number 2 gladly pays $200 per month for service which helps him make more money and which he covers on one service call. We at Global Messaging provide superior live answering for our clients. Many of our clients came to us from other answering services that were dirt-cheap and the clients were still losing money because of the poor service. You get what you pay for. Not all answering services are the same.

So next time you receive a text message from your “receptionist” saying “New Client”, or a call from your recptionist connecting you to a new client, you will know that your investment in your answering service is not only paying for itself, but it is helping you make more money.

Everyone knows that answering services are great for answering their clients’ calls when they are not in the office, but there are many other services an answering service can offer.

Depending on your line of work and your business needs, you may have multiple people on call. Did you know you can send the on-call schedule to your answering service and they will take care of it for you? When a new person is on-call, and a phone call comes in to them, the receptionist will have those instructions on their screen and they will contact the on-call person according to the instructions.

Is the on-call person not answering? Not a problem if you set up a “Cascade” list. If the on-call person does not answer, then receptionist will call the second person on the list. The messages can be set up to be sent to one, a few, or all the people on-call, so that everyone has a copy of the message.

Do you have multiple departments? No problem, the receptionist can ask who the call is for, then the message can be texted or emailed to everyone in that department, or the the manager of that department. The manager can then forward it to the person they would like to handle the call.

Do you only want to take some type of calls after hours and not all? Did you know you can set up different questions that the answering service can ask to determine what type of call it is and then if the call qualifies, it can be connected to you. For example if you are an attorney, you may not want to take calls after 10pm, only emergency calls. The answering service can ask “is this an emergency?” (The caller may have just been in an accident, or detained), at that point the receptionist can connect the call to the attorney and both the attorney and client benefit from the call being properly processed.

Does your company offer any literature, or a booklet on your ads? This type of call does not have to be transferred to anyone. If so, you can have the answer service ask “Are you calling about the free information booklet?”, then the information can be taken from the caller and be sent to you under the “Free Booklet” heading so that your staff can quickly process the information to be sent to the caller.

Does your company offer a special of some kind? For example, a drain cleaning special for a certain amount, if you’re a plumber? Well, your answering service can have that information, and as long as it’s simple, it can help the caller in deciding. If the caller asks for example “What do you charge for a drain cleaning?” The receptionists call tell them about the special and  another client lead is captured for you by your answering service by simply offering one piece of information to the caller.

The job of the answering service is two fold. It is to answer your calls when you are not in your office  and it is also to help you capture those calls and help you turn then into potential clients. We at Global Messaging know that when we answer a call for our clients, we are representing them and their business.  We try to help our clients as much as possible because we understand that every little bit helps when it comes to capturing new leads and new business.

Ever open your mail box full of junk mail and wonder why these same companies keep mailing you these? The answer has 2 parts. Part 1, is the success ratio: A return of 1% on mass mailings is considered good. Part 2, is brand recognition: Since you noticed it is the same companies that keep sending you these mailers, you are noticing who they are whether you realize it or not.

image by Digitalart

Most people take a quick glance at these mailers before throwing them away. The companies who send these out are hoping to either get you to use their coupon or remember their name. According to some marketing experts, the magic number is 7. It takes 7 times for a person to see your company name and or logo, before they remember it. If you get the “$5 off an oil change” coupon right before your oil change is due, you will probably remember it and keep that one. Score one for the oil change place mailers.

If you are considering sending out mailers for your company, here are some things to keep in mind: Coupons work best, as most people need an incentive to get them over to your business. Mailers for businesses are targeted and therefore if done correctly, can yield a higher return than  the average mailer you get at home. The reality is that mailers work, if they did not, your mail box would only have bills in it and the post office would lose a huge source of revenue. We at Global Messaging use and send targeted mailers to business clients which we can benefit by making their business more efficient at a very low cost.  Many of our clients who have answered to a mailer have told us they had seen our mailers before. Just like with the oil change flyer, if your mailer reaches your potential client at the right time, they will respond to it.

When sending targeted mailers, keep them simple and colorful. Offer a discount, a promotion or a coupon if possible. If your return on your mailers is very low, you may not be asking yourself the right question that needs to be answered in the mailer. “Why do customers buy my product?” Do you save them time, or money, or help them in any way? Offer the BENEFITS of your product, rather than just the product. Lastly, offer a call to action. Promotion lasts until…(and give date). Offer good through …,  this should help the undecided get a little motivation. Good luck with your mailers and remember that the magic number is 7. Keep sending them out and keep seeing your business grow.

email concept by Renjith Krishnan

You open your inbox and you have another unwanted email from a “Dave” regarding an amazing new drug. You click delete or send it to your spam folder. The next email is from one of your favorite restaurants offering you free appetizers. You open it and hit print and know where you’re going for dinner. This is one that you signed up for, to receive free coupons and you are happy to receive that email.

While the effectiveness of email marketing cannot be denied, the way it is done makes all the difference. It must be mentioned that there is a large number of people replying to those unwanted emails about an amazing new drug, or the one telling you that you won a new PC, or else all this “Spam” would not be so popular. For the purposes of this article we are going to focus on email marketing, and how it helps you stay connected with your clients and your target audience.

Constant Contact and similar services offer a great way to let you stay connected with your clients and help you get new clients without the spam factor. You can announce promotions, invite people to company sponsored events and offer discount coupons.

This type of email marketing, if used correctly, can be a very effective tool in increasing sales, which is after all, the bottom line. Another effective technique in email marketing is to join forces with another company for promotions. Then offer coupons or discounts to your clients for your partner company, and have your partner company return the favor. This way your company is introduced to new prospective clients in a friendly, more welcoming manner. Living Social, for example offers discounts daily for different companies on a sign up only basis.

couple with laptop by Ambro

Now, most social groups, youth sports teams, clubs and assorted groups are using email to keep their members updated on upcoming events, team schedules, last minute changes, email news letters, etc. We at Global Messaging use it, but we always make sure to offer an “opt out” option, that lets the clients opt out in just one click.  No questions asked. This makes opting out, simple and hassle free. Another great use email marketing is Online Surveys. You can ask your clients for their input and in exchange for their time and valuable feedback, offer something in return, no matter what the feedback is. Again, this is another way to know that your recipients are reading your emails.

As long as you are not flooding your clients’ inbox, daily with new information and promotions, your well crafted emails, should be welcomed. Be sure to always offer the option to “Opt Out” and make it easy to do so. For any input on our blog postings, please give us your feedback, we would love to hear from you.