Forbes Says Customer Service is the New Marketing.

According to a recent article in Forbes magazine, providing excellent customer service is now some of the best marketing your company can do.  How so, you ask?

The article points out  that consumers today have grown both weary, and leery of sales pitches from companies.  Rather than depending on the sales message that companies provide through traditional marketing channels, consumers now have the technology at their fingertips to do their own research.  Often this includes finding our what friends, and other consumers think about your products and services.

Consumers are turning to reviews at sites like Angie’s List, and  Yelp, to learn about the experiences of other consumers before they decide to buy. Add to this the ease with which your customers can share their experiences in a public forum, and it becomes evident that the consumer holds a great deal more power than ever before.

So the assertion made by the Forbes article makes perfect sense.  Potential consumers are eschewing  traditional channels of marketing in favor of the opinions of our current customers. The experience that we provide through our customer service will largely determine the opinions and feedback shared by our current clients.  Excellent customer service really has taken on a whole new importance as a marketing activity.

I encourage you to take a moment and read the entire article in Forbes.  South Coast Answering Service takes great pride in helping small companies provide great customer service.  Please give us a call and ask us about our free 30 day trial.  Our trial offer will allow you 30 days to discover how our business communications experts might help you improve the customer service experience that your customers will share with their friends.

 

Answering Service – Orange County

Even “On-Hold” Time can be Money!

We all know that time is money. There are a few exceptions, though. The time we spend on hold each day trying to reach our banks, or a utility company, is usually not very lucrative for either us or the business we are trying to reach. This is particularly true if they have you listening to garbled music of some sort. Silence is even worse.

A recent study showed that 82% of callers who hear silence while on hold will remain on hold less than a minute. Callers who listen to music last only a short while longer. It was discovered that callers who hear recorded information, however, are much more willing to

Custom Message On-Hold

wait out a minute or more. According to the study, callers who listen to recorded information hung up within the first minute only 2% of the time.

Marketers are acting upon this revelation and turning hold time back into money by playing educational messages about a client’s products and services during unavoidable periods of hold. Not only has the hang-up rate been drastically reduced, but 18% of callers in one study actually made purchases based on offers they heard while on hold.

We at Central Communications and South Coast Answering Service believe this is a great way to turn hold time back into money for you, too. With our Custom Message on Hold service you can entertain, educate, or even up-sell customers when hold time is unavoidable for your callers. We will help you create an on-hold marketing program that will enhance your company’s image and help deliver your marketing message.

Call Central Communications at (800)786-9079 or South Coast Answering Service at (800) 597-6160 to learn about this service as well as other services that can help make your business more efficient and profitable. Please ask us about our free 30-day trial offer.

Central Communications – Your Nationwide Answering Service
South Coast Answering Service – Your Orange County Answering Service

Answering Service – Orange County

Newport Boat Parade!

Each year something magical happens to Newport Beach and the neighboring Balboa Island. Many of the homes located on the banks of Newport Harbor and those on Balboa Island  go all out decorating for Christmas.The boat owners in the Newport Harbor decorate their beautiful boats with amusing Christmas Decorations and form a parade that meanders through all of the fingers in Newport Harbor.

It is so much fun to watch, and there is nothing like it to put you in the Christmas spirit. The boat parade has been going on for many years now and all of us in South Orange County look forward to it.

This year it will commence on December 14th, and end on December 18th. There are restaurants located right on the harbor where you can  watch the boat parade pass by the windows as you dine. Or you can take a Harbor Cruise . My personal favorite is actually the cruises. On the Harbor Cruises you get to see not only the decorated boats, but all of the beautiful homes decked out in their Christmas Finery.

We Wish you the Best for this Holiday Season from the folks at South Coast Answering and Central Communications

Answering Service – Orange County

Special Service for Elderly Loved Ones

Do you have relatives with fading memory? Are you worried that they might forget to take their medicine, or miss a doctor’s appointment?

If the answer to any of these questions was yes, then consider signing up for our elderly check-up system. We will call your relative and confirm that they have done whatever it is you have requested. We also provide emergency assistance in the incident he or she is injured.

Our staff is already providing this service to elderly parents  of so many South Orange County Baby Boomers.  It is relatively simple to set up. Simply provide us with a schedule, and we call your parent according to that time frame you set up. We can remind them to take their medications, to eat lunch or dinner, and be a friendly voice during the day.

I guess you could say that we are not just an answering service, we are a calling service and a peace of mind service as well. Most of the people who have asked us to provide this service are just far enough away from their families so that they can not simply drive over and check on them. This gives them a way to make certain someone is checking on them, and if there is a problem, or things don’t sound right when our operators check on them, we can notify you right away.

Pearl Answers

Answering Service – Orange County

24/7 Customer Service for Your E-Commerce Website

The business landscape has changed so much since the adoption of the Internet. Web based businesses are no longer limited by old fashioned issues such as parking problems, and store hours.  These mundane issues have been all but replaced with issues like providing providing excellent customer service for those in different time zones.  Fortunately, call centers and answering services have evolved too and can help the web based business with many modern challenges.

South Coast Answering Service, along with our sister company, Central Communications Call Center, offer a selection of services that are ideal for the web based business owner. These services include, order taking, appointment setting, reservations, emergency service dispatch, and more.

First we offer a toll free number for your home page. This number is answered twenty four hours per day, seven days a week, by live agents who will follow your instructions for handling all sorts of calls.

We currently support many web based businesses of all types.  We support e-commerce sites.  When clients call we answer questions about products, or help complete a product order.  We support web based plumbers, and flood restoration companies.  When customers call, we can determine the nature of the emergency and dispatch the correct personnel.

If you have a web based business, please give us a call. We would be happy to give you a free 30 day trial*so we can see if our services will make your business more successful, and profitable. We would sure love to try.

*Up to 250 credit toward base fee, usage, and programming.