Can
using
VoIP really improve customer service for business o
wners
?
Customer service has been defined by both Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com as being one of the most important facets of a successful company. Because it has the potential to positively impact a company’s bottom line, any business that wants to keep a competitive edge will pay attention to ways to improve customer service—particularly, how good it is and how to make it even better.
Over the past twenty years or so, VoIP services have become a part of that effort. Because VoIP is cost-effective and offers a variety of features, the business world is putting VoIP to work to increase the positive connections between companies and customers by upgrading their business phone system.
Where do your customers find you?
The first customer service challenge is being accessible to clients. VoIP services can help out in a variety of ways.
Becoming local
VoIP services allow companies to set up toll-free numbers and local numbers even if you don’t live in the geographical area you’re targeting. This means you can list your number in local directories, and people who shop locally will be able to find you. More than 80 million people still use the yellow pages online. Companies that aren’t listed there might be cutting off their ability to be found.
Becoming global
VoIP gives the business phone system the ability to reach across time zones and even into remote parts of the world. Because calls can be routed to any time zone, businesses can set up customer service centers in opposite ends of the globe and use this to provide and improve customer service twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
Becoming tech-friendly
By 2020, more than 20 billion more devices will be attached to physical items like washing machines, cars, and refrigerators. A customer service center that uses VoIP can interact with these customers on the devices they’re using, helping to troubleshoot and resolve problems on the spot.
Becoming reliable
One of the advantages of VoIP is that every customer can get through to a representative, every time. This is partly because the call forwarding features allow the call to be bumped from time zone to time zone until someone can answer the call. This can save companies about 191 hours of work per day, and it’s also good for the customer, who only has to place one phone call, one time.
Becoming a friend
Companies using a VoIP provider as their business phone service can also assign a personal number to each customer service representative. If that number is given to a particular client, they have one point of contact for their personalized customer service. Customers can get to know the representative, feel like their questions and concerns are heard, and feel comfortable interacting with the company more frequently.
VoIP, customer service and the bottom l
ine
Customer service is projected to overtake price and product as the number one brand differentiator by 2020. Better customer service is important enough that 86 percent of customers are willing to pay more for it.
So how does this fit into a company’s long-term budget?
VoIP makes call-backs friendlier
Because VoIP is around 3.5-12 cents cheaper per minute than landlines are, it doesn’t cost a VoIP subscriber as much to call people back and with Transparent VoIP, those extra fees do not exist. There are no per-call rates, just pure unlimited calling with America’s leading telecommunications company. This allows companies to reach out with personal queries to make sure their customers are satisfied, to answer questions, and to build rapport.
VoIP allows companies to streamline infrastructure
Companies who use VoIP have the option of allowing customer service representatives to work from home. This saves overhead, and it allows companies to schedule flexible hours that meet the needs of their workers and their customers at the same time.
Conclusion: VoIP can improve customer service
Because VoIP and unified communications solutions
