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Episode 271 transcript
If you’re thinking about using a call handling company today, I’ve got the six things you should definitely ask them before you do. Hello and welcome to this week’s episode of MiTV. My name is Emma Mills and I help business owners to leverage their time, focus on the fun stuff and win the week because that is just really, really important. Today’s episode is kind of a guide for anybody quite specifically, that’s thinking about getting their calls handled. And we’ve been doing it for a really long time now. We know lots of other companies that do it and we know all of the pain points that lots of customers will come to us about from other companies. So I just thought I would hash it all together just into six key points. You should definitely ask whoever you’re thinking about handling your calls whether it’s also somebody you know.
There’s, there’s so many call handling companies in the UK, I think there’s like 800 of them. So there’s lots of choice, but definitely there’s a few key things that, and also some of it that some coal launching companies, and I won’t keep using that because it’s a long phrase to keep saying, but there’s some that they, things that they won’t talk about, like nobody mentions. And I’m going to rip that open in this episode and just go through them with you. Right, let’s dive straight in. So number one, you should definitely ask who, who will answer my calls? And what I mean by that is there are really small call handling companies. Like our team is around about twelve people that answer the phone. There are really big companies. And in some of the bigger companies, I know that lots and lots of people will be answering calls.
In some companies it’ll be too small. The number, like, I would just ask like what does my team look like? How many people are going to be handling them? Because if you’ve got some specific requirements in your, with how you want your calls handled, if there’s potentially 100 people that might be answering them, it’s just, it’s just without saying that human error or watering down of training or watering down of information, it’s going to be tricky to make that happen. And this episode, I just want to be completely honest about some of the things that come up in a call handling business and the questions you should ask. So I would definitely ask who’s going to be answering my calls? Like is it some companies will say it’s a small team or that you’ve got a dedicated PA and a couple of people and I know it’s not true. Some people have got like hundreds of people that just grab any call, but they won’t say that. So I just ask the question, who will be answering them? Like, will they know about me? Will they be answering my phone regularly? Because obviously with familiarity you get better at answering. Like, that is just, that is just a fact. Even though call handling companies, like, if they’ve got hundreds of people or a few, like the, if you’ve got a person that more often than not will have those calls coming through with just as if you had an employee in your business, you’re gonna get better at those kind of calls and questions that are coming in.
So having some kind of familiarity with the team is really, really important. So definitely just ask, who will be answering my calls? Number two. Now, what reporting are you going to get? Because some companies will give you nothing. They don’t send anything at any point. Some have really amazing apps and portals. We will send out weekly or daily reports on the messages that we’ve taken. There are so many different options on the kind of reporting and some of our clients want lots of info some clients don’t like. It’s specific to you, but definitely ask that question, what reporting am I going to get? Because it might be that you want to know how many calls have been handled, where they’ve been sent to, the messages.
Some of our clients like a Friday roundup, so they can make sure that they’ve seen all calls or if they’re going to other members of their team, they have a scan over. Have they all been handled? That’s the question. Like, so what reporting can you give me? Number three, what systems do you have to check that my calls are handled well. So you can imagine if you’ve got a big call centre or whatever size it is, they’re handling lots of calls every day. So just ask the question. Like, you know, I’m sure you’ve got lots of clients, lots of calls coming in. What do you do to make sure that my calls are being handled well? So like internally, we’ll like sample each client, we’ll like spot check on our team members, spot check against our criteria for every call on our values. But I would ask the question directly, how will you know and whether I’m a small client or a big client, how you know that my calls are being handled really well? Like, how are you on the front foot with them? Rather than me having to complain later to say, oh, this was handled wrong? Or that.
Ask your potential company, how are you going to know that my calls are being handled. Well, number four, you should most definitely ask your call answering company, what is the contingency plan? What happens when you miss calls? Because I just want to break a big myth that people don’t talk about in the call handling industry. There is absolutely no doubt that every single call handling company in the UK, in the world misses calls. Whether it’s a few, a little, a lot, whether it’s at times when a client’s flooded them with calls, like, it is impossible for a call handling company to never, ever not, not miss even just one call per day. I’m just telling that it’s not happening. So those that say they never miss a call, that’s not true. And number four, so I would just say to them, like, what? You know, if you miss a call? Because I get that. Like, things happen.
Because if you can imagine with a call handling company, it’s kind of like the lines are like a motorway. And so if you’ve got, if you plan for ten cars to come down the motorway, but then all of a sudden 100 cars come unexpectedly, the motorway is getting chocolate block. Obviously. And it’s just the same thing with any kind of business. It’s resource planning. So what if you say they never miss a call? I just don’t believe that. And number two, just say, like, I’ll get it. You know, if you might miss a call, what’s the contingency plan then? What do you do? That is a great question to ask.
And number five, I would just ask them, if you do miss a call, like, can you return it? What do you do with it? Do you let me know about it? Do you call them back? That is also a really, really great, but probably unusual question, but very informed question to ask a call handling company. What happens if you miss one? And finally, number six, this is a good one, I think. And I don’t think it gets talked about either. So in MiPA with alcohol entry company, we charge by the call. So whether it’s like one call or ten calls or like the packages on the number of actual calls we’ve answered, it’s not on minute. Now, I know that lots and lots of collagen companies do charge per minute, and I totally get that. And I totally get why they do it, like 100%. I would just ask the question, how do you make sure that calls aren’t lengthened unnecessarily? Because that has happened.
Because we’ve had customers that come to us because of that, that they will know that calls are lengthened kind of unnecessarily that chat happens, that things are asked that are not necessarily needed, that they might be put on hold. And I would just ask that question if you’re going to a company that charges you by the minute, I would just ask, how do you make sure that, like, your team don’t lengthen my calls unnecessarily? Because obviously you get charged by the minute. I think that’s a really, really great informed question to ask. And I want you to help. I want to help you win the week, have a great business that you enjoy, get your calls answered really well. And obviously, we answer calls with Mi Call. And so if you want any advice, information, want to know more about it, you know where we are. But also, if you’re going somewhere else, I want you to be informed well and ask the right questions so you get the right kind of service for you.
So I hope this kind of quite specific, this episode is full. My call handling junkies out there, quite a specific episode, and I hope it was helpful and take it with you if you’re going to investigate getting this kind of service in your business. And I will see you next week for episode 272. See you then. Bye.
