How to Keep Remote Workers Engaged

Since mid-March, we all have been relegated to operating in a non-traditional working environment, thanks to COVID19. Experts say that we are witnessing “the world’s biggest work-from-home scenario in history.”

Most of our ATSI members and their respective employees continue to work from home, and productivity levels can undoubtedly fluctuate. The real question, though, is how can you keep a remote staff engaged in a work-from-home environment?

Opportunity or Threat?

Consider How You React When Confronted by the Unexpected
Change is inevitable, but the amount of change varies. When unexpected events disrupt your answering service and the way you conduct business, how do you respond? What once worked no longer does, or at least no longer works as well as it once did.

Do you view these pressures to the status quo as an opportunity for improvement or a threat to your future viability? How you frame the issue will dictate your action.

COVID-19 and the Need to Pivot to a
Hybrid Space of Connecting

Social distancing guidelines, as it appears, will be happening for a long time to come. And as we continue to follow these rules, we must
proactively think of ways to work, learn, and grow our connections, without any obstacles.

ATSI follows these guidelines and regulations and, as such, has switched to a hybrid model combined with virtual and socially distanced meetings and conferences to support and guide our members to the new reality that COVID-19 brought.

Gain Recognition as An 
ATSI Auxiliary Member

At ATSI, we’re committed to supporting our members on every level. That said, we are expanding opportunities for new Auxiliary members. This membership level is for organizations or individuals engaged in selling products or providing services that support business growth for our members in the answering service and call center industry.

If you are wondering how our Auxiliary Membership can benefit you, there are many different ways. Members are connected and learn by association and many times there’s a need for innovative solutions to assist with growing a telephone answering service (TAS) business.

As an ATSI Auxiliary Member, you have the opportunity to promote your product and/or services to our membership. ATSI will assist you with gaining recognition by offering an effective business landscape that will connect you with your ideal client who’s looking for your solution.

Are You Reactionary or Strategic?

If Forced to Look at the Short-Term, Don’t Forget to Return to a Long-Term View

When driving, we’re told to look at the entire road and not focus on the car right in front of us. Have you ever known someone who only saw the car right before them? Were you terrified to ride with them?

Yes, there are times when the car right in front of us deserves our focus. Yet persisting in this mode keeps us from seeing everything else that’s happening all around. What else might we miss when one car receives our full attention?

The Value of Being an ATSI Member

Member value is defined as the benefit that business owners receive from the association to which they belong. At ATSI, we are proud to have hundreds of members in the telephone answering and call center industry who not only recognize the value ATSI delivers but have experienced it first-hand.

As a user-centric association, we enable members to Learn by Association and receive strategic guidance from our staff and other members. This is fundamental to what we do and how we collaborate with each of our members, ensuring continuous progress toward the future.

Marketing Considerations for Uncertain Times

Make Sure Your Advertising and Marketing Approach Is Strategic and Not Reactionary

When in the middle of uncertain economic situations, where future business prospects loom more evasive than usual, knowing what to do when it comes to marketing presents a challenge. The marketing you do today for your telephone answering service will affect sales now and the number of prospects in your sales funnel for months to come.

While considering changes to marketing plans is a complex deliberation with many moving parts, the reality is that there are only three basic ways to move forward. Once this fundamental strategy is determined, the more detailed ramifications become easier to deal with.

Training and Managing Remote Agents During COVID-19

The current situation with COVID-19 has certainly put a spotlight on the fact that call centers and answering services are an essential business — but as we know, our industry always has been essential. To quickly respond to the health and safety of others without compromising service delivery, many of our members have redirected their call agents to at-home remote status.

According to a new report by Buffer, around 98% of employees who work remotely want to continue to do so — at least part-time anyway. But one of the biggest challenges is how can operations managers and supervisors effectively manage and motivate a remote staff?

Business Continuity During
The Coronavirus Pandemic

Every business and organization, including our members, should have an effective business continuity plan in place; and who would have thought we all would have to prepare and pivot for a pandemic such as COVID-19.

With the global emergence of a new strain of a virus named COVID-19, now is the time to revisit your ability to shift your TAS business and continue to thrive without interruptions to operations and service delivery. At ATSI, we continue to closely monitor the fluid situation daily and are taking all the necessary precautions and keep our members informed on all levels.

The truth is, business continuity in our industry is so important — especially when there is a lot of uncertainty and information is changing by the minute. Below, we are talking about many TAS business-related challenges that may arise as a result of this pandemic and how to manage them in the best way possible.

Dealing with Coronavirus and High Call Traffic at Your Answering Service

Explore Ways to Allow Staffing Levels to Meet Call Traffic Projections

Concerns about the coronavirus and how clients react to it has increased call volume at most telephone answering services. Higher call volume this month will generally boost billing next month. This will have a positive impact on your bottom line, which is a good thing.

However, coupled with the heightened demand for your services is the need to boost your staffing levels to answer the influx of calls. Having existing staff work more hours, longer shifts, and overtime will only go so far to address this need. In addition, some employees may be reluctant to come to the office to answer calls. Or they’ll insist on staying home until the crisis has passed.

Tips to Deal with Answering Service Client Churn

Losing Clients Each Month Is Inevitable but You Can Minimize How Many

A great characteristic of running a telephone answering service is having monthly recurring revenue. But no client remains on service forever. They’ll eventually cancel their service with you. Then you need to find new clients to replace them just to stay even. This is client churn. And to grow you must add clients faster than you lose them.

Losing some clients is inevitable: they close their doors, merge with another company, or experience different business needs. However, often cancellations are avoidable. Here are some ideas to reduce the number of clients you lose each month.

How Obtaining the ATSI 24/7 Site Certification Can Help You Achieve Maximum System Run-Time

Obtaining an industry certification is a process and definitely lends itself to a powerful third-party endorsement that can be leveraged, especially for your sales and marketing team. Not only will it assist you with advancing your business, but it also positions your telephone answering service as a leader in our industry.

At ATSI, we take pride in being able to offer our 24/7 Site Certification to members who want to gain a competitive edge. Our program is designed to assist owners with identifying and implementing the most effective procedures that can help them achieve maximum system run-time — adding another layer of business continuity.

Prepare Your Answering Service for Acquisition

Take Steps Now to Make Your TAS an Attractive Acquisition Property

In looking at possible strategies for your telephone answering service, one overlooked option is preparing your business for acquisition. This may not be as attractive as a consideration as growing your business through sales and marketing or acquiring other services, but it is worth contemplating.

It might be this is the right time for you to make such a move, or it could be it’s the only viable option remaining. Regardless, preparing your answering service for possible acquisition will allow you to sell faster and get a better price then if you just put it on the market without any forethought.

Making Your Website ADA Compliant

One of the recent topics of discussion on our Listserve was the risk of not having a website that is ADA Compliant. But before we talk about this, let’s differentiate the meaning of the terms, website compliance, and website accessibility.

What Is ADA Compliance and Why Is It Important?
The law which primarily governs accessibility is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Even though this law does not mention websites (anymore), Title III of the ADA regulation has been interpreted by the U.S. courts to apply to websites.

Generally speaking, in order for a website to be ADA compliant, it needs to be accessible. Website accessibility can mean two things depending on this context:
1. The process of making your website so that its content and functions are accessible to people with disabilities.
2. How accessible your website really is.

ATSI Hill Walk

Educating Congressional Members and Legislators About Our Industry

November 18, 2019, was the date that several ATSI members participated in the 2019 ATSI Hill Walk. The goal of this journey was to educate Congressional Members about our advocacy, the importance of our industry and increase awareness of the issues that affect our members.

With two full days of advocacy training and Hill visits, our Washington Legislative Counsel started the tour by visiting the Capitol Dome and continued to the Statuary Hall, then went to the Senate and many other checkpoints.

Should You Set Annual Goals?

If We Aim for Nothing, We’ll Hit It Every Time

Do you make New Year’s resolutions? How does that work for you? Some people mistakenly place annual goals in the same category as New Year’s resolutions: ideas that sound good but that we quickly forget and that accomplish nothing.

We need to disassociate the two. Annual goals, specifically for your job and for your answering service are essential. Without them you will flounder in your work, going from day-to-day, month-to-month, and year-to-year.

A Guide to Pre-Employment Testing for Call Centers

The call center industry has changed so much over the past several years, bringing a new set of challenges that pre-employment tests can best address. Nowadays, TAS owners and Operations Managers have to be prudent when hiring call center staff. If they aren’t, the performance of their staff may lead to higher turnover, lower productivity, and compromised service delivery.

Call centers typically experience a turnover rate close to 45%, and the cost to replace one agent can be 25% to 30% of a full salary plus a benefits package. On top of that, it is believed that 78% of consumers have backed out of a purchase due to poor service from call center employees.

Top 5 Benefits of Joining 

The Association of TeleServices International

If you’re in the answering service or call center industry, joining a professional association can provide you with many benefits. By becoming a member of the Association of TeleServices International (ATSI), it’s a win-win scenario for call centers and similar organizations because while they receive opportunities to network with other industry professionals, they will also get the training and education needed to learn more about growing a profitable TAS business.

Here at ATSI, we take pride in holding the umbrella for hundreds of professional call centers, answering services and contact centers. Here we are listing the top five (5) benefits of being an ATSI member.

HOW TO IMPROVE AGENT ENGAGEMENT AND BOOST YOUR CALL CENTER’S PERFORMANCE

Driving agent engagement is a priority in every call center, regardless of size. The truth is, engagement is what drives motivation, increases performance and decreases turnover, making it a key factor for you and your Operation Manager’s sanity. 

When it comes to answering services and call centers, increased engagement has two main benefits: high performance and high retention.

Pursue Growth Through Acquisition
Expand Your TAS by Acquiring Accounts Instead of through Sales and Marketing

When you think of the future of your telephone answering service, what will it look like? What strategy do you need to use to get there? There is no one right answer that works for everyone, but there might be one right answer that works for you.