Published on 3rd February 2020 by Gemma Harding
One of the primary reasons housing associations should outsource their calls is to provide comprehensive cover around the clock for their customers.
While it is possible to provide a high standard of service over the phone in-house during normal office hours, it is difficult to remain cost-effective when putting out of hours cover in place.
That is where outsourcing to a call handling service plays a vital role. In this article, we explore why housing associations can benefit from a call handling service and which services are best suited for this industry.
Reduce missed calls and improve customer satisfaction.
All incoming customer enquiries are answered by friendly, professional, and well-informed operators. Switchboard services aid the smooth transfer of calls to your team. The provider ensures that all incoming enquiries are responded to immediately so your customers no longer face an engaged tone or voicemail service again.
Reduce overheads and increase efficiencies.
Paying for calls on demand allows you to reduce overheads and remain cost-efficient. Call handling specialists respond to incoming enquiries at all hours of the day, allowing you to leave the office, with the reassurance that calls are being taken care of. Appointments and viewings across your entire portfolio can be managed by experienced call handlers and relayed to you efficiently.
Maximise customers’ experience and deliver a SLA.
Outsourcing your calls enables incidents to be resolved, outside of your ordinary 9-5 office hours. A call handling service can handle engineer call-outs and follow an allocated escalation procedure if required, this will assist in increasing your reliability and secure customers’ and stakeholder’s trust.
Extend your business working hours 24/7/365.
Enquiries come at all hours of the day and dedicated call handling services handle out of hours calls, so you don’t have to. From briefing engineers on technical jobs to managing complaints, operators are equipped with the necessary skills required when supporting housing associations.
Business continuity and disruption protection.
If you are unable to answer calls due to technical disruptions, or internal business emergencies, call handling specialists will respond to calls and ensure it does not affect your customer response rates and customer satisfaction levels.
How can CallCare support housing associations?
Emergency Calls
With our emergency call-out support, companies currently operating a mobile phone system for around the clock emergency calls can use us to manage all calls they receive. Tenants can experience a number of problems, from repairs and lift faults to anti-social behaviour and power cuts. Our specialist call handlers separate emergency calls from general calls and escalate, where necessary, to the company representative. No calls go unanswered and messages are sent to you via email so you are always kept in the loop.
Data management is key for CallCare, using data provided by your company we create detailed rotas which ensures that the right engineer is assigned to each call out through our process flow. We provide multiple user access to bespoke technology which allows you and your team to update any live changes to these rotas automatically via your mobile.
Lone Worker Protection
Our lone worker protection service allows you peace of mind and the knowledge that your lone workers are safe.
CallCare offers two different types of lone worker protection:
Proactive telephone service:
We maintain consistent communication with solitary and remote-location workers. Our operators will call your staff members at regular intervals to ensure their safety.
Reactive service:
We rely on your employees to indicate their safety through regular calls into our call centre and by logging their location at specified intervals. If there is any inconsistency in communication, we’ll report the incident directly to the duty manager and, if necessary, the emergency services.
Disaster Recovery
To ensure levels of communication are never threatened, CallCare can act as security against any system failure and/or the loss of your phone lines. Should your business operations fail due to fire, flooding or bad weather, CallCare can instantly take over your calls by seamlessly diverting your phones to our disaster recovery call centre. Your customers will never know that you have suffered a system failure as your calls will be answered by our staff and, in the event of a catastrophe, they will be reassured by your continued communication.
CallCare is FCA registered and can also process payments over the phone on your behalf for rent arrears, repair costs or anything else you may require. We can also provide an outbound customer satisfaction survey service whereby we can contact customers after engineer work has been carried out and establish how satisfied they are with the work.
We have a long history of providing support to housing associations and understand the unique requirements of this specialist industry. From briefing engineers on technical jobs to managing calls from unhappy customers, we equip our operators with the specific skills they need to manage calls within this sector. Contact us today to speak to one of our team!
Posted by Gemma Harding
As Head of Client Services, Gemma is an expert in the customer service industry. With over 20 years of experience in the call handling process she will guide your organisation to an improved customer service strategy. Hobbies include all thing equestrian.
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