The social enterprise – what’s in a name?

The explosion of social networking and its positive (and addictive) effect on the lives of virtually all of us gave rise to the question: “How can I achieve the same effect with customers?”

How can a business have the explosive growth, the effective communication, and the addictive experience of social networking? The answer is the Social Enterprise.

You’ve probably read stories of companies integrating tools to help them better communicate with their co-workers and customers. Popular brands in today’s market spend heavily to track their image and engage their customers online and through different platforms and devices with one goal – build customer relationships.

It’s not a unique idea to invest in improving relationships with customers. What is unique, however, is the technology that we use to accomplish it. Social Networking, Micro-blogging, and Business Analytics continue to improve and give us better ways to make our customers love us.

Answering the telephone, however, we often have a static, generic company greeting, treating the best opportunity we may ever get with a customer with no personal touch or relationship building effort.

Your customers deserve better, and in the days of the Social Enterprise, they can have better. Phone systems can now integrate with your CRM or Email Client, grab customer information in real-time and greet customers how they should be greeted, by name, automatically.

Improving customer relationships has always and will always be critical to business. If your phone system does not greet your customers (and potential customers!) by name, with the history of their account delivered to the call recipient, and automatically routed to the last person they spoke with, are you really executing on that Social Enterprise strategy? Are you totally connected with everyone that touches your brand?

Food for thought.

Dv

– photo credit – Flickr Esthr – Creative Commons

Ringio Featured in Today’s Washington Post

Over the last few months, we’ve been working more closely with the amazing people at the University of Maryland’s Dingman Center of Entrepreneurship. So when we got the opportunity to share a particular business challenge we are facing here at Ringio and get an expert opinion on how to address that challenge by one of Dingman’s renowned business gurus, we were absolutely thrilled. When we subsequently found out that Ringio would also be featured in a Washington Post article, we were humbled and floored.  Thanks to Elana Fine and the Dingman team for the great response and all your support! If any of you have any further suggestions, please send them our way.

Five Important Rules for Selecting a New Phone System

Rule 1: Does it help me check who is calling?

We have all had those times when the phone rings and we cringe when we answer it. While at home, it might be okay to think of an excuse to not speak to dear, old aunt Gertrude calling to talk about her flower beds, but as a business owner you cannot miss the opportunity to make a sale. What you need is a phone system that let’s you know who is calling beforehand. Imagine knowing if it is a previous customer who always calls to chat about gardening or a new customer with a legitimate query. With the right telephone system, you will be able to treat your customers with individualized attention and this brings you one step nearer to closing the deal.

The Ringio system is designed to allow business owners and professionals the ability to see who is calling, before they answer the call. It also frequent callers to be customized on a computer with their photo, full name and title.

Rule 2: Does it help me recall my last conversation?

There is an old quote about people who look into a mirror and immediately forget what they look like when they walk away. Your memory might not be that bad, but it can seem similar when dealing with the volume of phone calls you receive. Customers and clients phoning in require not only your full attention, but to know that they matter. Instead of relying on notes jotted down on scrap paper, use the Ringio system to efficiently recall your last conversation with a client or customer. No other telephone system expertly allows you to make notes about the last conversation and pick up the conversation where you left off.

Rule 3: Does it make me appear professional?

There are numerous stories of companies wanting to appear professional, but refusing to invest in the best telephone system to do so. There is a story of one company that decided to buy a small radio. To place calls on hold the radio was cranked up and the phone’s receiver placed near by, while waiting to speak to the store’s manager. At least this is better than placing the palm of your hand over the microphone.

There are many other examples of unprofessional behavior that you can think of. First of all, appearing professional requires using a high quality phone. You must remember having a customer agree to a sale or a transaction starts from the moment the customer speaks to someone from your company.

The Ringio phone system is designed to make even the smallest business appear as professional as a multinational company. This telephone system is able to block out background noise, allow quick transfer to another extension, and play your choice of music, and all with one click.

Rule 4: Does it bring us together as a team?

Cohesiveness and organization is the key to dealing with company calls. Depending on the type and size of your business, a customer can talk to a least three people every time they call. If a company makes itself “customer-friendly,” queries can be handled smoothly and quickly on the phone. Customer-friendly means accessing customer contact information, quickly answering calls and letting the caller know they are valued. The Ringio phone system is ideal when working as a part of a team. Customer contact information and notes made on a customer’s account can easily be viewed using high-quality customer relationship management software.

Rule 5: Does it allow me to just relax and be myself?

This might sound easy, but some complicated telephone systems leave us feeling anything but relaxed. By the time you have tried twice to unsuccessfully transfer the call to the sales department, lost the call and then mistakenly transferred it to the finance department, you are ready to throw the telephone out the window.

Instead, just relax. The best phone system is one that allows your personality to shine in the conversation. Customers appreciate businesses that still use humans to take their calls and answer their queries. Be as friendly as possible. Leave the caller with a good feeling about the company at the end of each call. These are basic principles that anyone who answers the phone on behalf of your company should be taught about the brand’s culture.

The Ringio system is great because it can help you to achieve this. This system allows you to monitor calls and provide a quality check of how well your company is doing over the telephone.