The Specialty Answering Service Blog

For the small business owner, time is a commodity. With a limited number of employees, it can be a challenge to get through your entire "to-do" list in one day. Far down on the list of musts should be outbound telemarketing. When you're busy juggling inbound calls, staff meetings, and data entry,…

Ah, the holiday season. It’s a magical time filled with twinkling lights, candy canes, and the madness of retail. Amidst all of the hustle and bustle, and shoppers knocking each other down for the latest deal, it’s easy for employees to become annoyed, leading to poor customer service and workplace misconduct. Not…

You know how when election time rolls around, you get those pre-recorded calls from candidates with a message about a bunch of campaign promises that they almost never keep following being voted in? Those calls are made by an invention called the Auto Dialer. An auto dialer can automatically make calls from…

Proper diction is as important to customer service as diapers are to a baby. In the answering service world, pronunciation is key. So how can you keep your customer service department speaking clearly? You'll need our pronunciation tongue twisters for starters. Tongue twisters, which are nonsensical phrases that rely on alliteration (the…

It’s the age-old quandary. If no one is in your office to hear the phone ring, does it make a sound? If someone is calling you after-hours, it doesn’t matter if the phone makes a sound or not. You are missing the call. And that is precisely why Specialty Answering Service supports…

Here’s everything you never knew you always wanted to know about the telephone. How many questions can you answer correctly? 1. What greeting was first used when answering the telephone? Speak! Hello! Ahoy! At your service! 2. What is one of the most common ways to disguise cell phone towers? It’s illegal…

Do you know how you sound on the phone? Probably not. While some people may think they sound professional and helpful, others may hear something entirely different. Unless you are routinely listening to yourself, you may never know how professional, or not at all, you are. If you work at a professional call center…

Are you are one of the 86% of Americans who sit all day at work? Studies show that excessive sitting is a key risk factor several major medical issues facing the U.S. today: heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and breast and colon cancers. But according to the Ergotron JustStand Survey & Index…

What about Bob? is a hilarious movie that showcases the antics of a cunning, obsessive-compulsive narcissist who can't manage even one day without his psychotherapist. Bob Wiley uses his guile to pull the wool over the eyes of three call center representatives and steal away with information that should have remained private.…

Asterisk is more than just a pretty symbol you can use to bleep out foul language. It’s also software! Created in 1999 by Mark Spencer of Digium, Asterisk is an open source framework that turns regular computers into communications servers. That makes them able to interact with attached telephone lines and networks…