Discover a Myriad of Ways to Track and Record Inbound Calls, Part 2 of 2
After a one-week hiatus in which I discussed the amazing customer service I received while on a recent cruise, I’m jumping back into part two of how to use your call center as a strategic tool to increase sales. (For part 1 from Jan. 15, click here.) Audience feedback I got from part one indicated the need to address how best to record calls for training purposes.
It seems some of you have the capability to record calls and some do not. For those without the proper technology, you have a few simple options. The Internet enables some companies to record your inbound calls — for surprisingly little cost. For the past two years, I’ve been using an Internet lead-tracking company named KALL8 (www.kall8.com) to assign unique toll-free numbers to marketing vehicles in order to properly measure call volumes, response rates and cost per lead/order. Setting up a toll-free number is so simple. Even the most technically challenged of us can get set up in less than five minutes.
This company also provides call-recording services, which are as simple as hitting an on/off switch. Calls can then be retrieved by logging onto the provider’s Web site or having the calls e-mailed to you.
Several other companies offer the same services as KALL8. (A simple Google search of “contact center call recording” brings up literally hundreds of thousands.) Another company I recommend is Who’s Calling (www.whoscalling.com), which offers services similar to KALL8.
If you don’t want to go the Internet route, you can always go old-school. Use a tape recorder and one of those “thingies” that connects to the earpiece of the phone with a suction cup. You can find basic recording equipment at your neighborhood RadioShack or similar electronics store.
Next week I’ll discuss how to use recorded calls to increase your call-to-order conversion ratio.
Got comments? E-mail them to me at jimdirect@aol.com or post them below.
Jim Gilbert is president of Gilbert Direct Marketing Inc., a full-service catalog and direct marketing agency. His LinkedIn profile can be viewed at www.linkedin.com/in/jimwgilbert or you can e-mail him at jimdirect@aol.com.
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Jim Gilbert has had a storied career in direct and digital marketing resulting in a burning desire to tell stories that educate, inform, and inspire marketers to new heights of success.
After years of marketing consulting, Jim decided it was time to “put his money where his mouth was" and build his own e-commerce company, Premo Natural Products, with its flagship product, Premo Guard Bed Bug & Mite Sprays. Premo in its second year is poised to eclipse 100 percent growth.
Jim has been writing for Target Marketing Group since 2006, first on the pages of Catalog Success Magazine, then as the first blogger for its online division. Jim continues to write for Total Retail.
Along the way, Jim has led the Florida Direct Marketing Association as their Marketing Chair and then three-term President, been an Adjunct Professor of Direct and Digital marketing for Miami International University, and created a lecture series, “The 9 Immutable Laws of Social Media Marketing,” which he has presented across the country at conferences and universities.
