Appletree Answering Service

If you have ever: Ordered from a catalog, purchased a concert ticket or  called to complain about an order or product , then you have interacted with a “Call Center”!  Of course, Appletree operates multiple call centers around the USA, however, our activities extend well beyond the handling of your calls. 

In addition to handling your tele-communication needs, Appletree offers a full solution menu which includes project support needs.   By eliminating your long distance phone charges and alleviating your staffing needs, Appletree will save your company significant time and money. 

Flexibility and quick response to our clients’ changing needs set us apart in the call center industry.  Whether your needs are re-occurring or singular projects, let Appletree accommodate your communication needs in the following ways: 

• Schedule, Cancel, or Confirm Appointments
• Customer Service follow-up calls
• Application Processing
• Customer Surveying
• Event and Conference Registration
• Ecommerce – Order Taking/Order Processing
• Cross Sell and Up-Sell Programs
• Live Web Chat
• 24-Hour Help Desk/Technical Support 

Whatever your company’s needs are, Appletree’s comprehensive corporate capabilities are available, accessible and affordable. Contact an Account Specialist today at 800-237-2810 to discuss any of your project needs.

We are all affected in some way by the current economic slowdown.  The key to success is managing through these tough times with minimal strategic impact.  Companies lay off workers, cut back on resources, reduce wages and freeze benefits.  General anxiety leads millions of companies to hunker down and stop spending, which slows the economy even more.  However, your business does not have to suffer during these hard times.  During times like these, there are still several ways for companies to thrive and continue to grow their business.  Below are some tips from experts on how to save money and still grow your business during an economic downfall.  Along with some suggestions on how Appletree can help. 

Get your Finances in Order
It’s important to keep your business costs low and maintain cash flow.  Save money on jobs by eliminating non-profitable areas and outsourcing in order to use money where you need it the most. 

As your receptionist, you don’t have to pay Appletree a salary, benefits, sick and vacation days, taxes, or workman’s comp.  You don’t have the expenses of office space and you only pay us for service when the phone rings.  Appletree provides significant bottom line savings in comparison to full time employees.   

Keep your Staff Happy
During down times, management needs to place absolute focus on the core business.  Take care of the people that are going to carry your business through this tough time. 

In order to avoid hindering your employee’s productivity, Appletree can help your employees focus on their jobs and fulfilling their responsibilities.  By screening their phone calls, we can transfer their urgent calls and relay the messages for the others.  In addition to taking calls, Appletree can also answer your employee’s emails around the clock. 

Increase the frequency of communications with existing clients
Another key element for thriving during a recession is to focus more on customer satisfaction.  By focusing on delivering more than you promise, you are putting the customer first.  This helps reinforce their decision to buy from you.  Personalized attention makes your callers not only feel important, but also makes your company stand out.

Appletree will address client concerns, take orders, and answer their questions one-by-one, all while providing you with 24/7 customer support. With Appletree, you can increase your productivity, while still providing your clients with the personal attention they deserve.

Invest in Your Business
Promote, promote, promote!  Look at effective ways to market your business. When people are ready to buy, they want to talk to someone now.  To get an answering machine or voice mail gives them no sense that they have made any contact at all with your company.  Many feel that if they cannot reach someone when they are ready to buy, surely they may not reach anyone when they have a problem. 

An answering service can give your callers the impression of stability and professionalism that they look for in a company they want to do business with.  Appletree will always be there to answer their calls and can help you generate new business by making outbound phone calls or fielding and screening your incoming sales calls.  Your image starts with the person who answers your phone.  Show your prospects that you are a customer service oriented company.  With Appletree, all of your calls are handled with accuracy and expediency. 

I am often asked the difference between a Call Center and a Telephone Answering Service.  To be frank, the lines have been very blurred in recent years.  Let me offer some insight into how Appletree segments it’s business between Call Center and Answering Service.  One hint, it is not by customer size!

It really comes down to the complexity of the customer needs.  We have very large customers that have very simple name, telephone number, message type needs, and we would clasify them as traditional Answering Service.  They are processed on our state of the art call center platform, and have access to all the same services and features, it is just that their needs are simpler.

In contrast to that, we have some small customers that have highly customized needs.  As an example we have an emergency response account that responds to tractor trailer accidents that occur within their fleet.  There are a multitude of notifications and forms that must be completed when there is an incident, and we have built out a complete call handling script to cover all possible combinations of events.  The script took over 100 hours to build, yet this customer averages about 5-10 calls PER YEAR!  Certainly not a big customer in terms of call volume, but definitely a Call Center type of account.

Essentially, the Telephone Answering Service Industry, in partnership with our equipment vendors, have brought high level Call Center type services to companies of all shapes, sizes and configurations.  We are proud to service members of the Fortune 50, many of the Fortune 500, as well as sole proprietors and thousands of small businesses.  At any level of sophistication…

Have a great week.

Appletree is joining the blog world! As an innovator in the marketing arena for our industry, I am embarrassed that we are so late to the blog party. In our research we have found there are a multitude of reasons to actively participate in the blogosphere, not the least of which is communication with stakeholders. Customers, employees and key vendors are all engaged in research and interaction with related companies.I am excited that our employees will have a venue to make more of a connection with me and our company in general, and that is the primary driver for me becoming an active blogger. Business today has changed dramatically, and valuing employees as true stakeholders in the company is central to our philosophy. We even design new office spaces around front line employees first. They get the best views, the best space and the most ergonomic workstations.As a CEO, this progression to employee centric thinking is very rewarding. While it costs more to provide employees a first class experience, the service they deliver to our customers makes it well worth it. There are topics in just about every executive meeting about how to make the front line employee experience better. Our number one job as a company is to service our employees, so that they in turn service our customers. It is a real shift in thinking but one that is completely worth it.

Appletree Answering Service launches company blog to promote employee and customer education and communication.