Posted on Thu, Jun 16, 2011 @ 09:34 AM
Last weekend Telelink was a proud participant in the annual Janeway Telethon. We took donation calls for the Telethon on Saturday night and all day Sunday, and donated a sum of $5,000 to this great cause. Some of our staff volunteered time on their days off to help, joined by agents who were already present for weekend shifts in the centre, to ensure no call was missed. A total of 1,300 calls came in over the two days the Telethon ran, including some answered live by management over at the Janeway Childrens' Hospital before we presented them with our donation. Great job, everyone!
The centre also has set a brand-new fundraising goal for this year - to raise enough money for the Janeway to purchase a Critical Care Crib. This equipment, designed for older infants and toddlers who need intensive care, will be a great help to the sick children at the hospital. At a cost of $15,000, though, it won't come easily. For that reason, Telelink will be donating at least 50% of the proceeds from all our fundraising events this year to the Janeway Fundraiser. A few more fundraisers specific to the Janeway efforts may be in the future, as well.
Thanks to all the Telelink family and friends for their support!
Ashley Haley - Customer Success Agent
www.TelelinkCallCentre.com
ahaley@telelinkcallcenter.com
Posted on Tue, Apr 12, 2011 @ 11:50 AM
Telelink was a participant in the recent St. John's Board of Trade Business Development Summit, an annual showcase for locally-operated businesses. This year's very successful show was held on January 20th at the Delta St. John's Hotel, where 80 local vendors represented their businesses for the benefit of a big crowd. We were back once again with our annual booth so that visitors from all over can see who we are and what it is we do.
Actually, it's surprising how many locals don't know what it is we do! We're not Teletech, for one thing, and we're by no means a recent arrival in St. John's - Telelink has a proud 45 years of service behind it. The term "call centre" only scratches the surface of what we do, with much of our business being right here in St. John's, serving as the after-hours answering service for local clients. Our mission at the Business Development Summit was to spread the word about our company and make our presence known in the local market.
Telelink representatives Regina Hounsell, Patti Butt and Pam Reid attended on behalf of the company with our old-fashioned popcorn maker in tow, distributing popcorn to booth visitors and making a delicious presence in the ballroom. They reported that it was a great show with a huge turnout, and the booth received many friendly visitors interested in Telelink. They also organized a business card draw to give away three bottles of wine (worth about $150), with the prize being claimed by Angie Pickett of CAA Travel.
The Summit visit was a great follow-up to the award for Growth in Domestic/Export Markets we recieved at the end of last year, also from the Board of Trade. Telelink was presented this honour at the Business Excellence Awards luncheon on December 8th, 2010.
All in all, the 2011 Summit was another great success that gave us a chance to network and talk one-on-one with other local businesspeople. We can't wait to get out there again next year!
Ashley Haley - Customer Success Agent
www.TelelinkCallCentre.com
1.888.693.2255
ahaley@telelinkcallcenter.com
Posted on Thu, Feb 17, 2011 @ 01:19 PM
When you first tell people you work at a call centre, it's hard to guess what kind of reaction they might have. At worst, pity; at best, a knowing nod. Working the phones all day can be a tough job, and in the wrong kind of atmosphere, an uninspiring, thankless job. Many call centres have an outrageous turnover of employees, a revolving-door sort of workforce of newly-trained employees who are just there "until something better comes along."
Telelink is not that call centre.
There is a marked difference between an employer who strives to keep their staff happy, motivated and in-tune with company goals, and one who puts profit above personnel. An employer who can't balance between keeping their customers satisfied and their workforce motivated may soon find themselves in trouble when their unhappy employees take less and less care of the calls. Everyone's had to make a customer service call at some point; whether it's to the bank, the phone company, the insurance company...and many of us may have been upset customers for whatever reason. Thankfully, with the kind of business we do at Telelink, those "bad calls" are minimal, but it's only human to have a rough day every once in a while - and when you do, you want to be able to say "tomorrow will be better," rather than "I hate my job." Motivation, I believe is the key.
This post is written by a real Telelink employee who's worked in a half-dozen call centres across Canada, and come home exhausted many days from those places wondering why I continued to go in every morning. (Or in some cases, evening, then morning, then morning, then evening - with so many employees, we were all subject to terrible fluctuating schedules and required overtime.) I applied to Telelink on a recommendation from a friend who promised me it was different from the other places I had been, a smaller centre where the managers knew their employees by name and bad days were few and far between. I knew immediately after meeting the human resources manager and hearing her speak about Telelink's Painted Picture that she had been right.
Since then, I've had the fortune of seeing firsthand a call centre that treats its employees well; the kind of job where people rarely take sick days and have a genuine smile on their faces when they're on the phone. We enjoy nice facilities with large workspaces and up-to-date equipment; each station has a double monitor, plenty of legroom and are kept clean and tidy. The atmosphere is relaxed and comfortable. The managers, rather than being faceless people who never emerge from their own offices, walk the floor and get involved firsthand with incentive programs. We have a nice kitchen, a staff lounge, big windows with plenty of sun. The Telelink mission statement winds around the perimeter of the room. Looking around from where I sit now, I can see hand-lettered posters; "happiness," "respect." In the last few months alone we enjoyed a Thanksgiving dinner, Halloween costumes, "Survivor" and "The Biggest Loser"-style contests, a Chili Day, many boxes of pizza, a Christmas party with wonderful food and gifts for all and plenty more creative and fun holiday festivities. Telelink employees enjoy two weeks' vacation after a year, great health coverage and their birthday off - with pay! A far cry from those days when I counted the minutes until the end of my shift.
In a job where you interact with a new customer every few minutes, it's more important than ever to greet each call, good and bad, with politeness and empathy. It only makes sense that you treat your employees with the same amount of respect and dedication, if you want to have a staff that is punctual, friendly and motivated. Wouldn't it be nice if everyone out there really cared about their jobs and felt devotion for their workplace, not just obligation? Many call centres haven't yet gotten the memo, but I believe we here at Telelink could teach them a lesson or two.
Ashley Haley - Customer Success Agent
www.TelelinkCallCentre.com
1.888.693.2255
ahaley@telelinkcallcenter.com
Posted on Thu, Feb 17, 2011 @ 12:18 PM
We know that as a business owner, focusing on your core business is your priority. Your customer facing employees are vital to your success. Maintaining staff and the required technological investments is very costly. Outsourcing these functions will save money and provide trained 24/7 dedicated resources that will increase sales and add to your bottom line.
SMEs and large corporations alike are turning to call centres as an economical and viable solution.
Telelink has made significant investments in training and in the latest call center technologies. As a 24-hour operation with clients that require 100% uptime, efficient systems and a business continuity plan have been implemented to guarantee that your customers will always have access to a customer sales/support team. See call centre case studies for more details.
Another major advantage of call centre outsourcing is scalability. You can add or remove resources as required by your business. We take care of the HR logistics and provide trained staff who have many years of experience in customer relationship management. We provide you with detailed online reporting tools to monitor quality and provide all call details. Your call data is backed up in real time and provides you with clear evidence of the effectiveness of our leading edge answering service solutions.
Other advantages include:
- Shorter sales cycles
- Improved customer confidence
- Better control of the sales process
- Elimination of personnel management
- Reduced costs in infrastructure
- Elimination of payroll and health care benefit management
- Elimination of the risk of technology failures
- Ability to efficiently test new products and services
- Better control of related expenses
- Quality control by leveraging an ISO-certified call centre operation
In short, the benefits of call centre outsourcing are very measurable. Our clients have reported increased sales, customer satisfaction and loyalty. In fact, 98.1% of our customers would highly recommend Telelink to another business. With over 45 years of call centre experience, we have developed proven solutions that will benefit your business and provide you with the peace of mind that your customers are in good hands.
Charlie Reid - Director of Business Development
www.TelelinkCallCentre.com
1.888.693.2255
creid@telelinkcallcentre.com
Posted on Thu, Feb 17, 2011 @ 12:01 PM
Why Choose Telelink?
At Telelink we are proud of our roots and our beginnings greatly influence the way we do business today. Telelink has been providing quality customer service solutions for our clients since 1966. Our founder, Tom Ryan, established the company 46 years ago with one cord board and two telephone secretaries.
We have come a long way and one thing hasn't changed, though; and that's the way we do business. At Telelink we believe in friendly, courteous service towards our clients and yours. We offer reliable call center solutions that will exceed your expectations. Our answering service quality management systems ensure consistent telephone experiences every time. Expansion and scalability will help us meet the needs of all size projects and call center applications, so you can be assured that Telelink can handle your service requirements, no matter how big or small.
We specialize in inbound and outbound telephone support, 24/7, 365 days a year. Our services include order taking, reservations, appointment bookings, emergency response, off-site reception, market research, satisfaction and opinion surveys and political polling. Our vision for reliable 24/7 telecommunications has grown to become Telelink today - an award-winning, ISO 9001:2000 registered customer service call center.
Call center outsourcing helps you grow your business while you focus on your core business. We have the human resources, technical infrastructure, stability, creditability and expertise to be a long-term strategic partner for your call center services. Telelink offers value, quality, and cost savings to your organization through our inbound and outbound customer care call center solutions. Our commitment to earning your business is evident in our competitive pricing model and an unremitting commitment to customer service.
A happy workforce is a productive workforce, with trained and professional customer service representatives. We are dedicated to the personal and professional development of each and every one of our employees. We foster growth through encouraging incentives, recognizing family values, and promoting from within.
Telelink's unique culture allows us to deliver a telephone-based customer service strategy proven to exceed industry standards and customer expectations. We believe in honesty, integrity and service. At Telelink we strive to help customers grow sales and profits and give you a sustainable competitive advantage.
From a cord board and two telephone secretaries 46 years ago, to a full service ISO 9001:2000 certified call center, Telelink offers innovative, scalable solutions to help your company achieve its customer service, sales, or employee safety objectives.
For more information contact:
Charlie Reid - Director of Business Develpoment
www.TelelinkCallCentre.com
1.888.693.2255
creid@telelinkcallcentre.com
Posted on Fri, Nov 26, 2010 @ 08:40 AM
About a year ago my business partner and I came to the realization that if we wanted to retire by the time we were 55, we had serious work to do. Like most entrepreneurs, most of what we had, we had been put into the business, not into much of a retirement plan. Once we figured out the "number" we needed, we realized we needed help.
Like many industries, the call centre industry is full of competitors that slash prices in tough times. We had to differentiate ourselves from other call centers and answering services by creating a vision for each of our employees to see and feel. At that point, we were still " just the answering service" competing with several 500+ seat call centres in our area for talent.
Fortunately, we had heard Cameron Herold speak at an Industry event several months before. Everything he spoke of rang true. Having the right people on your bus, discipline in meeting rhythms (something we really lacked) and mainly, creating your painted picture. We decided to hire him almost immediately as our coach, and it's the best money we have ever spent.
In our first weeks with Cameron, we completed our painted picture - a snapshot of what we wanted our company to look like three years out. He taught us that if you put it in writing and shared it with others, it would happen.
We shared it with everyone, prospects, customers, new hires, vendors, government agencies, family and friends. Anyone who would listen.
A year later -its happening. We are ahead of every single one of our goals. We have attracted the best local talent of call centre agents, we have already hit our sales goals for 2011, and our team is aligned and working at a pace we have never witnessed before.
Like many industries, the call centre industry is full of competitors that slash prices in tough times. We had to differentiate ourselves from other call center and answering services by creating a vision for each of our employees to see and feel. Engaged employees deliver exceptional customer service.
There's is no doubt about it, once you write it down, share it and believe it - it happens. There is an energy in our company that is palpable. I know the first step in getting there was the painted picture.
Sydney Ryan - VP Marketing & Sales
www.TelelinkCallCentre.com
1.888.693.2255
sryan@telelinkcallcentre.com