Over the past six weeks Direct Call have provided the Green Party with highly professional call centre services during their vital Euro and Local election campaigns.

As the dust begins to settle after the manic last few days, it is clear that the Green Party has made hugely promising progressions that will drive the party towards an increasingly imminent general election.
Not only did the Greens retain both MEP's, their overall vote in the Euro elections increased by a staggering 44% http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2009-06-08-euro-results.html
The local elections also provided steady progression with the Greens gaining 10 council seats http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2009-06-06-county-elections.html

During the campaign, Direct Call helped the Green Party set up and receive calls from 11 separate UK regions. On behalf of the party, Direct Call seamlessly handled manifesto requests via SMS and phone; provided valuable party and election information; processed credit/debit card donations and recorded membership requests which helped increase membership by 8.5% (http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2009-06-06-county-elections.html).

Between now and the not too distant general election we will be assisting and advising on how best to develop the data The Green Party have gathered over the past 6 weeks. This will be key to the success of future campaigns and also in generating additional campaign funds.

Presented to the call centre blog by Brian Maclagan, Direct Call Account Manager.

Writing for ccf online (21/11/08) Gordon Loader, Senior Manager, Solutions Marketing EMEA Avaya a company whos software is currently used by Direct Call, stresses the need for call centres to be continuosly evolving with technology:

The face of customer service is changing.  Customers are more demanding and businesses now have an added pressure to deliver fast, effective service. Technology has fuelled the speed with which customers expect to interact with businesses—email, SMS and instant messaging (IM) are now not only acceptable, but commonplace.  However, while interaction speed has increased, tolerance levels are decreasing. 

Customers want good service and issues resolution and they want it now. Again, technology can play a supporting role. Voice recognition can not only identify customers, but also rate (dis)satisfaction with the service at the point of contact, providing call centre agents with real-time feedback on how best to handle their queries. These types of performance analytics enable businesses to be more agile and competitive improving their ability to deliver customized, effective services.

Customer’s definitions of availability are also changing. 24/7 service is no longer a luxury, but a requirement and many are willing to pay a premium for on-demand service. The impact to call centres is easy to see, but delivering this requires changes to the core of a business, going beyond technology, into policy, staffing and reach. Moving forward without adapting not only risks alienating clients, but is also a missed opportunity to increase revenue directly—big gambles in today’s economic climate. 


Of course, delivering this type of instant customer service is challenging. Fortuitously, how we work is also evolving. Businesses are no longer limited to staffing from a local team, but can fill roles from a wider geographical pool, adding diversity, skills and expertise to their service network. And with the advent of flexible working, the network can be extended to accommodate both business and employee needs. Superior work/life balance breeds loyalty, cuts staff attrition and turnover, increasing job satisfaction and performance. 

To achieve this level of flexibility and diversity technology must, again, play a role. Unified Communications (UC) extends the contact centre throughout the business to the benefit of the customer, the organization and its employees—to answer every question, solve every challenge. UC also extends the reach of the contact centre to new audiences by delivering service that meets the needs of all its customers. By recognizing and embracing these new forms of communication, and through the implementation of transformative technologies capable of serving these changing needs, the call centre too evolves. Unified Communication is here. The future is now.

Presented to the call centre blog by Brian Maclagan, Direct Call Account Manager.

8th October 2008 Christine Knott (MD Beyond The Box) adds her weight to the growing debate relating to whether body language can affect telephone conversations.

Writing for callcentrehelper.com Christine outlines her beliefs on the importance of body language during a telephone conversation, and also provides a few tips on how to improve telephone manner through posture and expressions:

For many people the response to this would be ‘no’ – as how can body language be important if the caller can’t see the person they are talking to?

Before this question can be fully answered, we need to understand the part body language plays during the communication process.

First of all, let’s get down to basics.

A message (conversation) is communicated to the receiver by words, the way the words are spoken and body language.

People are surprised when they are introduced to the statistics which indicate that only 7% of the message is transferred and understood by the actual words used, 38% is transferred as a result of the way the words are spoken and a massive 55% by body language. Incidentally, these statistics refer to a conversation that is face to face. Logic tells us that if the conversation is over the telephone the body cannot be seen which means that a massive 55% of the method for transferring the message is lost. To that end, one could argue therefore that body language does not even come into the equation when talking on the telephone.

That isn’t the case though – the body also has a massive effect on our breathing pattern which in turn has a massive effect on the way the words are spoken.

When body language is used as a method to understanding the meaning of a message being communicated to us, it makes reference not only to the actions of the body, but also to facial expressions.

If someone is gesturing wildly, with arms and hands pointing towards us with a firm action and being repeated at speed, we will assume that they are not very happy. Without hearing any words we can conclude that these are the actions of an angry man. How we react to that is based on our own responses. People could react quite differently to an angry-looking person. The anger might be reflected back, with the person on the receiving end responding with fear or nervousness - and some may even burst in to laughter as a way of responding. Whatever the response, the message indicated is loud and clear and without the use of words. That’s how powerful body language can be, when communication takes place in an environment where the receiver can see the message sender.

If the telephone is introduced into the process the receiver cannot see the message sender. This means that a massive 55% of the transfer process is lost – we can’t see the message sender’s body so how can it be used to transfer a message to us? Most certainly, if we take the example above where the man communicated anger without actually saying anything the introduction of the telephone would have prevented the receiver from understanding the message. People rarely pick up the phone to communicate and say nothing, words or sounds are generally uttered.

Words are introduced into the conversation – no doubt, if we continue with the same example of the angry person, the words will endorse and match his feelings. In addition the way he says the words will also replicate his feelings. It would be quite unlikely that someone with enraged anger displayed by body actions and endorsed with words would be able to say those words in a calm and collected manner.

If we are angry, it is evident by our facial expression. If we are happy, it is evident by our facial expression. The muscles in our face are numerous – we have more muscles from our shoulders up than from our shoulders down! Movement of muscles will affect the sound of the voice.

We have all heard the comment – you can hear someone smiling and it is true. If we smile our voice is lighter, higher and indicates happiness.

If we show anger on our faces the muscles affect our voice too, it will be deeper and more stressed.

Facial expressions affect our voice and our voice transfers key parts of a message to help the receiver understand what is being communicated. Whether the conversation takes place on the telephone or face to face, the facial expression which is part of body language plays a major role in the communication process.

The pace of an angry person’s voice may be faster than normal, their voice may be deeper, their words may be clipped and sharp in the way they are spoken, and their breathing will no doubt be faster, which will also have an effect on how the words were uttered. Quite simply, their body language will have a massive effect on how the words are said, and that contributes to the 38% of the message transfer.

When someone is speaking on the telephone their body language will still reflect their mood and feelings. It happens unconsciously. Who would stop to think: “Ah, the person I’m talking to cannot see me so there is no need to move my arms and used facial expressions”?

Breathing patterns play a major role in how words are spoken. As the air from our lungs is exhaled, it passes over the vocal chords which vibrate to make a sound. This sound affects the way we say words. Breathe either quickly or slowly and it has a major effect on the vibration. Breath in a shallow manner and that too has an effect on the vibration.

For the exhaled air to pass over the vocal chords the passageway has to be clear. Crunch your body and the passageway starts to become restricted. Restriction starts to happen when we sit down. This is because our normal reaction is to lower our head and shoulders.

Try this simple exercise.
1) Stand up so the air passage is open and say ‘good morning’.
2) Sit down and relax into your chair so that your shoulders and chin are relaxed and say ‘good morning’. Can you hear the difference?
3) Remain seated, but sit up in your chair, look ahead and repeat ‘good morning’ again. Can you hear the difference this time?

Quite clearly the position of the body has a fundamental effect on how words sound. When our shoulders and chin are dropped the words are more muffled. This could give someone listening to us the impression that we sound unhappy, unconcerned or even bored and uninterested. This may not be the case – in fact it probably isn’t, but that is the message that the person we are talking to will receive.

So this is one instance when body language plays an important part when we communicate over the telephone. A recent example was someone who received a call from the hospital where their mother had been admitted after a stroke. Someone from the hospital made a telephone call to the daughter. The caller spoke with a very slow pace and the pitch of their voice was very low and the tone very deep. This slow, deep tone of the voice meant that the patient’s daughter thought she was hearing bad news. She didn’t hear the words that were spoken, just the way they were said. The caller was in fact notifying the daughter that her mother had been transferred to another ward. If the words had been spoken with a faster pace and a higher pitch she would have concluded it was a regular call with some general information – no cause to worry.

This is a classic example of how the tone, pitch and pace of the voice are affected by body language, which as a result causes an incorrect interpretation of the words spoken.

So we have considered three ways that body language affects the voice which in turn affects the way the words are spoken. This in turn is a key way that the receiver understands the message being sent in a conversation.

1) Gestures – lead to facial expression. Facial expressions affect the voice and the way the voice says the words
2) Breathing patterns – affect they way words are spoken and can give false messages

Be aware of your body language, the way you sit or stand when on the telephone, and your breathing patterns. They all affect how you speak. Body language clearly does matter on the telephone if we want to send messages that are clearly and correctly understood.

Presented to the call centre blog by Brian Maclagan, Direct Call Account Manager.

Those eager to enhance their search engine rankings should group their keywords in the most effective way possible, according to Yahoo!.

In a post on its Search Marketing Blog, Yahoo!'s Smart Start Team suggests that online brand marketers put themselves in their customer's shoes as they search the web, noting how frustrating it is when search terms are typed in and mismatched ads are retrieved.

The search firm's team states that in order to ensure ads are clicked, they must be paired with relevant keywords.

"If your ad doesn't get many clicks, your quality index can be affected. High-quality ads are generally more relevant to searchers and therefore get clicked on more often," it notes.

Concluding, it notes that low-quality adverts are usually not as relevant or appealing to searchers, meaning they are less likely to be clicked on.

Meanwhile, sector commentator Damon Segal recently wrote on online resource Real Business that picking the correct keywords is "essential" with regard to search engine optimisation.

Online spending rose to a total market value of £4.8 billion in July, figures from the IMRG CapGemini e-Retail Sales Index show.

This figure equates to an investment of roughly £79 for every person in the UK.

Data from the study indicates that consumers continued to spend online despite the ongoing effects of the credit crunch and pressures on disposable income, with sales figures increasing by a total of 11.3 per cent on June.

Mike Petevinos, head of consulting for retail at Capgemini UK, states that online sales continue to exhibit signs of strong growth, especially in comparison to "tough trading conditions" on the high street.

He states that rising sales in apparel demonstrate consumers' "ever-increasing familiarity" with web-based retail.

Jo Evans, managing director of IMRG, adds: "Online retailers are taking full advantage of the present situation."

In other news, reports recently noted that online auction site eBay plans to introduce changes to encourage more fixed price sellers on its site.

INDIA'S burgeoning call centre industry, which has drawn thousands of jobs from Britain, is heading for contraction within the next two years, according to a new report published today.
The boom in outsourcing sales, customer services and other telephone work to low-paid, English-speaking Indians has generated competition that is driving down prices and pushing up pay, market analyst Datamonitor said in its study.

The report says newcomers to the market are aggressively discounting to grab a share of the £255 million business, resulting in shrinking margins and raising questions as to who will survive.

Datamonitor said a "shake-out" is inevitable within two or three years, and its report predicted this it will largely be driven by consulting companies exiting the market, and either spinning off their contact centre operations or turning over the management of their customer care services to third parties.

Mangalorian.com are reporting that: A new industry survey reveals a high level of customer dissatisfaction with the quality of service provided by call centres in India, prompting calls by unions to return offshored jobs back to Britain.

Reports here also mention complaints about the quality of medical transcription work offshored to India, resulting in delays in vital communication with implications on the treatment received by patients in Britain.

During the last year, several banks and financial service and utility companies have “repatriated” their call centre services to the UK from India. These include Abbey, NatWest, Lloyds TSB, Aviva and Powergen.

Unions and some experts claim that cultural misunderstandings and concerns over the quality of service from offshore call centres is forcing companies to rethink their strategies.

The survey by analysts Mintel found that 82 per cent of people questioned indicated they would rather not speak to someone in an overseas call center when discussing their financial affairs.

Pete O’Grady, the assistant secretary for Lloyds TSB Union, said the results echoed an existing trend.

“Many companies are now making a big play of the fact that their call centres are based here - the Royal Bank of Scotland has, and they seemed to have benefited from this - so as ever, where the market leads, others follow.

“Lloyds TSB brought their call centres back because they claimed that technology here gave them greater capacity, but our view was that they were dealing with an increasing number of problems caused specifically by being offshore.”

More than four out of five of adults questioned were worried about the increased potential for account misunderstandings, while security fears are also a genuine area of concern for three-quarters of consumers, even though there is actually no evidence that security problems at offshore call centres are any worse than in their UK counterparts.

Philip Taylor, professor of human resources at Strathclyde University and an expert on the international and domestic call centre industry, said companies no longer believed that they were a straightforward solution.

He said: “All the evidence shows that there are powerful forces pushing companies overseas, the fact that 40 per cent cost savings can be realized by doing that being the top of them.

“But difficulties have emerged in India. There are questions over the quality of service; turnover of staff according to research is about 75 per cent per annum.”

Taylor added that while he did not believe that banks would start a wholesale restructuring of their operations, he said that there had been a “segmentation” of them, with premium accounts being dealt with at home, while standard accounts would continue to be dealt with abroad.

Anne Marie Forsyth, chief executive of the Call Centre Association, said: “Organisations have to understand what their customers really want before they shift their operations overseas, and this is something that I think companies are beginning to do.

“If it is simply a case of shifting the services overseas in order to save money, it won’t work. But if enough effort and investment is put in to making the move work and ensure customer service is maintained then it can.”

However, according to Ann-Marie Stagg, chairwoman of industry body, the Call Centre Management Association, the broad opinion was that overseas operations were still viable.

Meanwhile, a heart patient has criticised the National Health Service (NHS) after her treatment was delayed for months while she waited for her doctor’s letter to be typed up in India.

Dorothy Nicol, 64, had an angiogram for a hole in her heart at the end of February. Her consultant at the Southampton General Hospital in Hampshire said he would write to her within a week outlining her treatment.

But the letter was sent to India to be typed up and only arrived back at the hospital two months later. Nicol, from Christchurch, Dorset, is still waiting for her drug treatment to be prescribed while the letter and angiogram pictures are sent to her consultant at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital, in Dorset.

She said: “It’s not the hospital I’m complaining about. It’s the system. It’s just ridiculous. The NHS is letting us down. I’m sure there’s plenty of people in this country who can still type. But evidently it’s cheaper to send it all the way to India by email to be typed up and sent back by email.

“It makes no sense at all to me. It may be cheaper, but it has been a nightmare waiting and waiting.”