Call handlers are team players…

All too often, as Ruth Prickett’s feature on telemarketing shows (MW September 11), marketers assume that simply employing

a call centre means the brand message is being looked after.

To ensure that the message being conveyed by operators is the same as the one your advertising agency is expounding, marketers need to get involved with the call centre from the beginning. Meet the staff, test the system and build a relationship with the call handlers. Operators respond better when a strong connection exists between the client and themselves.

We ensure our staff are as up to date with product information as anyone working within the client company, after all, we are more than simply an outside supplier, we are an extension of a brand’s company. We ensure all our call handlers have seen and tried a client’s product so that they know what they are talking about. Surely this is basic business common sense, but it seems all too often it is the simple things that are overlooked.

As with all steps in the communication chain, if it looks and feels right when looking at it from the customer’s point of view then it should be right.

Paul Jackson

Managing director

MBO

Basildon, Essex