We heard the good news this morning that consumer confidence rose in September to levels well above economists’ expectations. Rebounding from an August decline, the index, which measures how Americans feel about the economy, rose to 70 percent.
This is good news for the U.S. economy because confident consumers are more willing to buy new cars, homes, consumers goods, and to extend their lines of credit. This creates a virtuous circle of higher growth, more production of goods, higher profits and more jobs.
A key contributor to the rise in confidence: Consumers are more optimistic about the employment picture.
Here at OnBrand24, we’re seeing both phenomena – rising consumer confidence and improved employment – up close and personal. Demand for our customer service and order processing call center services is growing because consumers are becoming more active; as a result we are hiring aggressively.
Since August 1, we’ve added 30 employees, bringing our total staff count to 170. We expect to hire another 25 agents by year’s end.
Our hiring reflects the strong growth OnBrand24 has enjoyed all year. So far in 2012, we have added 29 new clients for inbound call center services (customer service, order processing / order taking, help desk, sales) and 19 clients for outbound call center services (B2B lead generation, appointment setting, customer win-back, inside sales, customer list scrubbing and data hygiene).
While it’s true the overall economic picture, particularly the global economic outlooks, is mixed, we are glad to see Americans are more confident about the U.S. economy. Historically, our economy leads the way globally, so let’s hope rising American consumer confidence is a leading indicator of good things to come.
Mark Fichera, CEO
OnBrand24
Call Center Services
Beverly, MA
Read More
A few months ago we blogged on famous quotations about customer relationship management that we picked up during our sessions with the local office of Sandler Training.
Now we thought we’d take a look at quotes about salesmanship and great sales techniques, and this quote from Morris Hite caught our eye:
“Advertising is salesmanship mass produced. No one would bother to use advertising if he could talk to all his prospects face-to-face. But he can't.”
Exactly right. No one person can talk to every prospect. But besides advertising there’s another way to quickly reach thousands of prospects: using an outsourced B2B lead generation and appointment setting call center services company.
That’s the beauty of an outbound call center: it goes where no single salesperson can go and delivers explosive market outreach. When you engage with a B2B lead generation call center, you hire a team of salespeople to cold call thousands, even tens of thousands, of prospects in a matter of days or weeks.
They can call a list of potential new customers with the characteristics appropriate for a given product or services. Or they can call a list of old customers who have grown inactive, and may need to have their buying motivation re-charged.
Read More
The Internet Retailer Conference & Expo (IRCE) is coming up next month in Chicago, and OnBrand24 will be there. We are not regulars on the trade show circuit, but IRCE is a “must” on our annual calendar and this year is no exception.
We attend IRCE for two reasons: to meet retailers and e-commerce companies, to learn about their latest concerns and opportunities and to talk with them about their call center services needs – both for call center customer service and order processing, and also for B2B lead generation, appointment setting, customer surveys and other outbound call center services.
The other reason is to attend IRCE sessions, which are consistently excellent and educational.
The major theme at IRCE this year: understanding the “frequent web shopper.” What they demand from online stores, and how best to reach and service them so they remain loyal customers.
This year’s conference will have more than 100 sessions and 175 speakers, who will lay out the marketing, merchandising and operating strategies for meeting the demands of web-committed consumers who are dictating the new rules of retailing.
One of this year’s primary themes: Perfecting order management and fulfillment practices that keep online customers coming back. Here’s where retailers need excellent call center services. When customers have questions about an item on a web site, or if they have trouble ordering online and wish to process their order via human interface, or if they want to get an update on the status of their order, speaking with a friendly, helpful and informed customer service specialist at an inbound call center is critical to delivering a quality customer experience.
While it’s true that the emphasis at IRCE will be on new technology – mobile devices, social media, web site optimization and so on – IRCE proves each year that the role of call center services remains a critical piece within a successful retailing strategy. At last year’s show in San Diego, our booth was crowded with retailers who wanted to discuss outsourced call center services strategies.
It proved once again what we already knew about the enduring value of the telephone.
We hope to see you in Chicago next month!
Mark Fichera, CEO
OnBrand24
Call Center Services
Beverly, Massachusetts
Read More
Cold calling is an acquired taste and an acquired skill. Few of us in the outsourced call center services industry are born great cold callers. Rather, most of us have cold calling thrust upon us until we:
Read More
A bill working its way through the Massachusetts legislature would require utilities to provide customers up-to-date information during power outages.
Read More
We have talked with many managers about hospital call center services, and we found that they have concerns aplenty. Among them:
• Agent quality needs significant improvement.
• Extra charges for basic services amounting to thousands of dollars per month.
Read More
OnBrand24 has received a flurry of recent news coverage – a feature story in a hospital call center trade publication and another in a daily newspaper.
Read More
More than a year ago we began providing cell center services for a regional hospital, performing physician referral and event registrations services. We received an annual report card from our client, and it’s very positive:
“You guys have made a night-and-day difference,” she said (read more).
Read More
Beverly Call Center Wins State Workforce Development Grant
To Fund Sandler Advanced Sales, Customer Service Training
OnBrand24 to Become “Sandler Certified”
OnBrand24, the leading call center services provider in Massachusetts serving companies in the Boston area and nationwide, has received a workforce training grant from the Massachusetts Office of Labor and Workforce Development for advanced customer services and sales skills training.
The Salem office of Sandler Training, a global leader in the development of powerful sales and customer service organizations, will provide the training. Each OnBrand24 call center agent, account supervisor and senior manager will undergo 50 hours of rigorous training in the most effective prospecting, sales, account management, customer service, and people skills.
“It’s great to see the state of Massachusetts invest in the skills of its workers,” said Mark Fichera, CEO, OnBrand24. “We often compete against low-cost offshore call centers, and our higher labor costs must justify a significantly higher level of capability than call centers in India or the Philippines can deliver. Sandler training is a big part of our effort to continually improve the services we provide our clients.”
OnBrand24, located in the Cummings Center in Beverly, received a grant of $95,700, part of $11.38 million in Workforce Training Fund grants awarded across the state.
OnBrand24 was founded in 1980 and has partnered with more than 400 companies, providing both “inbound” customer service capabilities and “outbound” B2B lead generation and sales appointment setting services.
Sandler Training focuses on a wide range of sales and customer service best practices, including effective phone and email protocols, active listening techniques to establish customer comfort, uncovering true buying motives, handling upset and angry clients, generating additional sales through up-selling and cross-selling, effective prospecting and cold calling skills, and advanced sales management strategies.
Sandler has been awarded the #1 ranking for training programs in Entrepreneur Magazine’s “Franchise 500” nine times since 1994, most recently in 2010.
OnBrand24, which provides premier outsourced call center services 24/7, has enjoyed strong growth in recent months, adding more than 15 new clients and increasing its staff to more than 100 employees.
“We provide each client strong senior management attention, we build customized programs and our staff is highly trained, experienced and motivated,” said Fichera. “Sandler training is ideal for us because of the strong focus we bring the unique requirements of each of our client’s programs. We expect to become an even stronger player in the domestic call center market.”
About OnBrand24
OnBrand24, Beverly, Massachusetts, is a full-service domestic call center services company that provides outsourced telemarketing services around-the-clock for clients in the e-commerce, retail, technology, healthcare and manufacturing industries. All OnBrand24 customer service and lead generation specialists work at the company’s call center facility. The company boasts many long-term client partnerships as a result of its 24/7 unconditional consistency, dedication and loyalty. OnBrand24 prides itself on assuming the brand of each of its customers by mastering the products, goals and culture integral to those businesses. For more information, visit us at www.OnBrand24.com.
Read More
Retail and e-commerce businesses spend untold millions of dollars tracking consumer spending, and the analysis is particularly intense as the holiday buying period approaches. That’s all well and good, but we know of another highly reliable and much less expensive way to gain insight into consumer spending:
Visit our call center.
Read More
