Managing Overflow Calls Without Disrupting In-House Customer Service Teams
Your receptionist is talking to one customer when two more calls come in. An employee is assisting a customer at the counter and there is no one to answer. Even the best managed companies may experience such situation once in a while.
Answering calls overflow offers businesses another method of dealing with extra calls while retaining their internal customer services team. Outsourcing operators answer just the calls which were assigned to them according to agreed routing rules. The company retains its telephone services.
What Happens When You Cannot Answer All Incoming Calls?
Multiple customer calls cause employees to be unable to answer another call. The new customers either hang up or go into a voice mail. The customer who has missed the call may have been in need of a prompt assistance and may have taken his inquiry to another company.
A call queue can organise callers that are waiting to get assistance. However, the call queue does not increase the number of answering employees. Long queues can occur despite the best efforts of employees to deal with customers. The matter is the availability of resources, not necessarily the efficiency.
How Does Answering Calls Overflow Help Your Existing Customer Service Team
Typically, the clients are calling the same business phone number. The internal team is handling calls like normally. Once the agreed routing conditions are met, the telephone system routes additional calls to an outsourced answering team. The operators are following instructions provided by the business. Such instructions may include greetings of the clients, the information to be gathered, etc.
Depending on the service provider and the type of contract, the operator may take a message, forward it to an employee or forward the call to the available internal colleagues. The internal team can make use of the information received.
The business makes decision regarding the inquiries that need internal attention. The routing rules, call transfers and system integration capabilities of providers may vary and should be clarified before the implementation.
When Should Calls Be Diverted to the Overflow Answering Service?
The routing conditions should reflect the time when the employees become really unavailable and not because the company is busy.
For the simultaneous calls, the overflow may start working once all the designated internal lines are occupied. The unanswered calls could be routed to the overflow after certain number of rings or a particular waiting period. Such settings define the waiting time.
The temporary absence of employees due to leave, illness, meetings or absence of the reception can reduce availability of the team. Companies that know when they experience busy periods, can arrange additional answering during lunchtime or during recurring peak hours.
Study the call records and discuss patterns with the receptionist staff before choosing the threshold level. Too early diverted calls will disrupt your relationships. Too late activation of overflow may result in long queues.
Combining In-House Reception with External Call Answering
A hybrid approach allows internal receptionists to fulfill their usual duties while the external operators answer certain situations. During the business hours, the receptionist will answer the calls initially while the overflow will start working only when the team is occupied. Outside the business hours, the calls can be handled according to a different answering service if the provider provides such coverage.
Some businesses may route particular type of inquiries to the external operators. For example, the operators will take appointment requests while the internal employees will handle inquiries that require expert knowledge. This is possible provided the routing features of the provider are capable.
The responsibilities should be clarified properly. When both teams expect the other to deal with the message, no one may do anything. If both teams will answer, the calls are doubled. Clarity on who owns which types of inquiries helps you to preserve your existing reception function.
| Call Handling Arrangement | Internal Team Responsibilities | External Answering Team Responsibilities |
|---|---|---|
| Overflow during business hours | Answer incoming calls when available | Handle additional calls when internal staff are occupied |
| After-hours answering | Handle calls during normal operating hours | Answer calls outside business hours where coverage is arranged |
| Selected enquiry types | Handle specialist enquiries and matters requiring internal knowledge | Manage routine enquiries according to agreed instructions |
| Temporary staff shortages | Continue handling calls with available employees | Provide additional answering coverage during absences |
| Busy trading periods | Manage existing customer relationships and priority enquiries | Handle excess incoming calls during periods of increased demand |
Maintaining Consistent Client Service Between Both Teams
Clients should not be confused with different information depending on who answered. The internal employees and the external operators should have the same approved opening hours, contact details, basic service information and the greeting on the phone. The instructions should differentiate the questions that can be answered by the operators and the ones that require internal employees’ attention.
Message handling needs special attention. Decide what data about the caller you need, where the message should be delivered and who will review them. Some messages may need urgent assistance rather than to be included into the general message summary. The employees should have the procedures on transferring calls and handling unresolved questions.
Discuss the sample outcomes and recurring questions with the provider. Both teams should get updated on the opening hours and booking procedure.
Handling Temporary Increase of Call Volume
Product launch, promotions or seasonal period may result in higher number of inquiries. Interruptions in the service may cause an avalanche of calls from clients who want information about your company. Hiring new employees for a peak period may leave you with excessive capacity when the demand returns to normal.
Companies that plan handling overflow of calls during product launch can prepare the types of the calls in advance and develop the answers for the operators. For unpredictable situations, the contact for escalation becomes especially important.
Extra answering leaves the internal team free to handle the specialised inquiries provided the capacity of the provider is sufficient.
Deciding Whether Overflow Answering Service Is Suitable for Your Company
Start with the evidence, not with the assumption that every unanswered call requires an external service. Analyse your call records for missed calls, busy periods, queue times, repeat attempts. Talk to your employees whether the incoming calls regularly disrupt their face-to-face activity and prevent them from handling the ongoing inquiries.
Next, decide whether an operator can handle the call following your written instructions. Identify the messages that require immediate assistance and who will receive them. Compare the total cost of the contracted service with the alternatives such as altered shift roster, hiring new employees, changing internal call routing.
Trial run of the answering services can give you understanding of whether your thresholds, message quality and handovers are right. Discuss the results with your answering staff before implementing the overflow answering permanently.
Assisting Internal Teams Instead of Replacing Them
Overflow answering is an approach to solving a certain problem: the number of incoming calls can sometimes be greater than the capacity of the employees who are currently working. Overflow answering can provide the temporary additional coverage during busy periods, employee absences or out-of-hours without replacing your internal reception team.
The appropriate approach depends on the nature of your calls, the tasks that can be performed by the outsourced operators and the reliability of the information delivery to your employees. The good coordination is as important as additional answering.
FAQs
Q1. What is overflow call answering?
A1. It is an arrangement whereby additional incoming calls are routed to the other answering team once the certain conditions are met.
Q2. Can a business keep its existing receptionist and use an answering service?
A2. Yes, it can. The receptionist can continue handling the regular calls while the external team is answering the calls of a certain type.
Q3. When are calls routed to the overflow answering service?
A3. Calls can be routed when the lines are busy, nobody answers the calls within certain period of time or another condition is met.
Q4. Can the overflow answering service handle after-hours calls?
A4. Some providers can provide after-hours coverage. You should clarify the hours of operation, charges and the message delivery before relying on it.
Q5. How can businesses provide consistent service through both internal and external teams?
A5. You should use the common instructions, the current business information, reliable message delivery and clear escalation procedures.