This page will be an ever-growing list of
tips and ideas for helping you to get the most out of the
services we offer. If YOU have an idea you'd like to
share with our subscribers, please Email our Webmaster, or use
the Feedback page.
Some of these items have been
"promoted" from the "TAS TIPS" column of our
Customer
Newsletter. If you missed them from a previous edition,
you'll probably find them here!
Be sure to CHECK OUT when you
leave your office. While some folks like to forward the
calls and run, it's really best to let the phone be
answered by the telephone secretary. We need to be
able to tell the caller whether you're going to be coming
back, and how soon. If you usually have evening hours but
all of a sudden we're taking your calls, does that mean
you're gone for the day, or just out for supper? We really
don't want to have to guess.
Do you do business in multiple
locations? Phonepower® can provide you with
"local" numbers in a broad range of localities.
This can enhance your business presence. We can offer
local phone numbers in Altoona and Dubois PA. We can even
make one of those numbers ring at your home or business
location.
Have an update to your
personnel or on-call list? FAX or EMAIL IT to our office,
rather than calling to talk to a Supervisor. That way
we'll both have a record of the nature and timing of your
request.
Planning a vacation? Be sure
to include Phonepower® in your vacation
planning. Give us some advance notice of your vacation
timing. Please be sure to let us know how you may be
reached in an emergency. Are you taking your pager? Are
you certain it will work at your vacation destination?
If you get messages Emailed or
faxed, you may see a lot of abbreviations that may
sometimes look like a foreign language! We're hoping to
create a list of the most common on this web site in the
near future. In the meantime, if you're stumped, please
give us a call. The supervisors are here to
"decode" such things, and we also have a list
that we can fax to you.
Speaking of Email and faxing,
when you get your messages Emailed or faxed you get more
information than you might otherwise receive. In addition
to the date and time the message was taken AND delivered,
you also see the "trail" as it is passed to our
Dispatcher, and then the various numbers that were called
to attempt to relay an emergency message. If you need help
interpreting that information, please call your
supervisor.
If you have developed an on-line secure
order-taking form, shopping cart, or other device, we can
save you time and money by using that form. (This
not only gives you all of your orders in the same format,
it also saves you the time and expense of re-entering data
that we might otherwise be sending you by Email (not
secure) or fax.
Our staff can also work with you to design
a faster-loading page or special form to reduce Operator
Time.
Our voice mail can do a lot more than take a
message!
Did you know that voice mail can be configured to
NOTIFY you when a messages is received? That
you can FORWARD or COPY messages to another
user? that you can set up GROUPS of users to
enable you to leave one message for all of them?
You can also arrange for FUTURE DELIVERY of a
message, arrange for a RETURN RECEIPT, and mark
messages URGENT or CONFIDENTIAL.
Instructions for these features can be found at www.ppower.com/vmsetup.htm.
(Some additional features are optional and carry an
additional charge. See your Customer Service
Representative for details.)
Alpha dispatch can be
automated, REMOVING the live operator from the taking of
the message. By combining our Enhanced Voice Mail
features with Alpha Dispatch, the caller can simply
"leave a voice mail message". Our
Telephone Secretaries then transcribe this message during
less-busy periods between live calls -- at a lower
rate. Contact our Customer Service Representatives
for details.
We're happy to work with you to help you to control your costs.
There is a special
page devoted to this subject. It is primarily oriented
toward Answering Service subscribers, but portions of it can also
apply to other services.
Among the topics included are:
Express Check-In
Automated Message Relay
Using Text Messaging for Emergency Relay
Reducing (or eliminating) Patch Time
How to reduce connection time at Check-Out
Reducing "Time-Waster" Calls with Pre-Screen
For the full story on these topics, please click here.
Your Customer Service Representatives are ready to work with
you to determine the best ways to make the most efficient use of
your service.
