Updated: 23d January 2017
In this article we cover:
- Why it’s important to be accessible;
- Challenges of multichannel communication management;
- MightyCall mobile app as a management tool;
- Case study: MightyCall’s Activity Queue in show business.
While companies struggle to provide more and more ways to contact them, multichannel communication poses certain challenges you cannot ignore. Social media, mobile phones, messaging agents and various web applications all contribute to a company’s communication network. Why do we need all these interaction options? Is it possible to keep track of all the queries while on the move? How to avoid getting entangled in a communication web?
Staying open to business opportunities
One of the most important goals of every business is to be as accessible as possible at any given time. If a potential customer is (even temporarily) unable to contact you, the best outcome you can get is an annoyed client. More likely you’ll get no client at all. To achieve this goal in the most user-friendly manner, there is an ever-widening variety of ways to keep in touch.
Apart from more traditional practices such as getting a business phone number, website-based interaction solutions have recently became a must. Things like online appointment software, click-to-call widgets and business contact plugins are used in all the business spheres. Website widgets enable visitors to clarify their doubts via an online chat/call immediately. However, some questions require time to provide a fully-informed answer. Rather than waiting for several minutes on hold, more than 60% of web users prefer asking for a call-back, an email reply or other form of postponed response.
Meeting communication challenges
It may sound good, but massive user-initiated interaction flow gives birth to an obvious problem: there should always be someone able to communicate with the prospects. Nothing can beat the efficiency of a private branch exchange system when it comes to managing large numbers of incoming calls. Larger companies deploy such systems and hire a team of operators to handle the calls. However, this option requires massive financial investments, sophisticated infrastructure and a professional installation team. In contrast to conventional PBX, virtual systems like MightyCall do not require expensive equipment and thus remain highly versatile, with roughly the same capabilities.
Even if you work alone or your human resources are limited, but the nature of your business dictates extensive communication, a virtual phone system is a feasible decision. Another advantage is mobility: with a system not bound by landlines you can access its features from any place via your personal device.
Managing calls on the move
That is exactly where dedicated mobile applications come into play. Take MightyCall Mobile for example ― it is a powerful tool for sorting out inbound requests from associated with the complementary web application or coming from other sources. Once installed, the web app enables the prospects to contact you from your site in a number of ways. It also allows for seamless social media presence integration.
In its turn, MightyCall Mobile serves as a portable call-center. One of the key features of this product is a so-called activity queue. Like a diligent digital secretary, it lists all your “activities”: incoming/outgoing phone calls, customer requests, emails, to-dos, notifications, voice mail, etc. It grants you total control of your business communication ― delegate activities to your colleagues, respond to them yourself, track the statistics and much more.
Using time wisely
In the multichannel world of today adequate time management directly translates into better user experience and higher conversion. Obviously, a response should be immediate or scheduled as per the customer’s preferences. Alas, it is virtually impossible. Luckily, requests via different channels imply different levels of urgency. While people expect a call-back within a couple of hours, an email reply can wait for as long as 24 hours. To make your responses timely, MightyCall sorts the activities by urgency. The mobile application highlights those activity queue items which require immediate reaction. The program will notify you when more time-forgiving activities reach their overdue time. Thus, you will be able to allocate your efforts to achieve greater efficiency and no requests will remain unanswered.
Ideal for small business owners, MightyCall Mobile is an easy way to organize otherwise devastating flow of incoming requests. Below you can find a case of how to benefit from MightyCall in such a socially-oriented activity as show business.
MightyCall and Showbiz
To illustrate the tendency, let us study the following case as an example. One of MightyCall’s valued customers is Yankie Grant of Rusty Yankie Productions. A search for the least-troublesome way to obtain a business number eventually led Grant to MightyCall, where she found services perfectly suitable for her needs.
Who are they and what they do
Rusty Yankie Productions was founded by Melody “Rusty” Moss and Yankie Grant. Melody started performing at a young age and succeeded in both camera play and behind-the-scenes activities. Yankie was a comedy/drama actress with substantial experience in theater performance. Naturally, the creative duet decided to combine their names for the great cause of giving birth to a production company.
Rusty Yankie Production provides editorial service, theatrical property, make-up, wardrobe and all technical staff needed for film production (light engineers, directors, cameramen, soundmen, etc.). They also house audition coaching classes for aspiring actors and do casting. In fact, they crew the majority of movies, commercials and TV shows in the Texas area.
Choosing a solution
Show business is a sensitive industry, where a great deal of success comes from flawless cooperation ― negotiations constitute a substantial part of work, all the required crew and items should be exactly at a due place in due time, etc. Yet Yankie and Rusty came to the conclusion that a fully-fledged PBX was way too hard to deploy and maintain, while also largely unnecessary. On the other hand, virtual phone system seemed worth trying. In addition to a virtual business number they decided to use a virtual phone receptionist. It proved to be useful ― the number of missed calls approached zero, which naturally benefitted the overall income.
MightyCall at work
What’s more, the MightyCall business number assigned to Yankie Rusty Productions makes it possible for Grant to answer the calls from production companies involved in Texas film production, regardless of their geographical location (specifically, California and Chicago). Thus, one problem less for Grant’s company to expand the business ties far beyond the Greater Texas area.
Social media plays an important role in a business like that. Yankie posts auditions and useful tips on Facebook, she makes announcements and sends notifications. The Social Media Tracker makes her life much easier. Now she can monitor and manage all the Facebook activity for Rusty Yankie Productions.
“You’re always looking for a different avenue that helps take the work off of you, and this is the way it happens,” said Grant.
Working to a hectic showbiz rhythm, Grant receives dozens of incoming calls every day. MightyCall’s Journal spares her the trouble of keeping in mind the list of necessary callbacks. She also finds direct voicemail forwarding to her email very convenient.
“I will get those missed calls in my email right away and can check them from my phone. You don’t miss it, you have a log of it and it’s just really nice,” said Grant.
Privacy achieved
Using the MightyCall virtual phone number for promotion proved to be very useful as well. In addition to call forwarding, which eliminates the need to stay at the office and allows incoming business calls to be received from your personal device. It also improves security. Grant uses the MightyCall Mobile app to make outgoing calls from her virtual phone number. Keeping personal contact data secret prevents spammers and scammers from compromising her private life, while call forwarding is highly customizable ― can be restricted to business hours only.
“That’s one of the perfect things for us so that we won’t get bombarded with phone calls; that’s wonderful,” she said.
As you can see, even if a problem seems unavoidable, there is always a way to make things easier. Features like a virtual business number, call forwarding and multichannel communication management with Activity Queue not only improve conversion and cut expenditures, they facilitate privacy and security ― essential matters for a public person’s quality of life.
