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Employee Spotlight: Kay Mornes
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Kay Mornes: Center
AnswerNow! is pleased to recognize Kay Mornes for her achievements within the organization over the last eight years. When Kay first started with our organization, she had never worked in the healthcare or call center industry. Kay, however, had amazing determination during her training, and worked diligently to perform her best work. A truly loyal employee, Kay maintained perfect attendance with AnswerNow! for over eight years before retiring in August 2009. We were sad to see Kay leave, but knew she wanted to spend more time with her family. When Kay called us in December 2009 and asked us if she could come back to work part time, we were delighted to welcome her back to the team. For almost nine years now, Kay has continued to maintain perfect attendance, a perfect 100% quality assurance score, and nearly flawless work. Kay is frequently recognized by callers for providing outstanding service, and has received multiple client compliments on a monthly basis. We are so pleased to have Kay as a part of the team, and hope she will continue her position with AnswerNow! until she makes a decision to retire, again.
A Word from Kay:
I have been employed by AnswerNow! as a Team Member for. I was hired in April of 2002 and retired in August 2009. Then, in December 2009, I applied for a part time weekend position and was graciously allowed to return. I moved to Arizona from Western Pennsylvania after my husband passed away to be with my only daughter Diana. I had never worked in the medical operations field before; however, with excellent training, I found this opportunity to be the best fit for me in Arizona. I thoroughly enjoy my day to day duties. I have been offered promotional positions, however I truly enjoy assisting callers on the phone and helping them with whatever problem they may need solved or solution they may be seeking. It has been rewarding, knowing I am helping others by providing this service. AnswerNow!’s incentive programs are awesome! Through different incentives available, I was afforded the opportunity to take my four year old granddaughter Samantha to Disneyland – not once, but twice! Since December 2009, I now spend my time with family during the week, and work part time on the weekends. Thank you to Margo Weiss and the AnswerNow! Team for acknowledging me, and for truly being the best.
Where do Your Call Center Agents Work From?
Posted by: | CommentsRecently it has become a trend for call centers to allow their agents to work from home. It’s cost effective for the agency and it is easier for the center to find employees who are willing to work shorter and more flexible hours. But is this the smart choice? There are several concerns that arise with call centers that employ home-based agents, and these challenges can end up costing your business valuable customers and impact your bottom line. It is imperative that when you hire a company to answer your phone calls, your customers do not know that they are not speaking to someone in your office. While home-based agents may be the trend for now, there are flaws to the system that you should be aware of.
What Do Your Customers Hear?
How are companies finding the right people to staff these work-at-home positions? Just because an employee is a hard-working, focused employee in the office does not mean that the same employee will be as effective working from home with daily distractions. Yes, a center can require that their home-based agents work from a home office without interruptions from children, pets or delivery people, but how is it truly enforced? You never know what your customers might hear in the background of a home-based agent’s home office. At AnswerNow! each of our team members are in a sound-proof cubicle, and there are never radios, televisions or employee chatter in the background. This also makes certain that each of your customers receives undivided attention.
Security, Training and Technical Difficulties
Another challenge that answering services may face when employing home-based agents is how to handle training. Suppose an agent receives a call that is out of their realm of capabilities? How long will it take them to reach a supervisor from home, putting your customer on hold for longer than AnswerNow’s “seconds” policy? Our team leaders are behind our agents at all times, and are ready to assist as soon as need be. There is also an issue of security. It is extremely difficult to constantly monitor what an agent is accessing on their home computer while during working hours. This could jeopardize customer information as well as your business information. Finally, in the case of technical difficulties, what happens to customer calls if a home-base agency loses power? At AnswerNow!, we have backup generators and phone lines to ensure that you never lose a call.
Happy Anniversary AnswerNow!
Posted by: | CommentsJuly 1, 2010 will mark AnswerNow!’s 34th anniversary and we are celebrating with expansion and looking toward the future with new technologies while preserving the values that AnswerNow! was established upon. AnswerNow! was founded on July 1st, 1976 by Margo Daley-Soll when she suddenly became widowed and had to support and raise 10 children on her own. Margo, a doctor’s wife, noticed a need for a medical call centers that focused on maintaining positive human interaction while serving doctors, their staff and their patients. Over the years, we expanded to also include other business industries that had a need for outsourcing any inbound answering service needs. Our company has been operating under the same management since 1976, and continues to focus on quality service for our clients and an enjoyable workplace for our employees.
34 Years of Quality Service for our Clients
As you read last month, AnswerNow! won the ATSI Award for Excellence for our fourth year in a row. Not only did we achieve this award, but we also ranked number one nationally. Our anniversary will mark 34 years of our daily pledge to provide businesses like you with the best service possible. Our team members are continually learning new technologies and policies to improve our dedication to you, including HIPAA guidelines all the way down to a new keyboard that allows for us to serve your patients in an even timelier fashion.
34 Years of Caring for Our Employees
AnswerNow! believes that taking care of those who work for us will provide better service for our customers. Happy employees creates a happy work environment, which will resonate in the quality of phone service we provide you and your customers. AnswerNow! holds quarterly team competitions, as you saw mentioned in an earlier blog post. The same team that won last quarter’s competition also won the first quarter competition of 2010. They were awarded a BBQ and pool party at the home of Michelle Weiss, Director of Business Marketing. The team was able to choose what they wanted to do, and they felt it would be fun to just be together on a friendly basis, celebrating their victory.
Then to celebrate our top ranking for ATSI, AnswerNow! awarded the hard working team members by placing a new Wii Gaming System with multiple games in the employee lounge/break room, which also contains a ping pong table, air hockey table, employee computers and other items for relaxing on break. The Wii was brought in on June 25th, in which we also held a party where employees were given additional paid breaks to play Wii games, enjoy company provided food and beverage and just relish in the fact that we are the number one call center in the United States, thanks to their hard work and achievements.
Excellence is in the Details
Posted by: | CommentsHere at AnswerNow!, we pride ourselves on being one of the call centers in The United States to appear on the Association of Teleservices International’s top call centers list, on a regular basis. We like to brag about the dedication of our Customer Service Representatives, and how they consistently rank the highest in the industry when it comes to call monitoring and observation scoring. Truly, an institution such as ours is unique in the call center industry. So what sets us apart?
Dedicated to Professionalism
Walking into our office, you won’t find your average collection of call center employees. You won’t hear music blasting, private conversations behind held over calls, or unkempt appearances. What you will find is a team of highly-trained, highly-dedicated, self-motivated industry professionals whose primary focus throughout the day is one thing: your call. Attention to detail is the hallmark of professionalism in an industry where accuracy and timeliness matters, whether we’re processing orders or acting as a virtual receptionist.
Accuracy, Timeliness Make the Difference
All of our Customer Service Representatives at AnswerNow! go through a rigorous training process in which we teach them how to listen and repeat back with accuracy. We thrive by making mountains out of the details; we impart this concept to our staff, who in turn ensure that the details of every call are captured, processed and relayed with pride and care. We know you only desire to do business with the best in the industry; we are here to meet that call and go above and beyond your expectations of traditional teleservices.