Despite tripling in size within a year, SSM Marketing had always taken the decision not to employ a receptionist as there simply weren’t enough calls to justify the additional cost. Nevertheless, calls routing to the ‘next available employee’ was proving to be a distraction to staff.
The problem:“It came to my attention that taking inbound calls was really de-motivating staff”, explains Carole Breton. “I remember someone referred to calls as ‘hot potatoes’ and that was when alarm bells started ringing. I asked a few friends to call the business as new enquiries and the response they got was ‘average’ to say the least. I suppose it would have been easier to point the finger at our staff but I appreciate that a task becomes twice as hard when you’re being interrupted all the time”.
SSM Marketing was still reluctant to employ a full time receptionist because of the additional overhead it created, together with the HR headache of managing lunchtimes and holidays. But the business was risking its staff and clients by leaving the situation unchanged.
The solution:During SSM office hours calls are routed to Katie at Moneypenny. “She has got to know everyone really well, especially our regular callers”, beams Carole. “She puts calls through to direct lines, mobiles, or sends a text or email. Clients really are none the wiser. Oh, and she even paid my congestion charge the other day too - I was highly impressed!”
"I'm not sure what I expected really, maybe I thought we'd have to compromise somewhere. But Katie's just become one of our team. That’s certainly my own, the staff and our clients view point, and I hope it’s hers too! We've saved a lot of money and solved a big headache. I’d recommend the service to anyone”. Carole Breton, Operations Director
