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Axis Telecom operates in
an extremely competitive
environment. There are
overall 400 companies of
varying sizes operating
within the sector and
competition is fierce.
Providers use a range of
marketing techniques to
build customer awareness
and generate sales. Many
companies use personal
selling as their main
method of contact but
this can prove to be a
very high cost per sale.
Telemarketing is
considered a far more
cost effective solution
and Axis have used this
method of generating
customer interest since
their inception.
However, their manual
dialling system was not
generating the
efficiencies required
and a competitive
advantage could not be
attainable. |
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| David Meyers,
Managing
Director, Axis
Telecom |
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Axis has grown
rapidly since David
Meyers set up the
company in 2001.
Starting off with
just one member of
staff, they now
employ 150 people.
Such rapid growth
has naturally
presented its
challenges with
regard to the
technology employed
which proved another
reason for Axis to
seek a more
efficient method of
contacting the
lifeblood of the
company – their
customers. |
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Ofcom regulation plays a
key role in the business
operation of Axis. Any
change of system would
have to be fully
compliant with any Ofcom
dictates. |
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Why Did Axis Telecom Choose TouchStar?
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Axis was confronted with
a range of options when
sourcing an outbound
calling solution. It was
apparent that a blend of
predictive, power and
preview dialling was the
requirement to achieve
the greater efficiencies
that would increase
their competitiveness
within the industry.
Managing Director, David
Meyers was meticulous in
his search for an
outbound dialling
solution. He said: “I
made sure I looked at
every option available,
including hosted
solutions. This was a
pivotal moment in the
development of Axis so
it was important we
spent a considerable
amount of time making
such an important
decision. We invited a
number of companies to
present an outbound
solution to our
requirements and in this
process, we came across
TouchStar.” |
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1.TouchStar’s Passion in
Wanting to Help Axis’s
Business Grow
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When TouchStar presented
their proposals, David
was very impressed by
the professional yet
down-to-earth, friendly
and helpful attitude of
their staff and was
encouraged by the simple
notion that TouchStar
saw it as a business
relationship rather than
purely selling a
software solution. “The
guys from TouchStar
certainly knew inside
out the product they
were selling – but even
more importantly, they
were passionate about
what they could do for
us as a business and to
me, that really made a
difference.” |
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2.24x7x365 Support
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The issue of support was
a key selling point for
David. “In this line of
business you need
someone at hand for all
eventualities. It’s
absolutely no good for
this company to have
support that works
standard office hours as
we work right through
until 10pm and often
later than that for some
of our technical staff.
In that sense, the key
fact that TouchStar
offer around the clock
support every single day
of the year from
engineers based in the
UK really was a massive
selling point.” |
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3. Value for Money
Proposition with
Competitive Price
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David was also
impressed with the
price quoted for the
system. “Obviously,
price was an issue
but features and
benefits with a
value added wrap
needed to be
achieved. What
TouchStar offer for
the price goes way
beyond any
competitor offering
– it was easily the
best value for
money. There were
slightly cheaper
diallers around but
they offered none of
the functionality of
the TouchStar
Connect. And this
functionality allows
us to run a very
streamlined
operation which
would not be
possible with
cheaper solutions –
in fact, they would
not be a solution at
all.” David also
mentioned the fact
the flexibility of
LCR programming was
another key point.
He added: “Costs
would have been far
greater if this
facility wasn’t
available.” |
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4. Predictive, Power and Preview Dialling Configurable by Campaign
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Axis required a system that could operate in ‘Power’ and ‘Preview’ mode. This is because business selling often needs to be slower paced due to the technicalities of some products and services being explained and is less reliant on volume to generate higher levels of sales. TouchStar Connect provides the option to operate in ‘Predictive’, ‘Power’, ‘Preview’ and ‘Manual’. |
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5.Increased Contact Time
and Subsequent Sales
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TouchStar implemented
the fully compliant
TouchStar Connect
blended call centre
system complete with ACD
& IVR, intelligent
scripting, call
recording and reporting
at Axis Telecom in a
matter of days. And with
immediate effect, they
could see the
productivity gains that
were being achieved.
David said: “I knew
there would be increases
in contacts but I did
not expect productivity
to increase by this
much! We could quite
clearly see the agents
had gone from speaking
to customers from 15-20
minutes an hour to over
40. And it does not take
a genius to work out
that the more people we
contact, the more sales
we will make!” |
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6.Accounting Software
Integration
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TouchStar Connect
integrated with their
CAS accounting package
and thus streamlined
their business
processes. David
commented: “The
TouchStar engineers
developed the system in
a way that the two
systems operate
seamlessly. People talk
about the ‘paperless
office’ but having the
system automatically
managing the data means
that we have truly got
rid of paper! This is
just another example of
how TouchStar Connect
has been instrumental in
streamlining the actual
business itself.” |
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Implementation |
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Axis was impressed with the speed of installation. David commented: “The actual installation took a day, none of our agents were down, they simply carried on dialling on the old manual system until the switchover to the predictive dialler.” However, the TouchStar engineers provided further service to simply installing the hardware and software. Full training on how to operate the system subsequently took place. David stated: “They showed us exactly how to use the system, things like running in different dialling modes, how to use the different modules such as Supervisor and Administrator, remote agent monitoring and they went round to all the agents and showed them individually how to use the system and things like the actual headsets.” |
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Axis was running to its
full potential within a
week and functions were
coming to light that
they had not previously
considered – call back
schedule was one of
these. David commented:
“We had previously been
reliant on agents
remembering to call
prospects back if they
hadn’t been in or the
answer machine had been
switched on, now the
system does it
automatically so we can
be 100% confident all
the data that we have
paid for is being used.” |
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Features and Benefits of TouchStar Connect
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Axis Telecom has
experienced the
following results and
benefits since
implementing TouchStar
Connect: |
- Their agents
talk time has
trebled.
- A huge increase
in sales meant a
very quick return on
the investment.
- A system that
fully complies with
and exceeds all
OFCOM, DMA and FSA
regulations.
- The ability to
report with detailed
statistics from all
campaigns in real
time has made
management of the
call centre business
more focused.
- Flexibility to
build campaigns in a
variety of sectors
has allowed new
products to be
introduced.
- A seamless
integration with
their current
accounting system
which meant
streamlined business
processes.
- Free training on
an ongoing basis,
has continually
updated staff
expertise.
- 24 x 7 x 365 UK
based engineering
support proving
invaluable when
requiring advice at
any time of the day
or night.
- An appointed
expert business
development manager
to optimise use of
the technology.
- A suite of value
added services
(including network
services, cabling,
headsets, data
backup, data
management, etc) has
meant they have to
make one single
phone call to one
supplier.
- Ability for
further developments
as their business
grows.
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David Meyers concluded:
“We are hoping to expand
our operation within
this building and open
new call centres within
this area. We have every
confidence that
TouchStar will help us
all the way as we moved
towards enterprise size.
I would certainly
advocate the TouchStar
offering to anyone
wanting a call centre
solution – I know it
sounds simple, but I
would say they really
should not make a
decision about a dialler
without first consulting
TouchStar!” |
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