Often, companies start with just one person and then grow their staff. But even at the start, it’s crucial to have business telephony with all its benefits. Otherwise, processing calls will take longer, and some calls will be missed. Read how Ringostat has simplified client communication for translator David Kowalski, founder of EnglishCloud, a translation agency and online courses.
About the company and what prompted it to connect Ringostat
EnglishCloud is a translation agency based in Kielce, Poland. Although the company currently consists of one person, it has already provided services to about 50 entrepreneurs and government agencies. It has also recently launched English language courses and plans to expand into the US, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
The main channel of communication with clients at EnglishCloud is the telephone. It’s quicker to discuss service orders: the specifics and scope of translation, price, terms, etc. Moreover, the company is quite popular in its hometown, and information about it is ranked quite high on Google Maps. So, the agency receives at least three calls a day.
Previously, the company’s founder believed that his own cell phone number would be enough to communicate with customers. But over time, he began to face several problems:
- it was difficult to separate calls on personal issues from calls from customers;
- people often called at inconvenient times, such as at night or during David’s vacation;
- he had to manually record calls in the CRM, which took up additional time, which the owner already has little of because the entire load falls solely on him.
All this led the company’s founder to start looking for business telephony.
I like the price of Ringostat and the assistance in connecting numbers for different countries. I also like integration with my CRM system Livespace. Connecting Ringostat and having a separate phone number for business calls was definitely a good decision.”
How customer calls are now handled
Firstly, Ringostat helped EnglishCloud connect virtual numbers from operators, i.e., numbers connected via the Internet. The company now has local numbers for its existing and future destinations:
- Polish;
- American;
- Australian;
- Canadian;
- New Zealand.
Foreign numbers will be placed on the corresponding EnglishCloud landing pages. This way, visitors will see a local number, increasing trust in the company.
When customers call EnglishCloud, they are directed to an interactive voice response (IVR) menu. It offers to choose what exactly the client needs:
- translations;
- language courses;
- translation services for printing services — the agency can also create layouts for printed materials with translations: business cards, flyers, etc.
When customers call the company’s Polish number, they hear the audio recording in Polish. If customers call the numbers of other countries, they will listen to an audio recording in English.
If clients call outside of business hours, they will be directed to an answering machine and can leave an audio message. David carefully processes all such messages the next business day and thus does not lose customers who did not get through.
After communicating with the client, the call data is recorded in Ringostat reports: date and time of the call, duration, client’s phone number, call audio, etc. All this will help to control the team in the future when the company expands its staff.
In addition, calls are automatically recorded in CRM Livespace. It became possible thanks to the integration of Ringostat with this system. Moreover, our platform does not have a ready-made connection with this CRM, but technical support has developed such an integration specifically for EnglishCloud for free. It works like this:
- a contact with a phone number is created in CRM after a call;
- an audio recording of the conversation with the client is also attached to the contact;
- if the call is missed, a “Call Back” task is automatically created with a deadline of 4 hours.
This way, David doesn’t waste time manually writing down contacts. And he doesn’t forget to contact clients who call outside his office hours or when he is busy.
Another thing that has made call processing more convenient is the Ringostat app. It is installed on a computer or laptop and allows you to make, and receive calls, write SMS, or correspond with messenger users in a single interface.
- When an incoming call from an existing customer comes in, the app shows the customer’s name. This way, David can pleasantly surprise the customer by immediately addressing him by name.
- Right during the call, he can go to the contact in CRM. There is a separate button for this.
- With the app, David can make a call with one click by simply clicking on the customer’s number in the CRM contact card. He can also call from any website page where the phone number is posted.
- The app contains call history and a mini-CRM with customer contacts.
- A separate tab displays which of the customers who have previously called are currently on the site. David can call them right away because if they are already visiting the website, they are potentially interested in the agency’s services.
- During the call, the app shows the city the client is in, how often they have already called and visited the website, and so on.
- David can simply switch the app to Offline mode to avoid distractions if he is busy.
Overall impression of cooperation with Ringostat
Virtual telephony and the Ringostat app are a great convenience. It allows customers to leave voice messages, gives me the option to call back during business hours, and has many other features.