Getting your business telecoms ready for the Christmas period

What are your plans for Christmas? No, we don’t mean your dinner arrangements. In the office, preparation is key so that you can keep your business ticking over while you and your staff enjoy a relaxing break, and telecoms technology can help you to do it! Check out our top telecoms tips to see you through the festive period.

1.      Prepare your customers with on-hold messaging

Don’t waste your customers’ time annoying them with cheesy music. Use on-hold messaging when they’re being transferred or put on hold, to cement key messages from your brand, such as your opening hours over the forthcoming festive period. You can even set up your phone system to give a short on-hold message to every customer who rings before they get through to an operator. This is a great way to lead into the Christmas period by giving advance warning of any upcoming changes to your service.

2.      Update your voicemail message with important information

If you’re closed or operating a skeleton service over Christmas, it’s important that your voicemail message lets people know. Re-recording your answerphone message needs to be high on your Christmas to-do list, or you could end up with a lot of disgruntled customers. The new message should tell people when they’ll be able to reach you, and whether they can visit your website to get the job done instead. Don’t forget to update it again when things go back to normal in the New Year!

3.      Use call forwarding to respond flexibly to demand

Let staff work from home, or wherever they are in the country, by diverting your incoming calls to a different number. It means you’ll still be able to provide the same level of service and never miss a call, whilst also being responsive to changing conditions. With unified communications in the Cloud, it’s possible to set out a backup plan just in case, agreeing with staff that you can forward calls to their business mobiles if you experience unexpectedly high call volumes. It beats sitting in a deserted office and waiting for the phone to ring.

4.      Check what support is available over Christmas

What happens if something goes wrong with your phone or broadband services over the festive period? Check the technical support arrangements your telecoms provider is offering between Christmas and New Year. If your usual point of contact is off for Christmas or there are any changes to your support service, make sure everyone knows what to do in an emergency.

5.      Celebrate and enjoy

With the telecoms taken care of, it’s time to treat your staff to a Christmas party with a difference. This year you may be seeing in the festive period by video conference, so make it special – why not send everyone a bottle of bubbly so you can toast the year you’ve had, and look forward to the future together? One thing’s for sure – whatever happens in 2021, telecoms are set to play a bigger role than ever before!

Get your business telecoms ready for the Christmas period. Contact Croft today by filling in our online contact form, or phone 01920 466466 to speak to us directly.