Telcare

Our February guest blog comes from our call recording friends Computertel. Computertel supply cost-effective solutions for call recording, employee appraisal software, speech analytics, call handling and performance management solutions.

Yesterday, I got home to find that a bailiff had visited my home and left a seizure notice through my door for a person with the same surname but totally different forenames to that of my husband! He wasn’t expecting it and he shouldn’t have received it!

My bemused and perplexed husband then made a phone call to the bailiff, shown in the correspondence, and advised him that no person by the name on the notice lived at, or was associated with the address. The bailiff replied that “he had only visited the address given by the courts!”

Being a supportive wife, I of course did not find it highly amusing that the bailiff had gone into our back garden and cited our rather rustic wooden garden furniture to be seized, against a £ 3,000.00 debt! I smothered my giggles behind my wine glass quite well, I thought!

By this time, it was well after the courts had finished for the day, so after a quick Google ™ search couldn’t show us anything useful, my husband resigned himself to wait until the second the courts opened the following morning to “state his case”.

To sum up, your honour, the court advised that our address was not associated with the original paperwork issued. Allegedly, the information relayed to the bailiff was totally different from what the courts had issued, but for some obscure reason the bailiff decided to put the letter through our door and snoop at our furniture. The court also provided the contact details of the company who had brought the case in front of the court, so my irate husband then thought he’d share his frustrations with this company too, who was assertively asked to provide written confirmation that our address and my husband were in no way connected to this case and that there would be no seizure of our “highly valuable” garden furniture.

The point of my preamble today is that if someone had simply verified the information correctly before, then this problem would never have happened and I couldn’t be blogging you about it now.

The details were issued by phone, so if they had been able to record the phone call(s) to double check the instructions, life would now be simpler for up to 3 people who have now been involved in writing the wrongs of some mis-information.

Call recording is not only suitable for call centres, smaller organisations that do business over the phone, be it land line or mobile, could all benefit from being able to verify actual information to help them work more accurately, confidently and professionally.

So, next time you look at buying or upgrading your Telcare telephony equipment, why not ask your account manager to discuss call recording options too?

For any enquiries please feel free to contact us or go directly to Sarah Jane or Brendan at Computertel 01474 561111

A huge thank you, if you were one of the many that visited our stand at the b2b2012 last Friday. It was wonderful to see so many people, no wonder I ended the day slightly hoarse! Along with the 60 exhibitors there were plenty of visitors, I’m not sure of the exact footfall but I do know that the event organisers ran out of show guides!

The addition of seminars to these events really does provide another incentive to attend. I was fortunate enough to attend the first seminar of the day which was given by entrepreneur Nigel Botterill. Nigel talked us through his journey to ‘super-success’ and gave us some tips to take away and implement immediately. It was certainly an insightful and entertaining hour.

I hope that you met some new contacts and found the show useful; there were plenty of opportunities to meet fellow professionals. If you had hoped to talk to us but didn’t get the chance, please feel free to contact us. Alternatively we will be exhibiting next at the South East Business Show on 18th May 2012 at the Copthorne Hotel Gatwick. This is always a successful event and so we hope to see you there.

Our Ladies Who Latte networking group re-launched this week at the Medway Innovation Centre. I was keen to visit the Innovation Centre as I had not previously been given the opportunity.

The car park was full, a clear indication that once again organiser Emma Thorpe had been hard at work enlisting the business ladies of Kent. The morning started at 9am with an added bonus from the Ruby Marketers, who provided a social media workshop in the large meeting room. The main event was held in the cafe area from 10am to 12 noon. Although I know it was well past 12,30pm when I left. The turn out was tremendous, even Councillor Chitty commented on the remarkable support, in her welcome speech. The room really was buzzing, introductions were being made, phone numbers were exchanged and business foundations were being laid. A successful event for sure and just the beginning of many.

I certainly wasn’t disappointed by the venue, it really is easily accessible and has a pleasant, modern interior with full facilities. A venue that means business I would say.

The next event will be on Thursday 9th February 2012, please do come along and join in, you really will be welcome.

The team at Telcare would like to wish you a prosperous new year.

2011 was a great year for Telcare, for which we are extremely grateful and we now step into 2012 ready and willing for another adventure.

This year marks Telcare’s 15^th anniversary so we are determined to make it a year to remember.  You may recall that Telcare were originally located in Dartford, and therefore have been keen supporters of Dartford Football Club for some time.  We kicked off our year by being match day sponsors of the Darts first game on Jan 2^nd.  Dartford’s opponents were Welling Utd who gave us a run for our money, making us wait until the second half for a goal. Dartford’s Danny Harris provided a cracker in the 59th minute taking Dartford to victory.  Telcare got to choose the man of the match, which we awarded to Matt Jones who in our opinion, demonstrated some fantastic defending throughout the 90 minutes.  Our match day mascots were Henry and Jasper Nobes, who did a wonderful job carrying out their duties despite the fact that it was a rather chilly day!

Telcare’s David Settle presenting Matt Jones with Man of the Match Award, Henry and Jasper Nobes, Mascots.

The St George’s Centre at Chatham Maritime was a fitting venue for the Medway Business Awards last Friday. Formerly a naval church, the building offered us a grand setting for our celebrations, we even had the figurehead Nymphe, keeping a watchful eye over us.

Our host Rob Smith guided us through the evening introducing us to Councillor Chitty, who gave an inspiring welcome address, followed by magician Richard Bellars, who managed to keep us guessing “how did he do that?” with his mind blowing tricks.

A raffle was held for the Mayor’s charity which raised much needed funds for charities such as Age UK Medway, Cerebral Palsy Care Kent and The Samaritans.

Finally we reached the awards and the finalists were presented with their certificates. Yours truly had the daunting task of finding a route through the maze of tables in order to receive Telcare’s certificate. I had visions of tripping over a handbag along the way and landing flat on my face but thankfully I made it to the stage without mishap and experienced a very proud moment for the team.

Moving on to the winners of the Medway Business Awards, this year the award went to Minimise Ltd, a company contributing to carbon reduction worldwide through the distribution of energy efficient products. Huge congratulations go to them; we wish them every success with their future plans.

It really was an enjoyable evening with over 200 guests, so you can imagine the buzz in the room; champagne corks were popping and laughter coming from all angles. Personally I was thrilled to see three lovely ladies from the Women in Business Group I attend. They are always enormously supportive so an added bonus for me to know they were close by. Zoe Cairns, Sian Murphy and Suzanne Wood can be seen with me in the photo below. More photos can be seen on our facebook page www.facebook.com/telcareltd

Guest Blogger – Rebecca Garcia

This month we are keeping things in house and turning the spotlight on our very own Rebecca Garcia. Rebecca, who has been with us since the beginning of time, and does a superb job running our accounts and in particular keeping the cash flowing. Sounds like an easy task you may think but Rebecca has a unique approach, she keeps score…Hello I am Rebecca and my role is ‘chief bean counter’ (or accounts person!) basically ensuring that the day to day financial side of the business runs smoothly.

Keeping score, as Lisa puts it, is my way of measuring where we are, so we know where to improve and what procedures to have in place. I’m big on keeping records which helps not only with monitoring but with saving time. I have a record of every customer’s payment history, as I believe that knowing your customers and adapting your approach when collecting payments, certainly aids the process and keeps the cash flowing.

I know the average time a customer takes to pay; I know who is responsible for making the payment and their particular procedure. For example, a small business may employ a part time book keeper who is in the office on certain days; it is in my interest to know when that is, in order not to waste time calling on the wrong day. By the same token I make it my business to know if an invoice has to be approved and signed off before it can be passed for payment. By record keeping, I can also spot any abnormal behaviour and hopefully work out a solution before any major issues arise. I give regular feedback to the team on all positive and negative aspects.

At Telcare we work along the lines that “prompt payment makes good business”, we support our suppliers by observing their terms and ensuring that we always pay on time. In turn, we are most grateful to those who pay us on time whether this is within our usual 30 days, by the annual maintenance renewal date or within pre-approved payment terms. However, it is true that there are those who ‘can’t pay’ or ‘won’t pay’. In these circumstances we have a set procedure that involves documented conversations, polite intentions and a reasonable deadline. This has yet to let us down! Legal action would always be viewed as a last resort.

In line with our IS0 14001 certification we aim to keep things environmentally friendly, which means we email invoices and statements and make online payments wherever possible. More than 80% of our customers now pay us by standing orders or direct online payments and I plan to improve that in 2012.

Thanks Bekki, you do a terrific job, I appreciate you sharing with us

Have you got the twitter bug? About 18 months ago, Jason Hulott told me “you’ve got to start tweeting”. I knew he was right but didn’t think I would ever get to grips with it. Fast forward to Autumn 2011 and I find myself relying on Twitter for the news, traffic updates and of course the very latest Strictly gossip. Here in the Telcare office we use Twitter to network with like minded companies, discussing the many aspects of our working days, whilst achieving brand awareness. The icing on the cake, however, has been the discovery of some fabulous people. One lovely lady in particular is Body Image Expert, Jayne Cox, also known as @loving_my_years. I have really enjoyed tweeting with Jayne over the months so have invited her to share one of her blogs with us. If any of you are guilty of shaking the crumbs from your keyboard then read on. Take it away Jayne….

Food Rules OK? – Desks are for Computers not Lunch

Over the past 18 months I’ve attracted a new female client. These women are successful and generally in high pressure positions within corporations or they are female entrepreneurs. The reason for their initial call or email to me is quite simple. They feel that their weight is out of control and they want to tackle it! Sounds familiar, nothing special about this is there? Well I made a disturbing discovery that I want to share with you.

So initially asked if I can help with an issue around weight and using food to cope with life and emotions, the answer is yes and it’s wonderful to discuss life beyond this behaviour. Disturbingly I noticed something of a pattern immerge with these women, many experienced NO food rules in the workplace! Yes, it seems in Offices and work places up and down the country breakfast, lunch and snacks are being eaten at the desk. There is no designated break and secret and binge eating isn’t the only cause for the increase in weight. The office space is providing an unhealthy environment for business owners and staff!

The auto-pilot eating at a desk has become the norm and I am also told that food is often centrally available in offices. It’s cake Wednesday or a Birthday or a Reward! Food is within a few steps or arms reach all day long. So you can literally eat your way through your day and this of course means that food as a coping mechanism has become deeply engrained at work. Clients discover they reach for food to create a break, a distraction or to deal with a difficult moment in their day.

I’ve asked clients how many of their staff are dieting, I am told it’s usually well over half. Something surely is ready to change?

My suggestions…

1. Make food rules, discuss with your staff a way to reward and celebrate other than food
2. Keep food in a kitchen space or designated area that you have to make an effort to go to
3. Encourage other positive reward systems!
4. Ask staff to have a break, a few minutes in a space away from their desks
5. Set a good example if you are a business owner or a team leader!

It’s a simple way to improve our health and wellbeing around the country, let’s bring in some Food Rules OK?

What do you think?

Jayne x

Visit http://www.jaynemcox.com to read more about Jayne and her work.