Virtual Call Center

The Cisco Unified Communications Manager supports the popular Session Initiation Protocol, or SIP. What is SIP, and how does it work? SIP trunks are used by businesses who desire to use their IP-PBX as an external as well as an internal communications device. Whenever you want to call someone who is not located within your enterprise, you must have a Session Initiation Protocol trunk that will enable you to connect to the traditional Public Switch Telephone Network, or PSTN. Instead of relying upon telephone wires for a call centre solution, this PSTN connectivity comes to you from SIP trunking.

SIP works by setting up video and voice calls over the Internet. As a signalling protocol, SIP also tears down these multimedia communication sessions. This method works extremely well, and is virtually undetectable to those on the other end of the telephone. No one will realize that you are not using a local provider such as AT&T or Verizon when they speak with you via an Internet voice call.

You will be connected to one of many SIP trunk providers when you make a call. These providers are also known as Internet Telephony Service Providers, or ITSP. An ITSP has the ability to provide a telephone number or numbers in most area codes worldwide. When using an Internet Telephony Service Provider, you also have access to features such as Direct Inward Dial (DID) and Caller ID. An ITSP is reminiscent of the Vonage service, but instead of one subscriber per home, you have an entire corporation as users.

Many people become confused whenever someone tries to explain an SIP trunk to them. The part that seems to confuse them the most is the fact that the SIP trunk is not a physical connection, but a logical one. A T1 connection and a PRI connection are both physical connections. Physical connections are guided by something, such as cables and wires. A logical connection is wireless.

The usual way to connect to the Internet Telephony Service Provider is via the Internet, but some people do use a private MPLS circuit. However, using the Internet can have its limitations. The lack of QOS, or Quality of Service, can mean that your connection may be less than stellar. Noise on the line and dropped connections can happen, but most people are surprised and pleased at how well the Internet can work for them. The ITSP can also connect with the PSTN, or Public Switched Telephone Network, and in this way can communicate with both fixed landline phones as well as cell phones.

Since the Cisco Unified Communications Manager has used SIP trunks for quite some time now, it was decided that some changes were imminent to keep the system flowing smoothly. It is known that there are some limits to the direct configuration of the SIP trunks into the UCM, so Cisco recently took the step of adding expanded support for Session Initiation Protocol on all of their routers.

This support is a feature that you may be interested in adding to your voice gateway. It is called CUBE, which is short for Cisco Unified Border Element. You do have to pay an additional amount in order to make use of this software for your virtual call centre, but devotees of CUBE have found that it can save your business money.

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A small business generally does not have the capital to purchase what is customarily known as a PBX system. Not only are such systems expensive, but the on-site hardware requirements can be a real hassle. This is the reason why so many small businesses, especially those that are just starting out, decide to meet their communication needs with a hosted IP PBX phone system.

With a virtual hosted phone service, start up costs are quite reasonable, as your telephone service and features come to you through a high-speed Internet connection. This type of phone service will not only meet the needs of your business, but will also improve your employee interactions with current and potential customers. You will also discover that your employees seem to be more efficient!

A virtual hosted call centre phone system will have many advanced features for both voice and data calls. With a hosted IP, all of the PBX features are available for access by everyone at your business, no matter where in the world they may be. The system can also connect to any extension number located anywhere. You can also add extension numbers to the main virtual number of this system if and when you see fit.

Included in the system is a virtual attendant and you‘ll find that this is an invaluable part of your business. Callers to your business will be able to choose from a menu of options that will be clearly and concisely explained to them by a computerized voice. These options can include dialling a party via their name, their extension number if known, or by their company directory listing.

You will enjoy the call features that are included with your PBX phone system. You will have the use of Caller ID, call screening, call transfer, conference calling, and more. Calls will be answered with professional greeting messages, and whenever someone must be placed on hold, they will enjoy customizable music. The Call Forwarding feature can save you a lot of time and trouble. Your calls can be sent either to a voice mailbox, or to any of the extension numbers that you specify.

If you are the proud owner of a small business, a professional who works out of a home office, or someone who is just starting out in the business world, you will find that a hosted IP PBX phone system is just what you need for a total business communication solution. You will have virtually the same phone features that any large company has, so you can communicate with others just as large companies do. No matter if you have to make a local business call or a long distance business call, your hosted PBX phone system can handle it all.

You are able to go online and manage your communication features to suit you, and can fiddle with them until they suit your perfectly. This kind of phone system can make even a tiny business more professional, and will also boost its profits. There are no worries about equipment maintenance, either. The hosted IP provider maintains everything for you, so you will not incur any additional funds if by chance something in the system needs to be replaced. Do some checking before settling on a virtual PBX phone service plan for your call centre solution. You can find several service providers who can offer you an affordable rate for the phone service your business needs to be a success.

Audio conference calling is a feature that many people are beginning to look into when they are ready to save both money and time. If your business is one that requires you to stay in touch with associates who live halfway across the country as well as halfway across the globe, audio conference calling could be for you! Often, a flight of several hours or more is required of each individual who is to participate in a business meeting with you. There are circumstances that may require you to fly out of town to meet with a group of your colleagues. This is not always practical for you or the people on your team and in a year’s time could add up to quite a bit of money in travel expenses.

With conferencing, no one needs to leave his or her home office in order to participate in a planned meeting. The ability to schedule a conference call at a time that is expedient for everyone involved can be quite useful in a business setting. The convenience you are providing by making use of audio conference calling will help to promote good will among you and your associates.

You will appreciate the ease with which you can arrange for a conference call. The usual method of notification is to get in touch via email with everyone who will be participating in the call. People will be pleased if you present them with several alternate dates and times you have chosen for the conference call to take place, and ask them to choose one. This gives them the chance to make room in their schedule, and save a block of time for a virtual meeting.

Once you know exactly when the majority of participants will be available, you can get started planning the audio conference call through the call centre of your company. You may need to arrange for the call to be scheduled into the business day, especially if you will need to make sure that there will be conference rooms available for this meeting. This depends entirely on how many people you expect to attend the conference call on your end. Otherwise, call participants can stay at their desks to be a part of the call.

You will find that people are at their best in familiar surroundings, especially if they have the use of a speakerphone. They have a tendency to participate more in the discussion when they are relaxed in their own office. You will also be pleasantly surprised at the efficiency of audio conference calling. There will be instances when you will need to give like information to a group of business associates whose offices are scattered around the country. Rather than taking the time to give each of these people a separate call, simply schedule a conference call by getting in touch with the head of your company’s inbound call centre, and requesting a time slot. This way, you can share the information with everyone at the same time.

Audio conference calling is free, and is a business tool you should take the time to check out. Why pay for these calls when you have a free alternate? You will be able to save a great deal of money on your business communications when you switch to this form of conference calling. The effect of audio conference calling on your business should never be devalued until you have tried it for yourself.

A lot of contact centres use single eared tubed headsets â?? cheap and effective, and probable the widest form of headset in these centres. The problem is that background noise can and will affect the user experience â?? with cheap headsets itâ??s clearly detectable.

Noise levels are high in contact centres. Many agents sitting in close proximity, plus the high level of calls and discussions between customers and prospects â?? it all adds up to a considerable noise problem. Single eared headsets mean agents have to compete with this background noise level to hear and be heard, and concentration can easily be distracted by the noise as well. This really doesnâ??t give the customer, prospect or agent the best service possible.

Moreover, headsets with voice tubes usually do not have noise reduction features, so people listening to your call centre can hear that background noise, and can often hear exactly what is going on in your contact centre. More than noise, do you want your customers and contacts hearing outbursts of laughter, outbursts of frustration, colleagues making banter and even the occasional explicit word?. Is this how you want your prospect or your customer to view your business? What damage might this do to the professional image of your organization a client you represent?

It is a sad fact that outsourced call centres can lose clients because someone on the phone overhears language or antics in the background, and you donâ??t want it to be YOUR customer or YOUR call centre.

Dual ear headsets are the answer. They allow users to concentrate more fully on the conversation they are having, and noise canceling mouthpieces prevent any unwanted noises being overheard. They may cost a little more, but they are actually a far wiser investment if you want happy callers!

Well, if I had had said The Joys of Sex, I would have caught your attention! But, it could well be said you can have as much pleasure out of Telemarketing!

Now, who here would not believe that? Why all the amused faces?

Telemarketing can be emotionally and financially rewarding, but it all a matter of attitude. If you come to the front door of the office and think, not another shift on the phones, I will have trouble getting sales, I hate the product I am selling, I hate telemarketing, guess what? You will have a miserable day and perform poorly. There is a cure for this, turn around, back down the lift and go to the pub. Here you will meet some nice people and have some fun. Guess what, you can also meet some nice people on the phone when telemarketing and have equally as much fun, as well as getting paid for it. It’s just a matter of knowing how.

What do you do when you are on the phone? Do you just deliver the same script over and over again just like a selling machine? Just waiting for the person to say “not interested” so you can move onto the next one? No wonder you become bored! Engage the prospect in conservation, just like you would a person you met at the pub or at a party get to know them, get them interested in the product. Don’t go into the call asking for a sale, go into the call to get to know the person, telling them about the product, getting them interested, getting them wanting to buy from you, not you trying to sell to them. People are happy to buy what they want from a person they have got to know, they hate being sold something. It’s a game of tactical maneuvers, not unlike a chess game, not just delivering a standard script. We employ you for more than your voice box!

A script is the words and terminology of someone else, change it to the wording that you would use yourself, then it sounds more natural, not like a telemarketer reading a script. If the prospect thinks of you as a telemarketer you have a big hurdle to overcome to win their confidence to obtain the sale. Adjust your language usage and pace of your pitch to mimic the prospect. If the prospect is a slow speaking person slow down your pitch or you will lose them, if they are sharp and abrupt in their speech don’t bore them with an elongated slowly delivered pitch, they will get bored. If the use prim and proper language, so should you, if they drop in the “mate” or whatever, so should you. People feel comfortable in dealing with someone like themselves. If you can get the prospect laughing and joking, you have won them over to yourself, the getting of the sale is then just a step away. Get them to like you, then the product, then, do them a favor by accepting their order

So as I said, make the call a fun experience for yourself. Each call may be a little longer but your success rate will dramatically improve. More importantly you will enjoy your time on the phone, you may even start to say, “the phone is my friend!”

Sometimes, it can be hard to deliver a pitch to a non existing image on the end of the phone, you cannot see them, you don’t know how they are reacting. Use your imagination! Fantasize! Yes, totally fantasize, if the person sounds nice to you, imagine them in a situation you would like to be with them in or see them in. There is no harm in thinking about it while talking to them. If they sound a grumpy old bastard, imagine them as an old witch or something, then when they say no, what else would you expect from such a horrid creature. It does not hurt as much.

At the end of the day you should have had fun and earned some extra commission, you can leave feeling happy and looking forward to tomorrow night.

So, is telemarketing as much fun as sex? Try to make it so!

I am often asked for “sales Tips”, three things are important:-

* Know your product, talk to the prospect about the product and paint a picture of the product in the prospects mind. Never acknowledge to the prospect you are a telemarketer or calling from a call centre or getting back to everyone that has bought something previously. Let the prospect think this is a special call to them, make them feel important.
* Don’t be a statue when on the phone, make the same movements you would make in a face to face discussion, otherwise you sound flat. Move your hands to express points, sit on the desk if you like, stand on the desk and wave your arms around if you feel like it. The prospect will hear the enthusiasm in your voice. Try poking your tongue out at someone that has said no, it makes you feel great!

Cisco Systems ®, Inc. has proudly proclaimed that companies both large and small have embraced the Cisco Unified Communications system as the first choice solution for making their individual businesses more efficient as well as more productive through the use of Internet Protocol (IP) based communications.

Some of the companies that have discovered the difference that choosing this system can make include Warner Pacific Insurance Services, C.J. Hughes Construction, and JJ Food Service. They are in good company, as businesses of all sizes are seeing a good-sized return on their investment, and watching their output zoom, all thanks to their choice of the Cisco Unified Communications system. This systems based approach allows Ciscoâ??s channel partners to see the affect such a plan can have on their business, and also gives them the opportunity to give their customers what they are looking for when it comes to a communications and call center solution.

The Cisco Unified Communications System first emerged into the business world in March of 2006. As an integrated collection of data, video, and voice applications, the system was made to enable businesses of every size to have the ability to transmit information more effectively, which would in turn cause these businesses to operate more efficiently.

Warner Pacific Insurance Services is a happy Cisco customer. This business is the employer of around 100 people, and 35 of these are committed telephone workers. Recently, this company decided to make an addition to its Cisco Unified Communications system. This was done to allow their employees to serve their customers faster and to display an even higher ratio of output to input for the company. Warner Pacific recently implemented the Cisco Unified Personal Communicator as well as the Cisco Unified Presence Server. This now allows Warner Pacific employees to have tools that take advantage of voice, video, and Web conferencing for communication with clients. This enables them to work more efficiently, and also saves the company money by reducing the instances of phone tag.

Michael DeDecker is network administrator for Warner Pacific Insurance Services, and is well pleased with Ciscoâ??s Unified Communications. He has found that no guesswork is needed to communicate with the world using this system, and most people can be reached on the first calling attempt. The innate intelligence of this communication system offers the flexibility needed to enable productivity to rise.

C.J. Hughes Construction

Even a small or a medium sized business can derive many benefits from the Cisco Unified Communications systemâ??s ability to be easily enlarged when the workload and the need arises. C.J. Hughes Construction, located in West Virginia, uses the power of Cisco Unified CallManager Express 4.0 and Cisco Unity Express 2.3 as their strategic advantage for their customer contact centre. They find that this system makes their business dealings a bit more streamlined, as well as making communications better. The system is available to them at a fixed monthly rate by a Cisco Premier ® certified and a Unified Communications Specialized partner. A managed service is perfect for a business of this size, for the company can have all the options that come with such a service without having to pay out the capital to implement the service. The IP phone with its screen display is especially handy, as it makes it much easier to attend to voice messages with the proper priority. Customer service needs are a snap with Cisco!

JJ Food Service Ltd.

This business has been a loyal customer of Cisco for quite some time. JJ Food Service Limited stands out as one of the top independent food distributors in the United Kingdom. They will continue their position in the top rankings, as an upgrade to the existing Cisco system left them with the tools needed to take advantage of the new abilities in the Cisco Unified Communications system.

Capabilities such as video phones that are easier to operate, Session Initiation Protocol support, also known as SIP support, and a wonderful new presence technology work together to allow this company to be more coherent. JJ Food Service Ltd. also has put the Cisco Unified CallManager 5.0 into distribution in all of its offices for voice services, and the Cisco Unified Personal Communicator is also in use for employees to improve their communication with each other.

The IT manager at JJ Food Services, Rif Kiamil, says that the company has long believed that the Cisco communications system has removed any boundaries that may be in between employees, partners, and customers, reduced the amount of money spent on communications, and has joined together data, voice, and video in such a way as to make the company continue to cohere.

Cisco Unified Communications is a mobile and a unified system that can be added on to at will. It is known to be helpful in the business world by allowing employees to zero in on the proper resources. The system includes many new capabilities, features, applications, and products. These include Cisco Unified CallManager, Cisco Unified Personal Communicator, Cisco Unified MeetingPlace, Cisco Unified Unity, Cisco Unified IP contact centre, and Cisco Unified Presence Server and Customer Interaction Analyzer.

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As a Singapore Personal Trainer and fitness bootcamp owner, one of the issues we have to help clients with in our multi-racial country of Singapore is the fasting month of ramadan.

There are personal training and fitness bootcamp members at the Genesis Performance Center who are going into the fasting month soon this year. And recently they have been wondering what would be the best way to maintain their fat loss, weight loss and muscle building results that they have gotten. This is often a big concern to them because after some time in our programs they already have very healthy habits and lifestyles.

In fact when I was working at the Singapore Sports School, we did research on how to help Muslim athletes perform well even during fasting month/ramadan. Training and international competitions still go on despite the fasting month.

So here are my recommendations…

Either train early in the morning (immediately after the morning break fast) or at night (after the evening break fast)

If you train in the morning, do it at about 730am or 8am if you do it in the evening, do it at about 8pm. This is so that you don’t train on a super full stomach.

Even though we may not get the ideal 6 feeding opportunities per day, we should get at least 3 good ones. Morning break fast, evening break fast, and one more big meal before bed. These meals should be slow digesting ones so that you stay full longer. That means no starchy bad stuff. More protein and healthy fats which digest slowly.

So a sample daily timetable for morning training would be:

* 6am breakfast – eggs, meat, nuts, cheese, a whey protein shake * 730am training * 715pm breakfast (evening) – eggs, meat, nuts, cheese, a caesin protein shake * 10pm supper – eggs, meat, nuts, cheese, casein protein shake

For evening training:

* 6am breakfast – eggs, meat, nuts, cheese, a casein protein shake * 715pm breakfast (evening) – eggs, meat, nuts, cheese, a whey protein shake * 8pm training – another whey protein shake post workout * 10pm supper – eggs, meat, nuts, cheese, casein protein shake

There we go! It’s not ideal, but it’s good enough that you shouldn’t lose too much progress during fasting month.

NOTE: Drink water in large amounts as often as you can during the times when you are allowed to. You should be needing constant toilet breaks and your urine should be colorless – that is the correct amount!

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As a Singapore personal trainer and fitness bootcamp owner, I have had clients come to our gym and ask “do you teach kettlebell exercises?” This is because kettlebells are becoming popular as a training tool in Singapore.

As a personal trainer and sports performance coach, I am often asked “so what do you think of kettlebells”…

First, what is a kettlebell? I describe a kettlebell to a person who has never seen one, as a cannon ball with a built in handle.

We use kettle bells alot in our training. Even my mom who is 54 years old, regularly swings a 16kg Kettle bell with great technique as part of our Fitness Bootcamps. (Yeah I’m proud of my mom! And she is can do a full man-style chinup too! If my mom can do it, im sure anybody can too!)

Kettle bells are very old school. In fact they are one of the oldest kind of strength training tools.

They do have their uses, and there are entire sports devoted to lifting Kettlebells for as many reps as you can.

But it is possible that sometimes things get taken too far. There are some people who think kettlebells are some magical fitness device that can easily give you the body of your dreams, or the strength to move a mountain.

They are not. They are weights with the handle in a different position. No more no less. Kettlebells are useful tools which can be used to add variation to training programs and workouts. They are good for training strength endurance. But they are not magic!

In fact dumbells in my opinion are more versatile, and If I were setting up a gym at home and had a limited budget, I would get a set of adjustable dumbells before getting any kettlebells.

Sure, our gym, the Genesis performance center has kettle bells from 4kg to 48kg… but honestly, they are not used as much as our dumbells and barbells are.

One thing that is good about kettlebells and kettlebell instructors worldwide, is that they tend to do total body, non-stupid training. They perform exercises like kettlebell swings, jerks and cleans. These programs will get results.

But it is not the magic of the kettlebell! It is simply a good program. It could be done with dumbells, barbells or heavy rocks from a granite quarry. It doesn’t matter that much.

So in conclusion, Kettlebells are good tools. But if anybody tries to start a cult because of them, that is not a balanced viewpoint. We need all kinds of tools to give the body variation to ensure progress in training.

Using constant variation and constant progress will get you faster and better results that choosing any one of the “fitness cults” out there.

One of the meaningful work I do as a personal trainer and strength and conditioning coach in Singapore is helping people recover and rehabilitate (rehab) from various types of pain, dysfunction and injuries at our facility, the Genesis Performance Center.

Now, we are NOT doctors. If a car runs over you, please do NOT drop by.

For instance, if a 130 kg opponent tackles you on the rugby field and twists your knee so you damage your ACL. You should go for surgery!

****As soon as possible.****

But once you are done with surgery, what next, usually, a patient will go for some physiotherapy, but what next?

You are not fully well yet you are not injured enough to have more doctor visits.

The next step in fact is to remove the weakness that is usually the cause of the injury to begin with.

To do this, make sure that your rehab program (once your knee moves without sharp pain) includes important exercises like split squats, full squats and exercises to strengthen the hamstrings such as deadlifts and leg curls.

However, keep in mind that surgeries are unnecessary for most knee injuries.

First of all, get a few different doctors to read your MRI. Reading one is a skill and its a subjective skill. And doctors have (it’s not their fault – reading these is hard) given different opinions on the SAME MRI given some time between readings. I would go for 1 MRI and 3 doctor’s opinions.

Next most injuries can be fixed with some soft tissue work and some strengthening. ACL tears are probably the only one that really needs surgery. And if you do get surgery get a doctor that will NOT take the ligament graft from your hamstring.

The hamstring is VERY important in knee stability because it actually wraps around the knee joint. So don’t let it get even weaker (it’s possibly why you got injured in the first place).

One of the most common problems I work (surgery free of course!) with is scar tissue on knee connective tissue.

The symptoms are:

* Pain inside the knee especially climbing up and/or down stairs
* The same pain when walking up or down slope
* The pain comes on and off – it does not improve and it does not get worse.
* The pain is worse on days after you do “start/stop” activity like badminton, basketball and so on.

How do I know so much about this? I had this problem myself! And soft tissue work by a strong therapist was the only way it got fixed. And it bothered me for years! Experiencing that pain for real, for yourself, teach the best way to fix it right!

Nobody can train well when they are in pain. So in general…

* Fix the pain
* Train hard
* Prevent the injury from happening again.

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Conferencing is communication between more than two people at the same time. Conferencing is mainly of three types: audio, video and web conferencing services.

Web Conferencing

Web conferencing services are application that a user needs to download or install to start making using a more affordable facility. These solutions allow users to send invitations to many participants for a conference from distant locations and make presentations to them.

Web Conferencing Services - Microsoft Office Live Meeting, Genesys Meeting Center, Rain dance Web Conferencing Pro Seminar and WebEx Meeting Center are a few types of software used as web conferencing services which are exciting and easy. With the help of these services, anyone can do web conferencing. They help the presenter with many options like annotations, whiteboards, chats, forums, polling and many other features to make conferencing holistic, understandable and presentable for its target clientele or participants.

Requirements - For featured web conferencing services, a high speed internet connection and web conferencing services are essential.

Conferencing Service Provider - Selection can be dependent on price, features, desktop compatibility, specifications required, downloading and installing such services conveniently.

Web Conferencing Services Sites

AllConferencingServices.com - It allows users to communicate freely using normal telephone lines. Wireless telephone broadband services have enabled users to choose from a range of freeware online for setting up web-based solutions for their business or personal needs. It saves money and time as it does not require a user to purchase expensive services.

ConferenceCall.com - This is comprehensive web conferencing services wherein a user needs to plan and schedule meetings with the help of web-based applications. It is easy and simple to use as it has a varied range of features like web visuals, account login to schedule conference details and invitations and user-specific conference set up depending on the nature and goal of the conference. It also gets feedback for the presenter and the user can personalize every detail of the conference from their web visual account. It also has a feature known as integrated desktop video which helps a conference happen live via webcam settings. It enables users to share files, documents, presentations, research papers, annotations and many more options by converting all information exchanged into a virtual reference center to be shared and used after the conference call. It has the option of recording the demo and replaying it for participants who were absent during the web conference.

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