4th Quarter 2017

A constellation is a group of stars that are considered to

form imaginary outlines or meaningful patterns on the celestial sphere, typically

representing animals, mythological people or gods,

mythological creatures, or manufactured devices.

The 88 modern

constellations are formally defined regions of the sky

together covering the entire celestial sphere.

Origins for the earliest

constellations likely goes back to prehistory, whose

now unknown creators collectively used them to

related important stories of either their beliefs,

experiences, creation or mythology.

The Constellation A newsletter for Answering Service Employees; donated to the industry by TeamSNUG

A Shining Star to Guide the Way…

Today’s Luminary is Constance Masinga-Loville

from Direct Line

E verything she does, every agent she trains, every standard she sets is all based on non-negotiable excellence. Constance Masinga-Loville is the standard of excellence here at Direct Line where she has gracefully, professionally and

consistently ensured that all agents are shown what “right” looks like in the day to day operations of call taking. She’s the catalyst that ensures our client’s call standards are consistently exceeded and is the person who’s responsible for setting in stone the legacy of excellence that Direct Line was founded upon. Constance is responsible for all aspects of our agent training. When she began her career with Direct Line, she started out as a call agent and then quickly moved up the ranks to Lead, PIC, Swing Supervisor and is now our Skills Development Coordinator. She’s been instrumental in countless training process improvement initiatives and is our champion for creating a training infrastructure that ensures the consistent delivery of all ATSI call standards. This past summer we had the distinct privilege of celebrating her 24th anniversary with us. Operations Manager, Gretchen Lodderhose says, “One of the many things I admire most about Constance is her ability to read and understand people. It’s an innate gift that most of us don’t have. In all of the years that she and I’ve worked together, I can honestly say she’s never been wrong when sizing up our team.” When asked about her thoughts about Constance, our Day Shift Supervisor, Donna Brown says, “I could go on forever talking about all the good things about her. She’s a consummate professional in all situations and I really try to mimic her in all that I do. Her example is one that I aspire to be like and she finds the positive in all situations regardless of the issue. She sees the silver lining in every cloud. Whenever we have a process challenge, Constance will take that challenge, break it down and then give it back to us in a format of exactly how to do it right and I mean exactly right. Her dedication to our agents and their success is an inspiration and I am so grateful to have the privilege of experiencing her guidance and support for the past 15 years. Ken Goldenberg, President and owner of Direct Line says. “Almost like her name, Constance has been the one constant at Direct Line that has been able to distill the training program my mom, Ruth Goldenberg created and has continued the legacy. As a good teacher, she is stern when she needs to be and empathetic and nurturing when necessary. She has trained well over 450 agents as our Skills Development Coordinator. We hear from former employees all the time saying the skills they learned at Direct Line have served them well. Constance Masinga-Loville is the light that guides us and the strength that supports us. She is our Voice of Excellence.

Submitted By Ken Goldenberg

What is a

Constellation?

H ave you ever noticed how quickly we sometimes jump to judgement, and how often that judgement is negative? Sometimes we need to look at the “obvious” and consider the “possibilities”. Put yourself in someone else’s shoes.

The aloof neighbor who isn’t really friendly and doesn’t even respond when you wave across the driveway. That’s obvious. The possibility is that her mind is a million miles away – or at least three streets over where she is going to pick her kids up from daycare, ten minutes late. She knows she’ll get an earful, and she’ll be dinged an additional $30 on her daycare bill. She’s stressed. The clerk at the convenience store came in early to cover for a friend and just discovered the night shift guy called out sick. He is going to work for 15 straight hours and he’ll miss seeing his girlfriend before she leaves on a week-long business trip. His disappointment is the reason he isn’t smiling and cheerful. It isn’t you; it’s his situation. That guy who just pulled into YOUR parking space, the one you waited patiently for with your blinker on? He didn’t even notice you. He’s in a hurry to reach the pharmacy, in the grocery store, before they close for the night. His three-year old has an ear infection. The little guy is sobbing in pain. Bad things happen to good people every single day, and it makes them act in ways they would never think about – if they were thinking about how they were acting. It’s more likely, when people aren’t nice or friendly, that they have more on their mind than they can handle. Put your own shoes back on and walk with a light step. When you see a scowl on someone’s face KNOW it isn’t aimed at you! When you see that school kid with the heavy backpack, smile! Hold the door. (It’s OK for a gal to hold the door for a guy). When you drive away from McDonald’s and discover they gave you a boy’s Happy Meal instead of a girl’s, don’t get angry. Imagine how many times they’ve gotten it right. Today, the orders were pouring in and the wrong item was put in the bag. It’s obvious that the order was filled incorrectly, but the possibility is that they were hurrying to get the food to you while it was still hot. Being difficult when someone makes a mistake won’t make things better for you or for them; being kind and understanding will make you both feel better. It’s so easy for us to be hurt, or even angry at the little injustices that happen every day. If you look for slights, you will find them. If you expect things will not go right, they won’t. If negativity seems to be a part of your life, you might want to walk in someone else’s moccasins for a while.

Walk a Mile in My Moccasins

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Find the 12 Differences

S tep one of saving for retirement -

You will need to determine what you'll need to contribute to reach your retirement goal. You want a nest egg that can annually deliver between 70 to 90 percent of your pretax, pre-retirement salary. How much will you need to contribute to reach that goal? More importantly, how will you ensure those contributions are made?

F ocus on learning in more than one way. Instead of just listening to a podcast, which

involves auditory learning, find a way to rehearse the information both verbally and visually. This might involve describing what you learned to a friend, taking notes, or drawing a mind map. By learning in more than one way, you’re further cementing the knowledge in your mind. The more regions of the brain that store data about a subject, the more opportunities to pull up all of those related bits of data from their multiple storage areas. This cross-referencing of data means we have learned, rather than just memorized.”

F ast food can be good for you. WHAT?

Ten years ago, if you pulled off the highway for a quickie lunch, your healthy menu options were a sad-looking side salad or a bland chicken sandwich. But now, "not only is fast food healthier—thanks to restaurants cutting out trans fats and loading up on fresh ingredients—there are many more good-for-you tasty choices. Be sure to check the calories, sodium, carbs, fat and protein before you make your choice.

I f you are reading this, chances are you work in an answering service or call center. If I asked you to tell me, quickly, right off the top of your head what it is you DO, you would say, “I answer phones.” Perhaps, if you have heard this question before you would say,

“I communicate with our customer’s callers.” The truth is We help our customers build their business! Most of our clients understand that having their phones answered 24/7 is a necessary part of their marketing! In his book, Everything is Marketing, Fred Joyal, founder of 1-800-DENTIST says, “Answering the phone well takes focus, training, the right attitude and the right person.” He goes on to describe how different dentists have different results; some book lots of appointments, some not so many. “We’ve narrowed it down to what happens in that first phone call, and who is answering those calls.” He said, “It can make or break a practice. It comes down to some simple criteria: being pleasant, being focused on that call and understanding the value of that call.” Those are very important criteria, NOT just for dentists, but for every single kind of business. We answer calls for plumbers, property management, emergency services… the list goes on. Every single one of the companies we answer expect us to help advance their business. They TRUST us to put their company in the best light possible. They know that our answering service might be the very first impression a caller has of their company. We have 10 seconds or less to make a GREAT first impression for them. A caller can sense immediately if we care – or not. In our business, being pleasant on the call is our number one priority; it is ingrained that we leave our problems at the door when we begin answering our customer’s calls. In training we learn how important it is to listen and to ACCURATELY relay the message. But we don’t necessarily spend a lot of time talking about the value of the calls we take. To our customers, the VALUE is everything. The potential value of each call is so great that they pay an answering service so that they don’t miss a single one! The lifetime value of each customer varies by industry but chances are very good that the numbers are in the thousands of dollars. Even routine calls can generate years of additional business. When a customer calls a plumber because their sink is stopped up, and you assure them the plumber will call them back immediately, it isn’t just THAT call that is important. The customer is going to call back when they want to install a new bathroom and they will recommend him to the neighbor who needs a new heating system. The value of a call is why clients have us answer their phones. We are a part of their business growth!

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