How our communication expertise can boost your profile with your members
Optimum Contact has helped many clients who have been initially wary about outsourcing their call campaigns. We hear comments like, ‘How can you genuinely connect with our members when you’re not part of our association?’ Or, ‘Our members will think we’ve fobbed them off to an external provider and they won’t be happy’. Or even, ‘You can’t possibly communicate what our association is about better than us.’
We don’t profess to know your members or your association better than you, but we can claim to be experts at communicating with them on your behalf.
We start by immersing ourselves in your association
Before we make any calls, we first get to know your world. We work with you to understand your association, industry, values and members. We look at your membership offering, the different segments and levels, and the benefits that come with belonging. This high-level understanding we gain enables us to act as part of your team, rather than as an external supplier. When we do contact your members, this knowledge shines through and allows us to connect meaningfully and positively with your members.
Our team members are ‘communicators’, not ‘call centre staff’
There’s a big difference between making a phone call and having a conversation. Our locally based team members – we call them ‘communicators’ – are carefully selected for their communication style and their ability to engage with people on a more personal level. They are intensively and regularly trained in all aspects of managing phone conversations, and how to respond optimally to a wide range of possible scenarios – positive and negative. They are also trained in privacy and are reaccredited on a regular basis. Our communicators function as your support team, interacting with your members as if they are part of your organisation.
The benefits of our understanding and communication are perhaps best summed up by one of our clients after their very first outbound call campaign with Optimum Contact:
“The big difference with Optimum Contact is they don’t just make phone calls about paying fees. They have real conversations with our members, and they know how to reinforce why our members should continue to belong to our Association.
They promote our reputation and make our members feel that they are important. What they do for us is invaluable. We’d never consider using anyone else.”
Robin Shepherd, General Manager Operations & Member Services – RCSA
