Whenever someone calls your business by telephone, they are interacting with your company brand and adapting their opinion of your business. The way in which company handles calls is one of the most important factors in setting out how customers talk about your business and affect your reputation.

Whilst many large companies outsource call handling to foreign call centres in India, The Philippines, Pakistan and South East Asia to save money, they often pay a heavy price in terms of damage to customer satisfaction levels. In the cases of some banks and energy companies, it’s enough to lose them a sizeable chunk of their market share.

The ‘Big Six’ energy suppliers have yet again hit the headlines today for poor customer service. AOL reports that despite cornering a staggering 90% of the UK energy market, they were all at the bottom of the Which? Energy company satisfaction survey.

http://money.aol.co.uk/2015/01/22/npower-voted-worst-for-customer-service-for-fourth-year-running/

http://www.which.co.uk/news/2015/01/best-energy-suppliers-2015-revealed-391795

The annual satisfaction survey placed market minnows Ecotricity and Good Energy at the top of the list with 84% and 82% respectively. All of the top six companies were small, UK based energy providers. Npower were bottom of the league with a diabolical 34% and Scottish Power were the next lowest, albeit with 6% higher ratings.

Small businesses are less likely to outsource call handling services abroad. They don’t have global infrastructure. British call handling and telephone call management services remain strongly competitive at the call levels received by smaller energy providers and most UK small businesses.

Using a local call handling service gives the caller a natural boost in terms of how close they feel to the company, recognising a local accent and talking to someone of a similar culture. There is no doubt that using a UK call handling service has helped the smaller energy companies to stand out as better service providers than the Big Six.