The Alliance Wireless Communications Team wore pink today to support the Bullying STOPS Here campaign.

The following is taken from the Boys and Girls Club of Kingston

What is Pink Shirt Day?

In September of 2007 two high school students in Nova Scotia witnessed a grade nine student being bullied for wearing a pink shirt. The child was ridiculed and called gay for his choice of t-shirt colour. David Shepard and Travis Price saw these actions as unfair and decided to organize a sympathy protest for the grade nine student. That night they traveled to a local discount store and purchased 50 pink shirts, they then messaged their classmates encouraging them to wear pink and that they had shirts to distribute. What happened the next morning at school was overwhelming. While many students donned the pink shirts provided by Shepard and Price other students wore their own pink clothing in support of the cause. When the student who was bullied entered the front hall that morning his face spoke volumes. Shepard later stated, “it looked like a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders.”

The event has grown volumes since that day in 2007 and over 160,000 people committed to wearing pink shirts last year through facebook.

The team at Alliance Wireless Communications is proud to wear Pink and to help Stop Bullying!

The Kingston Regional Heritage Fair brings together students, teachers and members of the local community to share our unique Canadian culture and heritage. Students prepare and present projects either individually, in small groups, or as part of a class, to share at the fair. Community groups and local museums have interactive displays and present workshops for participants and classes visiting the fair.

This years fair is being held May 3-4, at Queen’s University Faculty of Education.

Just back from the Windy City of Chicago where I attended the National Funeral Director’s Trade Show!  It was great to see so many familiar faces and to put a face to all of our clients I have only met over the phone. Having the opportunity to meet new people in the industry added that much more to my experience.

Attendance is up this year, an encouraging and positive sign that the economy is regaining momentum.   Clearly, a lot of time and effort went into this show. It was great to see how much people were enjoying themselves and taking the opportunity to learn about new products and services geared towards the industry.  With 500 + booths it was interesting to get the chance to have a look at all the innovative offerings available. I certainly have a better understanding now of the work of the funeral professionals.  Director OnCall, a division of Alliance Wireless, employs operators with specialized training in the Funeral Home Industry so we fit right in to this NFDA show.

I would be remiss if I missed noting what an impressive city Chicago is as well.   Walking and shopping on the Magnificent Mile and seeing the giant Marilyn Monroe statue was an added bonus to my trip.  From Mrs. O’Leary’s cow to Al Capone, Chicago is a great place to go for history, excitement and adventure.  Did I also mention shopping?
I was especially pleased to be involved  in the NFDA trade show this year. Bringing people from over North America together and showcasing Director OnCall to a huge network of professionals really is invaluable. Learning about new products and services in the industry made it that much more worth it.  We are now busy mapping out our shows for 2012!

Please scan the code and tell me what you think!

Please Scan my QR code and tell me what you think!

This program has set the bar in regards to how this industry runs their businesses.  I know that we base all of our internal quality control on the criteria that CAM-X created and that many other organizations do as well.  It is now a minimum standard in my organization, and my team expects to be in the 95 percentile of all the companies that participate.  We also use it as a quantitative tool to measure our operator of the year, in conjunction with our qualitative feed back from team leaders and other team members.

Winning this award every year is extremely rewarding.  It ensures we are giving our clients the top level of answering service we can provide and acts as a measuring stick of how we are doing.  I would like to congratulate my team on winning the award yet again.

That is why we follow the CAM-X Award of Excellence guidelines for every single call we take.  We repeat names, numbers and addresses.  We address the callers by name, we say the amazing yet simple words “Please” and “Thank you”, and we say it often.  We have to prove ourselves as the most professional answering service, because that is our business.  That is what we excel at, and frankly it is what we need to do to earn new clients and to keep the clients we have.

Being ok or good at answering the phones, is not what we are about.  We want to be the best and we want to be held at a higher standard than the Mrs. Smiths of the world.  I am proud to say that we are long time winners of the CAM-X Award of Excellence and that we hold ourselves to a higher standard because it makes us better at what we do!

I always knew that we had to be the best, but this perspective is why we strive to be the most Professional Answering Service in North America!

Here is our picture that Mike Crossman made for our team!

CAM-X is a not-for-profit member-driven Association. The needs and concerns of the Call Centre and TAS industry are at the forefront of all CAM-X activities. CAM-X is a cohesive group of concerned business people dedicated to helping owners and managers increase their business markets, profits, and opportunities.

Linda Murphy, Sales Manager Director On Call

That initial contact with your Funeral Home is vital

“Putting clients on service knowing that they are going to be taken care of and hearing regular positive feedback is my reward and what I enjoy most about my job”, states Linda Murphy-Kreimes, Sales Manager @ Director on Call
What makes Director On Call Industry Leaders in Funeral Home Answering?

I often hear how professional and courteous our operators are and that their families even remark on how impressed they were with the person that handled their call not even realizing it wasn’t someone at the Funeral Home.  I think the combination of our specialized training and solid understanding of the industry, our caring operators and our award winning service really sets us apart.

How do these Independent Organizations rank the Answering Service Companies?

They obtain a client base and conduct mystery calls and test the Operators on courtesy, response time, accuracy and overall knowledge of the account.

How do your operators know how to handle the calls?

Every account is set up with an individual toll free call forwarding # and it carefully customized under their exact instructions.  When handling a First Call we only secure the information that our clients request and dispatch accordingly via phone, text or email with confirmation.   We refer to websites for Obits, directions, flower shops etc and collect information such as local Hospitals and Nursing Homes making as transparent and seamless as possible.

What are the benefits of using your service?

Our Operators are always prepared for that initial call.  If a First Call comes in while our Funeral Home is with a family on a service or at 3:00 in the morning we secure required information and immediately get details to the On-Call giving them that extra couple of minutes they may require prior to calling the family back. With our per second billing and customized rate plans our clients only pay when their phone rings.  In addition, our clients have the option of having their lines programmed to  automatically route into us 24/7 after a pre-determined ring or if all lines are being utilized eliminating the worry of missing a First Call.

What kind of a guarantee do you offer to new Funeral Homes thinking about your service?

We offer a free 1 month, no obligation trial with the ability to log onto our website prior to going live to ensure set up to their satisfaction with the ability to see call details and the option of listening to call recordings.  It will also helps determine costs.

John O’Dacre, owner of O’Dacre Family Funeral Home has this to say;

“The thing I like most about Director On Call is that even on my iphone I can listen to the calls that the specialists take in addition to the fact that they can go directly onto my website to get Obits.  The staff are extremely professional and my families often comment thinking it is one of my own staff members.  Director On Call is a first rate, high class answering service!”
1-800-975-7716
www.directoroncall.com

Thank you letter from the winner of the Alliance Wireless Award

Kingston Regional Heritage Fair.

The Kingston Regional Heritage Fair brings together students, teachers and
members of the local community to share our unique Canadian culture and
heritage. Students prepare and present projects either individually, in small
groups, or as part of a class, to share at the fair. Community groups and local
museums have interactive displays and present workshops for participants and
classes visiting the fair.