While the national grid prepares for the power surge generated by thousands switching on the kettle to make the half-time cuppa, here at CSnotepad Towers we prepare for the half-time phone call.

Call levels peaked and troughed in synchronisation with kick-off, half-time and full-time during the England v Slovenia match this afternoon, as workers nationwide paused to support our national football team in the World Cup 2010 in South Africa.

Record numbers of callers who grabbed the phone to make that last minute call just before the match or at half-time asked to have their calls returned after the football was over, clearly getting their priorities in order!  (Don't worry, we won't tell the boss...)

Congratulations to the team who won 1-0, we'll all be behind you in the next round.

OK, so not actual cats, but one of the hundreds of dedicated volunteers at the Cats Protection who look after them.

Louise Sutton, Lost and Found Officer for the Cats Protection, will be running the Virgin London Marathon on 25th April 2010.  As a novice runner this is Louise's first marathon and she is dedicating her efforts in support of moggies in need nationwide.

Taking inbound calls for Cats Protection means we know just how hard these volunteers work to re-home and neuter unwanted and stray cats across the UK and how much they need your generosity and support.  Every last penny of donations goes to ensuring each cat has a chance of a healthy and happy life.   Just £1 will feed a cat in foster care for 2 days; £20 will pay for neutering, ensuring fewer unwanted kittens brought into the world.

To find out more, or support Louise and the Cats Protection, visit http://www.justgiving.com/LOUISESUTTONMARATHON

Good Luck Louise, from all the team at CSnotepad!

Wishing all of our customers and their families a very happy Easter break!

Many of you have clocked off already for the holiday (we know who you are, but don't worry, our lips are sealed!) and our telephone answering team are currently looking after your clients for you.

A reminder of our opening times, just in case:

Good Friday - Closed
Saturday 3rd April - Open
Easter Sunday - Closed
Easter Monday - Closed

Enjoy the long weekend!


- from all at CSnotepad.

Good luck to the 8000 volunteers in 90 call centres across the UK signed up to take calls for this year's Sport Relief.


Get involved here: www.sportrelief.com/fundraise

You can forward your calls to our telephone answering service from your Virgin Media landline using the selection of options offered by Virgin. Virgin's Call Divert allows you to forward calls under the following criteria:

• All calls
• Calls that have been ringing for 6 rings
• Calls that would hear an engaged tone

Once you have made your selection, look up the correct code number for your option:

• Code 70 to divert all calls
• Code 77 to divert calls you don't answer within 15 seconds
• Code 76 to divert calls when your phone is engaged.

To program your line with any of these codes, lift your handset so you can hear the dialling tone and type the instructions below into your telephone handset:

• * code
• phone number to divert to (including the area code)
• #

To check the diversions you have set, type:

• * # code

To switch off the diversion type:

• # code

To switch off all diverts

• # 002 #

Virgin's Call Diversion service allows you to forward telephone calls coming in to your landline out to another number.

Virgin are currently charging £2 per month for this service. They should be able to activate it for you within a few hours and without any additional hardware or engineers visits.

Having problems? Give us a call on 0845 199 9939, we'll be happy to help.

Forward your calls to us from your BT landline using the selection of options offered by BT.

BT’s Call Diversion allows you to forward calls under the following criteria:

* All calls
* Calls that have been ringing for 15 seconds
* Calls that would hear an engaged tone

You can select one of these options, or program two concurrently.

Once you have made your selection, look up the correct code for your option:

* Code 21 to divert all calls
* Code 61 to divert calls you don’t answer within 15 seconds
* Code 67 to divert calls when your phone is engaged.

To program your line with any of these codes, lift your handset so you can hear the dialling tone and type the instructions below into your telephone handset:

* * code *
* phone number to divert to
* #

To check the diversions you have set, type:

* * # code #

To switch off the diversion type:

* # code #

BT also advise:
“You must switch Call Diversion on first if you also want to use Call Barring. When Call Diversion is used in conjunction with BT Text, your telephone line will need re-registering for BT Text after Call Diversion is removed. To do this you will need to send a text saying ‘register’ to 00000.”

BT’s Call Diversion service allows you to forwarding telephone calls coming in to your landline out to another number. BT are currently bundling this free with most business lines, so you may find you have this service already. If you don’t they should be able to activate it for you within a few hours and without any additional hardware or engineers visits.

Having problems? Give us a call on 0845 199 9939, we’ll be happy to help.

At the same time that Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy expresses his disappointment with the level of job-readiness today's school leavers achieve, Office Response launches a call centre academy to impart key skills to just this group.

 

Sir Terry said "Sadly, despite all the money that has been spent, standards are still woefully low in too many schools.'

 

"Employers like us, and I suspect many of you, are often left to pick up the pieces.'

 

The new NVQ offered at the Office Response College will offer 16 to 19-year-olds who are not in education or training, and have not been in employment, the chance to become fully qualified call centre operatives. The initiative is backed by the Learning Skills Council (LSC) through the European Social Fund (ESF) and is aimed at providing school leavers with core skills and confidence to kick-start their careers.

 

Call Centres have in the past experienced a poor reputation for job satisfaction, but the increasing diversity and skill level required of modern operatives offers endless opportunity for a rewarding career. The NVQ will provide an insight into prospects for candidates and inject the industry with a new wave of proficient staff.

 

With unemployment is at it's highest for a long time the initiative has been welcomed by prospective employers and employees alike.

Starting your own business is, without a doubt, a daunting experience. There is an element of risk for even the most seasoned entrepreneur, but it's that risk that makes it exciting. If it was safe, everyone would do it and it would be boring.

How will you advertise? How will you buy stock? Will you be able to ship it on time? What about all the overheads: premises, bills, salaries... How will you work around your existing job? Will you have to take the plunge and give it up? These are some pretty scary questions, particularly the last one if you are going it alone for the first time. What if you spend all your money on stock and advertising, but your customers can't call you to order? You've paid for a professional website, but you're going to have to put your home address on it because you can't afford an office right now.

Well we've thought long and hard about how to help and have put together a Starter Pack that offers 3 core services to new start businesses. We know every penny counts, so we've heavily discounted these services to provide a best in market package.

Our Business Starter Package includes:

Virtual Address - use our address as your business address instead of your home address. Wouldn't it look better if your business was based at our 'Gemini House' than '5a Lavender Close'? For full product details, click here.

Virtual Receptionist - a telephone line answered in your new business name by a professional receptionist available all day every day. With 50 free messages, there's no chance of missing that new sales enquiry, no diving for your mobile phone every hour of every day, and a much better impression for your caller. Compete in your market by offering a personal touch. For full product details, click here.

Fax to email - a consecutive fax line to compliment your new telephone line, with unlimited delivery of your inbound documents straight to your email inbox. For full product details, click here.

All 3 of the above services are included for just £60 per month. That's an office, a full time receptionist, telephone and fax lines, and no hassle for just £60. You can have it all in place and live tomorrow, so you can get on with doing what you're good at - selling your product or service.

Call us on 0845 199 9939 for more information.

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new low volume business telephone answering tariff, our Plan 20.

Costing just £22 per month and offering 20 free calls included, the Plan 20 will allow you to obtain cheaper telephone answering at a lower volume of calls.

Listening to feedback from our customers we discovered you would appreciate a stepping stone tariff between our hugely popular entry level Pay As You Go (PAYG) telephone answering service and our small business Plan 50 telephone answering service.

The new Plan 20 will reward you with a discount on your telephone calls at an even lower volume than ever before. We know every little helps during the credit crunch, and everyone is looking for the cheapest telephone answering service available, without risking their customer service levels.

We like to think we listen, and react to support you whenever possible. By offering a good quality yet low cost telephone answering price we can provide an extra avenue to new start and small businesses, or occasional use customers.

With our flexible 'change when you need to' tariffs the Plan 20 telephone answering is available to customers, new and old, immediately. The Plan 20 can also be used in conjunction with any other services, such as the PAYG Call Patching ('live' forwarding/diverting of calls to your mobile or land line), Order Taking and Fax to Email.

Call us on 0845 199 9939 for more details. We'll be pleased to hear from you.

Call centre staff at 19 sites across the UK have stepped up to the challenge of manning the The National Pandemic Flu Service or swine flu hotline, launched last week.

In a move that has been criticised by some doctors but applauded by the general public, staff who usually manage non-medical accounts have undergone intensive training to provide an easily accessible service to potential flu sufferers in England.

Offering a dedicated telephone based service not only relieves massive pressure on local GP services, but it allows sufferers to obtain medication while effectively quarantining themselves at home and preventing the spread of the illness.

Call centre staff talking to The Times have appreciated the importance of their role, saying "It's a big responsibility, isn't it? You could be talking to people with serious illnesses." Approaching the daunting challenge of millions of phone calls with complete dedication, one advisor said 'It's a real buzz when you're helping people."

While concern over the medical knowledge of staff has been raised by some doctors, call centre staff are backed up by the National Pandemic Flu Service clinical on-call desk for any urgent issues. The NHS also says that 'Doctors from the Royal College of GPs will have a special liaison role with each of these call centres.' Staff are not trained or expected to advise on any other medical issues.

In the current economic climate an outbreak of flu may cripple workforces and even push companies already under strain out of business. It's not often that call centres have such a high profile opportunity to support our country and our economy, so we'd like to take this opportunity to give them a show of support.

The helpline number at the time of writing is 0800 1 513 100.

Catch it. Bin it. Kill it.