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Ben Booth, CEO of MaxContact has been named as a One To Watch in The LDC Top 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders programme for 2022.

The programme, which is supported by The Times and now in its fifth year, celebrates those entrepreneurs that are growing the UK’s most successful and fast-growing medium-sized firms.

A record number of nominations – more than 750 – were received this year, proving that ambition is alive and well despite the challenges faced by increasing economic uncertainty.

The Ones to Watch are the business leaders destined for great things. Those who are making waves in their sectors, having a positive impact on their customers and employees, and who are the driving force behind tomorrow’s most successful medium-sized firms.

Ben Booth said: “It’s an honour to have been selected as One to Watch in The LDC Top Most Ambitious Business Leaders programme for 2022. The success of the business is not only down to myself, but the whole team at MaxContact, so I’d like to thank them for achieving this recognition too.”

John Garner, Managing Partner, LDC, added: “The volume and quality of submissions this year surpassed all of our expectations. We’ve been struck by the way business leaders have overcome challenges and adversity to run fast-growing and successful companies, proving that difficult circumstances can become the biggest driver of ambition.  This year’s Ones to Watch embody just that and they have really grabbed the judges’ attention with their success stories. Congratulations to all those featured – we look forward to seeing where they go next!”

You can find out more information on this year’s Top 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders programme here: https://bit.ly/3e2c3gk

About LDC

LDC is the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group. Since 1981, LDC has invested more than £5.5bn in medium-sized firms across the UK; backing the ambitions of more than 650 ambitious management teams.

About MaxContact

MaxContact is customer engagement software that goes above and beyond to build smarter customer experiences. Our platform is packed with powerful features, accessible for businesses large and small, and ensures businesses can operate compliantly. We work with our customers to create seamless customer interactions, so they can reach the right people, on the right channel, at the right time, every time.

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At MaxContact, we pride ourselves on delivering a contact centre software solution that drive real-world results. Our partnership with Dudley Council, a large local authority in the West Midlands, demonstrates our commitment to transforming contact centre operations in the public sector.

Dudley Council, who manage over 21,000 properties, faced challenges in rental income collection and arrears management. They needed a solution that could handle their complex requirements while empowering their team to work more independently and efficiently.

The MaxContact team rose to the challenge, providing a dialler system with advanced reporting capabilities. The MaxContact solution addresses Dudley Council’s specific needs, streamlining their operations and enhancing their ability to serve the community effectively.

Key features of the MaxContact solution for Dudley Council included:

1. An advanced dialler system for efficient outreach
2. Comprehensive reporting for better performance management
3. A user-friendly interface for a smooth onboarding experience
4. A simple to use product, allowing for independent system updates

The results have been remarkable. Kelly Read, Assistant Team Manager at Dudley Council, reports, “One of the main benefits for us with MaxContact is us being able to amend the system without having to rely on other people, that’s been a key factor for us.”

Our commitment to client success extended beyond the initial implementation. We provided comprehensive training and on-site support, ensuring a smooth transition and empowering the Dudley Council team to make the most of their new system.

The impact has been significant: improved efficiency in rental income collection, enhanced performance monitoring, and increased team autonomy. These improvements have allowed Dudley Council to manage its properties more effectively and respond to residents’ needs more promptly.

At MaxContact, we’re proud to play a role in improving public service delivery. As Kelly concludes, “The whole experience right from the very outset with MaxContact has been great. Can’t fault them at all. It’s been a real positive experience.”

This success story underscores our commitment to delivering innovative, tailored solutions that make a real difference in the public sector. Find out more about how MaxContact can help overcome demand and drive exceptional customer experiences in your public sector contact centre, here.

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Manchester, UK – 04/03/2024 – MaxContact, a leading contact centre software provider, announced its plans to achieve double-digit growth by launching an indirect partner model. Aimed at supporting telecoms resellers, the model will allow partners to bridge their technology-capability gap by tapping into the rapidly growing contact centre market with a flexible, feature-rich, and competitively priced solution.

Ben Booth, CEO at MaxContact, and channel partner expert says, “We’re excited to officially unveil our partner model at MaxContact. With a proven track record of tackling complex requirements and a platform continuously evolving to meet industry demands, MaxContact is the ideal partner for resellers seeking to capture a significant share of the CCaaS market. Our commitment to delivering a high-value product with an exciting AI-led roadmap, exceptional customer service, and dedicated support will ensure our partners’ success.”

The global CCaaS market is poised for exponential growth, with a projected market worth of $19.8 billion by 2031. This surge is driven by two key trends: the rising demand for seamless omnichannel customer support and the increasing number of businesses outsourcing contact centre operations to optimise costs. As a result, this multi-billion dollar market presents a wealth of opportunities for technology resellers to capitalise on.

However, many resellers currently face limitations from existing vendor programmes that offer restricted customisation options, high pricing structures, and inadequate support. This hinders the ability to fully take advantage of the potential in the CCaaS market.

MaxContact has stepped up to offer a solution to this problem. MaxContact’s founders worked together for over ten years at a contact centre solution reseller. They saw organisations become increasingly frustrated with providers that over-promised and under-delivered on features, support and resilience. Determined to enhance the employee and customer experience, MaxContact was formed, and its own CCaaS product was developed. Eight years later, the business has grown to 70+ staff and has become one of the fastest-growing contact centre vendors in the UK.

MaxContact’s Partner Programme offers:

• Tailored Solutions: Cater to your clients’ unique needs with an adaptable platform and bespoke integration capabilities. No more forcing customers into cookie-cutter solutions.
• Competitive Margins: Enjoy attractive margins and flexible pricing models to win more deals and boost profitability.
• Unrivalled Support: Leverage a dedicated UK-based support team for presales, implementation, and ongoing technical support. MaxContact is there to help you close deals and deliver success.
• Direct Access to Leadership: Get strategic guidance and support directly from our senior team. Shape the future of the MaxContact product; we value your partnership and input.
• Proven Track Record: Trust in our 20+ years of industry experience and commitment to innovation. We’re here for the long haul.

Ben Booth, CEO at MaxContact says, “We understand the challenges resellers face in a crowded CCaaS market. That’s why we’ve built our program with them in mind. We offer the flexibility, pricing, and support they need to differentiate themselves, win more deals, and grow their business.”

Join the MaxContact Partner Program today! Visit MaxContact’s Partner Page to learn more.

About MaxContact:

MaxContact is the best cloud contact centre platform for delivering conversation outcomes and customer insights to generate more revenue – compliantly. Our cloud-based contact centre platform allows you to have more productive conversations and automatically connects the right people for better call outcomes.  MaxContact has unrivalled outbound dialling capabilities as well as inbound and omnichannel functionality, plus advanced reporting.

Media Contacts:

Pip Hough, Marketing Manager – pip.hough@maxcontact.com / pr@maxcontact.com

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Leading debt recovery solutions provider, Marston Holdings, chooses MaxContact software to support on business expansion plans.

Manchester – 25th July 2023 – Manchester-based customer engagement technology provider MaxContact today announced its partnership with Marston Holdings, a leading solutions provider in corporate debt recovery.

Marston Holdings has been operating for almost 40 years, growing both organically and through acquisitions providing integrated technology-enabled solutions for private and commercial clients. They work in various public services aiding customers in debt recovery, parking fines, court orders as well as commercial debt, now recovering up to £850m each year on behalf of taxpayers.

As a fast-growing business, Marston Holdings wanted to improve the agility and technical capabilities of its outbound dialler, which wasn’t able to match their need to scale. After an extensive procurement process, Marston Holdings selected MaxContact’s outbound dialler as a more efficient and comprehensive solution for their needs across 285 full omnichannel diallers. The software will be also integrated with Marston’s workforce management and back-office CRMs and PBX.

Marston Holdings is implementing the MaxContact solution companywide across all of its brands,  as the company continues to grow. The company also plans to implement new features based on MaxContact’s commitment to continual product development, including AI chatbot functionality.  

Tim Van Oerle, Group Managing Director at Marston Holdings, said “As a fast-growing business we need technology that can be agile and scale with our expansion. MaxContact has been fantastic at understanding these needs and providing personalised support every step of the way, and we look forward to enhancing the services for our team and for our clients and customers.”

Ben Booth, CEO at MaxContact, said “We are really excited to be partnering with the team at Marston Holdings. We pride ourselves on providing personalised service and agile technology to businesses across the UK and can’t wait to support Marston Holdings on their meteoric growth journey.”

About MaxContact

MaxContact is a customer engagement technology company with a difference. It was founded in 2015 by a group of contact centre professionals who had become frustrated with providers that over promised and under delivered on features, support and resilience. It’s now one of the fastest growing contact centre specialists in the UK with a 97% CSAT rating and over 100 customers. The company was ranked one of the top 50 fastest growing technology companies in the North by the Northern Tech Awards in 2021 and 2022 and has recently received the IT Vendor of the Year Award from BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, and Computing Magazine.

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Before the pandemic, employees at MaxContact would meet regularly outside of the 9-5, for informal get togethers, team nights out and other social occasions. We also used to support charities together, whether that meant volunteer days or fundraising events.

Of course, all that changed a bit during the pandemic. We had virtual quizzes and distanced get togethers, but – great though these were – they weren’t the same. We realised we missed the buzz of being together, whether that was for a quick drink after work or to help fund a worthy cause.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the team at MaxContact doubled in size between 2020 and 2021, rocketing from 30 to 60+ employees. In other words, half our current team joined during the pandemic, which means we mostly know each other virtually.

Due to business growth and the challenges of working remotely, in 2021 we thought we’d make our informal activities official. We wanted to keep the virtual socialising going during lockdown, and then be ready with a timetable of great things to do when it ended. And so, the MaxContact Social, Charities and Culture (SCC) team was born!

Here’s what our SCC volunteers – representing every part of the business – are focused on most of all.

Getting to know you…

First off, the SCC organises all the usual stuff – drinks, team building events, and fun out of the office activities like escape rooms, as well as helping to get people together who share hobbies and interests.

And we’re determined to help everybody in the business get to know each other – not just people who work in the same teams. That’s why we’ve created social mini teams, which are made up of small groups of people from different parts of the business whose paths wouldn’t normally cross too often.

These mini teams get together from time to time for a variety of different activities, and compete in our mini team leaderboard – we love a bit of friendly competition!

SCC member Lily says: “We know socialising is a huge part of team bonding and having fun away from work, but we wanted to do it a bit differently. That’s why we came up with the idea of cross-departmental mini teams. And we’re making sure there’s a wide variety of activities to suit all tastes.”

Creating a culture

At MaxContact, we all push in the same direction. Everybody plays a crucial role in the success of the business.

We wanted to reflect and celebrate that by mixing departments (so everyone knows what everyone else does, and can understand their challenges), embedding our company values, and recognising achievements. We’re doing that through staff awards and shout outs in company updates, and in 2022 we’ll be introducing a buddy system for new starters, to help embed our values from the beginning.

SCC member Pip says: “Nurturing a positive, consistent company culture is essential, for the good of our colleagues and our clients. We want everyone to know what MaxContact stands for.”

Giving back

Through the SCC, MaxContact is supporting three charities every year, chosen by the team. We’ll support them through fundraising and volunteering. In 2022 our focus is on homeless charity Barnabus, Cancer Research and the WWF. For Barnabus, we’ve already donated food and clothing, and three team members have volunteered at the charity’s Manchester Hub. Much more is planned through the rest of the year.

Another focus in 2022 will be on sustainability and reducing our carbon footprint. We’re working on creative ways to do that now. Our role is also to promote diversity in the organisation. We’re already a diverse bunch, but we know there is more we can do.

SCC member Greg says: “As a growing organisation, we’re committed to giving something back. We’ll achieve that through a timetable of fundraising and volunteering for our chosen charities.”

The SCC

We hope that gives you a flavour of what the SCC is and what we aim to achieve. MaxContact has been through an impressive period of growth, and that means we have to work a little bit harder to make sure we all get to know each other inside and outside the office, and to promote a positive work culture. We also want to give something back.

If you’re interested in joining the MaxContact team, check out our careers page for current opportunities.

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Like them or loathe them, voicemails are an important part of outbound contact strategies. Over 97% of all business calls now go to voicemail, so when we’re not leaving one, we’re missing an opportunity. The age-old, ‘don’t leave a voicemail, they won’t answer next time’ has gone. Over 79% of the UK population ignore numbers that they don’t know, or unknown numbers – period.  

In fact, a study found that 85% of Gen Z don’t view phone calls as being an important function of their phone, and 75% of millennials avoid phone calls if they can.

One recent article featured a journalist stating, ‘I have a confession to make: I love voicemails…I hate it when people call me and don’t leave one. How do I know what the caller wants otherwise?! They can text, but this gives no indication of tone. Or they can voice note on WhatsApp, but then they can see when I’ve listened, which – to me – can feel like an invasion of privacy, depending on who it is.’  

What are the benefits of using voicemails when outbound dialling?

• Remove any chance of silent calls

Leaving voicemails when outbound dialling prospects or customers ensures that your organisation is covered and protected from any potential risk of leaving silent calls.  

Many outbound diallers use Answer Machine Detection (AMD) which may not be accurate all of the time, equating to silent calls. A simple fail-safe would be to set up voicemails for every non-answered outbound call, which is crucial to remaining 100% compliant with zero silent calls. This is increasingly important to both provide a great customer experience and to ensure you’re operating within Ofcom guidelines, avoiding any chance of hefty fines of up to £2 million.

• Make better use of your sales teams’ time by leaving voicemails

Cold calls or outbound prospecting remain effective growth tactics, with studies showing that 82% of buyers will still accept meetings with sellers who proactively reach out. So if you are placing sales calls it offers a great way to give prospects an indication of why you’re calling. If they’re keen, you may even get a callback; if they’re willing to hear you out they might well pick up the phone next time.  

It’s the quickest way to get potential prospects that are interested, versus the ones that are never going to buy from you. Saving you time, effort and according to Outreach you can expect around 5% of your prospects to respond to your voicemail.

• Frame the conversation ready for the next interaction

If you’re using an outbound dialler for other purposes, perhaps to follow up on a customer service incident, your calls may go unanswered. Voicemails are great for teeing up the next conversation, providing context and details where appropriate. You can bet the next conversation that you have with your contacts will start warmer and your average handling time (AHT) might also reduce.  

• Ensure you get brand exposure

Putting your brand at the forefront of customers’ minds is important. For example, if you are collecting debt, your customers likely owe multiple businesses, so ensuring that your contact strategy puts your brand front and centre of your customer’s minds means you increase the likelihood of a successful outcome. The same goes for if you’re trying to make a sale. Leaving a message is a simple way to reinforce your messaging and brand name within your contacts’ minds.

What is the best approach to leaving great voicemails?

1. Achieve team efficiencies with voicemail automation

If you’re using an outbound dialler, there’s no doubt you’ll have various options as to how to set up voicemails for your operations. With MaxContact’s outbound dialler you have the option to set up preconfigured voicemails relating to your campaigns or business functions, saving an agent on average two and half hours each week, all whilst ensuring the quality and consistency of your messaging.  

And, when the MaxContact platform detects an answering machine, a voicemail can be automatically placed, whilst your user is moving on to the next call. You can also give your users the ability to leave more personalised messages if you feel a more tailored approach is needed.  

2. Keep it informative and to the point

Leave messages that give your clients the reason for the call and when you’re going to call back, including any contact details they need to reach you. Provide just enough information to encourage them to call you back or set up your conversations ready for them to be recontacted. Ensure the messages are to the point and ideally 20 to 30 seconds long — max.

3. Measure, coach and improve how you use voicemails

It’s one thing not leaving voicemails at all, it’s another simply setting it and leaving it. Voicemails should be tested, reviewed, and improved over time. Measuring metrics like inbound contacts after an outbound call is a great indicator that your voicemails are effective. As are a reduced average handling time of call when people are re-contacted after a voicemail is left.  

4. Personalise voicemails with key information  

Fraud and spam are an increasing concern for many astute consumers, with the average consumer receiving 144 spam calls last year – 58% of which were fraudulent. Including relevant information to personalise your messages will help the customer feel at ease with information shared that only their current provider will have, making them more likely to answer your call, rather than just ignore you.

Setting up the voicemail function in MaxContact is easy. You can record your version by uploading a WAV file or simply use text-to-speech to get started with leaving voicemails and learning what works for you and your customers.

Voicemails are one of many features that you need to make your outbound strategy successful. Learn about more of the must-have features you should be using in your outbound contact centre in this blog. For more information about our outbound dialling solution contact us on 0330 156 6550 or simply send an email to info@maxcontact.com

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