How To Choose The Right Call Center
Creating a functional call center to serve global customers is much more complicated than starting a local domestic answering service
. There are specific logistical and technical considerations you must account for like the cost of taking and routing international calls. If you are thinking about opening up an international center or just want to make see of your domeChoosing a call center to fit your business can be a tiring task. There are so many different call centers out there, how do you know which one to choose? The good news is when you have found the right center; they can offer a variety of different services to help your business like no other. From strengthening customer relations to lowering business operating costs, these answering services truly have the power to transform business. So how can you navigate the sea of businesses and choose the best one?
When looking for the right call center, consider the size of the center itself. The size of the call center can tell you a lot about how the company works. It determines the capacity of the call center and its ability to handle all of your needs. For instance, a 5 seat call center cannot handle large volumes of calls at once. If you are running an infomercial and expect large spikes in volume or just a large national company who received a steady flow of calls, you will need a bigger service.
Aside from size, location is just as important. For larger accounts which require more of a commitment on behalf of the customer, you may need to make site visits to train the CSR's. If you choose a company that is near your place of business, traveling to and from the service for training sessions is a convenience not a hassle. However, the issue of location is only really relevant if you are going to be engaging in face to face training sessions. If the training can be done online or via video chats, location becomes irrelevant.
Make sure you know what software your call center is using because it can give you the opportunity to open up new communication channels. For instance, if the software they are using has the ability to link the operators to live chat services and that aspect is important to you, make sure their software has that ability. Usage monitoring or on the fly updates may also be important to you. Some software can only be access internally and clients have no access to internal usage meters or the ability to make changes to call scripts while other software is available online.
Make sure you understand the pricing model of any call center you are pursuing. Call centers are usually priced on a per minute basis, making it important for the potential customer to be aware of their call volume and the length of these calls. In many instances, having a call answered by a live receptionist will be a longer call than a voicemail. Try to gauge the length of each call to make sure that outsourcing makes sense. If you are paying $15 on a phone call, what is that call worth to you? Are your products worth that much? If you come to a number that is too high but still need to outsource to maintain good customer service, try to trim your call script to reduce operator talk time.
If the center can make you privy to more advanced internal data, take a look at service level percentages. Typically, service levels are simply the percentage of calls answered within a certain period of time. For most organizations, great service levels would be a having eighty percent of calls answered within twenty seconds. The average tends to be about fifty-five percent however. If the first contact resolution (FCR) has a dip, customer satisfaction levels will drastically fall.
Being able to measure the performance of these services is vital in defining productivity. Call centers usually measure the same things in terms of performance including call-abandoned rate, calls per day, calls per agent, hold time, and other similar factors. However, what differs between call centers are the different strategies these companies have when measuring the Key Performance Indicators (KPI's). In order to measure the accurate efficiency, the most obvious indicators would be the cost per call, calls per agent, calls per day, self-service, and sales. However, in terms of quality, these determining factors include measuring the call abandonment, hold time, FCR, training, and other similar aspects. Being able to measure the service levels, along with measuring customer satisfaction and employee engagement will make a call center shine above all others. stic service can take on international clients, read this article.
The first consideration on setup is if your center can take international calls. Some carriers will charge extra if international routing chains are used to channel the call. If your clients are forwarding to toll free numbers that they own or that you provide, toll free numbers are usually provisioned to only work in singular countries or zones. Even if it is provisioned globally, it is usually cost prohibitive for an international client to incur international toll charges each time their calls are routed. Make sure you check with your carriers, both toll free and land line, and chart all charges. Once you understand the charges, you can set your rates for international customers considering your own profit margins.
Another important aspect is staffing. After you see if you can technically answer these calls, see if it is feasable. It is up to the management team to estimate how many calls the center will be receiving. Based on this information, they must hire the appropriate amount of employees and make certain that there will be enough space to accompany the entire staff.
When it comes to an international call center, you are going to be interacting with callers from around the world. These callers may not all be English speaking. If a call center only offers one language, it is just as important for them to be able to understand the accents of the many people they will become in contact with. Although it is seemingly impossible to have call center employees that speak every language, it is important to have employees that can speak the more popular languages. Many of these international call centers will have specific departments that will handle calls in different languages and from different locations. It is important to have employees that can handle specific languages and geographic locations to provide their customers with the best services.
It is crucial to understand the different cultures that you will come across when dealing with international callers. In different parts of the world, there are different ways to address and socialize with each other, which can often cause confusion in the call center. Because of this, it is crucial for the employees to know how to respect the people they will be dealing with. The call centers goal should be to make the customer feel comfortable with their conversation. Aside from the way to interact with these global customers, it is also important to keep in mind the different time zones. Having callers from all over the world means that the call center will be receiving calls at all hours and it is important for the operators to be aware of their customers time zone.
It is important for the call center managers to understand the many aspects of running a global call center. They must be prepared for all of the complications they will encounter to make for a successful business model.
by: VeronicaIsaac
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