subject: 3 Answering Service Peeves You Can Avoid [print this page] 3 Answering Service Peeves You Can Avoid 3 Answering Service Peeves You Can Avoid
The honest BPO guy will admit that making a call to the customer care department of any business firm is generally a pain. The answering service agents are anything but prompt. They fail to understand what it is you are trying to tell them! When you do get your message across to the inbound call center agent, you realize that the person on the other end of the phone is not competent to deal with your problem. Your call is then transferred to another call center services agent who is equally clueless. Finally, what could have been done in 5 minutes takes 15 and you vow never to call them again. I have tried to pin down 3 peeves which you can avoid as a business process outsourcing service provider.
The maximum number of customers' calls to a BPO is because of something related to costs. Consumers find they have been charged extra more often than not. It could be that the call center who sold the product/service has nothing to do with it. It is possible that the customer misunderstood some information when he/she received the telemarketing call. However, we do a review, we can find that many times the outbound call center agents are asked to highlight the services and be reluctant to part with the price tags.
As a result, the customers end up signing up for services without realizing they have to pay extra for that. Finally when the bills come, mayhem breaks out. As a consumer I find it very frustrating when the price and corresponding service details are not outlined to me in clear terms. BPO firms need to address this carefully. Tell the customers what you are charging for and how much. It's true that the prospective customer might bolt off and the call center agent may find the deal gone sour, but concealing information never works in favor of the brand. If you conduct lead generation through a website, clearly state the charges without digging them in a maze of web-links. Consumers like transparency.
Another answering service peeve is that BPO firms allot charges on a consumer without informing them. It could be that the rent of a particular service has hiked up. It is the duty of the outbound call center agents to shoot a mail to the consumer informing them about the rise in price. No consumer should be kept in the dark about the bills he/she is about to receive. It becomes really upsetting for someone to realize that you are paying for a service that you don't even know you can enjoy! I faced a rather ugly situation back in the days when GPRS on cell phones came with a rental tag. I was never informed that they are charging that rental on my monthly bill. When I found out, obviously I told the inbound call center guys what I think of them. As a service provide, you got to be careful about money that belongs to others.
Finally, the third peeve is quitting the use of services. Make sure your BPO agents make it easier for consumers who want to leave the fold and move on. Make the exit process as easy as the entry. That way, your call center agents would make the association end on a pleasant note.
