subject: Schedules save Telemarketing Day [print this page] Schedules save Telemarketing Day Schedules save Telemarketing Day
Telemarketing projects are planned against tight deadlines. Sometimes the clients insist that they are completed before the usual time span. Running a telemarketing services campaign means money. In this economy, you may find startups or mid-level companies backing out during the course of a project or they may ask the call center to push things faster. The BPO unit generally has nothing much to counter in such situations. They have to fall in and speed things up. In the end, it's all a case of planning that saves the day. And that primary part of that planning is to make sure you have a schedule and that you run according to it.
Telemarketing services have this unfortunate trend of zooming out of control. Before you know it, you may find that you are behind schedule by a long way. Then you will have to try out crises management work. In other words, you will have to compromise on the time you spend on lead generation. Each lead doesn't get the attention that is due to it. It may also be that you are pushing through the process and leaving out important aspects like lead nurturing. You may also find that your BPO agents are not covering enough territory. Things generally spin dreadfully out of control when you are hurrying along without thinking hard enough.
Having schedules planned out has other advantages as well. The call center managers should set themselves small targets. Small deadlines are building blocks toward the larger picture. Insist that your telemarketing agents are meeting the small deadlines. If they miss one, wave the red flag. Marshall your forces and compensate for the time loss in the next slot. Look back on the telemarketing services you have done. Where have you gone wrong? Is there a way in which you can streamline the process? Answer these questions and hunt out a way to fine-tune things. In the case of delays, make your employees accountable. You will want to work things out before it's too late to salvage the project.
It's important to keep realistic targets in your call center schedules. It's true that managers at call centers often tend to keep the targets a little out of average reach to push the agents. While that is a good process to keep the motivation high, setting a target that is practically impossible to achieve is not wise. The telemarketing target must not demoralize the agent into believing that it cannot be done. After all, the work will be interesting to the agents and employees only if they are able to get their arms around it. Unrealistic targets also trigger a sort of mistrust in the management. The employees begin to feel that the management is not aware of the ground reality and they might as well not give it a shot. The schedules should always make allowances for achievement in terms of work progress. Keep designated number of leads/customers that you want to deal with on a daily basis. Such methods will work well for a BPO.
