subject: The Call Center Clincher: Service [print this page] The Call Center Clincher: Service The Call Center Clincher: Service
When you are dealing with customers, the only call center feature that really works wonders is services. Every other aspect of BPO is secondary to call center services. Customers are the driving force of every business initiative. This is true for even B2B business set-ups. The business chain ends with the customers and business process outsourcing teams are always looking at ways to maintain a steady database of customers. Building up a customer base is not as important as retaining a bank of loyal customers. And the only way you can achieve that is by dedicated service.
The customers are a privileged lot. Your BPO rivals are always offering them bonuses and rebates. Used to being pampered, the customer expects a certain amount of service from your telemarketing agents as well. They would expect a lot of importance from your inbound call center team. They want answers to their queries but they don't have the time to wait. A hold time on their calls is risking it too much. They want answering service agents to be always ready at their reckoning. They want prompt, professional answers. They like to feel that they know everything inside out. Your business process outsourcing agent has to keep that fallacy intact!
Service doesn't only mean voice calls. Customers get back to the business companies through their websites as well. That is why BPO firms are concentrating more on their search engine optimization (SEO) efforts to make things easier for the net savvy customers. Emails and chat support functions are the new tools for the inbound call center agents. Customers leave emails on addresses provided on the website. The call center agent answers those, addressing those queries which are under the purview of the products/services being offered. If the answers are not prompt, the customer tends to loose interest. The lead cools off and no sale is made.
Outbound call center agents who handle lead generation have to do a lot of customer care as well. Leads don't always come in the first call itself. The call center agent has to follow-up. That must be done carefully. The customer must not feel that the BPO agent is stalking him or something! Following leads to qualify them also requires engaging the customers. The trick is to make the customers believe that there is more value for money in the deal. Markey surveys have always revealed that customers don't really break camps and join other brands if he/she is happy with the services. That is probably the only way you can safeguard your customers from falling prey to lure.
After-sale service is probably where you get the best word-of-mouth publicity. It's no wonder that the call center agents will treat you like royalty before you buy their product/service. It's only when you have made the purchase that the real face of customer care comes out! If you score well here, you have won over the loyalty of the customer. Continue with the same effort and you will soon have your database swelling with pride.
