THE VALIBILITY OF ALTERNATIVE CALL CENTRE PRODUCTION MODELS
In this we outline three alternative production models and discuss their applicability to call centre management. These include the classic mass production model, the professional service model and the mass customisation model. We then develop a theoretical framework that identifies potential causal links between management practices, workers‘ affective and cognitive reactions, and performance outcomes. We use this framework to review literature on service workplaces in organisational behaviour and HR studies and to assess the empirical evidence regarding these causal explanations. Finally, we present two recent quantitative studies of call centre performance – one that examines affective explanations and one that explores cognitive explanations for the HRperformance link. We conclude with directions for future research
Friday, September 11, 2009
CALL CENTRES WILL BE PULLINGOUT ALL THE STOPS TO SUPPORT RED NOSE DAY
On Friday 13 March, hundreds of Call Centres across the UK will be pulling out all the stops to support Red Nose Day 2009. From taking tons of vital calls from the public when they ring in to donate, to getting up to all sorts of shenanigans to fundraise too, we couldn’t do it without them.
If you’re from one of these wonderful call centres, thank you! We hope you’ll have a great time on Red Nose Night and that you’ll get into the spirit of things with your colleagues to help thousands of poor, vulnerable or disadvantaged people, both across Africa and the UK.
And if you think it’s just about taking calls, think again! Call centre volunteers often send us testimonials highlighting all the fun, frolic and fundraising they’ve taken part in on the night helping to keep everyone motivated through to the early hours of the morning: If you want to join in the fun, why not get the local community involved? Here’s a few ideas to get you going:
Invite a local masseur to come and give volunteers neck and shoulder massages, so you’re relaxed and raring to take those calls.
Ask a local pizza place or supermarket to donate some food to keep those energy levels up!
Local magicians and Balloon artists will jump at the chance to come and entertain you while you work and play hard.
Call centres have contributed massively to the success of Red Nose Day over the years and we never forget that - so have fun and let us know what you got up to! If you’re one of our RND 09 centres, be ready to send us around 100 words and 3 or 4 photos and we’ll try to put them on our website.
On Friday 13 March, hundreds of Call Centres across the UK will be pulling out all the stops to support Red Nose Day 2009. From taking tons of vital calls from the public when they ring in to donate, to getting up to all sorts of shenanigans to fundraise too, we couldn’t do it without them.
If you’re from one of these wonderful call centres, thank you! We hope you’ll have a great time on Red Nose Night and that you’ll get into the spirit of things with your colleagues to help thousands of poor, vulnerable or disadvantaged people, both across Africa and the UK.
And if you think it’s just about taking calls, think again! Call centre volunteers often send us testimonials highlighting all the fun, frolic and fundraising they’ve taken part in on the night helping to keep everyone motivated through to the early hours of the morning: If you want to join in the fun, why not get the local community involved? Here’s a few ideas to get you going:
Invite a local masseur to come and give volunteers neck and shoulder massages, so you’re relaxed and raring to take those calls.
Ask a local pizza place or supermarket to donate some food to keep those energy levels up!
Local magicians and Balloon artists will jump at the chance to come and entertain you while you work and play hard.
Call centres have contributed massively to the success of Red Nose Day over the years and we never forget that - so have fun and let us know what you got up to! If you’re one of our RND 09 centres, be ready to send us around 100 words and 3 or 4 photos and we’ll try to put them on our website.
THERE HAS BEEN HUGE MOVEMENT TOWARDS THE BPO SECTORS IN PAKISTAN IN RECENT YEARS
there has been a huge movement towards the BPO sector in Pakistan in recent years, as to boost its appeal as a high tech-hub, the Pakistani government has provided a 15 year tax exemption on software exports, eliminated duties on technology imports and streamlined the investment process, reiterates Iritani.
Though Pakistan has been slow to start off from this BPO revolution, it is vying a spot in the international market with efforts such as mentioned by Iritani, and also as Rafi-Uddin- Shikoh mentioned is his write up regarding PSEB and call center revolution in Pakistan, that Pakistan has already started offering regulatory incentives such as 100% foreign ownership, tex exemption till 2016, 7 years tax holiday for venture capital (VC) funds.
Primarily, purpose of this article is to highlight one of the basic ingredients of the contact / call center industry, which stands on strong grounds provided by a detailed infrastructure, efficient and effective support services including staff and hardware, and the front line customer interaction agents, which in clear and concise manner are called the Customer Services Representatives (CSRs) at least in Pakistan, as I have discovered.
Having worked with one of the very few, established and much celebrated BPO units in Islamabad, Touchstone Communications in both operations and supports functions I enjoy a comfort zone knowledge level regarding the CSRs, and their everyday life.
Life cycle of an average CSR starts from the point of his / her induction program, which I will base upon my experience in the call center industry, as to say when their appears an advertisement in the newspaper “Work in America without leaving your homeland”. Now how tempting would that be?
It all starts with an initial interaction with one of the HR personnel, who would after having a telephonic conversation, deem you fit enough for a personal interview. In doing so, you have actually made an impression of being able to carry out a confident telephonic conversation, a basic criterion for a call center agent. During your initial HR interview, you will management an agent has to undertake at relatively a young age, since average age of the agents varies hovers between 18-25. This also includes the in dependability of being self financed, not to be carried away with the fact that one is making as much as some seasoned government employee would be by the end of 12 years of his service. Within itself, it is a big statement, and enough to make anyone’s mind go on an ego flight.
Second factor as I mentioned a lot of peer pressure in regards to the social profile that an agent has, and alternatively wants to maintain, which normally do not match each other. The amount of peer pressure present in call centers industry is enough to make a raw soul turn into an established smoker, avid night-outer and stuff affiliated to it. But the hard fact of life is that anyone who has made up his mind to stick to work will able to make a profile for him, and will always be known for not succumbing to such force called “Peer Pressure”.
Working at a US based call center in heart of the Federal Capital, it is heartening to see development of agents from mere entry level telemarketers to positions such as Project Managers, Operations Directors, Human Resource Personnel, Training Coordinators, Accent Neutralization Coordinators. These are just the Initial settings of an agent’s strategic plans, if anyone has some, because it is just not a Phone Monkey that I wanted to be when I joined Touchstone Communication. Having a business degree under my belt, I wanted to progress through the ranks of a the front line staff, but after acquiring considerable knowledge about the system and set up, so wanted to be part of strategic marketing, and human resource plans, I had to actually get to know the basics, the tricks of the trade, as they say, “A thief knows what a thief does”.
For that matter I had to start & serve as that thief, before actually managing such or being responsible for such. As the call center industry expands, and takes it’s roots in Pakistan, there will be great emphasis on career building in call centers not just the best ones, but it’ll become a hallmark of call/contact center industry to provide professionals to business media, IT super dudes, Immaculate Sales staff, and extremely talented conversationalists. To see this industry as just a few hundred people sitting within their cubicles, and dialing to remote locations of the world would simply be a fool’s vision, because this is a start, where young professionals get hands on training and grueling working hours to ensure strength in mental and moral grounds.
As much debate as we want to get ourselves into, the hard fact is that Call Center or Contact Center Industry, according to Farukh Aslam, Vice President Touchstone Communications, Islamabad, is a $600 billion mega pie, And Pakistan’s share to this date is not even a meager $10 million. And to make sure we get not just that $10
Million share, but more than that, we will have to Ensure that our grass root strategies are aligned to actually support such ventures where Pakistan without a doubt out classes India in terms of the quality of its Contact Center Agents, and just with the right kind of Human Resources and policies to own such talents, Pakistan could well be in the hunt for this huge $600 billion pie, which currently India, Jamaica, & Sri Lanka are simply having fun with.
As the call center industry expands, and takes it’s roots in Pakistan, there will be great emphasis on career building in call centers not just the best ones, but it’ll become a hallmark of call/contact center industry to provide professionals to business media, IT super dudes, Immaculate Sales staff, and extremely talented conversationalists.
there has been a huge movement towards the BPO sector in Pakistan in recent years, as to boost its appeal as a high tech-hub, the Pakistani government has provided a 15 year tax exemption on software exports, eliminated duties on technology imports and streamlined the investment process, reiterates Iritani.
Though Pakistan has been slow to start off from this BPO revolution, it is vying a spot in the international market with efforts such as mentioned by Iritani, and also as Rafi-Uddin- Shikoh mentioned is his write up regarding PSEB and call center revolution in Pakistan, that Pakistan has already started offering regulatory incentives such as 100% foreign ownership, tex exemption till 2016, 7 years tax holiday for venture capital (VC) funds.
Primarily, purpose of this article is to highlight one of the basic ingredients of the contact / call center industry, which stands on strong grounds provided by a detailed infrastructure, efficient and effective support services including staff and hardware, and the front line customer interaction agents, which in clear and concise manner are called the Customer Services Representatives (CSRs) at least in Pakistan, as I have discovered.
Having worked with one of the very few, established and much celebrated BPO units in Islamabad, Touchstone Communications in both operations and supports functions I enjoy a comfort zone knowledge level regarding the CSRs, and their everyday life.
Life cycle of an average CSR starts from the point of his / her induction program, which I will base upon my experience in the call center industry, as to say when their appears an advertisement in the newspaper “Work in America without leaving your homeland”. Now how tempting would that be?
It all starts with an initial interaction with one of the HR personnel, who would after having a telephonic conversation, deem you fit enough for a personal interview. In doing so, you have actually made an impression of being able to carry out a confident telephonic conversation, a basic criterion for a call center agent. During your initial HR interview, you will management an agent has to undertake at relatively a young age, since average age of the agents varies hovers between 18-25. This also includes the in dependability of being self financed, not to be carried away with the fact that one is making as much as some seasoned government employee would be by the end of 12 years of his service. Within itself, it is a big statement, and enough to make anyone’s mind go on an ego flight.
Second factor as I mentioned a lot of peer pressure in regards to the social profile that an agent has, and alternatively wants to maintain, which normally do not match each other. The amount of peer pressure present in call centers industry is enough to make a raw soul turn into an established smoker, avid night-outer and stuff affiliated to it. But the hard fact of life is that anyone who has made up his mind to stick to work will able to make a profile for him, and will always be known for not succumbing to such force called “Peer Pressure”.
Working at a US based call center in heart of the Federal Capital, it is heartening to see development of agents from mere entry level telemarketers to positions such as Project Managers, Operations Directors, Human Resource Personnel, Training Coordinators, Accent Neutralization Coordinators. These are just the Initial settings of an agent’s strategic plans, if anyone has some, because it is just not a Phone Monkey that I wanted to be when I joined Touchstone Communication. Having a business degree under my belt, I wanted to progress through the ranks of a the front line staff, but after acquiring considerable knowledge about the system and set up, so wanted to be part of strategic marketing, and human resource plans, I had to actually get to know the basics, the tricks of the trade, as they say, “A thief knows what a thief does”.
For that matter I had to start & serve as that thief, before actually managing such or being responsible for such. As the call center industry expands, and takes it’s roots in Pakistan, there will be great emphasis on career building in call centers not just the best ones, but it’ll become a hallmark of call/contact center industry to provide professionals to business media, IT super dudes, Immaculate Sales staff, and extremely talented conversationalists. To see this industry as just a few hundred people sitting within their cubicles, and dialing to remote locations of the world would simply be a fool’s vision, because this is a start, where young professionals get hands on training and grueling working hours to ensure strength in mental and moral grounds.
As much debate as we want to get ourselves into, the hard fact is that Call Center or Contact Center Industry, according to Farukh Aslam, Vice President Touchstone Communications, Islamabad, is a $600 billion mega pie, And Pakistan’s share to this date is not even a meager $10 million. And to make sure we get not just that $10
Million share, but more than that, we will have to Ensure that our grass root strategies are aligned to actually support such ventures where Pakistan without a doubt out classes India in terms of the quality of its Contact Center Agents, and just with the right kind of Human Resources and policies to own such talents, Pakistan could well be in the hunt for this huge $600 billion pie, which currently India, Jamaica, & Sri Lanka are simply having fun with.
As the call center industry expands, and takes it’s roots in Pakistan, there will be great emphasis on career building in call centers not just the best ones, but it’ll become a hallmark of call/contact center industry to provide professionals to business media, IT super dudes, Immaculate Sales staff, and extremely talented conversationalists.
CALL CENTRE AGENT FAMILARITY A MAJOR TURN-OFF
What's worse than a call centre agent ringing right at dinner time? A call centre agent ringing right at dinner time and then repeatedly calling you "Angus". The aim of that approach seems to be enforced familiarity, but it turns out that neither customers nor call centre workers enjoy the experience. Because most call centre staff are trained to use an ultra-social, North American approach, the whole thing quickly goes astray, according to a new Oxford University study. As researcher Dr Katrina Hultgren explained to the Daily Telegraph:
The problem is that agents are under pressure to process customers as quickly as possible, so they are inclined to opt for ways of creating rapport which c
What's worse than a call centre agent ringing right at dinner time? A call centre agent ringing right at dinner time and then repeatedly calling you "Angus". The aim of that approach seems to be enforced familiarity, but it turns out that neither customers nor call centre workers enjoy the experience. Because most call centre staff are trained to use an ultra-social, North American approach, the whole thing quickly goes astray, according to a new Oxford University study. As researcher Dr Katrina Hultgren explained to the Daily Telegraph:
The problem is that agents are under pressure to process customers as quickly as possible, so they are inclined to opt for ways of creating rapport which c
INFORMALL CALL CENTRES PROVIDES A VALUABLE SERVICE
Informal Call Centre receives calls coming into a contact group and distributes the calls among agents of the company assigned to that group.
Informal Call Centre provides a valuable service for those business customers who have a help desk, order entry department or any contact group, especially with variable or even seasonal call volume.
In place of lost calls, busy signals or expanding staff just because of peak periods the Informal Call Centre application handles incoming calls in an orderly and professional manner whether agents are immediately available or there is a period of call overflow.
The informal call centre receives calls coming into a contact group and distributes the calls among agents of the company assigned to that group, whether the agents are in the call centre or working from home or other remote location.
The ACD (automatic call distribution) capability helps especially with busy call periods to present a professional customer interface and to maximize caller satisfaction. ValueNet can easily configure multiple queues per customer, with custom choices, meeting customer needs while saving their customers from call centre capital expenditures
Links to this post
Informal Call Centre receives calls coming into a contact group and distributes the calls among agents of the company assigned to that group.
Informal Call Centre provides a valuable service for those business customers who have a help desk, order entry department or any contact group, especially with variable or even seasonal call volume.
In place of lost calls, busy signals or expanding staff just because of peak periods the Informal Call Centre application handles incoming calls in an orderly and professional manner whether agents are immediately available or there is a period of call overflow.
The informal call centre receives calls coming into a contact group and distributes the calls among agents of the company assigned to that group, whether the agents are in the call centre or working from home or other remote location.
The ACD (automatic call distribution) capability helps especially with busy call periods to present a professional customer interface and to maximize caller satisfaction. ValueNet can easily configure multiple queues per customer, with custom choices, meeting customer needs while saving their customers from call centre capital expenditures
Links to this post
CALL CENTRES - A STRATEGIC ASSET FOR YOUR CU
According to William Durr, author of Navigating the Customer Contact Center in the 21st Century, call centers fall into several segments from a back office operation to a strategic asset. In credit unions, call centers start out as back office operations. These call centers ultimately emerge into a unit that supports a branch network, but often has no goals or metrics of its own. The organization may place more emphasis on the value of serving members via phone and eventually develop a more professional center. Professional centers look to manage caller wait time, measure call quality and improve member interaction. There is some limited measurement in a professional center, but no link between the call center and the rest of the organization. For example, the marketing department and call center may not coordinate activities. The final segment is the strategic asset segment. In this segment the strategy of the call center is completely aligned with the rest of the organization. According to Durr, strategic asset call centers imply that it is hard to imagine the company being successful without a call center operation.
A Call Center as a Strategic Asset
What makes a call center a strategic asset? According to Durr, call centers that are strategic assets at organizations do the following:
Create new business opportunities
Provide useful insights and information about the member
Support new ways of doing business
Are a unique, sustainable competitive difference
ING's call center representatives answer the phone with the phrase, "Thank you for calling ING, how can I help you save your money today." ING's call center helps extend the brand of the organization. Service Credit Union, a New Hampshire-based credit union with a field of membership that includes all U.S. military, operates call centers 7 days a week in both Europe and the U.S. to meet the needs of members that reside worldwide. American Eagle Federal Credit Union in Connecticut captures member comments and complaints through its call center. The call center interacts with thousands of members daily. American Eagle FCU's I-Sight solution allows the credit union to capture member comments and use them to impact the performance of the entire organization.
Measuring the Strategic Asset
High performing call centers that are aligned with the goals of the organization look at performance metrics in three areas: service performance, call quality and sales productivity. Service performance includes the operational metrics of the call center, quality measures the employee's interaction with the member and the usage of the core processing system to perform the transaction, while sales productivity highlights the impact the call center has on the growth of the credit union.
According to William Durr, author of Navigating the Customer Contact Center in the 21st Century, call centers fall into several segments from a back office operation to a strategic asset. In credit unions, call centers start out as back office operations. These call centers ultimately emerge into a unit that supports a branch network, but often has no goals or metrics of its own. The organization may place more emphasis on the value of serving members via phone and eventually develop a more professional center. Professional centers look to manage caller wait time, measure call quality and improve member interaction. There is some limited measurement in a professional center, but no link between the call center and the rest of the organization. For example, the marketing department and call center may not coordinate activities. The final segment is the strategic asset segment. In this segment the strategy of the call center is completely aligned with the rest of the organization. According to Durr, strategic asset call centers imply that it is hard to imagine the company being successful without a call center operation.
A Call Center as a Strategic Asset
What makes a call center a strategic asset? According to Durr, call centers that are strategic assets at organizations do the following:
Create new business opportunities
Provide useful insights and information about the member
Support new ways of doing business
Are a unique, sustainable competitive difference
ING's call center representatives answer the phone with the phrase, "Thank you for calling ING, how can I help you save your money today." ING's call center helps extend the brand of the organization. Service Credit Union, a New Hampshire-based credit union with a field of membership that includes all U.S. military, operates call centers 7 days a week in both Europe and the U.S. to meet the needs of members that reside worldwide. American Eagle Federal Credit Union in Connecticut captures member comments and complaints through its call center. The call center interacts with thousands of members daily. American Eagle FCU's I-Sight solution allows the credit union to capture member comments and use them to impact the performance of the entire organization.
Measuring the Strategic Asset
High performing call centers that are aligned with the goals of the organization look at performance metrics in three areas: service performance, call quality and sales productivity. Service performance includes the operational metrics of the call center, quality measures the employee's interaction with the member and the usage of the core processing system to perform the transaction, while sales productivity highlights the impact the call center has on the growth of the credit union.
WHAT IS CALL CENTER SPECIALITY
Types of calls are often divided into outbound and inbound. Inbound calls are calls that are made by the consumer to obtain information, report a malfunction, or ask for help. These calls are substantially different from outbound calls, where agents place calls to potential customers mostly with intentions of selling or service to the individual. (See telemarketing). It is possible to combine inbound and outbound campaigns.
Call centre staff are often organised into a multi-tier support system for a more efficient handling of calls. The first tier in such a model consists of operators, who direct inquiries to the appropriate department and provide general directory information. If a caller requires more assistance, the call is forwarded to the second tier, where most issues can be resolved. In some cases, there may be three or more tiers of support staff. If a caller requires more assistance, the caller is forwarded to the third tier of support; typically the third tier of support is formed by product engineers/developers or highly skilled technical support staff of the product.
Call centres have their critics, some of which argue that the work atmosphere in such an environment is de-humanising. Others point to the low rates of pay and restrictive working practices of some employers. There has been much controversy over such things as restricting the amount of time that an employee can spend in the toilet. Furthermore, call centres have been the subject of complaints by callers who find the staff often do not have enough skill or authority to resolve problems, while the dehumanised workers very often exhibit an attitude of apathy to even the most abusive customer.
Owing to the highly technological nature of the operations in such offices, the close monitoring of staff activities is easy and widespread. This can be argued to be beneficial, to enable the company to better plan the workload and time of its employees. Some people have argued that such close monitoring breaches human rights to privacy.
Types of calls are often divided into outbound and inbound. Inbound calls are calls that are made by the consumer to obtain information, report a malfunction, or ask for help. These calls are substantially different from outbound calls, where agents place calls to potential customers mostly with intentions of selling or service to the individual. (See telemarketing). It is possible to combine inbound and outbound campaigns.
Call centre staff are often organised into a multi-tier support system for a more efficient handling of calls. The first tier in such a model consists of operators, who direct inquiries to the appropriate department and provide general directory information. If a caller requires more assistance, the call is forwarded to the second tier, where most issues can be resolved. In some cases, there may be three or more tiers of support staff. If a caller requires more assistance, the caller is forwarded to the third tier of support; typically the third tier of support is formed by product engineers/developers or highly skilled technical support staff of the product.
Call centres have their critics, some of which argue that the work atmosphere in such an environment is de-humanising. Others point to the low rates of pay and restrictive working practices of some employers. There has been much controversy over such things as restricting the amount of time that an employee can spend in the toilet. Furthermore, call centres have been the subject of complaints by callers who find the staff often do not have enough skill or authority to resolve problems, while the dehumanised workers very often exhibit an attitude of apathy to even the most abusive customer.
Owing to the highly technological nature of the operations in such offices, the close monitoring of staff activities is easy and widespread. This can be argued to be beneficial, to enable the company to better plan the workload and time of its employees. Some people have argued that such close monitoring breaches human rights to privacy.
THIS IS CALL CENTER
A call centre or call center is a centralised office used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting a large volume of requests by telephone. A call centre is operated by a company to administer incoming product support or information inquiries from consumers. Outgoing calls for telemarketing, clientele, product services, and debt collection are also made. In addition to a call centre, collective handling of letters, faxes, live chat, and e-mails at one location is known as a contact centre.
A call centre is often operated through an extensive open workspace for call centre agents, with work stations that include a computer for each agent, a telephone set/headset connected to a telecom switch, and one or more supervisor stations. It can be independently operated or networked with additional centres, often linked to a corporate computer network, including mainframes, microcomputers and LANs. Increasingly, the voice and data pathways into the centre are linked through a set of new technologies called computer telephony integration (CTI).
Most major businesses use call centres to interact with their customers. Examples include utility companies, mail order catalogue retailers, and customer support for computer hardware and software. Some businesses even service internal functions through call centres. Examples of this include help desks, retail financial support, and sales support.
A call centre or call center is a centralised office used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting a large volume of requests by telephone. A call centre is operated by a company to administer incoming product support or information inquiries from consumers. Outgoing calls for telemarketing, clientele, product services, and debt collection are also made. In addition to a call centre, collective handling of letters, faxes, live chat, and e-mails at one location is known as a contact centre.
A call centre is often operated through an extensive open workspace for call centre agents, with work stations that include a computer for each agent, a telephone set/headset connected to a telecom switch, and one or more supervisor stations. It can be independently operated or networked with additional centres, often linked to a corporate computer network, including mainframes, microcomputers and LANs. Increasingly, the voice and data pathways into the centre are linked through a set of new technologies called computer telephony integration (CTI).
Most major businesses use call centres to interact with their customers. Examples include utility companies, mail order catalogue retailers, and customer support for computer hardware and software. Some businesses even service internal functions through call centres. Examples of this include help desks, retail financial support, and sales support.
Some variations of call centre models are listed below:
* Contact centre – Supports interaction with customers over a variety of media, including but not necessarily limited to telephony, e-mail and internet chat.
* Inbound call centre - Exclusively or predominately handles inbound calls (calls initiated by the customer).
* Outbound call centre - One in which call centre agents make outbound calls to customers or sales leads.
* Blended call centre - Combining automatic call distribution for incoming calls with predictive dialling for outbound calls, it makes more efficient use of agent time as each type of agent (inbound or outbound) can handle the overflow of the other.
* Contact centre – Supports interaction with customers over a variety of media, including but not necessarily limited to telephony, e-mail and internet chat.
* Inbound call centre - Exclusively or predominately handles inbound calls (calls initiated by the customer).
* Outbound call centre - One in which call centre agents make outbound calls to customers or sales leads.
* Blended call centre - Combining automatic call distribution for incoming calls with predictive dialling for outbound calls, it makes more efficient use of agent time as each type of agent (inbound or outbound) can handle the overflow of the other.
AllCalls, your one stop shop for all your contact or call center needs.
Contact Centers and Call Centers are one of the fastest growing industries in South East Asia, especially in countries like Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Philippines.
Currently the ROI (return on investment) for a call center is more than 100% after the second operational year, however it is all related to what kind of contact or call center solution and campaign(s) you go for.
Investors and entrepreneurs fail to understand the possibilities of a high profit in the contact or call center industry. Well, the answer to that is very simple! Someone’s Saving is Your Making AllCalls is one of the best pure-play offshore contact center and call center solution provider around the globe. In addition to HR Training & Resource, Product Training and Tele Marketing Campaigns AllCalls specializes in:
• Distribution of telemarketing and customer service business processes
• Call or Contact Center Setup
• CRM with Predictive Dialer
• Business Processes /Quality Campaigns
• HR Consultancy
• HR Training
• Operational Supervision
AllCalls with Clients and Partners based out of US, UK, Canada, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Philippines and India offers a unique blend of Contact Center and Call Center outsourcing and off shoring Experience. AllCalls is best positioned to provide a localized approach to your Offshore Solution.
Contact Centers and Call Centers are one of the fastest growing industries in South East Asia, especially in countries like Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Philippines.
Currently the ROI (return on investment) for a call center is more than 100% after the second operational year, however it is all related to what kind of contact or call center solution and campaign(s) you go for.
Investors and entrepreneurs fail to understand the possibilities of a high profit in the contact or call center industry. Well, the answer to that is very simple! Someone’s Saving is Your Making AllCalls is one of the best pure-play offshore contact center and call center solution provider around the globe. In addition to HR Training & Resource, Product Training and Tele Marketing Campaigns AllCalls specializes in:
• Distribution of telemarketing and customer service business processes
• Call or Contact Center Setup
• CRM with Predictive Dialer
• Business Processes /Quality Campaigns
• HR Consultancy
• HR Training
• Operational Supervision
AllCalls with Clients and Partners based out of US, UK, Canada, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Philippines and India offers a unique blend of Contact Center and Call Center outsourcing and off shoring Experience. AllCalls is best positioned to provide a localized approach to your Offshore Solution.
Step To Call Center Kit is a complete solution
Step To Call Center Kit is a complete solution for a newbie as well as source of new ideas for experienced managers to fill in the gaps in their knowledge of running a successful call or contact center. This solution covers everything one can wish for and is a simple walkthrough of what is actually needed to startup and efficiently run a call center. As someone who has set up IT helpdesks and has also provided application support to call centers I often wondered why typical call centers were so well managed and IT help desks, for the most part, are not. Now being a Manager of a startup call center I have used the Step To Call Center Kit to get a better idea of my customers' needs. I was pretty excited to discover that there's at least one good solution of what call centers do and how they do it. A complete solution for anyone who works in the inbound call center environment. This complete solution will help everyone from senior management to front line service reps gain a better understanding and appreciation of the dynamic call center environment. I highly recommend this kit to managers who wants to lay the ground work for an aspiring call center and hone the skills of the most experienced call center manager
Step To Call Center Kit is a complete solution for a newbie as well as source of new ideas for experienced managers to fill in the gaps in their knowledge of running a successful call or contact center. This solution covers everything one can wish for and is a simple walkthrough of what is actually needed to startup and efficiently run a call center. As someone who has set up IT helpdesks and has also provided application support to call centers I often wondered why typical call centers were so well managed and IT help desks, for the most part, are not. Now being a Manager of a startup call center I have used the Step To Call Center Kit to get a better idea of my customers' needs. I was pretty excited to discover that there's at least one good solution of what call centers do and how they do it. A complete solution for anyone who works in the inbound call center environment. This complete solution will help everyone from senior management to front line service reps gain a better understanding and appreciation of the dynamic call center environment. I highly recommend this kit to managers who wants to lay the ground work for an aspiring call center and hone the skills of the most experienced call center manager
Who uses Call Center Kit
• Ambitious call center supervisors that need results right away.
• CEOs and small business startups that want to introduce a vastly superior customer service experience for their customers.
• Business consultants that are tasked with improving and expanding a call center.
• HR managers that want to make their call center respond effectively both to their customers and within their company.
• IT managers that need to define and implement industry best practices for their Help Desk.
• Ambitious call center supervisors that need results right away.
• CEOs and small business startups that want to introduce a vastly superior customer service experience for their customers.
• Business consultants that are tasked with improving and expanding a call center.
• HR managers that want to make their call center respond effectively both to their customers and within their company.
• IT managers that need to define and implement industry best practices for their Help Desk.
Trying to find success as a call center agent?
Trying to find success as a call center agent? This section includes comprehensive resources on call center metrics, quality monitoring, performance management, call center training and job satisfaction. Learn how to stay motivated as a customer service representative (CSR) and how to interpret and evaluate important metrics of the call center, including average handle time, average hold time, first call resolution (FCR) and occupancy. This section also includes information on agent churn in the call center and working as a remote or home-based call center agent.
Trying to find success as a call center agent? This section includes comprehensive resources on call center metrics, quality monitoring, performance management, call center training and job satisfaction. Learn how to stay motivated as a customer service representative (CSR) and how to interpret and evaluate important metrics of the call center, including average handle time, average hold time, first call resolution (FCR) and occupancy. This section also includes information on agent churn in the call center and working as a remote or home-based call center agent.
Become a Call Center Director
Step 1
Gain the required experience to become a call center director by getting at least 1 year of management experience in a call center or customer service work environment. While a college degree in business management, accounting or finance may be helpful in getting your resumé noticed, many call centers prefer to promote someone from within who understands their specific way of doing business.
Step 2
Possess an extraordinary attention to detail. A call center director must excel at multi-tasking and organization, since the work flow and the constant monitoring of data can seem overwhelming at times.
Step 3
Become familiar with the types of workforce management database software that call centers use to constantly refine their sales methodology and their bottom line, such as Blue Pumpkin, IEX, Siebel and eWFM.
Step 4
Hone your interpersonal and communication skills, since your effectiveness as a call center director will depend upon your ability to give constant feedback to your staff on how to improve their performances. Micro-management is very common in this sort of work environment, and your ability to offer constructive, impersonal criticism may be one of the keys to your success.
Step 1
Gain the required experience to become a call center director by getting at least 1 year of management experience in a call center or customer service work environment. While a college degree in business management, accounting or finance may be helpful in getting your resumé noticed, many call centers prefer to promote someone from within who understands their specific way of doing business.
Step 2
Possess an extraordinary attention to detail. A call center director must excel at multi-tasking and organization, since the work flow and the constant monitoring of data can seem overwhelming at times.
Step 3
Become familiar with the types of workforce management database software that call centers use to constantly refine their sales methodology and their bottom line, such as Blue Pumpkin, IEX, Siebel and eWFM.
Step 4
Hone your interpersonal and communication skills, since your effectiveness as a call center director will depend upon your ability to give constant feedback to your staff on how to improve their performances. Micro-management is very common in this sort of work environment, and your ability to offer constructive, impersonal criticism may be one of the keys to your success.
Find a Position as a Call Center Director
Step 1
Use an employment outsourcing service, such as Spherion, to locate the best call center director position to meet your skills and needs (see Resources below). These services are usually free, and you are given access to a variety of job listings, as well as a personal recruiter who will actively search for positions in which you are qualified.
Step 2
Check the classified sections of locals newspapers, as well as the bulletin boards of employment agencies. Call centers commonly use these methods to recruit entry-level positions, such as telemarketers and customer service representatives. You can use the contact information to inquire about management-level positions
Step 1
Use an employment outsourcing service, such as Spherion, to locate the best call center director position to meet your skills and needs (see Resources below). These services are usually free, and you are given access to a variety of job listings, as well as a personal recruiter who will actively search for positions in which you are qualified.
Step 2
Check the classified sections of locals newspapers, as well as the bulletin boards of employment agencies. Call centers commonly use these methods to recruit entry-level positions, such as telemarketers and customer service representatives. You can use the contact information to inquire about management-level positions
Frontline Staff for Your Contact Center
The Importance of Hiring Well
It's no secret that one of the most difficult aspects of contact center management is finding and keeping the right people for the job. The contact center industry experiences one of the highest turnover rates anywhere—by some estimates, upward of 50 percent. Additional factors such as a tight labor pool of quality candidates and a limited career path compound the already challenging process of hiring. Furthermore, many contact centers are adding multiple contact channels such as e-mail and chat, which only adds to the need for a more skilled workforce.
Regardless of how difficult it is to attract and retain quality agents, however, it's crucial that you take great care in hiring for your center. Hiring agents isn't something that should be done in a rushed or desperate manner.
Hiring well can save you considerable pain down the road. Not only is it expensive to replace employees who have been miscast for a job, but it's also inconvenient and unpleasant to lose agents (whether the termination is your idea or theirs).
Even if you're not the person primarily responsible for recruiting and hiring agents, you are the person primarily responsible for managing those who get hired. For this reason, your knowledge of and participation in the hiring process are indispensable. At the very least, you should help define the skills and behaviors that drive job performance and participate in the selection process by speaking to prescreened candidates over the phone or in person and by participating in the final hiring decision
The Importance of Hiring Well
It's no secret that one of the most difficult aspects of contact center management is finding and keeping the right people for the job. The contact center industry experiences one of the highest turnover rates anywhere—by some estimates, upward of 50 percent. Additional factors such as a tight labor pool of quality candidates and a limited career path compound the already challenging process of hiring. Furthermore, many contact centers are adding multiple contact channels such as e-mail and chat, which only adds to the need for a more skilled workforce.
Regardless of how difficult it is to attract and retain quality agents, however, it's crucial that you take great care in hiring for your center. Hiring agents isn't something that should be done in a rushed or desperate manner.
Hiring well can save you considerable pain down the road. Not only is it expensive to replace employees who have been miscast for a job, but it's also inconvenient and unpleasant to lose agents (whether the termination is your idea or theirs).
Even if you're not the person primarily responsible for recruiting and hiring agents, you are the person primarily responsible for managing those who get hired. For this reason, your knowledge of and participation in the hiring process are indispensable. At the very least, you should help define the skills and behaviors that drive job performance and participate in the selection process by speaking to prescreened candidates over the phone or in person and by participating in the final hiring decision
Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a form of outsourcing that involves the contracting of the operations and responsibilities of a specific business functions (or processes) to a third-party service provider. Originally, this was associated with manufacturing firms, such as Coca Cola that outsourced large segments of its supply chain.[1]. In the contemporary context, it is primarily used to refer to the outsourcing of services.
BPO is typically categorized into back office outsourcing - which includes internal business functions such as human resources or finance and accounting, and front office outsourcing - which includes customer-related services such as contact center services.
BPO that is contracted outside a company's country is called offshore outsourcing. BPO that is contracted to a company's neighboring (or nearby) country is called nearshore outsourcing.
Given the proximity of BPO to the information technology industry, it is also categorized as an information technology enabled service or ITES. Knowledge process outsourcing(KPO) and legal process outsourcing (LPO) are some of the sub-segments of business process outsourcing industry.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Industry size
* 2 BPO Benefits and Limitations
* 3 Threats
* 4 References
* 5 See also
* 6 External links
Industry size
India has revenues of 10.9 billion USD[2] from offshore BPO and 30 billion USD from IT and total BPO (expected in FY 2008). India thus has some 5-6% share of the total BPO Industry, but a commanding 63% share of the offshore component. This 63% is a drop from the 70% offshore share that India enjoyed last year, despite the industry growing 38% in India last year, other locations like Eastern Europe, Philippines, Morocco, Egypt and South Africa have emerged to take a share of the market[citation needed]. China is also trying to grow from a very small base in this industry. However, while the BPO industry is expected to continue to grow in India, its market share of the offshore piece is expected to decline. Important centers in India are Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and New Delhi.
The top five Indian BPO exporters for 2006-2007 according to NASSCOM are Genpact, WNS Global Services, Transworks Information Services, IBM Daksh, and TCS BPO.
According to McKinsey, the global "addressable" BPO market is worth $122 - $154 billion, of which: 35-40 retail banking, 25-35 insurance, 10-12 travel/hospitality, 10-12 auto, 8-10 telecoms, 8 pharma, 10-15 others and 20-25 is finance, accounting and HR. Moreover, they estimate that 8% of that capacity was utilized as of 2006.
BPO Benefits and Limitations
One of the most important advantages of BPO is the way in which it helps to increase a company’s flexibility. However, several sources have different ways in which they perceive organizational flexibility. Therefore business process outsourcing enhances the flexibility of an organization in different ways.
Most services provided by BPO vendors are offered on a fee-for-service basis. This helps a company becoming more flexible by transforming fixed into variable costs. A variable cost structure helps a company responding to changes in required capacity and does not require a company to invest in assets, thereby making the company more flexible.Outsourcing may provide a firm with increased flexibility in its resource management and may reduce response times to major environmental changes.
Another way in which BPO contributes to a company’s flexibility is that a company is able to focus on its core competencies, without being burdened by the demands of bureaucratic restraints. Key employees are herewith released from performing non-core or administrative processes and can invest more time and energy in building the firm’s core businesses.The key lies in knowing which of the main value drivers to focus on – customer intimacy, product leadership, or operational excellence. Focusing more on one of these drivers may help a company create a competitive edge.
A third way in which BPO increases organizational flexibility is by increasing the speed of business processes. Using techniques such as linear programming can reduce cycle time and inventory levels, which can increase efficiency and cut costs. Supply chain management with the effective use of supply chain partners and business process outsourcing increases the speed of several business processes, such as the throughput in the case of a manufacturing company.
Finally, flexibility is seen as a stage in the organizational life cycle. BPO helped to transform Nortel from a bureaucratic organization into a very agile competitor. A company can gain the advantage of maintaining ambitious growth goals while sidestepping standard business bottlenecks. BPO therefore allows firms to retain their entrepreneurial speed and agility, which they would otherwise sacrifice in order to become efficient as they expanded. It avoids a premature internal transition from its informal entrepreneurial phase to a more bureaucratic mode of operation.
A company may be able to grow at a faster pace as it will be less constrained by large capital expenditures for people or equipment that may take years to amortize, may become outdated or turn out to be a poor match for the company over time.
Although the above-mentioned arguments favor the view that BPO increases the flexibility of organizations, management needs to be careful with the implementation of it as there are a few stumbling blocks, which could counter these advantages. Among problems, which arise in practice are: A failure to meet service levels, unclear contractual issues, changing requirements and unforeseen charges, and a dependence on the BPO which reduces flexibility. Consequently, these challenges need to be considered before a company decides to engage in business process outsourcing
A further issue is that in many cases there is little that differentiates the BPO providers other than size. They often provide similar services, have similar geographic footprints, leverage similar technology stacks, and have similar Quality Improvement approaches.
Threats
Risk is the major drawback with Business Process Outsourcing. Outsourcing of an Information System, for example, can cause security risks both from a communication and from a privacy perspective. For example, security of North American or European company data is more difficult to maintain when accessed or controlled in the Sub-Continent. From a knowledge perspective, a changing attitude in employees, underestimation of running costs and the major risk of losing independence, outsourcing leads to a different relationship between an organization and its contractor.
Risks and threats of outsourcing must therefore be managed, to achieve any benefits. In order to manage outsourcing in a structured way, maximizing positive outcome, and minimizing risks and avoiding any threats, a Business Continuity Management (BCM) model is setup. BCM consists of a set of steps, to successfully identify, manage and control the business processes that are, or can be outsourced.
Another framework, more focused on the identification process of potential outsourceable Information Systems, identified as AHP, is explained.
L. Willcocks, M. Lacity and G. Fitzgerald identify several contracting problems companies face, ranging from unclear contract formatting, to a lack of understanding of technical IT- processes.
BPO is typically categorized into back office outsourcing - which includes internal business functions such as human resources or finance and accounting, and front office outsourcing - which includes customer-related services such as contact center services.
BPO that is contracted outside a company's country is called offshore outsourcing. BPO that is contracted to a company's neighboring (or nearby) country is called nearshore outsourcing.
Given the proximity of BPO to the information technology industry, it is also categorized as an information technology enabled service or ITES. Knowledge process outsourcing(KPO) and legal process outsourcing (LPO) are some of the sub-segments of business process outsourcing industry.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Industry size
* 2 BPO Benefits and Limitations
* 3 Threats
* 4 References
* 5 See also
* 6 External links
Industry size
India has revenues of 10.9 billion USD[2] from offshore BPO and 30 billion USD from IT and total BPO (expected in FY 2008). India thus has some 5-6% share of the total BPO Industry, but a commanding 63% share of the offshore component. This 63% is a drop from the 70% offshore share that India enjoyed last year, despite the industry growing 38% in India last year, other locations like Eastern Europe, Philippines, Morocco, Egypt and South Africa have emerged to take a share of the market[citation needed]. China is also trying to grow from a very small base in this industry. However, while the BPO industry is expected to continue to grow in India, its market share of the offshore piece is expected to decline. Important centers in India are Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and New Delhi.
The top five Indian BPO exporters for 2006-2007 according to NASSCOM are Genpact, WNS Global Services, Transworks Information Services, IBM Daksh, and TCS BPO.
According to McKinsey, the global "addressable" BPO market is worth $122 - $154 billion, of which: 35-40 retail banking, 25-35 insurance, 10-12 travel/hospitality, 10-12 auto, 8-10 telecoms, 8 pharma, 10-15 others and 20-25 is finance, accounting and HR. Moreover, they estimate that 8% of that capacity was utilized as of 2006.
BPO Benefits and Limitations
One of the most important advantages of BPO is the way in which it helps to increase a company’s flexibility. However, several sources have different ways in which they perceive organizational flexibility. Therefore business process outsourcing enhances the flexibility of an organization in different ways.
Most services provided by BPO vendors are offered on a fee-for-service basis. This helps a company becoming more flexible by transforming fixed into variable costs. A variable cost structure helps a company responding to changes in required capacity and does not require a company to invest in assets, thereby making the company more flexible.Outsourcing may provide a firm with increased flexibility in its resource management and may reduce response times to major environmental changes.
Another way in which BPO contributes to a company’s flexibility is that a company is able to focus on its core competencies, without being burdened by the demands of bureaucratic restraints. Key employees are herewith released from performing non-core or administrative processes and can invest more time and energy in building the firm’s core businesses.The key lies in knowing which of the main value drivers to focus on – customer intimacy, product leadership, or operational excellence. Focusing more on one of these drivers may help a company create a competitive edge.
A third way in which BPO increases organizational flexibility is by increasing the speed of business processes. Using techniques such as linear programming can reduce cycle time and inventory levels, which can increase efficiency and cut costs. Supply chain management with the effective use of supply chain partners and business process outsourcing increases the speed of several business processes, such as the throughput in the case of a manufacturing company.
Finally, flexibility is seen as a stage in the organizational life cycle. BPO helped to transform Nortel from a bureaucratic organization into a very agile competitor. A company can gain the advantage of maintaining ambitious growth goals while sidestepping standard business bottlenecks. BPO therefore allows firms to retain their entrepreneurial speed and agility, which they would otherwise sacrifice in order to become efficient as they expanded. It avoids a premature internal transition from its informal entrepreneurial phase to a more bureaucratic mode of operation.
A company may be able to grow at a faster pace as it will be less constrained by large capital expenditures for people or equipment that may take years to amortize, may become outdated or turn out to be a poor match for the company over time.
Although the above-mentioned arguments favor the view that BPO increases the flexibility of organizations, management needs to be careful with the implementation of it as there are a few stumbling blocks, which could counter these advantages. Among problems, which arise in practice are: A failure to meet service levels, unclear contractual issues, changing requirements and unforeseen charges, and a dependence on the BPO which reduces flexibility. Consequently, these challenges need to be considered before a company decides to engage in business process outsourcing
A further issue is that in many cases there is little that differentiates the BPO providers other than size. They often provide similar services, have similar geographic footprints, leverage similar technology stacks, and have similar Quality Improvement approaches.
Threats
Risk is the major drawback with Business Process Outsourcing. Outsourcing of an Information System, for example, can cause security risks both from a communication and from a privacy perspective. For example, security of North American or European company data is more difficult to maintain when accessed or controlled in the Sub-Continent. From a knowledge perspective, a changing attitude in employees, underestimation of running costs and the major risk of losing independence, outsourcing leads to a different relationship between an organization and its contractor.
Risks and threats of outsourcing must therefore be managed, to achieve any benefits. In order to manage outsourcing in a structured way, maximizing positive outcome, and minimizing risks and avoiding any threats, a Business Continuity Management (BCM) model is setup. BCM consists of a set of steps, to successfully identify, manage and control the business processes that are, or can be outsourced.
Another framework, more focused on the identification process of potential outsourceable Information Systems, identified as AHP, is explained.
L. Willcocks, M. Lacity and G. Fitzgerald identify several contracting problems companies face, ranging from unclear contract formatting, to a lack of understanding of technical IT- processes.
A Virtual Call Center is an “automatic” call center. It is basically the same thing as a call center, only costing a fraction of the price and being a lot easier to handle and mange. Included in most Hosted Call Centers are numerous amounts of advanced inventions and developments. One such innovation is a Predictive Dialer. Predictive Dialing reduces the amount of wasted time by agents. The Predictive Dialer will organize and rearrange the calling list that the agent has. It then filters out the “bad” numbers, such as not in service numbers, or disconnected numbers, while relisting other numbers, such as busy signals or unanswered calls, at the bottom of the list. The Predictive Dialer will then try the next few numbers towards the end of the Virtual Call Center agent’s call. By doing this, this allows the Virtual Call Center agent to maximize his time working and minimize his time being occupied with unnecessary and often bothersome and unproductive work.
Predictive Dialing has come a long way. It first started as an autodialer, which merely just dialed calls for an idle or waiting agent. A Predictive Dialer uses a variety of algorithms in order to predict the availability of both Virtual Call Center agents and potential customers and therefore customizing each calling process to suit what’s best for both agent and customer. Based on a 2002 survey, a Predictive Dialer can dramatically increase the amount of talk time agents utilize per hour as opposed to a traditional agent without a Predictive Dialer. The ratio is 50 minutes per hour utilized with a Predictive Dialer comparing to 20 minutes per hour used without using Predictive Dialing.
Other Hosted Contact Center features are Voice Broadcasting, which enables mass phone messaging to endless amounts of customers, and IVR, or Interactive Voice Response, which enables customers to “do it themselves” thereby reducing the need for customer service representatives. In addition to these features, Freedom TeleWork offers unique and amazing Hosted Contact Center Supervisory tools through their TeleWorkers campaign. These unique tools help Freedom TeleWork customers to ensure that the TeleWorkers are working properly and efficiently. These tools are Spy mode, Barge In mode, Whisper mode, MP3 recording of calls, monitoring of key strokes and random screen captures of agents’ screens. Not only do these features allow customers to check on their TeleWorkers, but they also give customers the ability to further train and coach their Virtual Call Center agents
Predictive Dialing has come a long way. It first started as an autodialer, which merely just dialed calls for an idle or waiting agent. A Predictive Dialer uses a variety of algorithms in order to predict the availability of both Virtual Call Center agents and potential customers and therefore customizing each calling process to suit what’s best for both agent and customer. Based on a 2002 survey, a Predictive Dialer can dramatically increase the amount of talk time agents utilize per hour as opposed to a traditional agent without a Predictive Dialer. The ratio is 50 minutes per hour utilized with a Predictive Dialer comparing to 20 minutes per hour used without using Predictive Dialing.
Other Hosted Contact Center features are Voice Broadcasting, which enables mass phone messaging to endless amounts of customers, and IVR, or Interactive Voice Response, which enables customers to “do it themselves” thereby reducing the need for customer service representatives. In addition to these features, Freedom TeleWork offers unique and amazing Hosted Contact Center Supervisory tools through their TeleWorkers campaign. These unique tools help Freedom TeleWork customers to ensure that the TeleWorkers are working properly and efficiently. These tools are Spy mode, Barge In mode, Whisper mode, MP3 recording of calls, monitoring of key strokes and random screen captures of agents’ screens. Not only do these features allow customers to check on their TeleWorkers, but they also give customers the ability to further train and coach their Virtual Call Center agents
Every call center has peaks and valleys. Normal businesses operate with very predictable calling patterns. Traffic over the normal business day, starts out slow and peaks between 10AM and 2 PM in the afternoon, then trickles down. The old Bell Curve distribution pattern! Call centers on the other hand, have very different call characteristics depending on the nature of the business. One characteristic that we can be confident in is the fact that there are more callers than "agents" to service the calls. Thus the need for some kind of queuing capability.
"We are sorry, but all available agents are working with other clients. Please hold the line and the next available agent will be right with you. Unfortunately, callers might tire of the music on hold and predictable care messages, and ultimately give up and then hang up! This is generally an "abandoned call" in most contact center environments and reports. The ShoreTel Contact Center has a facility for capturing this information and doing something productive with it.
Back to the concept of "Peaks and Valleys". What if we could take the "abandoned calls", capture the caller id and feed them to our agents during valleys in the calling periods? After all the staff is sitting they're, logged in and idle! Lets just put them to work. In a ShoreTel system this is very easy to setup and is a powerful productivity tool. First, the system "reserves and agent". The agent gets a little pop up window that informs them that they are being reserved for a call back. They have to accept it, or they are put in "release" as if they turned down an incoming phone call (time for management tutoring). When the agent accepts the reservation, the ShoreTel places the outbound phone call and then connects the call to the agent. With the exception that they acknowledged the reservation request, the agent experiences the call as if it were any other in bound call to the contact center.
Optionally, you can play a file to the callED party before you send the call to the agent. I have found however, that it is better to send the call to the agent immediately after it is dialed. This is because the agent is better able to deal with "positive answer supervision" using the human ear, and then the machine is able to tell the difference between a fax machine, answering machine or some other non-human answer.
Making use of the abandoned call feature is something that every Contact Center can do to increase agent productivity and customer satisfaction. You can even setup a group that specializes in abandoned callbacks, and route all calls to that "win back" group.
Ensuring customer loyalty has been the mantra of all successful businesses. As call centers become an integral part of a complete customer service strategy in businesses, ensuring loyalty has become more of a challenge. Modern call centers are sophisticated and multi-person operations are supported by telephone and computer technology. There is no personalization or a continuous name that a customer can relate to. Though telephone strategies and great scripts often lead to effective customer conversions, loyalty can never be ensured. Moreover, conducting business over the phone has never been as personalized as face-to-face interaction. Call centers have this big challenge on their hands ever since their inception.
For better business you need to know more you know about your customers. The better you know them the better you can meet their needs. In fact, the more conversant the customer becomes the better feedback you get. Create opportunities for feedback. Ask your customers why they chose you over the competition. Encourage your customers with a concern to contact you without hesitation. Carry out customer satisfaction surveys to see if the call center you've hired is doing it's job properly.
Keep a record of customer feedback to help you identify problem areas. In a short term, customer loyalty benefits your business through revenue growth because of repeat and referral business. In a long term, closer relationship with customers gives your business a window of insight into your customers' needs and preferences and more importantly even product ideas. The cost to acquire new customers is typically much greater than the cost of retaining the existing ones.
Customer satisfaction does not equate with continued sales. What a business needs instead is customer retention and repeated purchases, otherwise known as customer loyalty. Call centers offers customer convenience through their services. Without having to trot off to a retail location, a customer can place orders, make reservations, check balances, register complaints, and ask questions about the product and services. So the call center to which the customer service is outsourced must have representatives that are trained in all these aspects.
Call centers representative should adopt the following techniques for ensuring customer loyalty.
1. Build rapport with customers through warm and friendly approach. However make sure that the agent does not act too friendly. This put the customer instantaneously on the guard.
2. Listen actively- Through active listening, call center agents can create a conversational connection that reassures the caller that someone cares.
3. Solve customer problems effectively. Customers contact call centers for solving their problems, which they can't do for themselves. Problems encountered by the customers negatively impact their loyalty. If they are disappointed with the service, they may start looking for alternatives.
4. Train your representatives to be an optimist. Listening day in and day out to people's grievances and complains can be emotionally corrosive. Be proactive, listen to their problems carefully, and put yourself in customer's shoes.
The customer contact center has significant impact on customer loyalty. In many businesses the call center has more contact with the customer than any other part of the business. As call centers are turning into customer interaction centers, support agents and sales agents must represent the company properly. Call center agents must be trained properly, more empathetic to customers, more knowledgeable about the products and more importantly, they have to be more technically astute with regard to technology that supports their efforts.
For companies in any industry, a good proactive, outbound customer communications program can be a tremendous competitive advantage. It increases customer loyalty and retention. However, before outsourcing your customer service to a call center interact with the representatives and at time even call up as a customer to see the kind of services that they provide.
For better business you need to know more you know about your customers. The better you know them the better you can meet their needs. In fact, the more conversant the customer becomes the better feedback you get. Create opportunities for feedback. Ask your customers why they chose you over the competition. Encourage your customers with a concern to contact you without hesitation. Carry out customer satisfaction surveys to see if the call center you've hired is doing it's job properly.
Keep a record of customer feedback to help you identify problem areas. In a short term, customer loyalty benefits your business through revenue growth because of repeat and referral business. In a long term, closer relationship with customers gives your business a window of insight into your customers' needs and preferences and more importantly even product ideas. The cost to acquire new customers is typically much greater than the cost of retaining the existing ones.
Customer satisfaction does not equate with continued sales. What a business needs instead is customer retention and repeated purchases, otherwise known as customer loyalty. Call centers offers customer convenience through their services. Without having to trot off to a retail location, a customer can place orders, make reservations, check balances, register complaints, and ask questions about the product and services. So the call center to which the customer service is outsourced must have representatives that are trained in all these aspects.
Call centers representative should adopt the following techniques for ensuring customer loyalty.
1. Build rapport with customers through warm and friendly approach. However make sure that the agent does not act too friendly. This put the customer instantaneously on the guard.
2. Listen actively- Through active listening, call center agents can create a conversational connection that reassures the caller that someone cares.
3. Solve customer problems effectively. Customers contact call centers for solving their problems, which they can't do for themselves. Problems encountered by the customers negatively impact their loyalty. If they are disappointed with the service, they may start looking for alternatives.
4. Train your representatives to be an optimist. Listening day in and day out to people's grievances and complains can be emotionally corrosive. Be proactive, listen to their problems carefully, and put yourself in customer's shoes.
The customer contact center has significant impact on customer loyalty. In many businesses the call center has more contact with the customer than any other part of the business. As call centers are turning into customer interaction centers, support agents and sales agents must represent the company properly. Call center agents must be trained properly, more empathetic to customers, more knowledgeable about the products and more importantly, they have to be more technically astute with regard to technology that supports their efforts.
For companies in any industry, a good proactive, outbound customer communications program can be a tremendous competitive advantage. It increases customer loyalty and retention. However, before outsourcing your customer service to a call center interact with the representatives and at time even call up as a customer to see the kind of services that they provide.
Call center scripts are representations of what is to be said while communicating with the prospect or customer. From greetings to customer service to ways to deliver company news, scripts offer a lot of guidelines to call center agents who would otherwise struggle with delivery of key ideas. When used properly, scripts can help agents to be more fluid during their interactions with customers. A well thought out and executed phrase can make the difference between getting a sale and prompting a disinterest in a prospective customer. On the other hand, a poorly designed and strict script can be a hindrance to call center agents while dealing with customers. At some call centers, agents are required to use script verbatim. At other, agents are given freedom to use their own choice of words here and there.
An ideal script can guarantee a smooth call flow and effective business management apart from providing the agents with all the crucial information. Scripts are inevitable in both customer service and telemarketing. Call center scripts are certainly a good starting point for agents who need help in expressing their thoughts in an eloquent manner. Scripting ensures a complete compilation of information that enables the call center agent to speak clearly and confidently on a one-to-one basis with the customer.
For most customers, the call center is the primary point of contact with your business. The interactions among call center and customers can have a significant impact on people's perception of your company, positive or negative. Therefore, while choosing a vendor, make sure you are looking for a partner who will have a considerable influence over your brand and customer satisfaction. Ask the vendor to show you the sample script they have developed for other customers and pay minute attention to it. If necessary, edit it to suit your situation.
Here's a brief checklist of the bad scripts situations
1. Admitting self-fault immediately, criticizing or blaming the customer.
2. Too verbose a script, leads to mechanical reading and does not go well with a prospect. The call center is there to listen.
3. Over friendly introduction or over polite scripts. Okay they are there to build relationships but they are not friends yet...
4. Repetition
5. Measuring call in time instead of key performance metrics.
If the call center has no follow up plan the campaign is guaranteed to be a failure from start.
A successful call center is one where an agent fulfils a customer's need and at the same time generates or retains revenue from the customer. To maximize the efficiency of your call center, scripts must be designed to efficiently and effectively handle the needs of the incoming caller. A script in telemarketing is designed to enhance the productivity, efficiency and effectiveness of call center agents by enabling them to professionally lead a customer through a call.
Tips for building effective call center scripts-
1. The goal of every script is to get the customer into business.
2. Research about your customers, their needs and find the most suitable reason for calling before developing your script.
3. Develop goals and continually track the performance of your scripts. Customer satisfaction and agent stress tests are effective in measuring performance.
While developing a call center script, make sure to keep it simple to operate and edit while necessary. A successful sales call is a call that is well planned and organized. Therefore, agents should focus on communicating with the prospect on an individual basis with the help of scripts.
A well-written script is important for both outbound call centers-proactive marketing in which pre-existing and prospective customers are contacted directly and inbound call centers-reactive reception of incoming orders and request for information.
Script content must be carefully revised and updated constantly. Make sure your script has the appropriate tone for the situation and does not sound like reading a textbook. It should be to the point to maintain customer interest.
A perfect script is one that allows for appropriate response to any given customer interaction and prompts the call agent to stay consistent with the company message.
An ideal script can guarantee a smooth call flow and effective business management apart from providing the agents with all the crucial information. Scripts are inevitable in both customer service and telemarketing. Call center scripts are certainly a good starting point for agents who need help in expressing their thoughts in an eloquent manner. Scripting ensures a complete compilation of information that enables the call center agent to speak clearly and confidently on a one-to-one basis with the customer.
For most customers, the call center is the primary point of contact with your business. The interactions among call center and customers can have a significant impact on people's perception of your company, positive or negative. Therefore, while choosing a vendor, make sure you are looking for a partner who will have a considerable influence over your brand and customer satisfaction. Ask the vendor to show you the sample script they have developed for other customers and pay minute attention to it. If necessary, edit it to suit your situation.
Here's a brief checklist of the bad scripts situations
1. Admitting self-fault immediately, criticizing or blaming the customer.
2. Too verbose a script, leads to mechanical reading and does not go well with a prospect. The call center is there to listen.
3. Over friendly introduction or over polite scripts. Okay they are there to build relationships but they are not friends yet...
4. Repetition
5. Measuring call in time instead of key performance metrics.
If the call center has no follow up plan the campaign is guaranteed to be a failure from start.
A successful call center is one where an agent fulfils a customer's need and at the same time generates or retains revenue from the customer. To maximize the efficiency of your call center, scripts must be designed to efficiently and effectively handle the needs of the incoming caller. A script in telemarketing is designed to enhance the productivity, efficiency and effectiveness of call center agents by enabling them to professionally lead a customer through a call.
Tips for building effective call center scripts-
1. The goal of every script is to get the customer into business.
2. Research about your customers, their needs and find the most suitable reason for calling before developing your script.
3. Develop goals and continually track the performance of your scripts. Customer satisfaction and agent stress tests are effective in measuring performance.
While developing a call center script, make sure to keep it simple to operate and edit while necessary. A successful sales call is a call that is well planned and organized. Therefore, agents should focus on communicating with the prospect on an individual basis with the help of scripts.
A well-written script is important for both outbound call centers-proactive marketing in which pre-existing and prospective customers are contacted directly and inbound call centers-reactive reception of incoming orders and request for information.
Script content must be carefully revised and updated constantly. Make sure your script has the appropriate tone for the situation and does not sound like reading a textbook. It should be to the point to maintain customer interest.
A perfect script is one that allows for appropriate response to any given customer interaction and prompts the call agent to stay consistent with the company message.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)