By Demet Dyanch: staff writer for Seawave Media and the call centre outsourcing service The Market Leaders.
There are call centers all over the world and many more businesses are savvy to utilising call centers and adding them to their business systems. Why? In a time where communication is central to business, call centers provide a base that links customers and organisations.
Customers can get information quickly and be put in the right direction and businesses can direct and guide customers. Ultimately, call centers enhance the relationship between customers and businesses. Call centers can help a business grow by taking away the first point of contact responsibility and initial development of relationships, thus freeing businesses to focus on other elements of their business needs. Call centers also provide a team of front men so businesses don’t need to worry about employing such a team. The interview process and general employment process can be lengthy and costly. This expense is taken away when a business puts that responsibility into the hands of a call center.
By hiring a call center, a business can also reduce the costs associated with running your call center – equipment, preparation, phone lines, hiring and developing employees is all very costly.
As technology keeps advancing so in line do business systems. Call centers will have the most up-to-date systems and since it is their only line of business, keep investing so that they stay at the top of the trend. A call center can afford to and will invest in the new call center business system but will a business whose core functions are not the call center side, but need the service a call center provides?
Handling live calls is only one aspect of a call center services function. Mostly they can also process emails, handle fax, web-based queries, web-cam conferencing, Instant Messaging, and other means of communication for the company.
Call centers then are like the front men ; a team to draw customers in and develop and sustain relationships in a professional manner. Call centers are set up in such a way that as well as being the FPC and drawing customers in, they are also developed in a way where they can measure customer statistics. EG How many calls were received? What was the query? Was it solved? Was the customer directed somewhere else? How many times has that customer called before? Are they are a new customer or an ongoing customer? Then of course, other stats can be defined: geographical location, customers age, sex etc.
The information gathered about a customer is also very beneficial for marketing purposes and to develop ways to fulfill customer needs.
Product/Industry/Service and customers are essential and integral to any business. Keeping the customer happy, ultimately results in more sales returns. Customers like efficiency, to be listened to, communicated with and have their problems resolved. When a customer calls a call center they get to speak with a real person. A big pet hate for many people is having to deal with an automated message. In my own case when I couldn’t get to the ‘person’ I needed to speak with, I was so furious that I gave up and actually chose another company to serve my needs.
The automated service wasn’t listening to me, it didn’t offer the service I required, it was ineffective for my needs that day, and was for me, inefficient since I didn’t get what I needed out of it. I was also slightly insulted that I was being let down by an automated telephone message. Wasn’t I worthy of real human interaction?
Apart from the need for human contact it made me think that by having an automated message, the company was assuming that a) my query would fall into one of their categories and B) that I would be satisfied with the resolution.
Call me human but I must say I prefer a bit more banter. Overall then Call centers are a must have great investment for any growing business. Call center services will relieve both financial responsibility since the cost of running that element of a call center is taken away and worked in an effective and efficient manner by a well-trained team of employees that the call center has invested in.
Call Centers take away the FPC responsibility and are trained in understanding your customers, serving their needs, communicating in a wide manner of ways and resolving issues – all this so that your business can focus on its core goals. Call center services are an effective, efficient, current, timesaving, and cost-effective addition to your businesses needs and success.
This article was written by Demet Dayanch of Seawave Media and the call centre outsourcing service The Market Leaders (www.themarketleaders.co.uk )