Call Center Necessity: Lead Nurturing

Call centers have to come out of the comfort zone of thinking that lead nurturing is a marketing option for them. In the modern day lead generation scenario, an outbound call center department has very little option but to engage in vigorous lead nurturing. To explain the point further, let’s pick on a typical sales lead generation cycle. Call centeragents make cold calls to potential customers. These are generally unwanted calls. The ratio of clinching a sale is particularly low. On the other hand, the vast database of phone numbers that your department makes use of will increase the returns on investment (ROI).

There is a major difference in the lead generation scenario when the outbound call center agents engage in lead nurturing. This important process helps to align the timings of the buyer and the seller. Because the call centers tap only those contacts that have expressed a clear desire to be called. They will be more interested in the sales lead generation process than the usual cold calls that are made. You can also contact the potential customers through email or any other format that you choose to. Because of this additional care that you show, the contact will rely on your brand as the trusted source among the numerous brands that are in contention.

Lack of Planning in Offshore Call Center

The business firms that have outsourced their call center services to offshore call centers are thinking again about the poor customer satisfaction they are getting. Many of these firms are considering pulling back their projects to onshore BPO units in the hope of better service. They are missing a vital point here. The projects that are outsourced to these offshore BPO units often lack the planning that is necessary. As a result of the lack of insight, they end up doing poor work on the customer service. The solution lies in the ability of the project planners to make a productive work flow.

Call centers are what they become because of planning and management. Geographical location has little to do with it. Yes, that plays a role in getting quality technology and manpower. But those factors remaining standard, call center services can improve or slide down according to the capability of the top brass to train. If they can motivate and inspire the agents into doing some quality BPO service, just because they are working out of India or Latin America wouldn’t make much of a difference. Every call center needs correct technology, quality manpower and optimum use of resources

Call Center Scheduling: Some Tips

We have reported time and again that call centre scheduling can be a wonderful way of improving performance at the call centers. Here are some tips that you can use for effective scheduling of call center services.

First, make use of a flexible schedule model. Call centre services are flexible and vary from day to day. Some days you may have to put in some extra to make up for lost time. Such days also come in when you are lagging behind on your targets. If you have your call center agents work to predetermined timings, you will find yourself facing challenges on a daily level.

Second, reduce shrinkage by stringent adherence. Call centres often go weak on the question of adhering to time schedules. The best way to get rid of the lackadaisical attitude is to make the agents realize that a mere waste of 10 minutes can change things and have ripple effects all over the call center departments. They have to go out for lunches and comfort breaks on time and get back to the floor punctually.

To make sure that your call center agents are working hard at maintaining the schedule, arrange for incentives. Let the deserving ones be awarded and that will motivate the others to follow schedules diligently.

Hard and Soft ROI of Call Center

There is a distinct difference between returns on investment (ROI) in a call center. You can classify them as hard and soft ROIs. The hard ROI measures the call center services in terms of money. For example, if you use a particular technology at the call centers, you will be able to save a certain amount of money every year. On the other hard, the soft ROI means the customer satisfaction level at the call center customer service. You cannot measure that in monetary terms but it definitely has a strong bearing on the revenue earning of the company. The trick for success at the BPO is to convert these soft ROI figures into hard ROI ones.

How can call center units do that? The call centers have to break down the organizational goals into responsibility for the individual agents. That way, each call center agent will be able to understand what kind of role they are expected to perform. If they feel that sense of belonging with the BPO, they will work towards making that additional effort. Otherwise, the BPO agent goes back home without feeling any sense of attachment to the organization. They feel that they hold a post that can be easily substituted. That affects the attrition rate as well.

Organic Growth is Our Call Center Aim

As we come to an advanced stage in the first quarter of the year, our call center operations need a shift in thinking. The managers working at our call centers have devised a plan to make the growth more organic and well spread out. We want our inbound call center department make as much progress as our outbound call center. Similarly, the back office functions that we conduct include search engine optimization, social media marketing and other associated call center services need focus. Thanks to the quality work that we have done in this segments over a period of time, they have gained popularity among clients and consumers.

There is another reason why organic growth in the call centers has become a priority for us. We want to cut down on hiring and training by adding more efforts in retaining employees. The attrition rate has never been a worrying point atHelios Outsourcing, but we do have to ensure that our agents are comfortable in their jobs. Happy employees will take care of our vision for organic growth. Our managers and team leaders have been directed to inculcate more sense of belonging in the employees. We want to move ahead with them as they are an integral part of our future plans.

Basic Lead Generation Tips

There are some basic lead generation tips that call centers need to follow. These steps are so commonplace that many call center units take them for granted. In their bid to get more sophisticated call center services onboard, they miss out on these basics. That hurts the sales lead generation process in the long run. These are:

(I) Research: Before you begin work on a call center, you will have to conduct a thorough research on the brand or company you will work for. Talking to their clients and customers will give the call centers a fair idea of what they have on their hands. Reputation of the company will play a vital role in the lead generation process.

(II) Opt-In Method: Before the outbound call center team dials up numbers or sends promotional emails, they have to check up if the receiver has opted in. Without a legitimate opt-in method, you will be treated like unwanted hassle. As for emails, there is a strong chance that your email domain will be blocked by ESPs if receivers report spam.

(III) Follow-Up: The follow-up emails sent out by the lead generation teams are important, as they are necessary. Many leads die out because the call center did not follow them up or nurture them carefully.

Small Call Centers Strive to Survive

In the modern BPO world, small and medium scale companies have little hopes of survival. They have to either merge with larger call center firms or have business partnerships with them. There is a growing need for call center services that are on the cutting edge of technology. The aim of the clients and business firms hiring them is to get telemarketing projects done before stipulated and time-tested cycles. To make that happen, you need technology and innovation. In other words, you need capital and investments. Small and medium scale companies cannot afford that kind of money. They will need the back-up of larger units.

The days of dedicated manpower service is over. You may have the most skilled telemarketing agents on the job, but you will falter to deliver if you don’t have the equipment and the gadgets. Clients will shy away from hiring call centers that don’t have state-of-the-art technology. BPO companies will lose out on their marketing pitches for projects when they find out that they don’t work in certain ways. That is why Helios Outsourcing has always concentrated on technological investments. You can grab the A-list projects only when you are fully equipped and that is something that has been an advantage for us.