Efficiency of Call Center Reporting

The efficiency of a call center may be best expressed in the reporting structure. The BPO unit must always resolve and streamline the way reports are generated. You must realize that reports are not made to find fault in what your employees are doing. Rather you have to view it in the positive light. A proper report on your call center services can pinpoint the weak areas. You can easily find out where you are expected to put in more time and energy. You can figure out where your telemarketing agents need training. Reports can be an eye-opener if you study them in the correct light.

Call centres generate report that helps them figure out where they need manpower or technological inputs. For example, if the callers are holding on to the phone line for too long you need more agents on the inbound call center team. Similarly, you need to when you have higher call volumes. More callers definitely mean good news but at the same time, you will need more agents at answering service. With intelligent reporting formats, you can eradicate the practice of routing the calls here and there and making callers wait to speak to the right agent. Holding on and waiting are pet peeves at phone answering and you must look to remove them from your services.

More Satisfied Customers on Answering Service

The answering service departments of the call centres are seeing some improvements in the recent times. As compared to the satisfaction levels among the callers in the past, there is a sharp rise in how many callers go back from the inbound call center desk happy with the experience. It’s not uncommon for the callers to find that the phone answering system is not up to the mark and there is a lot of ground for improvement. However, with the right steps in the right direction, the monsters of the past can be put to rest now. Callers have observed that repeated complaints about the call center services have actually come off with some reward.

Satisfied Customers on Answering Service These days you can feel the efficiency when you call answering service. The percentage of first-call resolution has increased dramatically. The right call center agents are answering the phones. They are aware of the solutions, as much as they are confident about providing the right solution to the caller without wasting the caller’s time. There is a sense of urgency and BPO units are using Interactive Voice Response System (IVR) to handle the rush at the inbound call center desk. The insistence of keeping a close eye on the watch while answering calls has brought about excellent results. Time becomes a defining factor even for callers who are calling toll-free phone answering numbers.

Midlevel Call Centers Bring Change

You may have thought that the big players in the BPO sector are the ones that bring about catalytic changes in processes and operations. That is not true, as reported by the Symantec 2010 State of the Data Center Report. The studies tell us that call centers in the midlevel stage are better suited to look for innovations in technology used for answering service or telemarketing. Small scale BPO service units do not have the financial requirement to invest in such measures and large scale concerns are rigid in their approach. They are unwilling to look for fresh grounds after they hit upon something that regularly provides a favorable ROI. It is the medium sized call center units that initiate changes.

There are some other trends as well. Medium sized call centres cut into the business revenue of their larger counterparts because they are more accommodating, flexible and in sync with the moving times. These call center units are more willing to work together with the client. Clients also feel comfortable about hiring such telemarketing units that offer them important and incorporate suggestions. Midlevel BPO units also offer call center services in diverse aspects and they are willing to think out of the box. In the modern times, these traits become very useful because the customers are always changing their preferences and patterns.

Ergonomic Solutions for Call Center Stress

The right kind of ergonomics can help call centers reduce stress at the workplace. Ergonomics in the construction of the cubicles and the chairs can help BPO units keep physical stress at bay. Physical stress does not always mean that you will have to do physically demanding work. You can sit at a cubicle and keep tapping away at your keyboard and still feel fatigued. There are a number of physical conditions that can eat into your telemarketing productivity. Spinal cord problems, neck and shoulder pain and thoracic issues are quite common among the call center agents. It is the responsibility of the management to ensure that this niggles and injuries do not happen.

Call centres must always spend the right amount of money to get the ergonomics right. Without the proper seating and working conditions for the call center agents, the work can be affected. Telemarketing agents have to work continuously for long hours. Unless they are comfortable in their seats and have the right body posture, the stasis in their seats will get to them. It will tire them off easily and they will need to take comfort breaks more frequently. This further cuts into the telemarketing services productivity. If these ergonomics continue for days, the work will become a sort of trouble for them. Helios Outsourcing is very particular about this.

Training for Call Centre Supervisors

Call centre supervisors can do a fabulous job or they can delay the process like no one can! They are the ones who run the show at call centre s. If they are properly trained and briefed about the management, they will be able to do a better job of being at the helm. And if they are not allowed to sink their teeth into the project before they start work, the telemarketing project has every chance of running up against the wall. It’s not easy to incorporate elements into projects after it takes off. All the planning and strategizing should happen before the project goes on the floor. The supervisors should be trained for the projects if it is something that they have not done before.

Helios Outsourcing has handled several telemarketing projects that we have never done before. In such cases, we recommend that the call centre supervisors get ample time to do their research. They can bounce their ideas off other peers and seniors. If we feel that they need a trainer who’s not part of the BPO unit, we hire that person for an in-house training session. We do these so that our team leaders and supervisors are always working with a sufficient knowledge bank. We feel that it is better off if they know their way rather than find out how to do it through trial and error methods. That saves time, resources and many errors that can otherwise derail the project.

Double Check for Virtual Call Center Employees

If your call center is planning to hire agents to work from home, you have to sit up and do some homework. When you are screening the agents, you must look for discrepancies in their work experience and what kind of telemarketing services they have done. Work at home agents may have some negative intent about the data that you share with them. To keep your data safe and also to ensure that your clients are not being taken for a ride, you will have to do the checks. You have to be careful about running criminal checks on the shortlisted telemarketing agents. Cross check their references and insist on talking to their previous employers and team leaders/members.

Call centres these days run on reputation. If you have the right kind of agents on your team, you will be able to build up this reputation over the days. BPO units are better suited if they are vigilant about security. Data theft and security concerns about telemarketing scams are always looming on the horizon. If you are not careful, you may find work at home agents duping your customers by obtaining their financial details. It is also your duty to protect the customers from being conned under your brand name. Helios Outsourcing is very careful about such concerns.

Lead Generation Agents’ Woes!

In an article published recently, a very weird sort of abuse has come to the fore! Call center agents are being subjected to some sort of physical abuse over the phone. Sounds impossible, does it? Hear us out! There is a cardinal rule among BPO agents that they are not supposed to hang up first when they are making lead generation calls to prospective customers. Now we all know how people react to such calls when they are not at all interested in making a purchase. But their repeated complaints and requests to stop making them cold calls fall on deaf ears. So they have devised a policy of their own.

These prospective customers make some loud and ghastly noise on the phone! They whistle loudly, sometimes use a sports whistle and often hold the phone close to a stereo system with the volume at full blast. The BPO agents have no other option but to bear it because by rule he cannot disconnect the call. The lead generation team cannot use any protective gear for their ears because that may get in the way of communicating with the customers. This sort of abuse leads to hearing problems for the call center agent. As a matter of fact, agents are aware that they will be subjected to irate customers and verbal abuse is part of their job. But this is a new one!