Monday, September 10, 2012

Solutions for Some of the Biggest Problems of Call Center Service Providers


There are some problems that are common at every contact center. Vendors are always looking for ways to overcome these problems and enhance the performance of their service center. Mentioned below are some of the biggest problems faced by a call center services provider along with the most effective solutions for the same. 
                                

Agent absenteeism
It has been observed that the rate of agent absenteeism increases at certain occasions. For example, many won’t come to office if there is world cup going on. The rate also increases at weekends and in the summer. This can be a very big problem for service providers as the work of their clients suffer due to this. This is not good for the overall business. Managers and higher authorities should talk to their staff and explain them the effects of their absence and appeal to the better side of their nature. Further, organizations must implement robust strategies to reduce this rate. Make sure that you ask them the reason for not coming to the office and let them know that there will be a formal action if this turns into a regular thing.

The problem of staff attrition
Another big problem faced by call center solution providers is that of staff attrition. This industry has one of the highest rates of staff attrition. Vendors should be looking for methods to prevent this from happening rather than finding a cure for it. The best solution is to be cautious during the hiring process. Hire only those people who think call centers as a career rather than just a job stop from where they want to move on. 

The lack of engagement from agents
 
Sometimes many agents are unable to connect with the organization and this creates a lack of engagement from agents. You need to implement various strategies that could motivate agents and allow them to easily connect with the company. You should use proper call routing techniques to make sure that calls are routed to agents according to their skills and strengths. It will enable them to deliver better services and would make them feel important in the company. 

These are the solutions for some of the most prominent issues faced a call center services provider. We, at A1 Call Center, make sure that such problems are minimized and agents are groomed to provide enhanced solutions for call center services, lead generation services, customer support services and various other BPO services.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

How to Select a Call Center Customer Services Provider

Outsourcing various customer support business processes to call center companies is a very long existing trend in the business industry. As organizations cannot efficiently take care of all their processes, both core and non-core activities, therefore they tend to outsource their non-core business processes to an experienced call center customer services provider who can take care of all these requirements. This allows them to focus their time and resources on the most important and core business activities. Thus, their overall productivity is increased as both core and non-core business activities are given proper attention.
However, it is very important that organizations partner with the right vendor who can provide efficient and reliable call center solutions for their requirements. Mentioned below are some tips that will help you in selecting the right call center services provider.
Reputation: Chances are that a company with good reputation in the market will be able to provide better service than others. Building good reputation is not an easy task and it takes years to create it. Thus, a reputed service provider will have the required technologies and infrastructure setup necessary for delivering result oriented customer services. If you can find a CISCO based call center then it is much better as they are using the best available technology, and thus would be able to provide best services.
Training Facility:
They should have a well managed training center where call agents can be trained to work in accordance with clients requirements. They should be able to clearly communicate with the customers at the other end as without it there is no use of outsourcing the requirements. As most of the processes are from foreign countries therefore call agents should be fluent in English and the natural accent of customers.
Availability Of 24x7 Support: Even if your process doesn’t require 24x7 support services, you should still opt for a vendor who provides it. This will be beneficial for you in the long term. You don’t know when you might require round the clock support. Your business might expand or you may need to outsource another process that requires 24 hours support services. It would be much easier to get the process started at the same call center if they provide round the clock support.
Agreement: It is highly recommended that you sign a service level agreement along with a non-disclosure agreement to keep yourself safe from any frauds or legalities. Even if you have been working with the call center company since many years, you should still get signed agreements for every new service. If the other party is not ready to go through the agreement signing process then there is definitely something wrong. This should be a warning signal for you and you should start searching for another vendor.
These tips will help you in finding the right partner for your various business requirements. However, you should also conduct proper research and investigation into their past to know them better.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Questioning In Call Center Gets Easier Now


Telemarketing in call centers is one of the main operations that bring direct revenue to the organization. Call center job may seem easy but in reality is a job that needs a great determination in communicating the messages with a special attention to the demands of the customers. Therefore, to meet the urgent needs, and making the customers happy, the calling agents need to develop a manner that brings positive results after a questioning process. A1 Call Center is Cisco based call center company and uses the best techniques to build the best customer relationship strategy. Here are some of the tips that will help the calling agents to develop the art of questioning in all business aspects.
An appropriate framing of the questionnaire is the first step. This will boost a better positioning of the question in a categorization and permit the customer representatives to obtain permission to ask anything related to their offered service. If it is an outbound process, the agent need to make sure that he explains the customer about your questions and how it can make both the sides helpful. This will not only make your customers alert but also agree the calling agent to make the session more positive.
The use of the positive phrases during the conversation is very crucial to initiate a conversation with good note. The interaction process gets easier when the customer feels okay with the situation and it is believed that customer are no more stressed with such start-up. In this aspect the type of words can vary from question pattern. There are normally three types of questions that are usually found in the call centers. They are:
  • Open question
  • Probing question
  • Closed question
Agents should have a good IQ to judge the questions and try to make a note where they can highlight the main issues. This will allow the call centers to improve the grey areas and eliminate the factors that were creating these issues. An agent is directly involved in the communication process, so, they are the best person to judge the emotions of the customers. It is always recommended to set a questionnaire that is short and crisp. This saves your valuable time and the conversation becomes direct and productive.