No less in demand are the capabilities of call centers when organizing the activities of service departments, quality control departments and technical support of Internet providers, supermarkets, household appliance stores, mical clinics.
Proper use of call center services ruces labor costs by 30%
What types of call centers are there: types
There are two main types of call centers: corporate and outsourcing.
Corporate ones are part of the organization’s staff, being its divisions. Their employees know well what the company does, what the specifics of its work are, so they can communicate with consumers as effectively as possible.
However, only large companies can afford to maintain their own call center due to the inevitable costs of purchasing equipment, organizing and maintaining workplaces, recruiting and training employees.
Small and mium businesses are not ready to bear such costs, giving preference to outsourc call centers.
The provision of outsourcing services can be permanent or one-time. In both cases, the staff is introduc to the specifics of the enterprise, its product, business structure, and areas of work. It
is economically advantageous to seek help from an outsourcing call center if it is necessary to simultaneously use 20 or more telephone lines. In other cases, it is better to do it yourself.
What services do freelance call centers provide?
Typically, a call center operator is assign the function of a dispatcher when it is necessary to receive calls, answer questions, record refusals or requests. In addition, the standard set includes the following services:
- Technical support . It can be single-stage, when the request is process by a specialist. And two-stage – first the caller communicates with a robot and only in case of a non-standard request gets to the first line specialists, And three-stage – this means that after the robot and the specialist it is possible to forward the call to another department of the company
- Hotline . Relevant during sales, promotions, launch of a new version of a product. At such times, large companies that have their own call center often attract outsourcing to expand their coverage.
- Virtual office or secretary-assistant . Solving simple, uniform questions, informing, not requiring special knowlge.
- Cold calling . Generating leads over the phone using specially develop scripts.
- Surveys bas on a pre-prepar scenario . Determining consumer preferences regarding the company’s activities or products.
Often, outsourc call centers perform the function of telemarketing – they make sales over the phone. The work is structur as follows: an employee finds a potential buyer’s contact in the database, contacts him, finds out his nes, resolves doubts and objections, and makes a favorable offer.
Call center structure
The structure depends on the scale and specifics of the business, the number of tasks to be solv.
In addition to the manager, supervisors and operators, the staff may include representatives of other professions: equipment maintenance specialists, testers, HR managers. The structure of outsourcing centers may also include sales managers. They look for new customers, negotiate terms of cooperation.
Software and equipment also depend on the specifics of the organization. When covering a wide audience, powerful servers, high-spe Internet, telephony and CRM integration, call processing programs are requir.
If an organization wants to work using a voice answering machine, then its call center structure should include one of the IVR models – interactive voice response:
- Static . Gives pre-record responses. For example, reads out delivery terms, dictates contact numbers, explains directions.
- Dynamic . Can work with databases, connect to them at the client’s request, automatically issue various information – account balance, amount of debt and other information.
The more stages of work ae automat, the more efficient the department’s activities. A robot that has taken on the responsibility of resolving typical issues frees up to 60-70% of a specialist’s working time, allowing for an improvement in the quality of service.