24 hour Answering Services

One of the fastest-growing trends in business today is the call center. Outsourcing calls can increase profits, enhance the quality of customer service, streamline business operations and save money. With virtual accessibility, call centers have become a possibility for any business, large or small.

What are the advantages to a business owner of using a call center?

(1) Staying Knowledgeable. Call center agents are on the job 24/7 to handle calls and keep business owners advised about what`s going on in their client base. Some call centers even furnish statistics about customer calls.

(2) Fewer Personnel Issues. Agents are hired and trained by the call center, which also handles payroll and other personnel responsibilities.

(3) Efficiency. Incoming calls are automatically routed to the appropriate agent, making the best possible use of an agent`s knowledge and training. If one agent cannot rectify a problem, the call can be rerouted to a more educated agent. Calls are always answered despite the ebb and flow of business call volume.

(4) Accessibility. With 24/7 coverage, agents are always available to place orders, settle problems or complaints, offer technical assistance, answer questions and schedule appointments, all at the customer`s leisure.

(5) Savings. use of a call center reduces the need for rented space, furniture and equipment for customer service representatives. Also, it`s less costly to outsource calls than to retain agents on all three shifts.

(6) More Freedom. Call centers handle the client base, allowing owners to expand their business.

Conversely, there is a down side to using call centers.

(1) Unpredictable Service. The quality of customer support depends upon the skill set and knowledge of a given agent and skills can vary widely between agents.

(2) Communication Problems. Customers complain about not being understood and not understanding agents from call centers in non-English speaking countries, with accents and/or limited ability with the English language. Some customers report that these agents are poorly trained, unable to solve problems, answer questions or take appropriate actions.

(3) Lack of Knowledgeable Personnel. Some call centers have inadequate supervisory personnel to solve problems an individual agent cannot deal with. This can leave a customer`s problem indefinitely unresolved.

(4) Dissatisfied Agents. Some representatives report feeling dehumanized at call centers due to inadequate salaries, lack of privacy, inability to leave their work stations and the stress of continual incoming calls. This can produce apathetic agents who are unfriendly to customers.

(5) Having to Call Repeatedly. Some customers report that, due to the great variability of skill among agents, they must dial the call center more than once to connect with an agent who has the ability to solve a particular problem or to address a particular query.

Call centers are the direction of the future and most businesses are at least considering outsourcing their calls. However, the success of outsourcing will be a function of the superiority of service delivered by the call centers themselves.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 10:15 pm and is filed under Answering Service. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.