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Customer Service Call Center help?
We went from our office admin handling customers service calls to hiring a full time person to handle them to now we need 4-5 full time people to answer customer service calls. We are growing fast and I think it's time I set up a scalable solution to handle our customer service call center. Where should I start?
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5 Answers
While most everyone can use a telephone - not everyone is cut out to work in a Call Center environment. Someone may have “The Right Stuff” to deliver great Customer Service & Support – it doesn’t necessarily follow that the same individual is also a good fit for the more demanding & sales-oriented requirements of Up-Sell/Cross-Sell or Customer Win-Back – let alone Inside Sales or TeleSales.
Hiring the wrong CSR to begin with is the Root Cause of most Call Center Performance Issues. It’s also a significant drain on your Budget & Bottom Line, on Customer Satisfaction Ratings, and on Up-Sell/Cross-Sell Sales Results. Every failed hire represents wasted dollars down the drain. Not to mention the Lowered Productivity, Poor Morale & Higher Absences associated with a Poor Job Fit.
Typically there are 3 grades of CSRs found in a Customer Care Call Center: (Above Average), (Average), and (Below Average).
(Above Average) CSRs seem to have “The Right Stuff” that pushes them to succeed & a natural compatibility with the duties of the position. They work hard - exceed expectations - do more than asked - achieve high-quality consistent results - can always be counted upon - need little direction & work extremely well with everyone.
(Average) CSRs perform their duties adequately enough “to get by” - but no better. They are the partially competent. Generally they’re strong from a Skills standpoint but missing a key ingredient or two from a Job Fit and Up-Sell/Cross-Sell/Customer Win-Back standpoint.
(Below Average) CSRs are the people who just don’t fit somehow. Sometimes they’re good people in the wrong jobs. They need extra coaching & supervision just to achieve average results. Often they cause unnecessary conflict. (Below Average) CSRs have the Highest Levels of Absenteeism, Lowest Levels of Productivity & Sales, Poorest Performance & Customer Satisfaction Ratings, and generally have a Negative Impact on Team Morale. They represent the real problems in a Call Center workforce. While (Average) & (Below Average) CSRs may seem fully qualified at the Interview Stage – they’re a Poor Job Fit – the cost of hiring them is enormous – with little value add to an organization.
Top performing Customer Service Call Centers drive their Revenue & Performance through superior hiring tactics. We help employers gain better insight & more accurate predictions as to which applicants from a pool of Candidates would perform up to, or beyond their established standards. You can find out about a Free Trial of SPAS Call Center Agent Pre-Employment Screening Software at http://www.telesoftsystems.ca/64201.html
call center planning is a kind of science. First of all you need to set your goals. Is it acceptable for your business to keep customers in a queue? If so, then for how long? Is there any pattern in call volume which will affect agents schedule? What is the average call handling time? What is the deviation in call handling? Are you going to separate callers into different queues based on number they have called for let's say support or placing orders? Are you going to provide auto-attendant which can pre-screen callers and provide some auxilary information and help your customers to reach appropriate departments or specific people on their own?
MITEL has all-in-one ACD (Automatic Call Distribution) system embedded into 3300 ICP platform. It can scale from 2 to hundreds of agents. For larger applications they can offer Contact Management Center solutions.
Asterisk is an Open source application which can be used as an ACD engine. It can be integrated with virtually any existing PBX over analog lines, TDM or VoIP trunks and can act as PBX itself.
The first step is to define a "Statement Of Requirement". The time taken preparing the document pays handsomely at the end of the project. It quantifies cost, highlights bottlenecks and works as an excellent tool for supplier evaluation.
For example, a client in a similar position identified that their requirement had to support a multi-level BOM of the kit onsite at the customer. EG move the extractor unit and that moved all the serial numbers within the unit.
Without the SOR they risked buying software without this, but more importantly, we didn't shortlist and evaluate apps without the feature.
I don't know what the unique feature you need will be, but you will have one that isn't in all applications. Find out what you need before buying anything.
PS: Don't allow a potential software vendor to do the SOR for you. .
Chris,
I would love an opportunity to compete for your business! I have over 20 years experience in the industry and I am celebrating my 16th year with CGS, a leading global contact center provider with facilities in the US (Tampa and Atlanta) as well as Romania (Brasov and Bucharest). We can provide support from our facilities or yours. Let me know if you have time for a brief conversation.
Sincerely,
Scott McKinley, Vice President
Contact Center Solutions Division
Computer Generated Solutions, Inc.
Office: 813-249-3281
Email: smckinley@cgsinc.com
Hello, if you require a call center needs, we can help, my name is Juan Ariza, I work at B-connect Services, a call center in Mexico City, we handle scalable offshore services such as customer care, technical support, telemarketing. We have over 14 years of experience and more than 3500 employees, we have also worked with Fortune 500 companies. If you wish to outsource this need please consider us.
Best Regards,
Juan Ariza
B-connect Services
jariza@bconnect.com
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