How is setting up an outbound call center different than setting up an inbound call center?

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 Inside Sales, Telemarketing or TeleCollections.

Top Performing Call Centers drive their Revenue & Performance through Superior Hiring Tactics. Hiring the wrong Agent 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 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 Agents found in a Call Center: (Above Average), (Average), and (Below Average).

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(Average) Agents 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 Sales Closing standpoint.

(Below Average) Agents 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) Agents 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) Agents 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.

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I would have to disagree that the technology is the same. An outward and inward environment are quite different in almost every aspect. It starts with the employees where outward associates need to be much more outgoing - quite a different profile. You must set new processes, hiring guidelines, metrics, floor environment, compensation, etc.. You need to consider the possiblility of using blended agent technology. The outward calls also bring different regulatory guidelines into play so be careful those have been considered.

I have managed both inward and outward centers. It can happen and be very successful. I do agree that is can be quite rewarding to make the change. You need to ensure you have an expert on-board as strategy is very critical in an outward environment.

I would add that on the dialing side you need to decide what type of dialing you want to do. Do you want to utilize predictive dialers to automate the dialing and disposition determination or do you want to utilize Preview dialing. Are any of the outbound campaigns potential for an Outbound IVR application?

As mentioned above, you want to get up on all of the latest regulations regarding outbound dialing. I just attended an ACA conference and there was a lot of information they have on those regulations.

You do need to make some decisions on how you want your inbound and outbound operating. Do you want them to be isolated or do you want to go with more of a blended environment? Once you go blended you have decisions on the degree/approach you want to go.

One other thing to think of is there is a growing trend to utilize hosted contact center technology, you could look into utilizing a hosted dialing solution and have that tie to your current inbound system.

I would say to definitely look at your various options of operation and lay down a solid requirements and architecture definition from the start.

When you are managing the outbound side, you not only need to measure how well the agents are doing, but also how well your outbound campaign is doing. What's your connect rates to actual people and more importantly your right party contact rate, your promise to pay, etc. There are tools out there that optimize the outbound dialing to improve right party contacts by learning best times to call.

Above all, think through your requirements up front and do a good job of documenting and agreeing with your vendors on those requirements. I don't think you ever nail 100% upfront, but it's key that you nail down as much as possible and then manage the project carefully.

That's about it from here. It's a fun time starting up a solution like this. Enjoy!

Mark J. Michelson Sr.
JEMMM Connections,LLC

I agree with Jeff Umbreit's comments. When running an inbound/outbound call center, the campaigns must be created with certain criteria in mind such as type of delinquency for collections, time of day the numbers are to be called as well as actually dialing the correct numbers to get in touch with the customers. For example, you wouldn't dial the home number of a customer between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. because chances are that individual is at work. In addition, penetration rates must be established for maximum effectiveness. As for the individuals that are hired, collections and sales are not for the squeamish. Make sure that job candidates are able to converse freely and comfortably. Depending upon what computer system is used, I would also screen for computer skills. An effective agent will be able to navigate his or her computer.

It is very important to set up the compensation model, the sales bonus scheme.

Another issue to deal with is the Database, it should be depured, filtered and profiled based on the target you are going to work.

The staff should be well profiled too, the supervisors should practice great motivation and communication skills.

It works very well to implement internal competition in order to improve sales productivity.

As far as my knowledge goes, the technology is, if not completely, different in many aspect. An outbound and inbound environment are quite different in the the behavior that the employee have to possess. One has to define the set processes, working guidelines, floor ethics, etc. differently for both kind of call centers. Outbound process demands more outward behavior to approach the clients. I hope you all agree with me on this point.

Some great commentary here for you. To add to what has already been stated...and to speak specifically to 'Top Considerations' as you state, you really need to address all departmental functions. For example: 1)Technology, as stated can be suited specifically for outbound, inbound, blended, and depending upon your needs/wants can have IVR, WFM, Quality, etc...either included, or brought in through other tools. You really need to map that out with your current infrastructure, and how you see it changing. There are SAAS models you can apply to try and limit capital outlay up front...but much to consider here. 2)HR/hiring - outbound and/or blended work is a different environment to hire for and to manage. Don't overlook the fact that many agents who are top performers on inbound, will fail doing outbound. Evaluate skill sets, requirements, hiring questions, etc...and hire accordingly 3)Compliance - depending upon the industry/s, the type of work, etc...there are many compliance regulations that may apply. State registrations, DNC compliance, call recording, call times, scripts, etc...all need to be reviewed and developed. You do not want to find yourself out of compliance. 4)Performance Management - again, some great comments here and to add, you need to address dialer management (some technology is easier than others in what it can do on it's own), scripting capabilities, WorkForce Management, Reporting and Quality Management. Outbound measures/metrics can and will in many programs differ from that of Inbound work. 5)Training - another area where depending upon the type/s of outbound programs being handled, Training needs to be approached in the context of the program type. You will train outbound agents on different tools, different approached of call skills, etc...than you would for an inbound program. It's important to not overlook this as you want to train the ob agents to succeed, and keep attrition in check.

Those are top areas that come to mind from the 16 years I've been dealing with call center. I recommend finding one Operations expert and one I/T expert to bring on board or contract-to-hire...in order to help set in place your strategy. With so many technology directions though, you may want to select these resources once you have defined the platform that fits.