Posts Tagged ‘outbound call center’

Customer Service 101

Wednesday, May 16th, 2012

Good customer service is the foundation of any business such as Philippine contact center. In today’s world, business competition is harder than ever and consumers are willing to spend more in exchange for excellent customer service. Most businesses realize the importance of being committed to customer service that’s why they outsource and make use of inbound call center services and outbound call center services.

 

A Philippine call center must know that they not only need to meet their customer’s expectations, but they must strive to exceed them. For inbound call center agents, there is more opportunity in exceeding customers’ expectations even when they’re complaining. The important thing is that you listen and don’t tell them that they’re wrong; then acknowledge the issue, try to reach an agreement, and do your best to keep them happy. They may not be right, but at least you listened to their point of view. Usually people just want to be heard. You must use this complaint as a positive thing to help you grow and improve.

 

In an outbound call center setting, you need to be flexible in your approach. Don’t just make a sale but rather, offer solutions in the best interest of your customer. You also need to let customers drive how you interact with them. Though you may not always be able to offer the type of communication channel your customers want, you can still be responsive to their behavior. Lastly, honor your word. If you tell someone you’ll follow-up with them by end of day, you have to do it. There’s nothing worse than having someone tell you they’ll contact you later, then having to track them down again. Keep in touch with customers and check if the products or services are good.

 

Good customer service results to repeat guests while bad customer service drives customers away taking their friends, family and workmates. It is very important to have a good customer service not just to make the customers happy but to attract potential customers.





Outbound Call Center: Basics of Telemarketing

Monday, March 5th, 2012

Because of high competition in the global market, organizations around the world are looking for more cost effective way to reach their customers. It is a way to link the efficiency of automation to the real marketing needs of highly competitive business world. Telemarketing is the systematic use of the telephone by trained people to increase profits and reduce selling costs. It is all activities connected with, anticipating, identifying and satisfying customer requirements by phone.

 

To succeed in telemarketing, you should also be fully aware of the main purpose of the call as well as what you want the recipient to do after the call. It is also best to set a secondary objective that seems realistic. When it comes to generating sales leads, you have to remember that time is money for both you and your potential client. Be concise, clear, and spell out your intentions before the client gets the chance to hang up on you. However, you should also be ready to listen to what the he is trying to say. If he does not seem interested in the products or services you are offering, you have to respect their decision and thank them anyway. It is also important to ask meaningful questions that will illustrate problems that your clients may be experiencing. Do your best in sounding natural because there is nothing worse than listening to someone who sounds like he is reading straight from a book. A good telemarketer is a good listener but also someone who can make others disclose in him or her to a degree from the onset. That’s because the telemarketer must get his/her prospect talking. And that’s not possible unless the telemarketer’s manner evokes some trust in the other person. This is a vitally important make-or-break point of telemarketing.

 

 

 





Philippine Telemarketing: Guidelines for Choosing the Right Lead Generation Service

Friday, November 25th, 2011

Good lead generation is critical to the financial success of any company, whether large or small.  With the growing popularity of internet marketing, several different b2b lead generation companies have appeared on the internet.  That’s why if you opt to use an outbound call center for lead generation services, it’s very important to select one that gets you qualified leads. In so doing, you get to customers who will probably buy your products or services instead of those who will throw your marketing materials away without even looking at them. Below are great tips of a great lead generation service.

 

Choose an organization that has knowledge. If you choose an existing firm for lead generation services, you can also assess their history and discover wherever they are successful and where they’ve got battled.

 

Your outbound call center needs to work with you to definitely build a policy for lead generation. This helps to ensure that their services are part of your current marketing and advertising strategy. Interact to ascertain goals and then have them produce a plan that will allow you to reach these targets regularly. Your telemarketing agents will have to be associated with this method as they will be the methods ultimately get in touch with the leads.

 

Personal references must be requested and checked into. A professional outbound call center is often more than thrilled to provide this info. If the lead generation services firm hesitates to provide references, you need to keep looking.

 

Locate an organization which provides customer service when you need it most. If you find that your leads aren’t exercising, you might want someone you’ll be able to speak to. Will you be estimated to pay for leads which might be remote or will the organization give you new leads to make use of? This needs to be proven up front.





Call Center Career: Understanding Job Interview

Monday, October 24th, 2011

If you notice, most jobs featured in a jobs listing website are positions for business process outsourcing (BPO) companies. Among these jobs are customer service assistants and Philippine call center agents which are in fact, high paying jobs. That’s why it’s very important for job seekers to understand and prepare for job interviews because this maybe the beginning of your career path. You might be one of hundreds of people who respond to a job opening. However, most of the people who respond won’t get interviewed. They’ll get screened out through a process of elimination by an individual or committee which will determine the final candidates. Typically, this is how you’ll be scored during interviews:

 

Good chemistry.  Can you “fit” into the organization? This can be shown by your grooming; if you communicate and listen well with co-workers, customers and management; if you have personal interests and beliefs consistent with the company’s goals and objectives; if you have leadership potential and has a positive and upbeat with a can-do attitude, follows directions and accepts criticism.

 

Competence and ability.  Can you do the job? This implies your technical skills; expertise or if you have the background and experience to do the job and education or if you have the required knowledge.

 

Willingness and enthusiasm. How willing are you to have that job? This signifies your ambition or if you have the desire to learn, grow and excel and your being motivated, energetic and team player.

 

It is also important to understand the employer’s perspective, to make a good impression and focus on what you can do for the company. Remember, your value is what makes an employer want to hire you.

 





Philippine Call Center: Delighted Customers

Tuesday, September 13th, 2011

How does a delighted customer differ from the satisfied one? Let me give you an example. A customer went to a coffee shop and ordered for a cup of cappuccino. After few minutes, her coffee was served to her table. Definitely, she expected it to be hot. Then she was satisfied. The next day, she tried to get a coffee from a famous coffee shop in their town. When she got there, she was greeted with a warmth smile by the staff. She ordered her favorite coffee and was served to her after a few minutes. But this time, she was surprised because she got a piece of cookie along with the coffee and the server also offered her newspapers and magazines. From then on, she kept on coming back to that coffee shop.

 

Definitely, the customer was not just satisfied but was delighted. Satisfaction is based on fulfilling the expected while delight occurs from the unexpected. Companies need to go beyond simple satisfaction to retain customers and attract new ones. This can be done in many ways and everywhere, restaurant, hotel, store or even Philippines call center. For inbound call center, there is more opportunity in exceeding customers’ expectations.  You can do this by ‘going extra mile’ and truly care for your customers. In telemarketing, be flexible in your approach. Don’t just make a sale but offer solutions in the best interest of your customer. You also have to listen to your customers and know what’s important to them. If you received complaints, respond positively and quickly and thank them for their involvement. Use this complaint as a positive thing to help you grow and improve. Keep in touch with customers and check if the products or services are good.

 

Delighted customers will be more loyal and a business can create create customers for life.  The key for businesses is to determine the right customer experience for a great return.

 

 





Philippine Telemarketing: Developing Appointment Setting

Sunday, August 28th, 2011

One of the many ways in which businesses can use outbound telemarketing methods is through telemarketing appointment setting. Telemarketing appointment setting is a great way to improve business development efforts, but successful telemarketing appointment setting requires extensive skills and particular techniques. It also needs to be carefully monitored and measured by the business conducting the campaigns to ensure that they are being undertaken correctly.

 

Qualify the Prospect. This refers to making sure that the person you are trying to meet with is a good fit for what you are trying to sell. The best way to qualify the prospect is to ask a couple of questions during the cold call to see how they fit with what you have to offer.

 

Decrease Guard. There are very clear and practical things that you can do to do this.  Two things in particular are that name drop other individuals in the organization that you are calling into and you can disqualify the prospect.

 

Build Rapport. This can be challenging on a cold call as you really only have between two to five minutes to work with.  But there are some minor things we can do to build rapport like confirming they are available, disqualifying, delivering a value statement, active listening, qualifying, etc.

 

Build Interest. One of the keys is to finding pain. If there is no pain, there is no reason to meet with you. Once you uncover pain, you can focus and connect to it the business value that you have to offer.

 

Tell, Don’t ask. Once you have effectively built interest, you should go trying to get the appointment set. One thing to help with this is to shift from asking for the meeting to telling.

 

 





Inbound Call Center: Team Motivation

Wednesday, July 20th, 2011

Motivation techniques are often omitted from inbound team training. Practical sales skill training is easier to present, and doesn’t require the same research and preparation time. Motivating customer service agent requires regular blasts of effective training, belief changing viewpoints, and support and ideas on goal setting.

 

Use Your People. You might be tempted to hire employees outside of your small business, but an in-house sales force offers you more control, and at the same time more flexibility. The closer you keep your sales people, the better your marketing will be.

 

Choose your staff wisely. Simply because someone is a “smooth talker”, does not mean that individual can sell your product. To find the real cream of the crop you must first evaluate the candidate to see if he or she has these qualities: financially motivated, excited to expand their knowledge, self-assured, determined and focused.

 

Sales Team Training – Coach, Educate, and Guide your sales and telemarketing team. The most important thing in sales is to knowing your product. Nobody wants to buy a product that they are uneasy about. Your inbound and telemarketing team needs to be confident in what they sell. Encourage your sales and marketing team to seek additional training to further educate them in specific areas of expertise.

 

Non-financial motivation. Listen to your sales team and appreciate them for the hard work that they are doing to help establish your small business. Paid holidays, maternity leave and other benefit packages such as medical and dental, are all great incentives to work hard for your small business, and to stick with it in the long run.





Philippine Call Center: Work Relationships

Sunday, July 3rd, 2011

In today’s unpredictable and challenging business environment, you have to build successful work relationships and interact with people in a positive way to achieve your organizational goals. Developing good relations with Philippine call center agents and the supervisor should be one of your top goals when you begin work. Good relationships will allow progress to be made and will make work more enjoyable, but they must be kept in balance with the work itself. Here are some rules to keep in mind.

 

Do not become too intimate with co-workers or the supervisor. Becoming friendly with a co-worker is fine, as long as others are not excluded, and everyone is treated with the same respect in work-related situations. Your first consideration is to get the job done. Your second consideration is to enjoy your work.

 

Learn to keep emotions and feelings under control. No matter how rude someone is to you, stay calm and don’t lose your temper. It’s helpful to explain how you feel about what they said or did. Keep your voice calm and speak clearly. Let the supervisor handle it from there. It is better to try to solve problems yourself, if possible.

 

Avoid gossiping about co-workers. For example, running to the boss all of the time to tell him/her that a co­worker was on the phone or browsing facebook or a co-worker was reading a newspaper at his desk is not professional or ethical. Workers who do this are rarely trusted because they are so busy with other people’s business that they can’t tend to their own.

 





Call Center Career Tips: The Value of Punctuality

Tuesday, June 21st, 2011

Philippine call center life – especially as an urban dweller – can be most chaotic. However, the importance of punctuality should never be underestimated – showing up on time to an appointment or work is the mark of a truly professional inbound and telemarketing agents. Being punctual for your work day, your appointments, and your deadlines shows respect for others and for yourself as well. Being habitually late shows a serious lack of organization skills and perhaps will even give the impression that you do not like your job or the person you are meeting with. Here are a few tips to help you be on time:

 

Organize Your Pre-Work Routine: Get your clothes ready the night before, give yourself an extra thirty minutes to get ready, leave earlier than you absolutely have to. These are all things that can help you get ready and out the door so you can face the world—in the punctual way.

 

Know the importance of rest. Being well rested is another key to having your day go on schedule. If you are tired and fatigued you are less likely to be prepared for the next day. Just like having a set time to get up in the morning, you should also have a set time to go to bed.

 

Make a Record of Your Attendance: If your boss isn’t doing it for you and sending you reminders, make a record of when you come in to work late and when you get there on time. This may give you a clearer picture of how often you are tardy.

 

Work on Time Management: You are not going to get things done if you don’t make the time for that to happen. Most people can’t make up success as they go along.

 

 

 





Attrition: Challenge in Philippine Call Centers

Sunday, June 5th, 2011

Despite the phenomenal growth, Philippine call centers are still facing major challenges. One of which is the high attrition rate. According to study, the average length of employment for full-time agents working at 34 percent of the call centers surveyed is two years. Agents working at 27 percent of companies surveyed left their jobs after only six months to a year. This is a serious problem for call centers in the Philippines because hiring and training a new agent is expensive and each time you lose an agent and have to train a new one. This is affecting the bottom line, and with high attrition rates, this is a huge financial burden for any call center.

 

The top three reasons for call center turnover are: better opportunities elsewhere, lack of career development and repetitive work. For those who haven’t worked in call center may say that it’s a great job, because you get paid to sit at a desk and talk on the phone all day. But the reality is that, it is a very stressful job. Dealing with customer service everyday and having to reach quotas and the pressure of making the numbers creates a high burnout rate. And with so many agents working same job in inbound call center, it’s very hard to be recognized and to be acknowledged for their accomplishments.

 

So what must call center management do? You need to understand what motivates employees and what de-motivates them; you then know which areas to focus on to improve attrition. Not only is the training investment lost with high turnover, so too is the knowledge that comes with experience. That’s why call centers must know how to manage their attrition rates to ensure that levels of service are optimal and consistent.