Outbound Call Centre Management Tips

Why do companies prefer outsourcing their products and services instead of in-house services?

When an organisation decides to outsource call centre services either completely or partially, there can be numerous reasons:

Lack of skilled agents

Unorganised work structure

Lack of streamlined operations and services

Cost pressure

Lack of enough space or flexibility

Lack of leadership quality in managers, and so on.

Read Also: Standout in the Horde of Competition with Outsourcing Customer Service

Customers, on one hand, will smile from ear to ear when offered services according to their choices, but one groused customer can fade all those reputations earned working for so many years. Companies will certainly blame the call centre agents for not carrying out the work properly. Not considering that they might lack enough resources and tools, or enough experience to tackle their customers. Though these kinds of situations seldom happen, they badly affect an organisation’s brand name and image. The prime reason for a potential customer or ruining the company’s reputation is either the unmanageable workforce or unprofessional manager.

Therefore, today outsourcing services have overpowered the in-house management plans. Mostly outbound call centres or customer services are outsourced for meeting quality goals and customers’ expectations. Here are some of the tactics that in-house systems should learn from the outsourcing call centres:

Managers should be equally trained:

Most of the times, companies lose their potential candidates because they are unable to manage the everyday operations and workforce. Smaller everyday problems like for example, customer lagging time, transferring of calls, call handling time, and so on, can be more troublesome to handle. Therefore, it is extremely important for managers to be skilled enough to streamline your services and manage everyday task accordingly.

Create an optimum balance between revenue, services and cost:

An organisation’s success depends upon the capability to manage when you have everything and capability to manage when you have nothing. You should know when and how to manage your stuff and resources. Therefore, it is important to maintain a balance among the services, cost and resources. The ration of the three resources might vary depending upon the priorities of the organisation, but a manager should be able to verbally estimate the cost required and the revenue earned.

Read Also: Why Outsourcing Technical Support Makes Sense?

The output should be almost as estimated:

The prime focus of any outsourced call centre solutions is to provide a top-notch customer experience. It is quite possible that there is so much to focus on a manager’s job that micromanaging might occur sometime. For the above-stated problem, one of the most outreached solutions is to focus on the desired output.

Be steady and simple:

Taking a slow pace initially can prove to be beneficial afterwards. It is important to keenly observe the customer’s requirements and importance of the project. Then list the important Key performance indicators. Distinguish the priority work and assign it to the most experienced agents and then divide the works hierarchically. Keeping your work simple and streamlined will automatically help you to analyse the final output and improvisation required.

Do not unnecessarily complex the work by handling multiple of work simultaneously and not completing even one. This will only create confusion and increase time and estimated cost.

Set realistic targets:

Managing the outsourcing outbound call centre services can be at times challenging. When meeting the target are set high and unrealistic. Just to enhance your services and get more leads, you cannot set such target that is unachievable in a day or two. Also, the targets should be compatible with the provided budget. This gives a negative impact on the customers that due to an insufficient budget you are continuously postponing the project delivery. Logically divide the work structure and the required budget. Cross check it and get the required feedbacks from your managers.

Motivation:

The biggest force to drive an agent to continue handling calls and queries is motivation. This is a tool which binds one agent to its organisation and reduces the attrition rate. Not every field demands twenty-four-hour service, seven days a week. The outbound call centre agents require doubling the motivation required for any other department. Sometimes bonus, incentives, appraisals, rewards and awards would no harm in driving the workforce. In fact, these awards keep an agent upbeat and enthusiastic about his work.

Read Also: The Need of the Hour: Outsource Your Process to Generate Prospective Leads

Wrapping up: Streamline the project and its processes

Outsourcing services do not mitigate the importance of in-house services. It is important to understand that whether the given services are outsourced or in-house, agents try to meet the best of your interest. Thereafter, it is more important to build a relationship of trust and understanding with your customers.