Comments on: Hire a call center? Are you crazy?

By: Mekashron

Mekashron — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 05:04:38 +0000

Thanks for sharing your experience. I too will take care of all the things you had described.

By: Michael rana

Michael rana — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 09:10:43 +0000

I think bangladesh is doing pretty good in call center market. They are just a starter in this industry and I know few companies in NY are having their Inbound customer support from Bangladesh. They are pretty happy with the support and saving more money then they used to save when they were getting the services from India. Moreover, they are not getting any complaints regarding accent problems. Lets hope for the best and should give some time to bangladeshi.

Regards
Michael Rana
www.aeoncc.com

By: webmaster

webmaster — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 10:34:10 +0000

Great Job interesting topic , I would like to read more on this topic and Bpo Services .

By: Andy Lewandoski

Andy Lewandoski — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 05:24:29 +0000

I wholeheartedly agree. I'm in global business development at an outsourced US-based call center. Point-by point, I'd add: 1. Test calls. Yes, make test calls and give valuable feedback to your service rep. If you've picked a good call center, one that responds well to your needs, they'll work through issues with you. If you've picked a great call center, they'll offer scripting help and share their expertise with you in how to best handle certain call types. Great service reps have seen many different situations, and will be able to coach you through what can work best for your unique need. 2. Watch the contract. A good call center will be flexible on contract lengths. You should be able to get out of a contract easily if things don't work out for you. No vendor should hold you to something that doesn't make business sense for you. Don't sign your way into an long obligation before the vendor has proven themselves. 3. Visit. Absolutely. They should be open and willing. If you're spending a significant dollar amount with them, they should encourage you to visit. 4. Train the Agents. Or better yet, make sure the training process is strong. Make sure your vendor is thorough in developing good scripting with you. Make sure they're picking quality agents. Make sure they're not paying minimum wage. See if they perform background checks on their agents. Ask how their quality assurance system works. Ask questions that show that you'll be paying attention. I can assure you that their response to questions like these will let you know if they are paying attention.

By: » Affiliate Management, Getting Relief from a Call Center Affiliate Marketing Journals

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 07:33:08 +0000

[...] Howlett offers this final thought in an article appearing on Marketing Pilgrim: In general, call centers are a necessary part of growing for most internet retailers. The key is [...]

By: Utah SEO

Utah SEO — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 05:01:08 +0000

I can outsourced call centers are good for overhead but bad for customer service. Those $8-$11 an hour people and/or Indians don’t really care much about your company.

Calling foreign countries is a nightmare too. So many people quit services due to such things.

By: Call Center Expected Growth: "Explosive" | Answering Service Blog | American Inbound

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 22:42:18 +0000

[...] I just found this inappropriately titled article: Hire a call center? Are you crazy? It is, of course, a pro-call center article. After all, who would ever want to write negative words [...]

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 20:54:52 +0000

Outsourced call centers are great for businesses to save on overhead, but they always suffer in customer service quality. I can’t stand getting somebody in another country that doesn’t care that I’ve been a customer for the past 6 years… then they try to stick it to me by making me pay for the hardware that new customers are getting free. They don’t care because they aren’t even employees of the company that is putting money in their pocket.

By: Jayson

Jayson — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 19:10:08 +0000

Great recommendations. As a consumer that gets calls and makes calls to call centers I can’t agree with these tips more. I can’t tell you how many times these call centers have ruined my experience and damaged the thoughts I’ve had about a company.

I’ve also had very pleasant experiences with call centers – I guess it just depends on the call center and the expectations and requirements they place on their employees.

By: Nicole

Nicole — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 08:03:48 +0000

I have personally dealt with many call centers which provide extremely poor service. If their employers were to experience it first hand, they would be fired on the spot. I think the idea of placing test orders or inquiries is something all companies should do periodically, not just in the beginning.

By: Melissa Brewer

Melissa Brewer — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 05:13:26 +0000

The definition of “call center” is changing – just as Denise from Talk2Rep mentioned. Call centers are making a major comeback due to the increased focus on CRM. Many, many companies now have virtual call centers in place that handle call volumes large and small. Most of these new “virtual call centers” hire people who work from home, resulting in a more educated, mature applicant pool. Some of the stats show that the majority are college educated, in their mid-30′s, and generally much more loyal and hardworking because they telecommute. So don’t be surprised if “call center” is no longer a dirty word for many online retailers.

By: Denise

Denise — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:40:10 +0000

Our calls centers handle many of the worlds largest retail clients. Unfortunately, like any other business, some calls centers and offshore operations are sweat shops and back office dungeons. At Talk2Rep, we take great pride in inviting retailers to our us based operations, we find that our profeesional operations are a selling feature for these clients. The issue is cost, many retailers observe just price, and like most things, you get what you pay for.

By: Futon-Matt

Futon-Matt — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 15:20:21 +0000

With my small business I’m taking care of everything on my end, but I can see how a call center could become necessary. Great post.

By: Zen

Zen — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 10:38:41 +0000

A lot of international companies outsource their customer support call centers to Argentina thanks to the cheaper prices due to the Argentine peso / dollar conversion rate. Hope this info was useful!

By: GoWFB

GoWFB — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 10:19:29 +0000

Good post there. it’s so true that a call center reflects on the business and can be a very influential factor.

By: Ades

Ades — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 22:46:09 +0000

Agree on all points. However if your business’ core competence is in customer service then it’s better to handle the calls in house.

By: Jacob Morgan

Jacob Morgan — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 22:05:07 +0000

I believe more and more retailers are hiring call centers because many of them are seeing a decline in profits and are looking for ways to cut corners to save money.

Declining profits in my opinion, are due to misconceptions in marketing. Most marketers still think that you can target the masses and then just sick back and watch the money flow, you can’t.

I’m curious to see how various company forums are going to react when they find out that they were trying to call an office in L.A. and got transfered to Bangladesh.

By: Justin Palmer

Justin Palmer — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 22:02:20 +0000

Couldn’t agree more. Unfortunately, controlling your brand and reputation through a call center is extremely difficult. Customer’s don’t understand the distinction between talking to real company customer service vs. an outsourced call center. They will hold you responsible for poor service.

Like you said, the key is secret shopping them often.