Category Archives: Call Center

For me, I do my calls in my room alone. If there is anyone else doing calls in the same room it feels very stressful. I like working alone. I also do calls about ten hours a week, and have been doing the same for twenty years. This way I don’t burnout by doing too much of the same stressful work. My other work hours are spent doing other things.

But, for those working at call centers, you can’t chat with your co-workers because they are on a call when you are not. You have to learn sign language to communicate with them or pass notes.

The substitute for being able to chat with others is to be constantly monitored like a slave. People are always looking over your shoulders or listening in to your calls. Call center agents in Russia call this — business as usual. But, for the rest of the world we are not used to the fact that the walls have ears.

The lack of job security is yet another form of lack of social support. People get canned for light and transient reasons all the time at call centers and also quit. Workers feel they have to put up with difficult customers, yet get very little recognition for their talents and skills.

Feeling undervalued, stressed out, monitored, and not allowed to talk to anyone would drive anyone out of their minds. Can’t a call center engineer a healthier way to do business? Maybe a call center where everyone gets their own room with windows that open; Lots of time to go to the bathroom and take walks or breaks; Chat time where people could chat with others; and some way to relieve oneself from the night schedule that drives Filipinos crazy at call centers. I think doing four hours a day of call center work and then spending the other four hours doing some other type of task makes more sense. It is also a way to get daylight and see your family — another form of social support.

For those just out of college, a call center job is a logical step. Call center work pays relatively well, and only requires two weeks of training. No experience is necessary either. You do need to be fluent in English and have some college under your belt.

Most call center work is done at night in the Philippines and in India. But, if you are lucky enough to get Australian clients, you might work during the day!

Training includes product knowledge, communication skills, and how to speak with a neutral or American accent.

The reason why call center jobs are so available is because the burnout rate and attrition is so high. People cannot handle working the night shift day after day, week after week. And in addition, the stress of having micromanaging higher ups and irate customers can drive a grown man to tears. Call center work is not for the faint of heart, but if you can handle it — all the more power to you!

It is exhausting and insane to answer phones more than four hours a day. Even four hours is enough to thrive the average person to madness. When I’m on vacation in places that boost my energy, I wake up early and like to do long hours of calling to destinations all over the United States. But, after three days of this in my favorite relaxing desert or forest of choice, I lose my mind!

But, there must be ways for the call center industry to pair call center work with other related and easy to master work. But, what? I know — email support.

The beauty of email interaction with clients is that you can answer the emails in a bunch at a time convenient for you. I typically do emails once or twice per day. I let them stack up and then do them in a bunch. If I am on vacation, I will check in after a few days and then nail off all of my emails. It takes longer when you have a pile of two hundred staring you in the face. But, for call center agents, they are already used to answering questions all day long. Answering them by email doesn’t require a drastically different skill set (other than spelling and typing dexterity) and is much more relaxing than dealing with screaming, anxious clients.

Another way to pair call center work is to pair Australian call center work with American work. That way you can be awake for part of the daylight in the Philippines or India so you don’t lose your mind completely. If you are going to survive in the BPO industry long term, you need a sustainable way to keep sane and healthy which is not easy!

Chat support is another good idea. It is time sensitive, since you have to be online when the client is, but it offers more time flexibility. You can do chat support 24 hours a day while you can only legally call a residence in the United States from 9am to 9pm local time. Pairing chat support with call center work might help agents to get a little much biologically needed sunlight into their system.

Finally, simple data entry tasks are not time sensitive and are how I pair my day with call center activities. I add listings to various databases for my online directories. It is tedious and repetitive boring work, but I am used to it and can handle it two hours a day without banging my head against the wall.

But, what I want to know is — what kind of work pumps you up instead of draining you? For me, it is discussing interesting ideas and meditating on business decisions. I think I should do that once or twice a week to optimize my week. What about you?

I notice that whenever I interview call center agents, or deal with them on the phone, the quality of the service is never that great. Either their interaction skills are not the best, or their product knowledge is poor. Some people are not so easy to understand on the phone either. So, what is the problem? Is it skills, training, or what?

In my opinion the problem in the call center industry is similar to that in the programming world. There is so much demand for these services that people who are just not that great are able to make a full-time living day after day, and year after year. People also quit so often, or get swallowed up by bigger corporations or larger projects, that good service providers are simply not easily available if you are hiring.

If conditions were different and there were a larger pool of people who wanted call center jobs, but fewer jobs, then companies could raise their educational requirements, have longer contracts (people quit after two months on a whim regularly,) and hire only the ideal candidates.

People outsource work to save money. But, when you read studies and see what the average wage is for a particular job in a particular country, or ask companies what they charge, the rates are deceiving. Knowing average rates doesn’t do you any good. Knowing how much someone you like enough to hire will charge means a lot more. I see that a lot of Filipino companies charge $7 per hour, but I don’t like any of their reps. In Central America it is more like $9 per hour. I have no idea of how good the average Panamanian reps are. India has even cheaper reps, but I am not so satisfied with their language or communication skills unless they are the owner (and that’s only some owners.) Americans seem to have the best communication skills, but are not always so good with understanding technical information. I don’t know if paying more will get me a better agent, or just being lucky. Eventually I want to hire agents to help me out. I wish I knew the secret.

Taking someone with a good personality and teaching them product and technical knowledge seems reasonable. But, can you take someone who is technically good and teach them to have a good personality? The odds seem against you – but, you never know!

There are lots of call centers out there, and many operate at affordable rates. You can copy someone’s business model and rates, but you cannot copy their customer service and it is customer service that wins the game. Here are some ideas for call centers to offer the best service.

1. Rep Selection
Many call centers either pick reps for you or give you one or two reps to interview. Basically they are dumping whomever they can’t place on your account which is not flattering. If you want to keep happy customers, give them lots of choices of reps, so that they can find someone they like even if it is a lot more effort for you. The other guys won’t do this, so you can stand out by being the most helpful.

2. Script Writing
When someone hires a call center, they normally have a script or a series of scripts for different purposes. The business owner should supply the call center with the script. But, what if the call center can understand the business model and refine or write their own scripts as a matter of policy? That seems like an excellent customer service idea.

3. Feedback
Many companies just don’t get back to you to let you know how things are going. If you make your employees get back to clients daily or weekly to let them know how things went, that might be very highly appreciated.

4. Contracts
New clients might not want constrictive contracts. They don’t know you and don’t know what to expect. A contract is a tool that guarantees how much monetary inventory the client will give to the call center, but doesn’t guarantee the quality of the service. In this sense contracts are completely unfair in favor of the service provider. If you want to attract smaller and newer clients, try to be very flexible with contracts otherwise you alienate them for no reason.

5. Metrics
Do you decide on metrics or do you meet with the client to decide together? Some clients want to spend a more flexible time with customers while others want the most efficient service possible even if that means cutting conversations short and being in a hurry. Customized metrics are important if you want to please your client.

6. Attrition
If your client likes a rep and then they just quit, that is very frustrating. It is important for a business to know who they are working with. I would not offer good money to anyone new. But, I would offer good money to someone tried and true who has at least six months on my personal account. If your reps quit on schedule every three months, we are not going to get to the six month mark. You might charge a higher rate for reps who have been with you longer. You might consider creating nicer working conditions so people don’t quit much.

7. Phone Lines
When I talk to overseas call centers, their phone lines are often poor quality internet lines. You are specializing in communication, so you should be top notch in all aspects of it.

8. Coaching
Most successful call centers coach their workers. But, how much time do your clients spend coaching your workers who work for them? This is very important and should be a matter of policy that is worked out before you start a work relationship.

9. Communication
How easy is it for your client to talk directly with your workers? It might be difficult as they might be on different time zones. You need to make it easy for communication to take place.

10. Parties
Call centers are famous for having parties. Do you invite your clients to parties regularly even if it is by web cam? Maybe you should. It is fun and builds the bonds of a close relationship. Close relationships last longer than distant ones!

People who work at call centers get all types of clients. Some are a pleasure, while others are just plain difficult or traumatizing. Here is an itemization of the types of clients you might bump into at a call center.

In a Hurry
Some clients are in a hurry and want to get off the phone as fast as possible. Some refuse to answer critical questions and ask you to call them back.

Refusal to Talk
Others just don’t want to talk to you. Perhaps they are busy or just don’t like you. Many won’t even listen to why you are calling, they just don’t want to talk.

Angry
Some clients are just angry. They might be angry at your company, or angry in general. It is easy to get angry clients when something happened to their phone service, their computer, internet, credit card or their account with your company.

Overly Talkative
Some customers just won’t shut up. They keep talking and talking. Any question you ask that requires a one word answer or a quick sentence ends up with minutes of rambling most of which is completely irrelevant to the question at hand.

Annoyed
Customers are often annoyed if they have to call in to a call center. Being put on hold, or talking to an automated attendant can be enraging. If the process could just be more simple!

Engaging
This type of customer also talks a lot, but they interact with you in a meaningful way that you migth actually enjoy!

If you can think of any other types of call center clients, please write a comment to this blog!

One lady who worked at a call center was too nice to the customers. She gave them discounts when they had a problem. She was very patient to them when they were mean. She pulled strings in their favor. He colleagues criticized her for being too nice. But, at the end of the day her negative minded co-workers quit or got fired fast, and she lasted.

Sometimes a good call center strategy or business strategy is not about what gets you ahead, or even what makes you money. What is important is keeping your employees on board, keeping your customers and staying in business. In the long run, if you are still there, that is half the game.

If you are too nice to clients, in the long run they will probably stay with you for years. Companies that are successful normally have a huge base of clients who are loyal to them in the long run. Whatever you lose by giving an unwarrented discount is small compared to what you gain by keeping a client for ten years. Getting new clients is costly, but retaining old ones has been found to be a better investment. Some people say that getting a new client costs six times more than maintaining existing ties. So, it pays to keep who you have before you go spending a mint on marketing for new clients!

If you have ever stepped into a call center, you will notice that human beings are attached to computers and machines like slaves. It is sort of like the Chinatown analagy where indentured servants are chained to a stove cooking kung-pao chicken all day long. How depressing — but, easy on the pao please!

The air in call centers isn’t so fresh, and there is noise and stress from nearby work stations. People work like sardines with tiny desks stacked next to each other. Bathroom breaks are not so easy to get either. On top of that you have to deal with irate clients on a regular basis and deal with annoying situations like credit cards that have been turned off, computers that won’t turn on, etc. It just seems like pure hell. No wonder the attrition rate is so high.

The problem is that big call center managers aren’t very creative people. I think they would benefit from reading my blog as well since I offer creative solutions to not so creative problems. If people live in slave-like conditions, how can they possibly stay on the job for more than four months or show compassion? The answer is they can’t. And the solution is to solve all of the hellish conditions one demon at a time.

1. Bathroom breaks
Call center agents should have a more flexible shift where they can take bathroom breaks whenever they like so long as they login the hours they were away from their post (AKA login how long the ball was away from the chain.)

2. Snooze breaks
Nothing beats a good snooze. You feel so much better afterwards. But, should your boss determine when you snooze, or your body? Your body has different needs on different days, so having a six and a half minute snooze at 3pm every Thursday might not be the solution. The freedom of choosing when to snooze is half the victory. There should also be snooze rooms where you can get a comfortable place to lie down in a quiet environment, perhaps with water sounds.

3. Air
I have a heart problem, so air is particularly critical to me. But, normal humans don’t feel good when they are around bad air. It makes more sense to be in a forest or near the beach to get clean air. And call centers have the freedom to be where they like.

4. Mean managers
Call centers can have certain managers who specialize in metrics, and analysis, and others who specialize in interacting with the workers in a way that doesn’t rub anyone the wrong way. “Your metrics are down 10% today Jose! But, I’m sure you’ll get the calls per hour metric back up, won’t you? — no pressure!”

5. Mean clients
If you figure out who the mean clients are and funnel them to someone who is better able to deal with them, your other agents won’t quit so often. Just one mean client per day can set off call center agents who I know!

6. Task shuffling
If you do call work all day long that can drive a person crazy. It is better to mix it up with data entry, writing, or some other task. It might be harder to find people who can do a good job on more than one task, but it would keep them around more. Being on the phone more than four hours a day in the long run drives me crazy which is why I limit my personal call work to 20 hours a week no matter what!

7. Stressful environment
It is obvious that a call center is the most stressful environment known to man-kind (or Manila-kind as the case may be.) To counteract that stress, why not have a call center in the most de-stressing environment like a beach. Instead of a huge office, why not have high-tech huts on an abandoned beach somewhere. You get clean air, relaxation, and a great environment. Agents could live in units near work and walk to work. And if they quit, they could go back to the city or wherever else they want. Doing the same thing in a forest or prairie makes equal sense.

It is much easier to show compassion if you have suffered in your past. But, being in an unbearable environment doesn’t enhance your ability to be kind to others. That is why a good environment, and a good system of taking breaks and dealing with others is imperative!