Category Archives: Call Center

On hold vs. a Call Back Feature

January 14, 2015 by admin
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Do you run a call center? Do you sometimes experience unusually high call volume? Every time I call for support I get unusually high call volume which makes me think that it is not so unusual. If you have fewer reps, they will be sitting around with nothing to do.

But, it might be easier for the customer to request a call back. Of course, you never know if and when the call back will happen. It’s better than being on hold for forty-five minutes. Your reps might like it better as that relieves the pressure of answering call after call without taking breaks and recollecting.

So, is it worth it? Think about it!

Wooing the call center client into a false sense of friendship

January 13, 2015 by 123outsource
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Some call center agents are the type you just want to get rid of. But, there are some very personable ones out there. They would be the perfect people to woo your clients into a false sense of friendship. You know those girls who are just so nice that you want to talk to them all day? They are just so caring sometimes too. I bet after twenty minutes of chatting they could talk you into buying anything! I wonder what their conversation might be like.

TINA: Thanks for calling X Enterprises and how are you today?

CLIENT: I’m not bad. How are you.

TINA: It is a nice day today, not too cloudy. Did you have a problem with your computer?

CLIENT: Yes, the pop ups just don’t start.

TINA: Oh, I’m so sorry, pop ups can be annoying. How long has this been going on?

CLIENT: It’s been a few months.

TINA: Let’s use this gotomeeting app and I’ll see what is really going on.

CLIENT: Okay, I’m logged in.

TINA: I have disabled pop ups, and I’m doing a scan for malware. It will take a few minutes. So, in the mean time, what do you use your computer for?

CLIENT: Oh, social media is a lot of fun, and I write to my friends and family. It is for pleasure mostly — pleasure and pop ups.

TINA: that sounds wonderful. I hope you find great articles to read on social media.

CLIENT: I do. Today I read about wine tasting in Croatia as well as malware that comes from China. Very international stuff!

TINA: Well, we have all of that in the Philippines too you know. We have mostly New Zealand wine here though. Sounds like you have a lot of fun on your computer. We have just finished your scan and you had a lot of malware and spyware plus a few viruses. I have your computer all cleaned up — at no charge because you are under warranty.

CLIENT: That’s wonderful — I love you!

TINA: I’m glad you had a good experience with us. You can text me any time. And one more thing?

CLIENT: Name it — anything.

TINA: Would you like to join our car buying information network? An introductary membership is only $12.99.

CLIENT: I love you so much I’ll buy three introductary memberships.

(2 hours later)

CLIENT: (talking to himself) What was I thinking? But, at least I can enjoy my online car network without pop ups.

Yelp reviews for Call Centers? What would they look like?

January 11, 2015 by 123outsource
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Have you ever thought about what a Yelp review for a call center would be? What would people complain about? What would they say they liked? Which comments would you love to hear, the ones that could help boost your business? Which comments would you dread, the ones that might discourage others from knocking on your door? If you approach your business with the goal of attracting positive Yelp comments, your business and your callers will both be better off!

Review #1 from Sam
* * * * * Jack’s Call Center rocks! I love their agents, and they are always there to help me. I was using them once a week, but now my business has grown and I am ready to expand to using them three times a week!

Review #2 from Jackie
* Jack’s Call Center is terrible. I signed up with them and they gave me the worst agent ever. The girl could hardly speak English and every time I asked her a question she said, “what?”

Review #3 from Patricia
* * The call center service was not bad. But, the incompetent manager called me at 3am. He forgot that California is 12 hours different from India time. Get a clue buddy!

Review #4 from Srikant
* * * * I love Jack’s Call Center. They employed all of my friends and give quarterly performance based wages. It is nice to be treated fairly for a change!

Review #5 from Andy
* * * * I wanted to give Jack’s Call Center five stars. But I was too lazy to tap an extra key.

Oh well. Just make sure your employees aren’t lazy on the job.

A call center where they pretend to be in the same room with you

January 7, 2015 by 123outsource
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People who work at call centers tend not to be the most imaginative. And they tend to burn out quickly as well. It might be more fun if there were a way to spice up the call center business a bit.

Whenever I make business calls, I always apologize profusely for how I am dressed and ask if they like the fragrance I’m wearing. Sometimes I ask if it bothers them that I am not dressed at all. I can imagine a motivational coach being upset that I didn’t dress for success — but, I work from home, so sweatpants and a t-shirt are the dress code for success around here.

AGENT: Nice to talk to you too.

CLIENT: Yeah, I am so glad you can help me.

AGENT: Yes, but one thing. It’s your desk. Have you dusted it recently?

CLIENT: Why, do you have allergies?

AGENT: Not yet, but I’m sneezing just being on the phone with… hold on… (a-choo) with you.

CLIENT: Wow, I didn’t realize it was so bad. I’ll use some bleach and clean it up so it is sterile enough to do surgery on.

AGENT: Sounds wonderful .I’ll bring a scalpel.

CLIENT: I like this virtual being together. It’s like a virtual marriage!

AGENT: You think? Well it will really be like marriage when you find out how much I spent on your virtual assistant plan without asking you. $2000 per month. But, you’ll love the VA I got you. Her name is Cindy and she is one of our best girls.

CLIENT: You spent how much? $2000? This girl better be good. It’s a good thing you took out the trash last week, otherwise you’d really be in the dog house.

AGENT: We don’t have dog houses in my country. That would make it like taking candy from a baby for the neighbors to have their dinner.

CLIENT: Yes, dog soup is a famous delicacy in the Philippines I heard. But, I didn’t believe that. I thought it was all a big joke.

AGENT: Anyway, love your hairstyle and the hair spray smells really good. We’ll talk to you later. Have a night afternoon.

CLIENT: It’s evening here in America, but, — whatever! Have a nice afternoon. And don’t forget to take my pants to the cleaners!

A call center that helps you with getting more followers on Facebook

January 6, 2015 by 123outsource
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There are call centers that remind you that your medical bills are due. Then, there are technical support and appointment setting call centers. The Philippines seems to dominate the industry, but many other countries like India are in on the game too. But, what about a call centre that helps you with the most pressing frustrations in your life? Let’s think about it. What types of things bother you the most? How to get a date with the guy or girl you like but are afraid to approach and how to get more followers on Facebook.

CLIENT: Hi, this is John — from Albany, NY. There is this girl I have been wanting to ask out for a long time. I am just not sure of the approach.

SUJATA: Well, according to my manual here, you should ideally start with an opener

CLIENT: An opener? You mean like a can opener?

SUJATA: No, I mean an opener line.

CLIENT: Oh, an opening line. Like what?

SUJATA: I have a whole online dictionary of all sorts of picking up phrases. Let me pick up a phrase right now. Let me see… here we go na? So, do you come here a lot?

CLIENT: Well, you see the girl goes to my school. So, I know that she goes there a lot.

SUJATA: Okay okay okay. So, we’ll use this one. Is there a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me.

CLIENT: I think that is a line for women to say hi to men in a riskee way, not for men to use on girls.

SUJATA: Oh, I see I see I see I see I see. Okay, I have another one na!

CLIENT: Na? What is na?

SUJATA: Oh, it is just something we say. Perhaps you should use that in your pick up line na?

CLIENT: This is not working. I have one other problem. I need to get more followers on Facebook. I have been on it for three years and only have 126 followers including my mom, sister, and cat.

SUJATA: Oh, that is not bad. Does your cat interact with you a lot on Facebook and share things?

CLIENT: Well, she shared a photo of a dead mouse, and shared my picture of her.

SUJATA: Oh, so sweet. Yes, according to our stats, photos of animals do quite well in Facebook as do photos of food, outerspace, and beautiful natural settings. It is the photos that make you go “awe” that will get shared the most. Perhaps you could have your cat do a selfie with a background of a Nebula or something like this na?

CLIENT: Let me try this. Okay, I’m going to do it with you on the phone. I have photo shop. Fluffie, and now… adding the Orion Nebula… When Santa’s helpers did a selfie, it was more of an “elfie…”

SUJATA: Oh, so you are a comedian too? Okay, I see the photo. I am going to share your photo with my followers. All 200,426 which includes most of my village in Karnataka, half of the computer literate folks in my part of Juhu Beach in Mumbai, and my clients in the United States.

CLIENT: This is amazing. My followers went up from 126 to 2126 in just ten minutes. You are amazing! You are the best Facebook helper I have ever met. As far as the dating tips — uh, maybe not. So, how do you do dating in your country just out of curiousity?

SUJATA: Oh, it is much easier. There are no pick up lines at all. Aunty or mom just meet other aunties, discuss if they have a son. We make sure they are from our subcaste first of course.

CLIENT: Of course! You gotta be from the same subcaste. That goes without saying. And then what?

SUJATA: Then, we learn what the boy’s father’s job is, and how old he is, and what the boy is doing for work etc. We make sure he has a suitable job. Whether we like each other is not part of the equation at all.

CLIENT: Oh, that makes it much easier. Because if you start out liking each other, that usually ends up with hate. Love turns to hate, at least in my dating relationships. If you start not liking each other, at least in the long run, there is a possibility that things could get better — so there would be hope.

SUJATA: Exactly. That is how we look at it too. We figure, that over the course of the marriage, we will eventually learn to love each other. It only took my parents fifteen years to learn to love each other.

CLIENT: Only fifteen years? Not bad.

SUJATA: Then, we invite the boy over and have chai. We decide within a time span of 20 minutes — the time it took me to get you 2000 additional followers on Facebook whether the marriage will work on not. Last, but not least then they ask me if I have an opinion.

CLIENT: So, what is the correct etiquette for you to say yes or no?

SUJATA: If I like the boy and feel he is a suitable match, I simply say yes.

CLIENT: And if you don’t like the boy?

SUJATA: Oh, that is quite straightforward as well. If I don’t like the boy I simply threaten to commit suicide by slitting my wrists with a dull and rusty razor blade if I am forced to marry the boy. That generally works with most Indian families.

CLIENT: Cool. I love it. I’m moving to India. Maybe I’ll have an easier time getting married over there. By the way, what caste would be considered over in your country?

SUJATA: Ummm. Let’s change the subject. Let’s talk about Facebook again. You see, you need to understand the algorithmic relationship between the photo and the line of text in any Facebook post. After a lengthy analysis of your posts, I have concluded that your main area of strength is that….

Making routine phone calls with fun & humor

January 4, 2015 by 123outsource
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In any business, you probably need to use the phone a lot. It is very boring and annoying talking to most customer service reps. Sometimes it is good to inject a little humor, at least with US clients. In India, humor might be taken as “unprofessional” or not understood as many people in India just don’t understand the concept of humor — at least not MY humor which involves play on words. Obviously, judge your audience to see if they like particular jokes or not.

I call many people daily for my Notary directory. Calls tend to be very dry and dull. I found a few ways to spice things up.

BEFORE: Hi, this is Jeremy from 123notary, we created a new listing for you and want to make sure the information is correct.
AFTER: Hi, this is Jeremy from 123notary. We created a new listing for you and are calling to verify that you are a real person.

Americans find this really funny. On the internet there are many profiles created by people misrepresenting themselves as someone else or by robots. I get a laugh almost every time from this type of verbiage.

BEFORE:
ME: How many loans have you signed in your career?
CUSTOMER: Oh Gosh, I don’t know.
ME: My form has room for numbers, not paragraphs.

AFTER:
ME: How many loans have you signed?
CUSTOMER: I have no idea.
ME: Well, I need a number to put in the box. A million?
CUSTOMER: Oh, no, not that many.
ME: Half a million?

The ridiculous over-estimate is funny to the clients.

BEFORE:
ME: Do you have a dual tray laser printer?
CUSTOMER: What are the trays for? I only have one tray.
ME: One for legal sized paper and another for letter sized paper.

AFTER:
ME: Do you have a single or dual tray laser printer.
CUSTOMER: Single
ME: Single and ready to mingle.
CUSTOMER: Actually, I have a dual tray at work.
ME: Dual and ready to duel. One tray for legal sized paper and the other tray for ILLEGAL sized paper!
CUSTOMER: Yeah, or perhaps for illegal sized Mortgage Brokers. I know a few!

Perhaps in your business you have some routine calls that you could spice up with humor. These days, life is so dull and unpleasant that a fun person to talk to about boring things with some humor interjected might be the perfect medicine!

A Call Center that offers technical support for defective cats

January 1, 2015 by 123outsource
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There are all sorts of specialties in the call center business. Some do hard sales, others do incoming service while many do technical support for the latest computers and software packages. But, who do you call when your cat becomes defective? 1-800-333-meao! This call center is located in Makati City in the Philippines and specializes in helping cat owners with their various problems.

CALLER: Hi, my cat is acting weird and I don’t know what do.

AGENT: Well, what did your cat say?

CALLER: She seems to be asking a question. She sniffed my computer and said Meao with a rising tone as if she was asking a question.

AGENT: Hmm, what did her tail do when she was asking you this question?

CALLER: It was curled at the end, kind of like a question mark.

AGENT: I see. It seems that your cat is confused based on the shape of her tail. Cats say a lot with their tail and their body language. Did you try explaining what the computer is for and why you were using it?

CALLER: Oh, I never thought of that. Maybe it was the new software I downloaded.

AGENT: That is interesting because our last caller’s cat warned him that he downloaded a virus and needed to quarantine it, but he was too dumb to understand what his cat was saying.

CALLER: Well, I hope you have an animal psychic who can communicate with cats like a “cat whisperer.”

AGENT: We actually do, but he can only communicate with Filipino cats. The culture is too different for cats in the United States. The food, activities, and the kitty cat mentality — you understand.

CALLER: I understand exactly.In any case, I’ll explain to fluffy what I’m doing. Thanks for being there!

AGENT: My pleasure. If you have any other issues with your cat, just call 800-333-meao!

CALLER: I will

CAT: Meao!!!

Call Center Agent Hotline – For Emergencies Only!

January 1, 2015 by 123outsource
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I know — it sounds like job training for call center agents. This is their opportunity to learn to deal with the toughest clients. But, it’s not. This is a call center agent hotline. They discuss topics such as burnout, mean bosses, suicide, and their poor diet which consists of a lot of fried chicken and hard alcohol (at least according to the blog articles I read about the Philippines.)

AGENT: Hello, this is John, how may I help you?

ALBERT: Hi, this is Albert — and I’m sick of my call center job. I’m sick of my life. I just want to end it all.

AGENT: Try to think of it from an outside perspective looking in. Try to see your entire life as one long call to a call center. It begins when you pick up and ends when you hang up. In the end, it’s all very temporary.

ALBERT: Wow, that is so philosophical — so Buddhist. Too bad I’m Catholic, otherwise I might actually start thinking that way, myself.

AGENT: There is no law in Catholicism that forbids you to entertain deep Buddhist thoughts.

ALBERT: It reminds me of that pop song, “Things that make me say Ohm.” But, if I do commit suicide, I want to do it in a symbolic way, so people will know how I feel. I want to hang myself from a phone cord.

AGENT: Wow, that’s a little too symbolic, too on the nose. If you jumped off a tall call center building, that would be faster and wouldn’t hurt so much.

ALBERT: Thanks. Wait a second, aren’t you supposed to talk me out of killing myself?

AGENT: Okay, for your sake, I hope you’re on a cordless. Actually, we’re just supposed to talk to you. It’s your decision whether to jump or hang. Just one thing, if you do commit suicide, don’t do it while you’re on the phone with me, or I’ll feel like you left me hanging.

ALBERT: Stop, you’re killing me.

AGENT: If you let me know who your boss is, I can arrange for someone to play a dirty trick on him.

ALBERT: You would do that for me?

AGENT: It depends how bad he is.

ALBERT: Who says he’s a he?

AGENT: I have twelve years experience in the business and know how to do anything without even being detected.

ALBERT: Makes sense. I haven’t detected much compassion. Honestly, you were sounding a lot more spiritual a few minutes ago.

AGENT: It’s still there but you can’t detect it.

ALBERT: Wow. You’re good.

Should your call center invest in a cloud contact center?

August 6, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

When you are in the call center business, keeping costs in line matters a lot. But, investing in good technology can make you more popular which means better agent retention as well as being more attractive to clients!

The beauty of a cloud system for call centers, or for any type of data retrieval business is that you are not dependent on a single server for all of your needs. Clouds operate with multiple servers in a group. If your call volume suddenly goes up, or if your server suddenly has technical difficulties, a cloud system can handle it seamlessly.

Your clients don’t want to hear that you had technical difficulties on Tuesday. They don’t want to hear about how your technician is working on it. They want to know the following:

(1) You have state-of-the art equipment and systems
(2) You pick the best agents and then invest in regular coaching & monitoring
(3) You retain your employees longer than the other guys
(4) You don’t have breakdowns

Sure, it might cost more to migrate to a cloud, but the advantages could help to retain existing clients and get more clients which is the only way your international call center operation will grow!

Cloud systems are virtual.
It is not necessarily more expensive to invest in a cloud system. It might be less expensive than your in-house on-site system. Consider the security issues. If there is a problem in your building, or with the electricity or cables, your system could experience technical difficulties. Cloud systems are housed in data centers which have high security and redundant sources of electricity, data cables (not sure what the technical term is for that since I’m an admin guy, not a technical guy,) and redundant everything else that they could possibly need. Your data center is safe from most natural disasters, civil unrest, and power outages. Additionally, data centers typically have multiple system engineers on staff twenty-four hours a day! You get infrastructure and service all in one reasonable monthly fee.

Integrating your cloud
It is not difficult to integrate your cloud with social media platforms such as Facebook, chat, email, etc. Customer records can easily be updated and queries can easily be made with a cloud system.

What is bad about a cloud?
For my personal website I opted against a cloud. The reason may surprise you. I am personally in the online directory business. If my directory has faster queries, more people will want to use my site. We learned that there is a speed difference in a query from a server and a cloud system simply because the query would have to interact with a gateway, and then with a database server in a cloud, while on my server it would only go through one server. Interesting! The speed difference is only a fraction of a second, or slightly over a second in the worst case scenario. But, for me, that could mean losing 4% of my market share which has a large value to me! The tiny margins in life can sometimes make the difference.

Just remember: if you are not crazy about migrating your system into a cloud, every cloud has a silver lining!

10 ways to get more clients for your call center

July 21, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

We have written many blog entries on how to get clients for your call center. This entry will just summarize some of the better ways that work.

(1) Web Site
Have an attractive web site with pages that load fast. Make sure your specialties, contact information, testimonials, and hopefully a blog with some meaningful articles about your work are included.

(2) Linked In
Linked In is the best social media network around to reach professionals. They have the highest rate of decision makers of any social media site (by far.) Network with decision makers that you find in Linked In business or outsourcing groups — there are many!

(3) Lead Generation
Lead Generation outfits can help you find prospects for your business. Sure it costs, but they specialize in marketing, and you don’t. So get someone good to help you who can get you leads. Getting an agent is another way to handle getting leads!

(4) Craigslist.
America has a site called Craigslist.com where you can post jobs, or post that you are willing to do jobs. This is a great way to find a wide variety of services including real estate.

(5) Have a phone number in the United States.
People in America feel more comfortable calling a domestic number that they can call during business hours. You can forward the line to wherever you are, or have a representative in the United States, Australia or England do the sales for you.

(6) Answering the phone
Most call centers don’t answer their phone. They specialize in phone related work, yet they don’t answer their phone. How ironic. Then, when they answer, they don’t answer professionally, or you get someone who is poorly trained. Have intelligent people answer your phone if you want to get intelligent clients who will pay you.

(7) Training and monitoring
The call centers who monitor and train their workers regularly get ahead. Many have contests regularly to keep the mood up. They also constantly assess the work of their callers. Call centers who don’t do this might get a few temporary jobs from being cheap, but they will never get ahead.

(8) Contracts
Don’t have rigid contracts unless you have too much business and want to narrow it down to the big guys. Contracts scare people away. If you do have contracts, have less restrictive contacts that don’t bind your customer into a huge commitment. Remember, you are in business to help others, not to trap them into a situation that could turn into a law suit or a disaster.

(9) Professional emails
If you write very professional looking emails to your prospects and clients, you gain credibility. If you make lots of spelling mistakes or communicate poorly, or just don’t respond at all, that counts against you. Don’t use personal emails for business if you can help it. People want an email address with a suffix that is your website. steve@vksconsulting.com not steveb313@gmail.com

(10) Be flexible
You need money saved up, and a labor pool at your disposal. If you suddenly get a new client, you need to get labor in a snap. If you already know who the callers are and have them already trained, assessed and whatever you need to do to get them shipshape, then you are shipshape. If you have to scramble and hire strangers in a pinch who might not be that good, your client might not be too happy. It might make sense to let your client do the picking.

Okay, I fulfilled my promise. There are ten ways to get more call center clients. Happy calling!

Who you gonna call – Ghostbusters? Nah. The Philippines!

June 25, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center, Popular on Twitter | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Sometimes you get companies that offer inexpensive work, but the quality is not that great. Other times you get expensive work, but the quality is not good enough to merit the price even though it is good. The Philippines is a lucky destination and very popular with call center outsourcers. There, you get people who are super on the phone, and the price is calculated in pennies. I’m exaggerating, but you get the point!

The Philippines has a virtual (no pun intended if you’re hiring a virtual assistant) army of half a million English speaking, highly trained call center workers who are ready for battle. They can do telemarketing, lead generation, technical support, customer care, or just chat with customers. Culturally, they have a very smooth manner over the phone. They don’t get mad at customers like I do, on the other hand their sense of humor isn’t always as good as mine!

It is good to compare. Try people in various different countries. But, when all is said and done, call in the artillery, and find a Filipino Call Center. Caribbean destinations are also known for high quality call centers and they are on American time zones which in addition to great Costa Rican coffee, is another great perk!

Tweets:
(1) If you want a great call center at a great price, consider the Philippines & the Caribbean.
(2) The Philippines is a lucky destination that is popular with outsourcers

You might also like:

Call centers in the Philippines are getting more expensive than India
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/03/30/call-centers-in-the-philippines-are-getting-more-expensive-than-india/

Half a million Filipino call center workers are on American Time
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/03/29/half-a-million-filipino-call-center-workers-are-on-american-time/

Putting clients on hold at a call center is a big problem

June 3, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center, Management | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Call centers operate for their own profitability. If you have agents sitting around with nothing to do, you’re losing money, right? Not exactly. If you have too few agents, then when a caller calls at a busy time, you will have to put them on hold. Customers really don’t like being put on hold. It tries their patience, and wastes their time. You might be paying a certain rate for call center workers, but the time of your client calling in might be worth $100 per hour. Each minute you keep them waiting is close to $2 in lost productivity. First of all, your client’s time is worth more than your agents’ time. Second, if your client fires you as their call center, you could stand to lose tens of thousands per month! I am amazed that when I personally call call centers, it is almost impossible to reach a competent manager. They just never seem to be at their desk. Where are they hiding? Do they want to avoid getting new clients?

I often joke that the difference between India and the USA, is that in India, service waits for you while in America, we wait for service. Of course, the quality of the service from coolies, rickshaw drivers, and other people in their category is very far from being polished or pleasant. But, at least they are usually there, and waiting. If you could combine quality and considerate service with the, “They wait for you instead of you waiting for them” principle, you might have a call center that is more popular than you think.

Sit down and think about it. Do you run your call center for your personal pleasure, or for the pleasure of those who call in needing help? I created a business proverb a year or two ago.

If in a conflict between a customer and a substandard worker, you side with the worker, you’ll end up with more bad workers and fewer customers.

If you operate your business for the benefit of your customers, you will end up with more customers, and fewer you’s, if that is possible. Think about it!