When you're running a call center, it's important to keep track of many different things. You probably already know that you need to focus on making calls as efficiently as possible, collecting sales leads, and increasing your average call duration. Although these are all essential tasks, it's also important to look at other aspects of your operation that might not be as obvious. These include things like marketing, scheduling, performance monitoring, and reporting. We'll cover a few of the more popular teloz solutions available today, and give an overview of what they offer.
Inbound Call Center
If you're reading this, I assume you're already familiar with the term inbound call center. If not, then maybe it's time you should become so. An inbound call center is a type of call center that specializes in attracting, engaging, and delighting customers. They do this through personalized interactions that drive sustainable profits.
The first task of an inbound call center is to identify the individuals, groups, or communities that they will engage with throughout the process. This could be through a customer hotline or support email address, a specific social media account, or even their website. The next step is to gain an understanding of what those people need and want, and to design the interactions that they have with the brand or business that they're engaging with to ensure those needs are being met.
At this stage of a campaign, you will already have a few hundred or thousand warm leads that you can begin to mine for growth. It is advisable to put together a spreadsheet or a database of all the potential leads and customers that you've identified, and then begin to systematically engage with them all. You can use tools like Hootsuite or Marketo to gain a better understanding of which of these leads are already engaged with your business, and which are not.
Although a well-designed and well-executed inbound call center will inevitably convert a high percentage of its warm leads into paying customers, this will always be a work in progress. The more you engage with your customers, the more they will begin to see your brand or business as an trusted source of advice and information. This will then lead to more sophisticated and higher quality leads, and eventually, increased revenue.
Outbound Call Center
An outbound call center, on the other hand, is simply a call center that makes calls to customers who have already shown an interest in your product or service. The main difference with an outbound call center is that you will not necessarily have an IDEA who their target audience is, or what they want. You will already know who your customer is, and you'll use that information to determine the best approach to take when calling them.
Outbound call centers can also be found in virtual form, where customers can interact with real people via an online portal or through an IVR (Interactive Voice Response system). The benefit of an outbound call center is that you know exactly what audiences you're targeting. This is especially beneficial when you're dealing with potentially purchased leads that you want to make sure are not inactive. You can take advantage of tools like HubSpot to automate the follow-up process and ensure those leads are not ignored. Moreover, you can create autoresponders so that you never have to worry about losing a lead or follower because they weren't getting the value you were trying to provide.
The ideal situation for an outbound call center is when they are driving traffic to a lead capture form or website, particularly one that collects personal information. This way, you can easily identify who did or didn't show interest in the product, and refine your targeting as necessary. When collecting information through a lead capture form or website, it's essential that you verify the accuracy of that information. This is especially important if you plan on using that data for marketing purposes.
Self-service (Know Your Product) Call Center
A self-service call center is one where customers can get the answers to all of their questions through an automated, walk-through process. A key feature of a self-service call center is the ability for customers to find the information they need without needing to navigate through an assistant.
Think of the last time you were in a bookstore or a library. Chances are, you didn't need an assistant to find the book you were looking for. You simply looked at the spines of the books, and found what you were after. With the development of E-books and online resources, the role of a librarian is almost obsolete. Similarly, the need for an assistant in a self-service call center is becoming less and less relevant. Customers can navigate through an IVR, find the answer to their question, and move on to the next with no assistance.
One of the things that makes a self-service call center so efficient is that all of the customer interactions are designed to flow automatically. This is a huge time-saver for both call center managers and customers. Sometimes customers can find themselves speaking with the same person twice, which can be frustrating if both interactions are not planned or intended. This is called a "loop-hole," and it's the result of ineffective planning or poorly designed phone interactions. Prevent this type of issue by having a separate call center employee responsible for managing this type of scenario. Otherwise, the whole process could get muddled, and ultimately, the customer's experience might suffer.
When it comes to choosing the right call center management software solution, it's important to look for a product that provides the features necessary for your operation. A good call center software will allow you to set up custom fields, so you can start collecting information on your leads right from the beginning. You want to avoid anything that might hinder your progress in gaining a better understanding of what your customers want, or prevent you from identifying critical issues that might arise throughout the lifecycle of your campaign.
Virtual Call Center
A virtual call center is one where you make calls to customers from a computing device, rather than a physical location. This might sound like a no-brainer, but bear in mind that not all virtual call centers are made equal. There are certain advantages to having a virtual call center, particularly when you're first getting started. The main advantage is that you can set up shop anywhere that has a good internet connection. Even better, you don't necessarily need a physical location. The downside is that this comes with its own set of unique challenges. One of the main issues you will face is establishing trust with customers, since they've never really had to do business with you before. Moreover, since you are literally "on-line" and might be accessible at all times, customer expectations are certainly higher than usual. This is why it's important to make sure that your virtual call center is set up and ready to go, even before you begin your marketing campaign. You want to ensure that your customers feel comfortable enough to provide their personal information, or that they feel that their privacy is being respected.
Once you've built up a bit of a lead list, you can then begin to establish a small virtual call center. This can be done using Skype for Business, Google Hangouts, or similar communications platforms. You don't need to go overboard and purchase the most expensive microphone or webcam, as good enough quality audio and video is usually sufficient. Moreover, you don't necessarily need specialized software for this stage either. Any of the above-mentioned platforms will suffice.
The beauty of this stage is that you don't necessarily need a large team of people to keep the virtual call center running smoothly. Simply assign a few individuals the responsibility of monitoring calls and taking notes. As you begin to grow your business, you can then expand to a full-fledged virtual call center, where you can have a team of operators taking calls, and marketers and developers building online communities and engaging with customers through various digital channels.
Call Center Orchestration
Call center orchestration refers to the process of integrating and automating different aspects of your call center. It is a form of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) that focuses on the optimization of your call center and its processes. The goal is to create an environment where every operator, call, and activity is tracked and accounted for in one place, so you can analyze performance and make adjustments where necessary.
The main advantage of call center orchestration is that it allows you to focus on running your call center, rather than worrying about the day-to-day operations of your business. Moreover, you can have all of your different systems and data-types integrated into one platform, which makes things a lot easier. You can have all of your marketing, sales, and support data stored under one roof, which is a massive time-saver. It also makes it much easier to access important information when required, since everything is kept in one place. Finally, call center orchestration allows for more sophisticated monitoring and analysis of your call center's performance. This is critical if you're looking to improve day-to-day efficiency, and reduce costs where possible.