Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Formulae of Amazing Customer Care - Easy Tips

Share

The volatility of the present business situations have forced many entrepreneurs to acclimatize certain policies that helps them to better good customer building process within a stipulated time-frame.

The call center operations in this era have streamlined a large number of business activities to meet some specific targets as per the growing needs of the demanding customers. If your business establishment is very new in the market, you need to have some basic ideas that will surely help you to start the customer building process and managing the customers in a cordial manner.


Here are some of the tips that will guide you to handle customer care with utmost efficiency.

Know Your Customers - This is one of the basic steps that need a focus. Business is not only selling the service/products, but also to see the outlook of the customers. You need to know what might be their requirements and how will they behave with your service. Therefore, try to think like a customer and check out the factors that will develop them to come to you for the next time as well.

Make your Customer into Fans – Customers will be surely be yours if your satisfy them with your service and after sales. If you deliver a product before time the trust factor would take the customers to a different level and would recommend you to others as well. Maintain your quality and always ensure your thankfulness to make such business relation with your call center services company. You won’t spend much if you send some small gifts during the occasions. This builds a personal relation as well.

Accept Your Fault – Customers never like to complain until and unless the problem is critical. If they find some issue they want them to be resolved as soon as possible. If the customer calls you, try to admit the fault from your side and convince them that the issue would be solved immediately. In the meantime, you can suggest some temporary measures to fix the solution. Act honest and remain loyal to your customers.

Analyze the Past Experience – Call center operations are engaged in handling a huge number of clients and their customers with great experience. The past experiences can be useful to eliminate some issues that commonly re-occur in the present. Act smart and learn from the past. Every calling experience in the BPO industry is a lesson for a customer care executive.

Never Develop a Strategy to cheat – Your customers are god for you. If you try to cheat them you can sell your service only once in the market. Developing goodwill in the market takes a great effort to stand apart from your competitors. If your brand image needs to be highlighted well, develop a strategy to make business without cheating them.

Try out these few tips any you can surely improvise them to rise ahead in the market.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Scared of furious customers in inbound call center? Easy way to relax them!

Share

The call center management has been developing many innovative and complex strategies to cure the customer/ queries in a mutual manner. Customers call a service provider when there is any fresh inquiry or if they find some complain from their end. If the approach is negative from any one of the side, there is a probability that the customers may behave a little rude and start to irritate or fight at the same time. This is a very common routine in the inbound call centers and to minimize these discrepancies some fresh ideas have been generated. Some of them are mentioned below:

80 % customers call you only they are not satisfied with some aspects of your services. So, get ready to face a furious customer who can say you anything (including slangs). It is very natural that as a customer representative executive (CRE) you will be insulted mentally. Therefore, it is recommended that you allow the customer to speak freely and ask in what manner he/she can be assisted. Note it down and assist by explain the matter and why it happened. In case, the customer is not ready to reply properly, it is wise to transfer the call to your manager who can monitor the call with helpful/serious replies.

Sometime lack of IVR malfunctioning also contributes to confusion between the CRE and the customer. Request the technical department to handle this matter fast. It is always safe to keep complaints far away from the team as this process is time consuming and demotivate the team quite often.

One other way to handle such customers is by focusing on their needs. They will never call you to spend time. They become serious only when the necessity of the service affects them in some other way. Speak slowly and question them humbly to re-direct the conversation back on track. But, always remember to take the customer’s permission before starting the questioning process. A time will surely come when the customers will have to surrender their anger if you are kind and personal to them. This formula really works in BPO s that offer contact center services.

Call Center Outsourcing industry engages thousands millions of employees with different psychology. It is very tough to handle all calling executives for such situations. Therefore, regular training from the experts can always be beneficial to handle the irate customers. Therefore, ask your team members to handle such calls when they have the patience to listen to such customers. You can also offer a partial solution if the customers can be at least controlled in this manner. You would find numerous other ways to tackle such folks. But the skill is always appreciated only when the solution is understood by the customers. Simply make the message simple and clear.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Adamant Calling Agents is Simple Now Like Cutting Butter

Share

You cannot expect that all your calling agents will be completely like you. Sometimes they would be too decent and there would also be a situation where you would find the extreme adamant people. Addressing such employee in your team can be a great challenge especially when your team is so committed in meeting business goals. The adamant employees sometime acts as an obstacle in the path of your goals and simply acts a s a disaster of your team building process. But there are always some options that can help you to overcome such situation in the Outsource Call Center industry.

The tips to deal with adamant employees are as follows:

Be Transparent With the Company Policy - This is the basic step to handle such people. Allow them to work in the professional way and make them aware of the situations by giving them past examples. Explain them the essence of such management rules and say how these rules can help them to build a better tomorrow. This step would therefore make such employees strong and reliable.
Ads by Google

Highlight the Bottom Line - It is very essential that you keep on explaining the consequences and how it is related to the individual performance. The agent might skip it in the first attempts but gradually this would make him/her follow the guidelines automatically. Explaining the effects of such consequences will surely bring awareness in their working structure.

Patience Is A Key - There would be number of situations where the adamant employees will try to mislead the working environment. They will try to make others like them or change the rules of the floor. As a senior employee you would definitely feel insulted or lose your control and may start saying that is not appropriate. Just remember that this is not your problem at all. Keep patience and try to stabilize the situation simply avoiding them.

Do Not Make Any Matter Public - Every human being has a different psychology. Especially the stubborn employees should never be humiliated or insulted in public as this can lead to a different chapter. They might feel disrespected or ashamed of the act and there are many cases they feel it more than an insult to their ego. It is better if you speak to them in solace and clarify the matters accordingly to the call center regulations. There is no sign of conflict and the other person also feels confident to share the problems with you.

A Reward Actually Works - Stubborn people like to acts in a strange manner . But when they deliver some best results they should be immediately rewarded. This will boost his morale and allows him to coordinate better with the team. Appreciation in front of the team or management also helps a lot.

These are some of the basic tips that can help you to change the professional behavior of an adamant person. Call center services are too complex and it needs immediate remedies to take care of employees which are born with such complexities.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Cardiac Disorders in in BPO Industry - A Brief Analysis

Share
We all like to develop a lifestyle that is full of comfort and luxury. The style of wok in the professional environment has been changing in the recent years. Today most of us like to work under an environment that provides air conditioning, luxuriant amenities and yellow food.

Though the working style has been changed to a better level, the percentage of falling in the prey of cardiac diseases has not been reduced yet. There are numerous researches and studies that are conducted to find out the data that are usually associated with these complex matters. Heart Diseases imply multiple abnormalities that affect the muscle of heart or the blood vessels of the heart.

Today, most of the people from age group of 30-40 are facing serious heart ailments that are pulling them to the bed of death. Heart disease and other cardiovascular disease forms can march to congestive heart failure. In this condition, it is usually a state in which the heart cannot pump sufficient blood to meet the requirements of the human body. This leads to the abnormality in the normal heartbeat and termed as arrhythmia as per the medical dictionary.

The people in the IT industry have been facing some serious problems with these ailments. Symptoms like high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, diabetes, etc. are some of the most common. Research shows that the average age at which an individual may suffer a heart attack has reduced from 45 years to less than 30 years. These symptoms are more prevalent with the people that are engaged in a BPO industry/IT sector. A recent survey conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) reveals that probability of youth suffering from the heart ailments have increased from 8% to 15%.

Stress is directly linked to coronary heart diseases. These heart diseases are direct result of stressful work schedules and a private lifestyle of the people. It is also seen that people in these sectors adopts a habit of smoking, drinking, etc. in order to make themselves more relaxed from the continuous stress of Call Center Outsourcing firms. The inefficiency in the sleeping hours is also a crucial factor that is adding more color to the problem. This people hardly consult any doctor for a better health check-up and try to hide the lifestyle habits. This can seriously mislead the doctors for a better treatment.

In order to stay away from these deadly symptoms it is recommended that youth should relax rather than having a focus on earning some extra money sitting back in the workstations. Regular exercise, Yoga, meditation and balanced diet are the basic keys to a healthy heart. Smoking as a passion or a habit is one of the main element that is increasing the health hazard. Call center outsourcing activities have supported a great number of youth to earn some good money in an excellent and luxurious environment. But, what is the use of such life, if it makes us sick and takes our life only for the sake of earning some extra money. Last but not the least the food habits (high cholesterol diets) are the biggest enemies.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Words & Phrases That Brings Customer Smile

Share
The engagement to a customer over a telephone is one of the main task that is usually observed in a call center. Customer care executives (CCE) spend 90% of their scheduled time either by making a call to a customer or by receiving a call regarding some inquiry or complaint. In this aspect, a CCE has to take a great control of the emotions that can usually take place due to some matter concerning any service or support. Therefore, call center agents are trained to speak in a professional and witty manner that develops a level of comfort while they talk over telephone.

Call center experts have discovered some of the words and phrases that are specially used in a particular situation. The use of such words can tactfully overcome a complex situation and relieving the customer from any inquiry that might trouble them. The speaking methodology can depend from agent to agent and a calling process can be affected by the style of customers depending upon the special requisites.

There are various techniques applied by a CCE in order to perceive any service that brings customer satisfaction. Here are few of the words and phrases that are recommenced to use by an agent while handling both simple and critical situation in Call Center Operations.

WORDS:

* “Absolutely”
* “Great”
* “Fantastic”
* “Perfect”
* “Marvelous”
* “Definitely”
* “Certainly”
* “Surely”

All the above mentioned words are generally spell after a customer asks a question. The calling agent replies with any one of these words if they think that the customers have spoken their requirement and is clear in meaning. In addition there may be use of certain phrase that starts at the initial of any reply after receiving the actual message from the customer.

PHRASES:

* “Pretty well”
* “Rest Assured Mr……”
* “I do understand the inconvenience you have faced……..”
* “Would you mind waiting?”
* “I will be more than glad/ happy to assist you……”
* “It is your right to know Sir!”
* “I completely understand the reason why / your situation….”
* “I’d be delighted to assist………..”

If the conversation takes on a personal basis, then some of alternative phrases can be replaced with the following:

PERSONAL PHRASES:

* “I will surely ensure that…”
* “Sorry for the inconvenience caused….”
* “What I can do for you right now is ….?”
* “I assure you I will try my best…..”
* “What I will do for you right away is……?”
* “I’m sorry for the inconvenience that you have come across, what I can do for you is …….”

‘ADVISORY Phrases‘ are used when a calling agent guides a customer to solve any problem. Such phrases can be:

* “I recommend/ I would suggest ……….”
* “To avoid a similar inconvenience in future I request you to……..”

While guiding any customer with a PROCEDURE, the conversation can be started with the following phrases:

* “A simple way / method to change it will be to…..”
* “All you need to do is to just….”
* “As soon as you receive…”

All these above mentioned words and phrases are repeatedly used in a business process outsourcing processes to have a better connectivity with the customers. The ethics of telephone marketing says that the behaviors with the callers determine the actual sales of any organization. Call center agents therefore needs to concentrate with these speaking techniques and try to have a conversation that is always beneficial to both the sides.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Webinar – The Powerful Communication Tool at Call Centers

Share
Webinar is no more a new term in the corporate world. The term 'WEBINAR' has been shortened from (Web+ Seminar) and has been considered to be a type of vital communication tool with 100% success. The gradual development of the Internet technology, has gifted us with numerous tools that have not only reduced time, but also narrowed the gaps among the international business community. Call Center Outsourcing is a major area where webinars are seeking potentiality to improve the areas that required utmost care and guidance.

Starting from inducting business strategies to conduct seminars, imparting training and live conferencing through VOIP, this technology has turned out to be a perfect blessing for the diverse corporate sectors.

Webinar is simply like a conference room based seminar that is attended by participants from various parts of the globe through the help of computer. The system is integrated in such a manner that the addressed messages can be conveyed to all the group recipients at a single time along with the video access. People can interact and act live to the distant speakers and contribute their valuable thoughts to support the seminar.


A webinar in a call center include:

* Polling
* Agenda discussion
* Question & answer sessions
* Debate

It allows active participation between the clients and self and same communities to establish their issues that are related to the growth and development of the industry plans. Participants can also speak over telephones through VoIP audio technology and impart a truly web-based communication without any interruption. Modern outsourcing call centers are also implementing this tool to generate sales leads. But the main advantage that the call centre industry is the 'Training.' For example the domestic call centers that require immediate training to enhance the sales of call center operations can access this technology and receive instant advice from the experts who stay far away from the actual office premises.

The main benefits of webinars in the call center industry:

* Cost reduction
* Reaching a mass audience
* Digitally record
* Provision for future playback
* Saves all the vital information and lectures
* Saves traveling cost

In addition, webinar in call centres are also preferred to conduct board meetings and conferences amongst the organization. Professionals can save their valuable time by saving the time spent on traveling. It is an effective formula for managing time and money. Call centers that develop some interactive training sessions to teach the in-house professionals can also sell their specialty programs to other organizations.

What are the requirements for conducting a Webinar?

* Internet access
* Computer
* A telephone line for listening to the teleconference portion

The role of webinar has been increasing day by day and observed that corporate sectors are making out great profit in terms of saving effort and increasing efficiency. An industry that is all dependent upon performance and speed, the credibility of a webinar is always complimented with mandatory success in the performance level.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Call Center Dress Code – Exhibiting Your Professionalism

Share
Life at a call center has a great glamor which is often reflected with the dress code that the professionals carry. It is always a good feeling to observe an employee who carries their professional attire in a pleasant manner. Especially, organizations that plan Call Center Outsourcing will definitely try to have a clear view about the professionalism that a particular contact center is adhering. Therefore, it is extremely vital to follow an ethical dress code that builds the rapport of the organization, you are working for.

The appearance of trusted business professional reflects the work culture of any contact center. In this aspect, a more formal dress code is essential for your employees. For men it is always a best way to dress in a formal way. The formal dress code such as khakis, chinos, dockers or fashion jeans or pants of any kind, long-sleeved button-down shirts or neatly pressed polo shirts, etc. are some of the best options. In addition to this, a belt, pair of formal leather shoes with dark color socks become a better combo with formal dress codes. If an employee holds a senior management position, it is advisable for him to add a tie to his formal attire. This brings more glamor to the working style. Smart casual are also followed by many employees in the BPO industry. It is seen that many call centers have implemented the policy of offering smart casual dress codes to save time that is generally spent on managing a formal dress.

As a contact center follows western culture, it is recommended that women prefer to carry out their professional dressing with trousers and pants with shirts without any print upon it. Smart casual include a tailored trousers, jumper, blouse, sweater, cardigan with a smart skirt, dress etc. are some of the best in their category. A good casual dress for ladies is always complimented with shoes, flats, low heel boots, watches, good hairstyle, accessories (watch, bracelet, and earring). Women should avoid exhibiting too much skin and tight clothing for better. In accessories, it is seen that use of plain pendent, simple chain and pearl can add more elegance to a lady who dresses casually.

Normally, a Outsource Call Center industry doesn’t follow much of the hard-core formal dress codes. It is because employees can work better when they are allowed to dress comfortably. But professionally, a dress code develops a presentable atmosphere for corporate employees and helps to create and positive moral for the contact center. The ethical dress code for call center services can create goodwill for a client who can visit your organization, surprisingly.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Your Call Center Agent Needs Motivation - It Is Easy!

Share
The life of a call center agent can be challenging to handle the complex deadlines involved in the telemarketing processes. In such situation it is very common that an agent can become frustrated or might leave the job to escape the complex situation. In this aspect the role played by the team leaders can matter a lot to their overall performance. Motivating them at all the levels of Call Center Outsourcing operations can bring colorful results in the calling process and hence lead them to promote professional skills with better success rate.

Here are some of the tips and suggestions that can be used to motivate the calling agents:

Happy Environment - To establish a happy environment, everyone in the floor must have a joyful mood to work. This is possible only when there is a transparency amongst all the members of the team. The relationship of the team leader with the colleague should be like a friend not like a strict boss.

Add Color to Workstation - The ambiance of a workstation can greatly contribute to better results. Today, it is seen that people who work under positive influence tends to show productivity and creativity at the same time. Add motivational posters; provide new systems integrated with valuable resources, etc. to make their effort more fruitful. A clean environment also supports this cause to a certain limit.

Listen To Your Team - Listening is a very essential factor that allows the team leaders to sort out any problems faced by the calling agents. If you are a good listener, they would love to share their good and bad experiences which will allow you to know them better.

Eliminate the Problems - A team can always perform well when all the members are free from worries. To ensure this, it is recommended that the leader need to sort out the problems and discuss them precisely with each and every individuals. Once the problems are separated, emphasis can be laid upon resolving them or to eliminate them permanently.

Mandatory Review Sessions - Regular review sessions in regular intervals will allow the calling agents to overview their performance and find our better ways to improve them. In addition, this process also helps the team leader to examine the individual performance and suggest them necessary tips and suggestions for professional development.

Reward Always Help - Rewarding the deserving agent is always a best way to bring motivation amongst the other members as well. A direct financial reward or any gift, voucher, movie ticket, etc. can inspire them to show better performance in the following time. In addition, this method also proves strong to define their operational efficiency during any working situation.

The Call Center Outsourcing industry looks for players who have the potential to take control over the complex call centre situations. Motivating people is a great skill and the quality of such personalities is always rewarded with a bright fortune and financial growth.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Shining Star Of Call Center Outsourcing – India

Share
Call centers or customer support centers are one sector that has been outsourced by numerous organizations to support their customers. Starting from the marketing to processing customer care queries, these contact centers are meeting diverse demands of people and organizations with the assistance of calling technology and other forms of communication mediums such as e-mail. Chat support, etc. Call Center Outsourcing has become a very common phenomenon in the modern-day commercial strategy and proving to be an efficient method to reduce cost and effort to reach the deepest level of customer support.

The contact center industry has gained the attention of different countries to develop their interest in helping the industries that continuously depends on countries that offer low-cost services. The third-world countries are rapidly adopting the new trends of this industry and showing outstanding results to enhance the performance of businesses at all levels. If we consider the Call Center Outsourcing destinations, the BPO industry in the third world nations are mostly found reliable and cost-effective. A great percentage of the multinational companies are off-shoring their business processes to the call centres that are situated in India, Philippines, China, Mexico, Ireland, etc.

The Asian countries in this game has proved their potential in developing this industry with a great emphasis on infrastructure, quality of the service, and installing sophisticated systems and technology for streamlining the communication process. India is a country where a great percentage of the youth is involved in offering their efforts in the customer support and various technical and non-desk support services. With the growing demands of the MNCs, it is evident that the contact centre industry in this country has been able to fulfill the desire of the companies believing in CRM. The country has given a serious competition to the other countries and equally turned to be highly productive for the domestic crowd.

Reports say that India has more than hundred call centres and a greater part of the employed population in the major towns is engaged with the varied opportunities. Philippines, Thailand and China are following India with a vast engagement in serving the international clients with cost-effective voice and technical services, served with utmost commitment in customer support. India is a country where people start speaking-English as their second language to their mother tongue. Therefore, the English-speaking standards of Indians are widely appreciated and preferable in multifaceted verticals. In addition, Indian government has also started showing a great interest in investing as because country’s 15%-18% of revenue is earned from BPO industry.

India is a shining star in the call center outsourcing industry. Big multinational firms such as Wipro, HP, Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, have considered India to be a good option for offshoring various call center services. India may not be excelling in most of the world’s trade arena, but when it comes to contact center domain, India is considered to overtake all the first world nations especially concerning BPO industry.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Personality Mapping: Its Role in Call Center Evolvement

Share

What is Personality Mapping in call centers? It is the ability through which the Agent’s and Customer’s pairings are enhanced to build a good rapport with a Outsource Call Center. Excellent results can be experienced with this new trend as a result of which a strong bonding occurs between the caller and agent. Therefore, it has become easier to support a customer process with customized assistance as per the requirements forwarded by the customers. Customer loyalty will be enhanced and customers would appreciate it if they are equally treated.

The chemistry between a customer and an agent need cordiality because this factor will allow the caller to evaluate their requirements and accordingly order them to the service provider which offers the best in the market. Therefore, customer care agents need to match data with the customers fully based on personality and skills. Accumulating detailed data about your prospective customers and their personality traits will help to convey your calls accurately to the target customers. This can be done through the latest contact details with a special attention to any recent purchase in the relevant segment.

The assistance of social networking sites and or outsourcing a database from a third-party will allow exploring a lot of resources that can facilitate in reaching the minds of the customers. Personality Mapping is possible with the introduction of recent technologies that has made the process of customer induction simpler. In addition, it has broadened the scope of marketing with a direct approach.

Some of the psychographic attributes that are presently used for matching the tele-callers with the agents:

· Affluence Level

· Languages Spoken

· Household Size & Income

· Regional Affinity

· Entertainment Preferences

· Household Age Range

· Travel Habits

· Lifestyle Preferences and many more.

It has been observed that the concept of Personality Mapping has reduced the maximum efforts in the calling processes of BPOs and allowed them to concentrate more on their core competencies. Now, agents are well aware of the fact that it is simply the waste of time and effort while talking to irrelevant masses. The call centers have experienced a great appreciation as with this concept, the percentage of outbound calls are reduced and resulted increased inbound call rate. Personality mapping multiplies your business intelligence to the call routing process and hence gives you a competitive edge to handle the large-scale efficiencies of your customer support center agents in a personal manner.