Month: May 2017

In this technology-dependent BPO industry, outsourced call center services have instrumental role in business marketing strategy. This is especially true in expanding and progressing businesses. With today’s highly competitive business set-up, it’s safe to say having an effective, profit-generating contact center is a sure way companies stay on track.

Outsourced Call Center Services, In A Nutshell

Contact centers are part of company operations, dealing with customer relations or communications. It is essentially a branch of the overall customer relationship management (CRM), with specialized, dedicated agents. Contact centers handle all forms of communication—call centers, e-mails, faxes, phone calls, text and web chats.

Nuts And Bolts

However, operating a contact center is one thing, but running it efficiently is another. As the phrase goes, “What use is a sword if it’s lost its sharpness?” The same goes for contact centers. In order for a business to continue converting customers to their side, it must have great customer relations operation. A functional contact center that is reliable and efficient is a must-have in business. Which brings us to the question, “What makes outsourced call center services any good?”

Agents At The Core

In order to have a profit-making contact center, a company ensures they have the right employees. What makes a good contact agent, then? Well, first off is having the experience required of the job. In order to engage customers, agents must be a great communicators, knowing how and when to conversation cards. Inexperienced agents lack the ability to communicate confidently and persuasively, which in many ways could affect the overall operation of the company. To avoid such problems, sufficient training is required.

A good agent, of course, doesn’t stop in being an experienced communicator. Attracting and maintaining customers is easier if a company portrays a good reputation, and the contact center’s performance can either make or break that. Hence, it is crucial to keep good relationship with clients.

One way to do that is by creating a more personal connection with the clients. It is easier to confide to a friend than to a stranger, and the relationship must be emulated in correspondence between customers and companies. Customers are more likely to engage with sincere, instead of passive agents. Clients receive great service, agents receive great customer feedback, and companies profit with improved revenue and reputation – the definition of a win-win-win scenario.

Your company can perform well, gain lots of leads, rack up a good number of contacts. Of course, the ideal trend is to acquire more leads over time; staff leased employees can do the legwork. As your database expands, verifying contents and keeping it manageable can be challenging. When your company needs to tap this database to further its reach, there’s a chance some of the phone numbers are dead, some of the email addresses are missing, and some names and prospects are incorrect.

A similar scenario befalls any business that neglects to have its data verified. Data verification entails checking different types of data for accuracy and inconsistencies, after data migration. It confirms whether data was accurately translated after moved between sources to another: is it complete and useful? The process identifies areas of disparity and preempts erroneous data loss.

A Reliable Database Optimizes Your Marketing Strategy

One reason to maintain data verification of contacts is to improve marketing results. Phone numbers and email addresses, for instance, are effective channels to reach prospects. If a listed contact is discovered inactive, all marketing efforts on that contact are wasted. A verified database is filled with active, updated contacts. To this end, staff leased employees guarantee any marketing strategy reaches the other end, bringing new prospects and customers.

Marketing Efforts Focused On The Right People

Data verification ensures only the right people will receive marketing efforts. Indeed, not everyone can become loyal customer, and some unsuitable ones also manage to slip into the database. An mismanaged database of contacts forces the company to try out each and every prospect listed. While that is good in a way, the company risks a reputation of being overly persistent, or worse, scamming leads. Leased employees can weed out contacts with minimal potential for returns.

Streamline Campaigns, Save Time And Effort

Businesses consequently saves time and effort in reaching its target audience. With faulty telephone numbers and email addresses, the company wastes resources trying to implement marketing plans. It is the same when dealing with contacts outside the business’s demographic. Time spent on converting them is better spent focusing on getting good leads. Data verification cleans and polishes the list of contacts and zeroes in on the target people, optimizing business resources and facilities.

Staff Leased Employees Can Do The Legwork

Data verification is a necessity today when people readily change contact information for convenience. A study in email marketing revealed, in fact, that as much as 22.5% of a company’s database degrades every year as addresses become obsolete. If left unchecked, the database’s usability wears off, affecting marketing and customer retention.

Without management, your business can end up with a database of dead phone numbers and email addresses. Implementing strategies using unverified data is risky and self-defeating. Staff leased employees are necessary in implementing a data verification system early on. The goal is to reach the right people, making the most out of available resources.

Businesses turn to offshore sourcing because of the variety of specializations available. Companies have different goals, and outsourcing companies various approaches to help clients achieve goals. With numerous outsourcing companies competing for market share, businesses would want a partner that could share their visions. There’s also the need to seamlessly work together to deliver high-quality products and/or services.

Sourcing Processes To Service Providers

With the progress of the Internet and technology, any company would want to be at the top of everything. Anything that ensures transactions and operations are effective and efficient is important. Sometimes, though, they don’t have the time or the manpower that’s up to par with tasks to be completed. This is where offshore sourcing comes in. Professional outsourcing companies are expected to be well-versed with newer systems and applications, covering back-office services to customer support.

Customized Offshore Sourcing Is Crucial

Company executives would want to maximize those benefits, so they can focus on aspects of business crucial to company growth. Unfortunately, when the company turns to some outsourcing companies for help, they run the risk of limiting themselves instead. Companies should consider outsourced companies that adjust to the company’s needs and wants, not the other way around.

Does the outsourced company have specialized and professional pool of talents that meets the standards? Can these talents dedicate the time and effort that will make the project/campaign successful? Will offshore sourcing contribute to the overall growth of the company? Outsourcing companies should build a solid team that gets the job done within the specified time.

The company should also account for the facilities these outsourcing companies have to offer. Are they properly outfitted and updated with the means to deliver the required results? Proper equipment and resources are prerequisites that aid talents accomplish their given project assignments.

Final Considerations

The cost of offshore sourcing shouldn’t outweigh the benefits of what an outsourced team can offer. Outsourcing companies understand full well how important efficiency is, so by being able to provide a customized solutions service for the company, both parties can reach a point of agreement that would be advantageous for everyone involved. Offshore sourcing is a comprehensive solution for many business dilemmas, but only if you have the right team in place, sourced by a reliable provider.

There is a massive global market you can tap into for better yield in marketing and financial growth. Even with customized service, can you still make it work using traditional cold calls, or the usual sales campaigns? Stimulate and capture interest in your company’s services and products. There are at least three effective online lead generation techniques you can implement. Use various digital channels to your advantage, and move your business ahead of the others.

You may have tried going through conventional outbound sales techniques. You may have even started generating inbound sales, and there are still dozens of new outlets available online. Considering convenience, accessibility, and target market reach, here are new ways to gain customers: website and search engine optimization, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and social media.

Website and Search Engine Optimization

With growing dependence on technology, it’s no wonder you can easily reach your target clients through customized service. Your company website is the best place to start.

Use customer-focused navigation for better understanding of your site’s content. Then, provide various call-to-action options throughout the site to further engage the visitors. Add buttons to subscribe, download, contact, and other functions. Use engaging visuals for content variety. Think like a customer and find ways to make your site more accessible.

After this, evaluate and implement proper search engine optimization (SEO) as part of your primary lead generation strategy. With heavy competition on the world wide web, it’s important your content is more visible to consumers. Fill your site with properly constructed articles, easily accessible through organic web searches. Once you gain good rankings in search results, you are going to find more prospective customers checking and remembering your services.

Pay-per-Click (PPC) Advertising

This practice has been tried and tested throughout various business portals, as well as customized service. The pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns remain effective in generating highly targeted traffic. This technique also has a high chance for lead conversions. Mostly ideal for new business in the digital marketing world, PPC can easily yield good results. Even though there are many people who don’t like this practice of generating “buying visits” to the site, it is still a reliable source for lead generation. One of the most popular forms of this is the search engine advertising.

Social Media Practices

An active community of social media users is by far a remarkable factor, which helps any business find the most effective sources for lead generation. The variety of unique platforms helps engage and connect you to your targeted, desired audience. Options in social media platforms are also helpful in creating a new digital marketing culture that strongly impacts the consumers’ buying behavior.

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others present a promising medium that different businesses can benefit from. However, customized service and social media exposure are necessary to effectively make an exponential advantage for any business.

Choosing a telemarketing services company to boost your business isn’t a cakewalk. The actual campaign can feel like a potshot; telemarketers are your front-line representatives. Bad telemarketers leave impression of bad business.

Unfortunately, some companies in this industry often settle with scripts too obvious or annoying, persistence prospects with repeated, routine calls. Some even employ automated outreach, using a robot with the voice of a well-mannered woman to take calls, expertly dodging attempts to deviate from the spiel. What a business needs in telemarketing services is one that values conversation over structure and formality.

Exclusivity

A good telemarketing company provides an exclusive team of agents to source and follow-up on prospects. By exclusive, it means that for the entire duration of the campaign, these agents are dedicated to one campaign. An agent that can juggle two or more companies is commendable, but this also hinders the growth of the relationship with the prospect and its goals.

Good Telemarketing Services Can Be Spontaneous

Good telemarketing services are also able to stray off scripts while staying within the process. The script is part and parcel of this industry, but outright reading words on paper lends a distant, impersonal tone to the calls. Prospects prefer agents able to carry free-flowing conversations with their contacts. An outline of general topics may be needed, but it is the caller who still does the heavy lifting. Spontaneity is firm proof of a professional who knows what he’s talking about.

Good Brand Representation

A good telemarketing company also owns up to the brand they represent. A great many telemarketers open with “calling on behalf of”, and they almost always lose the person on the other end of the line. Telemarketing is direct marketing – the producer always initiates outreach. A good agent speaks as if he is part of the business itself, and is an able representative.

Telemarketers are extensions of the business’s marketing and sales department, often expected to know the business inside out. Companies who practice this as policy act as the bridge to smooth working relationship between all involved parties.

Telemarketing services make the most out of outreach campaigns, and it can be as hectic as they come. Focus on traits like exclusivity, spontaneity, and intimate representation, and the right partner becomes easier to hone in and more worthwhile to keep.

Outbound collections is a difficult division of any call center operations. Agents deal with irate and rude people on the other end of the line; they’re also likely to come across excuses to prolong payment of outstanding debt. Some calls are easier to handle than others, but everything must be dealt with calmly and professionally. It’s up to the agent to complete the call and make sure the debtor commits to payment.

Outbound collections call scripts come in handy. A good call script, drafted and implemented properly, is the agent’s guidemap in navigating collection calls. It’s a comprehensive outline of do’s and don’ts, also a playbook that helps keeps debtors from hanging up. This tool, while not the be-all and end-all of every call, ensures agents don’t drop the phone without assurance of payment to the other party.

Proper Introduction

A good outbound collections call script starts with proper introduction of the agent, and the reason for the call. It must also verify that the respondent is the actually the debtor. This is not just for formality’s sake; it is imposed by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (or any local equivalent). Good call center operations require debt collectors to identify themselves and the entity they are representing. Starting off with a prompt introduction lends a professional vibe and assures that the agent is on the right track.

The Spiel

Another point that a good call script must possess is a set of answers for the common excuses of not paying the debt. The list of excuses is long and varied, and each can be obvious or creative. It can escalate quickly from “We haven’t received the statement,” to “Our dog ate the statement.” The call script must be ready and creative enough to hold its own, or at least help the agent think on his feet when a more bizarre reason comes up. As the saying goes, “if there is a will, there is a way”, and if the one in debt can worm his way out of the call with words, the one collecting can also put a tight grip on that conversation with effective spiels.

The Pause

One more asset of good outbound call center operations is the pause. Indeed, debt collecting by phone isn’t a one-way conversation. The agent with the script sometimes falls for the trick of reading it religiously, word for word, that the debtor cannot butt in and state his side. The call script must be sprinkled with pauses, placed at the appropriate moments for the debtor’s convenience. A script with pauses allows room for the two parties to breathe, adjust, and keep the call engaging and transparent.

A Guarantee Of Commitment

Lastly, the good call script must secure commitment. It may not be actual payment; for instance, he can promise to be contacted again another time. And after that, the agent can confirm the deal made to prevent misunderstanding. Having this outlined in the script ensures that despite not being able to pay, business relations with this person will still continue. All it takes is firm phrasing to wrap a call, whether it’s successful or otherwise.

Despite these seemingly rigid points, the script does not need to be spoken to the last letter. The best ones are actually just guides for the agent to make a successful outbound collection. Spontaneity still works outbound call center operations, and is always encouraged when it comes with a formidable outline on the side.

An outbound collection call script helps lighten one of the harder tasks of a voice campaign. Irate, rude debtors will be better handled, and excuses will be better countered. It falls on the agent to make the most out of it, but good scripts are always guaranteed to make the most out of every call.

Improving collection call returns take time and patience. Outbound call center services handle the outreach, follow-ups, and demands for payment. The process sounds simple, yet it involves challenges in every step. How can your agents consistently pull off successful collection calls? Here are four important tips to consider and implement:

Always Be Prepared

Your agents need to make calls with essential information in hand. Learn to equip them with all the facts and facts needed.

In preparation, remember that it isn’t simply presenting all the concerns in one blow. Know who you are calling so you can pick the right approach for the specific customer type. Outbound call center services anticipate excuses. Be patient and listen intently. Write down specific concerns so you can address them later. You may even try compiling a list of common excuses and match those with effective rebuttals, so you won’t be caught surprised during the actual call.

Keep It Positive And Professional

Tact and discretion are important in handling collection calls. Your agents need to be firm but polite, use statements that are phrased in a positive and professional manner. This establishes good rapport with the customer.

Keep the conversation positive, so you don’t get stuck in a back-and-forth discussion with the client. However, even if you present yourself as polite and professional, don’t forget to sound authoritative as well. Practice the right tone, pitch, and even pacing in speaking. Sometimes, something written on paper may sound antagonistic over the phone, caused by improper delivery.

Identify Specific Goals

Outbound call center services have scripts that address specific concerns. These serve as guide maps in carefully navigating through the collection.

Form a simple outline of the conversation in this manner: Catch up with the customer, talk about any current business, establish that the payment is late, learn why the payment is late, and make the customer commit. With these in mind, construct a script that is going to get the customer’s attention while maintaining a good relationship, at the same time show that you care. Preparing a good outline for the script, and you won’t be manipulated by the person on the other line during the call.

Adapt To The Situation

There may be a guide in collection call, but simply following a routine won’t help you in getting better results. Learn to leave yourself some room to entertain a possible offer from the customer to receive the right payment.

There is no one shot practice for a surefire collection. Once you listen to the debtor, you can learn about new or even better ways to handle each situation. With every unique case that you receive, you are going to gradually remember picking up essential clues from the other line. Take note of these and use them as references for future calls.

Collection calls are no easy task. But by following these tips, you’ll maximize performance of outbound call center services. Chase after the accounts with knowledge and skill on hand.

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube—these are but some social media platforms leased employees contribute to business development. You can’t just pick and focus on one platform, either: these days, thriving businesses know how to wield all platforms by default. However, making the most of one platform can be a handful. When your business has multiple accounts to manage, time constraints force you to overlook one platform to focus on another.

This is where leased employees step in. Many businesses are subcontracting third-party companies to manage their social media accounts. Specially trained social media experts are tasked to regularly post relevant content, upload media, and maintain the many “faces” of the business, keeping updated and building personality. Outsourcing social media management is a feasible solution, and it’s ripe with rewards.

Accountability

In partnership with leased employees, your business will is always assured qualified professionals are on top of the accounts. In the case of social media management, they will have put in line individuals with degrees and experiences in public relations. The business gets to work with people who studied and know the landscape very well. This is important, particularly in social media’s fickle platforms. One wrong post from a non-expert business staff member can potentially ruin the entire experience for the social media followers. With professional social media managers, this never happens.

Specialization of Leased Employees

When a business dives into social media, it usually hires an individual, if not a small team, to handle all its accounts. The problem is that no one person can be an expert in all the platforms. Not all the tricks in Facebook applies on YouTube. With outsourcing, however, the business has the chance to work with one expert per account. There are packages available for that, and each part of those will be bringing their A-game to it. The result is a collection of social media platforms that is simultaneously up to date, individually creative, and consistently compelling.

Dedication and Professionalism

Truth be told, social media isn’t always a rose garden. Lurking in a corner somewhere is a troll or a bully who will jump at any opportunity to discredit and embarrass the business. A staff member who is not trained for the part may struggle to deal with this and will end firing back with volatility. A professional from an outsourcing company, though, is prepared for it. There’s always a way to work around the problem and save face, be it through firm denial or a humble apology. You’re also assured every post is made with unbiased professionalism.

There are more benefits to outsourcing social media managers, and they all say the same thing, that the leased employees are fit for the job, consistently delivering relevant, engaging posts.

Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube accounts should have separate, dedicated social media managers. Outsourcing social media management spares you the failures of trial and error, and businesses who have turned to it benefit from stronger community presence, and a stronger brand.

Data management is all about the acquisition, validation, storage, protection, and processing of data. To be sure, service offshoring companies offer accessible, reliable security that always leads to the satisfaction of the end users. This is crucial in businesses; data should always be secure, yet accessible to the right parties. When properly implemented, data management guarantees benefits that can even save your company in critical situations.

Data Security

Data security is the outright benefit of implementing data management. Unattended data to may lead to multiple problems, including overloaded servers. This leads to data loss, which may prove fatal to business. Data management avoids all these by consolidating data, simultaneously purging the redundant and obsolete. Information that remains is  organized and archived. Data loss is prevented, or at least minimised. Business mishaps are less likely to happen.

Citation

It’s important information is attributed to a reliable source. Your business’s internal may be solid, but, left mismanaged, important fragments stray and become inaccessible. You’re left with a bulk of useless, corrupted information. Service offshoring in data management remedies this, ensuring all relevant data are visible and easy to pull out. Important data is separated and prioritized, making these easier to cite and use.

Cost-Efficient (Especially With Service Offshoring)

Errors incurred in a business costs time and resources; this is especially true when data is concerned. Using erroneous data can be troublesome, fixing the damage can cost a lot of money. That won’t be a problem with data management, where data goes through thorough validation process. Misused data can be corrected, and corrupted data is deleted.

Data management is beneficial to small and big businesses. Regardless of the scale of your business, you need organized data to be efficient and useful. Fortunately, you have plenty of service offshoring companies ensure your information is constantly optimized, usable, and most importantly, secure.