Having a reliable call center is one of the critical aspects of a business. It is important for clients to have someone that they can turn to whenever they have questions or comments. The staff at a call center can make the difference between satisfied clients and disgruntled customers. Due to the important nature of the call center, some business owners may prefer to keep it in-house. However, outsourcing call center services can make your business run smoother and make significant cost savings in the process.
Pay for Productive Time Only
Having an in-house call center means that you have to pay your employees for every minute they are on the clock. That means you pay for all the minutes they are on the phone with clients, bathroom breaks, and chats with colleagues to catch up on weekend activities. In addition, you also pay for employee training, which often involves paying the employee as well as the trainer. All these minutes can add up.
On the other hand, when you outsource call center services, you only pay for minutes the agents spent helping your clients. The representatives are only paid for productive hours. Therefore, if an in-house call center agent makes $10 an hour and works for 6 hours, you will end up paying the agent $60 for that day. However, if an outsourced agent makes $10 an hour but is only productive for 4 hours per day, you will pay the agent $40 for that day.
The cost savings can be particularly significant especially if you consider the amount of time it takes to train new agents to get up to speed. If you outsource call center services, you will not have to pay anything for training.
Technology Costs
One of the downsides of investing in new technology is that it often takes a while to see returns on investment. Some of the costs involved include buying new equipment, setting up the hardware and training staff to use the latest technology.
When you outsource call center services, the service provider shoulders all the costs associated with new technological investments. Most call centers work with multiple businesses and often find it cost-effective to invest in new technology such as phone systems, instant messaging and CRM applications.
Customer Experience
A significant benefit of outsourcing call center services is that it makes your business easily accessible to clients. As a business owner, you may not have the resources and energy required to answer phone calls from clients late at night. Having an in-house call center increases the risk of losing clients whose schedules make it difficult for them to reach you during regular working hours.
Another benefit of outsourcing call center services is that it supports multiple languages. You will not have to spend substantial amounts of money and time looking for resources for multi-language support.
Signs You Need to Outsource Call Center
Affordability
One of the reasons for outsourcing your business call center is affordability. Hiring remote agents can save you significant amounts of time and money. If you want to save money for more practical business operations such as expansion or reinvestment, consider outsourcing your call center.
Labor Options
Today, many call center agents telecommute, which provides companies with a much larger pool of applicants than traditional recruiting. Telecommuting increases competition, lowers labor rates, and brings a mix of skilled personnel.
If you do not want your business to be limited by a location that does not have a high number of qualified applicants, then consider outsourcing call center services. Outsourcing means that companies can reach out to job candidates in other states or countries, which could be much cheaper than recruiting locally.
Contribute to Community
In-house call centers are not only expensive to operate, but they also have a large carbon footprint. Entrepreneurs understand the effects of their business operations on the environment. Having an in-house call center may not be the best way to show social responsibility.
Outsourcing call center services allow remote agents to work from their location, which reduces travel costs and gas emissions. This approach to business operations saves the environment and may earn your business federal and state grants and subsidies.
Motivation
If you are interested in keeping your in-house employees motivated, it may be a good idea to outsource call center services. It may be difficult to motivate your employees to work longer during Black Friday or summer due to unique demands.
While many businesses often inform their employees about changes in work shifts, the staff is often not motivated when there are shifts in routine. Outsourcing call center agents allow your business to complete that extra work and keep your employees motivated.
Staffing Problems
Outsourcing call center services is an excellent option for companies that want to eliminate staffing issues. Companies that provide remote call center services often seek workers for their clients. This means that the outsourced company is the one that goes through the labors of interviewing suitable candidates, training them, scheduling shifts and managing the agents.
The outsourced company cuts down the time, effort and costs of hiring call center agents and the associated stress of managing employees. This means that the company hiring for the service is not affected by staff problems such as absenteeism and inadequate workforce. The outsourced company is responsible for all staffing issues including finding an adequate number of agents and substituting the agents when necessary.
Freedom from Managing Entire Teams
You know you need to outsource your call center if you are not ready to manage entire teams of agents or representatives. Leading entire teams of in-house call center agents is not easy and requires lots of time and money. Many business owners want to spend much of their working time managing the essential aspects of your business. Outsourcing your call center frees you from spending significant amounts of time and money trying to solve creative and technical issues of a call center team.
Outsourcing call center services has many benefits to business owners. It helps them make significant savings on time and money. In addition, outsourcing allows business owners to focus on the critical aspects of their businesses to maintain profitability. Business owners also get access to a larger pool of qualified call center agents that may not be available in their locations. More business owners throughout the U.S. are increasingly outsourcing their call center services because of the cost savings associated with outsourcing.
Phone Call Answering Services Frequently Asked Questions
We have been providing our professional call services since 1988. In that time we have served countless clients and honed our abilities and expertise to a high-level that few others can match.
Our answering services record all of your messages. We can also automatically share those with you in a number of ways. Those include transmitting them to you via text, fax, email, secure messaging platform or a secure web-based portal.
With our call answering services you can save time, focusing on other tasks you need to get done. You can also take a break if you want as our call service is always available. We also tend to be lower cost than many internal or external alternatives while ensuring your calls are answered consistently and courteously.