Call centers have penetrated into the life of almost any company for half a century of their existence. Actively changing along with technology, we left the usual telephone service for new means of communication. But regardless of the means used in communicating with customers, the format remained the same – an invisible support service, ready to always stay in touch with the subscriber.
Today, call center services are in demand more than ever and are the most powerful marketing tool for many companies. However, an effective effect can be achieved by developing and applying various marketing strategies.
What should be considered when developing a strategy?
The primary task that a call center must solve is customer satisfaction. The voice menu reveals the need of the caller, then the call is sent to the appropriate department, where competent operators are located. Calls are processed in order of priority and as a result, the client promptly receives the necessary information.
The introduction of this tool should be carried out gradually, with a constant analysis of efficiency, determination of profitability. The indicator will be the difference between the cost of maintaining a call center and the income that it brings.
Qualification of personnel and proper organization are the key to efficiency
An important condition for increasing the efficiency of using this tool is staff training. Practice shows that the money and time spent on improving the skills of operators justify themselves and increase profits. The quality of training plays a key role in this – it is much more important than volume.
As for the work of personnel, many organizational details should be taken into account here – follow a clear schedule, take into account breaks, holidays, analyze the volume of incoming calls in order to evenly distribute forces and prevent a decrease in the quality of call center services.
Start with basic technologies
This technology involves the use of special software. The choice of suppliers of this should be treated with caution – many offers have extra options for which you have to overpay. Suppliers at the same time claim that these solutions will quickly pay off.
It would be more expedient to start using basic technologies – telephone and computer networks, software, which ultimately allows you to structure information by client, displaying data on the monitor screen.
Outsourcing call center
A worthy alternative to a corporate call center is an outsourced contact center – you can learn more about the best of them in the list of top call center companies on the Belkins website. Such companies have rich experience in organizing these services, use advanced work technologies and employ highly qualified staff.
The need for outsourcing services may also arise due to an increase in incoming traffic from customers, which may be caused by the season, unique offers, etc. This allows you to significantly save on the maintenance of a large staff, the need for which may disappear after a while.
Call center and company image
Contact centers have long evolved from being just a means of direct communication with a customer to a powerful marketing and branding tool. It is, rather, a fighter of the invisible front, which does not directly affect sales. But the most effective in everything that concerns the image. You can talk as much as you want about how the company loves the client. But only the level and quality of service will show how true these words are.
It is the quality of service in recent years that has been the driving factor in brand promotion. People go for a quality product or service. But they stay and come back thanks to the attention from the company.
After all, people call or write to online chat to buy, ask, book or express dissatisfaction. And the call center here acts as the important link in your sales funnel templates on which the further path of interaction between the client and the company depends.
Call center and loyalty level
A professional call center has the capacity to receive hundreds of calls and requests through other channels simultaneously. This applies to both technology and the availability of human resources. Such features virtually eliminate the risk of lost calls.
Among the advantages of a call center, subscribers especially highlight the availability factor. Companies that switched to outsourcing calls or created their own full-fledged call center noted an increase in the loyalty of regular customers. As well as reducing the level of discontent. This is understandable, because the work of the call center involves customer support almost around the clock. Especially for national scale companies.
Call center tools are also actively used in marketing strategies. Being in constant contact with the buyers of the enterprise, operators are better than other specialists can form a database of consumers. Segmenting such a base into warm and cold customers helps the marketing department find the right touch points with each category of customers.
After all, the strategy of the company as a whole is to increase brand profits at the expense of a loyal, solvent audience. And this close connection is created through a competent communication strategy, in which the call center plays a major role due to the ability to establish a point-to-point direct connection with the buyer.
The effectiveness of using the contact center to improve the company’s image was confirmed by experiments conducted at different times by companies around the world. Studies show an increase in positive image and purchase volumes by those consumers who participated in loyalty programs.
Also read: WhatsApp Promotional Messages: The New Trend of Digital Marketing
And what is most interesting: buyers with the greatest potential do not have to be “bribed” with discounts or promotions. The main points in working with customers to increase loyalty are to communicate new relevant information, to form involvement in the life of the company, to find out opinions on the quality of goods or services. It is attention that today is the key to the formation of a positive image of the company, and hence the growth of profits
Vital Shpakouski Philologist with higher education, professional translator, former volunteer and teacher, entrepreneur, and salesperson with 13 years of experience. Now I’m a copywriter in Internet marketing, writing about everything that helps businesses grow and develop. In my free time, I create music and songs that no one hears and take photos and videos that no one sees.