What is a call center?
A call center , also known as a contact center or call center , is a set of resources, services and techniques used to manage the remote relationship between a company and its customers.
Call center services can be confusing. They can often be associated with sales processes or simply with customer services. It is often attributed to companies working in telecommunications. A call center operates in a variety of sectors, working for many different types of company. However, the activities carried out there are very diverse. Understanding exactly what services and interventions are carried out in a call center will help you to know when and to what extent to use them.
What is a Call Center?
Call Center definition and mission
A call center is a platform that groups together call transmission and reception services. A call center includes a set of techniques and methods for carrying out these activities: human, technological and material resources. A call center is a centralised telecommunications service to which telephone calls from existing and prospective customers are directed. Call center can handle both incoming and outgoing calls, and can be located within a company (insourcing) or outsourced to another company specialising in call handling.
As a call transmission and reception platform, its tasks consist of putting a company in touch with its prospects/customers, in BtoB or BtoC. The term “customer relations center” or “contact center ” is used to encompass all the activities involved. The former refers to the idea that in a call center , customer relationship management is also essential. In fact, it’s not just about selling.
Contact center ” implies that the platform does not just manage calls. It also manages contacts with other communication channels such as emailing, written messages, the internet, etc
The activities of a call center correspond to the services that can be carried out in a contact center and can vary according to the needs of the company. However, the objective remains the same. Communication between a company and external players.
Call Center KPIs: customer relations call center performance indicators
The KPI performance indicators for a customer service contact center will help you to get a clear idea of the advantages and disadvantages of a contact center , whether in terms of cost, quality or productivity. It is therefore possible to determine the performance of technical agents in carrying out a given mission by means of various indicators, thus evaluating the performance of the customer relations call center .
Performance is measured using the following KPIs:
- Service measurement. This is the ability of a call center service provider to deliver the level of service agreed with the company. It is analysed in terms of the percentage of calls handled in a given time (e.g. 80% of calls made in one minute);
- The accessibility of a service measured by the pick-up rate and waiting time. These indicators make it possible to analyse the responsiveness of agents in handling calls, and have an impact on customer satisfaction. It can also be measured in terms of the abandonment rate. This is the number of callers who have hung up or disconnected before even getting in touch with an advice technician.
- Average handling time. This is the time an agent spends handling calls and related actions. But it is more appropriate for most companies to focus on call resolution. This time it’s the ability of a technical advisor to respond to the customer’s needs rather than the length of time it takes to handle the call. Call resolution allows more attention to be paid to the quality of the call. This prevents customers from calling the service again and again for the same reasons.
- Customer satisfaction. This is assessed using the net promoter score, and is collected by means of a survey or post-call questions.
- Ability to retain customers. The customer effort score can also be used to analyse the quality of the relationship between agents and customers, and the level of customer satisfaction. This indicator provides information on the customer experience during calls, assessed by the effort made by the caller to have their request processed.
- The digitisation rate: this measures the ability of agents to redirect customers to the other communication channels used by the company: website, FAQ, virtual agent, virtual community. The agent’s teaching skills are also assessed, as it is up to them to teach customers how to use the self-care service.
- The conversion rate: this is the rate of sales achieved expressed as a function of the number of calls made.
The KPIs for a call center not only allow you to understand the efficiency of the agents and the contact center, but also to get an idea of the quality of the customer relationship. They are highly recommended for companies that outsource their customer relations center to monitor the performance of their service providers.
Telephone call origination and flow management in a contact center
Telephone flow management in a contact center refers to calls made by the company to communicate with prospects or customers. Outgoing calls are often made for :
Inbound calls:
The inbound platform handles calls made by customers to contact the company. The lines set up in an inbound platform may be for :
– Enquiries, complaints, consumer services.
– Making appointments, used by a medical practice, for example.
– Taking orders, for companies that sell by mail order.
– After-sales services: advice, maintenance, repairs, services relating to the products/services offered by the company.
Handling outgoing calls from the customer relations center highlights the importance of direct contact with customers.
Telephone prospecting, teleprospecting – advantages, disadvantages :
Telemarketing involves contacting prospective customers with the aim of turning them into new customers. Of course, telemarketing leads to a sale. More often than not, the primary aim is to make appointments for sales representatives. This is a very popular technique in both B2B and B2C sales. The aim is to find sales leads and then let the sales people close the deal during the meetings.
Distance selling or telesales:
Unlike teleprospecting, the aim of distance selling is to sell directly over the telephone. It is carried out with private individuals or companies. Generally, a sales pitch is used to provide prospects with all the information they need to make the call. In the case of making an appointment or for a distance sale. The sales pitch varies according to the campaign and its objective. It is drawn up by the account managers.
Presenting new products or special offers to customers or prospective customers.
Polls and surveys:
A telephone survey is a study carried out by call center by means of a call transmission operation. As part of a marketing strategy, a survey can be carried out before a product or service goes on sale, in which case the primary aim is to conduct market research. This is used to identify customer needs and define targets and potential customers. It provides clues as to the sales strategy to adopt.
A post-sales survey is used to gather data on what customers think of the offers. In this case, they are satisfaction surveys. A telephone survey also requires prospect or customer files, which can be used to define the number of people to be contacted. However, this number depends on the degree of precision that the company wants to obtain at the end of the survey. Obviously, the questionnaire varies according to the objective.
Advancia Téléservices has a team specialised in carrying out surveys to collect the information you need.
Customer prospecting file:
This is an ideal complete file of qualified and targeted contacts for prospecting call center . First of all, to prospect or sell it is essential to prepare a prospect file. This is a database containing information about the prospects/customers to be contacted, and is often sorted and qualified according to certain criteria. It is often sorted and qualified according to certain criteria. Preferably, it contains only the useful contact details of people who are important for the campaign. A prospect file can be bought or rented. There are also service providers who offer file qualification services. In other cases, the company itself builds up its database using information gathered from various sources. These may include the website via contact forms, the company blog or its CRM.
Call distribution is part of the outbound marketing strategy, which involves reaching out to prospective customers to tell them about the company and its products/services.
Outsourcing a Contact Center to Advancia Téléservices
Advancia Téléservices Call center , offers you high added value outsourcing services , as outsourcing consists of delegating certain company activities to an external service provider. It is therefore possible to set up the call platform internally or externally. In the case of outsourcing, the company uses the services of an external service provider who can take charge of either outbound or inbound calls, or both operations at the same time.
Why outsource your customer services?
There are several reasons for choosing to outsource your call center . So when should you choose outsourcing?
- You don’t have the material and/or human resources to set up your own customer relations center , so it’s preferable to use an external call center equipped to carry out the tasks assigned to it.
- You want to optimise your sales or customer relationship management. Outsourcing these functions means entrusting them to specialists in these fields, call center with proven experience.
The advantages of outsourcing services to Advancia Téléservices
At Advancia Téléservices, outsourcing a call center represents a strategic solution for companies, often to ensure the quality of services. But there’s much more to it than that.
Outsourcing allows a company to :
- Focus on its core business. Employees can focus on their core tasks;
- Benefit from sector expertise. The teams who handle each assignment in a call center have the skills to succeed.
- Productivity is therefore much higher in a call center. In fact, it’s safer to entrust the assignment to call center with teams that have the know-how for all types of project.
- Flexible costs. The amount to be paid will depend on the volume of tasks that the company entrusts to the service provider. You are free to choose between a long-term or short-term commitment.
- Work with a center that masters communication technologies. It goes without saying that call center can provide services at the cutting edge of technology, as this is their day-to-day business.
- A service that can be tailored to the needs of the company. It is up to the company to decide how its service should operate in the short or long term. It is also possible to launch a campaign at a set frequency. Resources (material or human) can be available whenever the company needs them. In this way, the operation of services that are useful to the company, such as customer services, can be regulated.
Outsourcing provides a number of benefits for the company, its employees and its customers.
Inshore or offshore: the differences
The choice between inshore (in France) and offshore (outside France) depends on the type of campaign the company is going to run. Very often, companies opt for offshore companies for BtoC. Sales to individuals or customer service. For assignments requiring a relationship between two companies (B-to-B sales, telephone answering for professional partners), it is preferable to opt for offshore companies.
On the one hand, offshore offers access to competitive prices. On the other hand, inshores give companies greater accessibility, allowing them to work close to their service providers. And of course the advantage of having a real direct commercial relationship.
Advancia Téléservices, Offshore Multichannel Call center Expert in customer relations
Advancia Téléservices offers services in customer relationship management with high added value, offering several types of mission. In fact, it handles various activities relating to customer relationship management.
The benefits
Long-standing experience: Advancia Téléservices has been helping companies develop their sales forces and manage their customer relations for some thirty years. This experience means the agency knows all the techniques needed to succeed in the market and improve customer relations.
Expertise in the business: the team that makes up the Advancia Téléservices Call center has perfect mastery of different missions, whether in BtoB sales or in customer relationship management. This enables us to optimise each campaign we run for your company.
An expert team: the team we put in place for your campaign is already trained in our sales methods. All that’s left is to assimilate your know-how and expertise.
Multi-channel customer relationship management : in addition to telephone communication, our agency provides you with a team to manage all the media used by your company or your customers (email, chat, telephone calls, etc.).
By opting to outsource your call center , you will not only reduce the volume of tasks managed by your company, but also benefit from our team’s expertise and quality service.
Call center offers and services
Since 2010, Advancia Téléservices has been developing BPO outsourcing activities such as: commercial value creation, activity management, customer service, team planning, technical or IT support, management of the administrative sales and after-sales service chain for international companies. Our aim is to boost your sales and maintain relationships with your customers through high added-value services:
Hosting your outbound call center , which will handle telephone prospecting, sales follow-up and satisfaction surveys. During telephone prospecting, our sales representatives will represent you to potential customers to promote your products and services. Our aim is to win you qualified appointments and then let your sales agents close the sale.
Once the offers have been made, our sales agents can start to follow up your prospects. If you don’t have the time to do this, or if you want to make sure it’s done properly, our experienced team is on hand to take care of it. Our B-to-B sales practice also relies on lead management, which we believe is important in helping prospects make a decision.
We take charge of lead management by providing prospects with technical or sales support and quality content that will encourage them to make the final purchase. Finally, post-sales satisfaction surveys can be useful for gathering customer feedback on your offers, giving you the opportunity to adapt future ones to their needs.
The services offered by a telephone call center are diverse, including telemarketing, telesales, telemarketing, marketing market research, customer service and many others.
Set up a line to receive calls from your customers: these calls can be for complaints, information or after-sales service. Advancia Téléservices puts a team of technicians at your disposal to manage your customers, advise them and satisfy their requests for information.
Key account mapping involves identifying, analysing and representing the various contacts and decision-making circuits within key account customers or prospects. To be successful in B-to-B sales, it is essential to know the hierarchical organisation and decision-making flow of the companies you wish to work with. You can then find out who to talk to and how to go about winning key account customers.