When asked what the benefits of outsourcing are, the first answer that springs to mind is generally “reducing costs”. However, there are other advantages of doing so when it comes to call handling, which can be overlooked, as follows:
1) Lower Costs
In today’s competitive trade environment, reducing costs is indeed a good reason to consider outsourcing. However, it could affect the quality of customer service if not done carefully, which could in turn damage the perception of your brand and satisfaction with your company, ultimately costing you sales. The art is to find the balance between profit and customer care.
2) Increasing Customer Satisfaction and Brand Loyalty
Every contact with a customer is a chance to build brand loyalty and establish relationships. A quality call centre company will not only provide staff skilled at cultivating customers, they will also be able to devise and implement programmes to maximise customer retention, and offer extensive tracking and reporting capabilities to fine-tune your marketing strategy.
3) Boosting Revenue per Customer
Thanks to their sophisticated software, call centres can give you invaluable insight into your prospects and client base. They can measure and report on average handling time, customer satisfaction and first-call resolution, to increase the value of each customer.
4) Greater Flexibility
One of the most beneficial aspects of outsourcing call handling is that it enables a business to respond to sudden but temporary increase in customer enquiries, such as at Christmas time, without the need to recruit staff which won’t be needed a few weeks later, or distribute this extra call volume to in-house staff which may not have the necessary knowledge.
Professional call centres will have a highly-skilled workforce which is operational immediately and can be hired when needed so that you don’t have to worry about abandoned calls and missed sales.
5) Improving the Security of Your Customers’ Private Data
Outsourcing some of your processes means entrusting a third party with your customers’ details. While you should indeed ensure that the company you choose has efficient and secure safeguards to protect this sensitive information, it is also important to remember that call centres’ core business is about customer details and therefore security.
A call centre which doesn’t protect private data satisfactorily would soon be out of business, and their systems are therefore often stronger than their clients’, and probably even more secure than your own!
