Technical support and desk call center services make it easy for any small or medium sized business (SMB) to build strong customer relationships without an enterprise class investment in customer service. Using call center agents to manage your voice or chat channels gives small businesses the opportunity to provide better customer service at the lowest price point – all while improving the overall customer experience.

So what characteristics should a technical support or help desk call center have to make sure you’re developing the best customer experience? What should you look for when comparing vendors? We’ve listed the top 6 characteristics you should be looking for below:

1. Multi-channel

Offering multiple channels of communication for your customers is no longer just an option for businesses, but a necessity. In a 2017 Customer Service report, 66% of surveyors say they actively use 3 or more channels to correspond with a business and 52% responded that their interaction with a business starts online. These types of data trends prove just how important it is for businesses to change gears and adjust how they interact with customers.

For businesses that look to call center outsourcing, it’s equally important that those service centers can also provide omni-channel communication options to both their customers and their customer’s customers. Here are some channels call centers use to optimize customer communication:

• Phone: While it seems like offering phone support is a no-brainer, more and more companies are actually ditching telephone support and focusing on channels like email and live chat instead. This may seem like a step in the right direction for customer support, but is actually a huge disservice. Many people express themselves better verbally or just don’t have the resources to communicate with your business online. If you don’t have the budget to include phone support in your office, call centers offer a cost effective alternative to give your business a live voice for customers to talk to 24/7.
• Email Response: Monitoring and responding to emails is a time-consuming task that many professionals tend to put on the back burner or deal with twice – at the beginning and the end of the day. However, failing to respond to customer requests quickly is a great way to lose opportunities. If you and your employees are struggling to respond to emails in a timely manner, your call center can help. Simply route your emails to the call center and they’ll follow the specific protocols you’ve set up. For example, some emails may just need a general response to a question, while others may require an in-house employee to step in and take the lead. A help desk call center can help you and your team weed through and prioritize your inbox!
• Live Chat: Live chat is one of the most accessible channels of customer service and often  the preferred method of communication. Live chat makes it easy for customers to multi-task and get instant answers they may not have been able to find online, and is a great way for businesses to bridge the gap between customers who would rather call for support, and those who would rather fill out a support ticket and communicate via email. Live chat outsourcing helps build better customer relationships and allows your brand to become more accessible.
• Text response: Similar to live chat, offering text response as a means of communication for your customers is a great way for your call center to help answer simple questions that may not warrant an email or a call back. Additionally, many people, especially Millennials, are more prone to texting than they are to picking up the phone and calling someone. For this reason, offering text response as an option may be the reason a customer decides to stay with your company instead of moving on.

2. Integrated

One of the ways help desk call centers actually help your business is to eliminate data entry work. Call centers do this by offering integrations into the software you’re already using in your business. An app integration system allows you, the user, to connect whatever in-house software you’re using with your call center. Once your system is linked up and your settings are configured accordingly, all data gathered by your call center agents can push through the integration and populate on your side.

Implementing integrations with your call center allows the operators to take on more responsibility while handling your calls, and minimizes the amount of time-consuming work your in-house team have to worry about. That means no unnecessary data entry, which means more time focused on closing leads and providing undivided customer attention.

3. Scripting

Your call center script is the glue that holds everything together, as it’s what the operators use to effectively handle your calls. So, it’s important to understand your call center’s capabilities and limitations in terms of what they can and can’t do in order for you to provide the best possible care to your customers. Here are some great talking points to discuss with your call center:

• Once I create a script, can it be changed? Since nothing ever stays the same for long, you’ll want to make sure your call center can effectively update your script in a timely manner. For example, if your pricing or services changed, is it possible to update your account with new information? If so, how quickly can changes go into effect?
• Are you able to handle calls the way my staff does? Customization is key in providing specialized care to your customers. For example, a medical practice may want to screen callers based off their insurance provider, whereas an HVAC company may want to screen callers based off residential or commercial requests. While your call center may not be able to handle calls exactly the same way your in-house staff would, they should be able to replicate the most important aspects of your protocol.
• Can I include an emergency protocol?: In the event of an all out catastrophe, you’ll want to make sure your help desk call center can include an emergency protocol within your script. If a caller checks off all the necessary boxes, allowing your call center agents to transfer the call to your in-house team could be the action that saves that customer from quitting. Having that immediate connection can help diffuse a situation a lot quicker than making an upset customer wait for a call back.

4. Escalations

Call centers are equipped to handle calls for many different types of industries, including those whose customers may require tier 1 help desk troubleshooting. For example, a computer software company may want their call center to screen callers based off the severity of their issue, and walk the customer through a simple troubleshooting process before escalating.

Depending on your specific needs, your help desk call center should be able to implement a call handling protocol that will make sense for the agents and also help cut down on the amount of call backs your in-house team have to make. As long as your call center agents have a scripted workflow they can follow, they should have no problem helping callers with password resets, troubleshooting known error codes or assisting customers with logging in, while more complex issues can generate a support request to a more experienced team member.

5. Location

When many people think of outsourcing, they immediately think about businesses delegating jobs to workers overseas. However, there are many outsourcing opportunities in the U.S. as well. We’ve broken down a few pros and cons for each below, but it’s up to you to decide what will work best for your business.

Overseas Outsourcing: Pros

• Lower labor costs and upkeep: A huge benefit to outsourcing overseas is the money you’ll save in labor costs. Generally speaking, overhead and employee costs overseas are much cheaper than they are in the U.S, which means your business could turn a much larger profit due to the savings.
• Access to larger pool of workers: Typically, businesses outsource jobs to underdeveloped countries, which means there is a large pool of potential employers in the market. Because of this, the more job opportunities a business is able to provide to underdeveloped or lower income communities, the more resources become available which can help bridge the gap between the poor and the wealthy.

Overseas Outsourcing: Cons

• Quality control oversights: While outsourcing overseas has it’s ups, it’s also got it’s down, one of them being quality control. When a business outsources work to another country, they relinquish a great deal of control over operations. This change in the system can sometimes be a detriment to the overall quality of service that is provided, and may have a negative effect on business.
• Communication barriers: Another downside  of outsourcing overseas are the communication barriers and the effect that has on your customer service. Typically, when customers call your customer service line, they’re reaching out about an issue or concern they’re having. If they’re having trouble communicating with your agents, chances are they’re going to become more frustrated which could increase their chances of cancelling.

US Based Outsourcing: Pros

• Keep a local presence: Just because your business is outsourcing doesn’t mean you need to give up a local presence. Outsourcing to a US based company is a great way to minimize the cultural divide and is typically better received by customers.
• Affordable pricing options: While outsourcing overseas may be cheaper than outsourcing in the United States, it’s still a more affordable option than hiring more in-house employees. When working with a call center, you won’t have to worry about paying for overtime or other employee costs like benefits, insurance, etc. In addition, US based call centers offer competitive pricing and can typically size up or down with your business accordingly.

US Based Outsourcing: Cons

• Less control over quality assurance: Similar to outsourcing overseas, business owners may experience a shift in quality control. However, the shift seems to be less noticeable when outsourcing within the same country as opposed to overseas. This could be because technology in the US is more advanced, allowing businesses the opportunity to listen to calls themselves and rate operator performance.

6. Language

The United States is a melting pot of different cultures, and many people living here speak multiple different languages. As a business owner, you’d be foolish not to try and cater to such a large potential audience. While many businesses may not have the resources or funds to offer bilingual or multilingual services in house, call centers are able to step in and help without breaking the bank.

Bilingual  call center operators are able to handle all of the same tasks as any other operator, and service providers don’t typically charge that much to include a bilingual option in your plan. If you’re looking for a way to reach a wider customer base without spending an arm and a leg, utilizing a bilingual call center service is a great place to start! Finding a call center that offers multilingual services like French or Mandarin may be a bit harder to find, and may come at a premium cost due to availability or accessibility.

If you find the best help desk call center for your business, you’ll be able to grow naturally with them without having to worry about seeking new providers when you don’t have the bandwidth to make a change. SAS Call Center offers help desk call center services that can be your stand alone help desk, or your Tier 1 front lines.

The post 6 Characteristics Your Help Desk Call Center Needs For The Best Customer Experience appeared first on SAS Call Center.

Why can’t customers get the same level of service after hours like they do when they talk to one of your in-house staff? Customers are more often loyal to a company or brand because of the customer service they provide. Customer service is just as important as your product or service. So, if you’re outsourcing to a call center, great first step! If you’re not using the call center efficiently, shame on you.

In this article, you’ll learn about what a call center can do efficiently to help you establish the best outsourcing model for the best customer service. We’ve laid this out as a four-part action plan:

1. Discover all call center services available to you from your call center provider
2. Decide which of those services you should implement into your call center blueprint
3. Monitor customer satisfaction by tracking essential metrics
4. Engage with your call center to iron out issues

1. Give your sales rep a buzz and discuss what call center services are available that you may not be using

Believe it or not, call centers can do more than just answer your phones! They are great for handling all types of customer communication throughout many different channels, while giving your customers the same level of support they are used to receiving from your own employees. Here are some popular call center services that you might be missing out on:

• Emergency dispatching: If you run a small business, you may not have the budget or resources to be available to your customers 24/7. However, when your customers are having an emergency, you need to be there when they call. Call centers that offer emergency dispatching allow you to be there for your customers around the clock without breaking the bank. Integrating your on-call schedule with your call center is an easy way to make sure everyone is on the same page, and the right people are always being contacted.
• Automated support: As a call center service provider, we think that live support is the bee’s knees. However, automated support can be beneficial as it helps cut down operator talk time and lets customers help themselves. This is great for simple Q&A like checking their account status or checking business hours or your company address.
• Outbound calling: Cold calling leads can be tough. Instead, outsource those tasks to a call center while your in-house team focuses on closing hot leads and creating customer relationships. Whether you need B2B telemarketing, lead generation services or need some extra help with market research, call centers are great at handling your outbound communications.
• Bilingual support: Is your company international? Do you have a lot of Spanish speaking customers? Are you just trying to broaden your customer audience? Utilizing bilingual agents might just be the feature that sets your company apart from your competition. Bilingual agents can handle all of the same tasks English speaking agents can, and utilizing them generally won’t incur too many extra charges.
• CRM integration: If you’re entering customer data into your CRM after your call center gathers caller information, you’re not using your time wisely. Call centers that can integrate with the CRM platform you are already using want to help your business maximize productivity. Once you integrate your app, whatever information the call center agents gather can push directly to  your platform and update customer details in real time.

2. Decide what to implement and come up with a deployment timeline

After you’ve learned all of the features your call center offers, the next step is to decide what features to implement and how. While it may be tempting to implement multiple features at once, it’s a better idea to take it step by step. That way, you can address specific issues as they arise instead of having to deal with multiple issues all at once.

For example, adding an on-call schedule might be a feature you want to implement first so that your call center operators can dispatch urgent message after hours as soon as possible. Once you get your dispatching protocol squared away, then you might want to focus on integrating with your CRM platform. Having an idea of what features you want to use and when you want to use them will help you and your team stay organized, which will allow you to maximize productivity.

3. Listen to calls and get feedback from your customers to see if your new process is improving customer service

Once you implement your new features, don’t just “set it and forget it.” Keeping a hands on approach with your call center will allow you to pick up on problems as they happen and nip them in the bud. Here are some great ways to stay involved with your call center:

• Listen to calls: If listening to your own calls is not a feasible task, designate a team member to spot check calls every few days to see how agents are performing. Weekly meetings can then be held for everyone to listen to the feedback and input their own ideas if updates are needed.
• Survey your customers: Whether it’s by phone, email, or in person when you see them, asking your customers their opinions will not only give you valuable feedback, but will also make your customers feel like their opinion matters. When customers know they matter, they are more likely to commit to brand loyalty. If you don’t have time to send out surveys, see if your call center can send them out on your behalf after each call.

4. Close the loop by taking that feedback and working with your call center to patch holes

After you’ve gathered feedback from both your team and your customers, the final step in maximizing call center success and increasing customer satisfaction is to implement the necessary changes that will help resolve any hiccups. For example, if you notice that operators are stumbling over your company name in the greeting, you may want to add a customized recorded greeting that announces your company name first, and then have the operators greet the callers without saying your company name.

If customers feel that the call center operators are not answering their questions, arm your agents with the resources they need to best help your customers. This could include adding more FAQs or updating the script to better match your in-house procedures.

Are you ready to really start using your call center to improve customer service? See what call center services we offer and learn how your customer service can go from ho-hum to fireworks diamond disco party by implementing the right features.

The post 4 Ways to Drive Better Customer Experiences with Call Centers appeared first on SAS Call Center.

We’re living in the age of outsourcing where any sized business, big or small, can get setup and start outsourcing to a call center in a manner of minutes. What separates smart outsourcing from outsourcing that’s destined to fail is taking the time to create a great customer experience. Customers want more, and they expect that when they contact your business, you’ll know them and know exactly what they want to get out of the call. But, making sure you’re developing your call center experience so it’s focused on the needs of the customer can be complicated.

The news isn’t all bad, though. In this post, we’ll share a few tips on how to deliver a customer focused call center experience. Regardless of your businesses size, we’ll guide you on how to build the best call center interaction for your customers.

Design The Best Call Center Script

Putting the time and effort into designing the best call center script to achieve your goals is essential. Before you get started on setting up your account, you’ll want to sit down and map out your ideas and goals, as well as the most common types of calls and questions your in-house staff handle most frequently. While many people who are new to outsourcing may want to arm their call center with every possible scenario, doing that is a recipe for disaster.

Setting up  your call center to use the same protocols in situations your business handles most often will be the best way to ensure outsourcing success, as well as making sure your customers are receiving the greatest service possible. For less frequent requests, we recommend having the call center agents take a simple message or transferring that call to a member on your team.

It can be tempting to build out a call center flow that includes every possible scenario under the sun. After all, if your goal is to create the best possible customer experience, your first thought is to make sure that every customer who calls has their needs met 100% of the time. However, by stuffing your call script with every possible option, you’re increasing the odds that your operators will get confused and wind up giving out the wrong information, gathering the wrong data, or just plain not know what to do. Complicated scripts lead to lengthy calls, frustrated customers, and a potential loss of business.

Let Customers Know Live Help Is Available Through All of Your Touchpoints

As technology continues to evolve and social channels are becoming increasingly popular, your customers will have different needs and will want to be able to reach out to your business in a way that is most comfortable for them. If your support staff is only available via phone during business hours, you may be deterring some customers from reaching out simply because they don’t want to make the phone call.

When your customers know that there are multiple ways to reach out and receive live help, they are more willing to utilize various channels and ask for assistance when needed. Some ways you can inform customers of your accessibility include:

• Update your email signatures to include your Twitter or Instagram handle or where they can find you on Facebook.
• Include a link in your emails and your social pages where customers can easily access your live chat.
• Include your call center forwarding number that customers can dial directly in case your business lines are down, tied up, or you’ve closed for the day.
• Post your support phone number and email on every page of your website, in your email signature, and on all of your social channels.
• If you offer a knowledgebase that customers can access to try and help themselves, include an article that lists all of the ways customers can contact your business, and when (if you’re not available 24/7).

Give Agents Access to Bring Up Customer Transaction History

The foundation of a customer focused call center experience is knowledge about the customer. When customers reach out to your business with issues, they expect you to know everything about them as your customer. They expect you to know when the last time they contacted you was, what their issue was the last time they called, details about their account, etc. While this is pretty easy to do in house when all of your employees are using your CRM, it’s a bit more difficult to personalize the customer experience when customers interact with your business through your call center.

The best way to empower your call center agents to deliver personal experiences is to give them the ability to access customer data, which would allow them to pull up the transaction history of each customer calling in. Integrating with your CRM or other back end systems is an amazing differentiator in driving the best call center experience. Once you’ve provisioned access, the reps will have some background information on who the customer is, how long they’ve been a customer and if they’ve had any recent issues. When customers don’t have to give the same spiel each time they reach out, they’re less likely to get frustrated with the person handling their case, and more likely to remain loyal to your brand.

Analyze Call Data to Drive Growth and Identify Issues

Using a call center makes it simple to quickly dive into your call data and use that data to create more engaging and personal call center experiences for your customers.  With data, you will be able to determine why customers are reaching out and how often, which may help to illustrate some weaker points within your call handling system. From this data, you have the opportunity to address issues, make adjustments, and continue providing the best service possible to your customers.

We believe that the best call center interactions start with the customer, and that it’s essential for businesses to deliver call center experiences that are centered around the customer.

The post How to Ensure Your Call Center Experience is Customer Focused appeared first on SAS Call Center.