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Is a call center an option for your business?

Guest post by: Bonnie Harris

Article Overview: Many, many call centers existing in the United States that are affordable, well-managed and easy to integrate into your business. It’s not all the stereotypical Indian or Malaysian call center that we’ve all come to dread. If you’re overwhelmed because you’ve got more business than you can handle, you might want to consider outsourcing call centers as an option. But just what do they do?

Is a call center an option for your business?

As many businesses grow, the hassle of managing employees grows along with it. Two of the hardest groups to manage for me were outbound sales and customer service. In the technology industry in the 1990′s (which is where my management career started and ended) had few processes developed for inbound and outbound calls. In a small business, your “super admins” end up dealing with most of these things and often get burned out.

Many, many call centers existing in the United States that are affordable, well-managed and easy to integrate into your business. It’s not all the stereotypical Indian or Malaysian call center that we’ve all come to dread. If you’re overwhelmed because you’ve got more business than you can handle, you might want to consider outsourcing call centers as an option. But just what do they do?

First of all, you’ve got to differentiate between inbound and outbound call center services. Inbound services typically include things like

• customer care
• order management
• help desk staffing
• sales
• and even crisis management if there is a natural disaster, a public relations problem or other things that might increase significantly the number of calls coming INTO your company.

Outbound usually involves tasks that engage clients and potential customers on a proactive basis. These might be:

• lead generation
• surveys
• outbound sales and telemarketing
• market research
• other prospecting tasks

There can be downsides – integrating any outsourced function into an organization has a period of transition that can be painful. Also, customers used to speaking with internal staff may have issues with the new resources in the beginning. It’s best to find a call center that has a long history of doing this, and established processes and references. Don’t just go for the cheapest bid.

Many call center organizations are looking for companies that they can engage with, and grow their services right along. If you’re experiencing high growth right now, rather than experiencing the overhead of adding employees, it might be something to consider. The American Teleservices Association (ATA) is an excellent resource for learning more about call centers and finding a good one.

What do you think? What are your stories, good and bad, for using a call center?

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Article Tags: call center, small business management, small business marketing, small business sales



Related Forum Posts
Re: Franchise of a popular call center - [quote="robsam":gti19tnp]Hi All, I was planning to setup a franchise of a popular call center services company . They are giving several services to their customers like - knowledge management , workforce management [/quote:gti19tnp] Franchising an outsourcing business, well if you have a lot knowledge and experience about the business then why not? Call center is a boom business tho.
Re: Franchise of a popular call center - [quote="robsam":1feiaya2]Hi All, I was planning to setup a franchise of a popular call center services company . They are giving several services to their customers like - knowledge management , workforce management , Business Process Automation etc. Now I need to know that from where and how I should start and who must be my targeting customers.[/quote:1feiaya2] Call center is a popular business nowadays and I'm sure you're good in that business, sounds like!
Re: need advice - Did you ever open this call center? If so, how's it going?
need advice - i'm a teleoperator in profession and wish to open a call center in Africa, what do you think?
Hi all - First time here just signed up. I am the owner of a IT/call center and look forward to reading everyones input


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