Call Center Service

The right U.S.-based call center service can make your business accessible to customers every hour of the day and every day of the week with full-time, peak-time or after-hours call center services. Dependable 24/7 call center services can increase sales, enhance customer loyalty and reduce costs for small, mid-size, and enterprise-level companies.



Being available whenever a potential client or current customer calls is the key to increasing sales and customer loyalty for any business. But is it cost restrictive? Not if you consider hiring a call center service instead of additional full-time staff. Most call center services can tailor a plan to meet your specific business needs and handle all of your calls or just your overflow calls.



A proven, successful call center service philosophy begins with a clear and concise understanding of your business protocols and objectives for both inbound and outbound calls. Based on that information, specific scripts are created to convey your company voice and culture.



Scripting is perhaps the most important part of designing your call center service. You may need a variety of scripts depending on what types of calls your business receives. If potential or current clients call with questions about your products or services, the script the call center service agents use should address those concerns. If customers call with an emergency request, a different script is used to offer assurance and arrange a service call. Whatever the situation, the call center service script can be tailored to mirror how your in-house staff would handle that call. The right scripting and account design allow call center service agents to intelligently drive conversations to meet your objectives.



There are many call center services available, and they offer a variety of plan options. Many of them offer these same or similar services:

• 24/7 customer support, 365 days of the year.


• Lead qualifying/conversion to turn potential clients into current customers.


• Order taking to increase business whenever calls come into the office.


• Inbound and outbound surveys to determine customer satisfaction.


• Appointment scheduling/setting to assure customers are not waiting for a call back.


• Job hotline screening to determine applicant qualifications.


• Employee call out to handle early-morning calls from employees who can't make their shifts. Calls are handled according to your specific instructions.


• Bilingual agents 24/7 available for translation and call handling.

Call center services also provide reporting options to proactively manage your business. Reports include information showing call trends, source code data and conversion rates. From this you may choose to edit your scripts, change your product or service marketing or add/delete specific call center service options.



It is equally important to hear how the call center service answers your calls. The service should allow you to listen to, and score, call handling. Work with your call center service to analyze and modify scripts to continue to get the best outcome from each call. The call center service uses clients' call scoring to assess individual team-member performance and analyze other service areas that may need attention.



If you want to expand your business' hours of operation without significantly increasing your costs, consider a call center service with 24/7, 365-days-a-year availability. Your return on investment in increased sales and enhanced customer loyalty should more than offset the cost of your call center service plan.




Judy O'Brien is a freelance writer for Alert Communications, which offers a variety of call center service solutions, answering services and virtual receptionist services.