The increase in competition between businesses has raised the importance of satisfying customers. It has been seen that customers of today expect nothing less than exemplary customer support services. Anything less and you risk losing them, which is why; half-hearted attempts at providing customer services are a big no-no. This is all the more reason for you to outsource inbound call center services to call center experts who actually know how to treat customers the right way. Not only outsourcing helps in enhancing customers’ satisfaction levels, but it also helps in cutting costs of non-core processes. For a business owner, an outsourcing call center is nothing less than a godsend as it helps him focus more on his core product and reduces the headache of managing an additional team.
What is an Inbound Call Center?
An inbound call center is a call center that receives calls from customers. A customer can contact inbound call center services for the purpose of gaining information, resolving a query or making a complaint. In all instances of customer contact, the responsibility of resolving the query rests on the inbound call center executive who picks up the call. In situations, when a level 1 agent is unable to resolve the query or address the issue correctly, he transfers the call to higher levels of support. A modern-day inbound call center, generally, makes use of a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool for keeping track of customer contact, queries, account information and other important details.
What Services Are Provided by Inbound Call Center Provider?
An inbound call center provider can offer the following services to its clients:
- Technical Support – Technical support services are all about educating customers on technicalities of different products and helping them in resolving an issue when the product malfunctions.
- Call Answering – Businesses that receive more calls than they can handle should use call answering services for ensuring they do not miss any calls from their clients or customers.
- Helpdesk – A helpdesk receives technical issues by using a ticketing system. Tickets are raised via calls or emails and help desk support team addresses each ticket one by one.
Apart from the above-mentioned services, an inbound call center provider can also offer services like order taking, customer care, and inbound sales.
What Is the Difference between Inbound Call Center and Outbound Call Center Services?
As the name implies an inbound call center is the one that receives calls from customer and an outbound call center is the one, in which, call center agents to make outbound calls to potential clients, loan defaulters or other concerned parties.
Inbound call center services are reactive and focus on resolving customer queries or addressing technical issues. On the other hand, outbound call center services are proactive. An outbound call center agent has prior information about the person he will be calling. But that does not make the task easy, as many outbound call center services require the agent to convince a customer or make a sale (sometimes against customer’s wishes).
Do You Need an Outsourced Inbound Call Center for Your Business?
To figure out whether you require the support of an outsourced inbound call center for your business, you need to ask yourself the following questions and analyze.
- Does your customer complain frequently? If the answer is yes, you need the help of quality outsourced inbound call center to increase customer satisfaction. Satisfied customers stay happy, do not complain and bring in new customers.
- Are you exceeding your budget while running an in-house call center? If the answer is in the affirmative, then you should make haste and take the help of an accomplished customer service vendor based in a country that has a weaker currency than yours. You will immediately start benefitting from a currency exchange rate that works in your favor. The cost of operation will go down and your bottom line will improve.
You can also take the help of inbound call center outsourcing solutions for:
- Accessing the expertise of a skilled and experienced workforce
- Reducing cost on creating infrastructure
- Reducing the burden of managing non-core processes
At the A1 call center, we offer tailor-made inbound call center services to meet the unique requirements of your business. We are a call center outsourcing company with long-term experience in providing a variety of inbound call center services. Our workforce is skilled and focuses utterly on enhancing customer satisfaction levels. Never before in the history of businesses was the pride of a brand as important as it is now. In the competitive business world of today, how a brand seems by the public, more often than not, makes or breaks it. This is the primary reason why inbound call center services have become so important for companies.
The Risks of Not Finding the Right Inbound Call Center Service Provider
Because of the increasing cost of infrastructure and inability to hire quality employees, most companies decide to outsource their customer service operations. In most cases, they look for the cheapest vendors and do not prioritize quality. This approach is filled with risks. Some of the risks are:
- A substandard inbound call center process provider can use your customers’ data for personal gains. If this happens, then you can say goodbye to your customers.
- An call center outsourcing company with limited funds cannot scale with your operations. For example, if you decide to cross-sell a new product and want additional agents, the inability of your vendor to meet the requirement would seriously affect your plans to grow your business.
- A call center vendor who does not have the right infrastructure will issue poor quality equipment to his employees. Just imagine your customers repeatedly calling and reaching agents speaking through malfunctioning headsets. The communication quality will go down considerably and your customers may never call again.
Inbound Call Center in India: Keeping the Standards High, Always
To claim that all call centers in India are top-notch and you would find a quality call center easily, will definitely be an exaggeration. However, when compared with the options available for a business based in the developed world, India is probably the safest place to start searching for a quality inbound call center companies. Especially in the NCR region, you would more often than not discover an adept vendor who meets your requirements.
The reasons why an inbound call center in India is highly recommended are listed below:
- Availability of many reputed companies that can be trusted – There are many big-budget call center companies located in India that are in this business for a long time. They have a reputation to protect and hence, will never divulge or exploit the data provided by clients. Most companies here offer good infrastructure and have financial capabilities to scale their operations.
- Perpetual supply of quality employees – India is a vast country filled with a large number of educated people. Call center industry is one of the biggest industries in this country when it comes to supplying jobs to the youth. A vendor here will never run out of the quality workforce and your operations will always be supported by accomplished inbound call center representatives.
- Extremely cost-effective – The Indian rupee is not a strong currency. Most companies based in developed countries would find the exchange rate extremely enticing.
Product or Customer Support: Which Is More Important?
In the past, this question had only one answer: Product. However, with the increase in competition, the playing field for businesses has changed considerably. In a situation where Product A, Product B, and Product Care almost similar; the tie is (generally) broken by how well the customer support services are provided by a particular brand. In this age of information, brand value is important but it is not as important as before. The reasons are as follow:
- Customers educate themselves about the product by accessing the product website. This allows them to look past the brand and into the actual product.
- Customers read feedback about the product on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. They get converted by these customer reviews, way more than they get influenced by brand advertising.
- More often than not, customers get the option to replace their products if they don’t like how it works. This gives them the added incentive to make a purchase from a new brand even when they are not too confident about its credentials.
Due to all the above-mentioned reasons, brands simply cannot rely upon their name. They not only have to compete with brands of equal stature but also with considerably smaller players in the market. Any dip in the quality of product or service associated with it can result in the loss of customers.
As product development and innovation is close to the heart of most entrepreneurs, the quality is generally maintained. However, inbound call center services – which are growing in importance – take a backseat. The result: faltering support services and customer attrition. Unless, companies realize the importance of inbound call center services and put them on the same pedestal as core product development tasks, their business will suffer.