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Dave Thomas

Dave Thomas, who writes on subjects such as phone services, writes extensively for San Diego-based Business.com.

Dave Thomas has written 101 articles for SB Informer.
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Place a Call to the Right Call Center Software for Your Small Business

Dave Thomas

May 16, 2012


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One of the most important things your small business will need to do is dial-in to the right call center software, allowing your small business to have the necessary lines of communications to deal with customers.

Whether it is taking product orders, questions, complaints or whatever the need may be, your call center software needs to be able to give customers and potential customers a feeling of ease when they dial-in to your business.

In order to make sure that you are hooked up with the right call center software, keep these factors in mind:

  • Determine your company’s needs – What exactly are you looking to achieve with your call center software? If you are not able to answer this question prior to selecting a provider, by all means do not rush into a contract. How many employees will need the service and what is the best way to go about making the proper connections with customers? You should also determine whether the software is needed for your location or if you want the call center transferred from a host location ;
  • What are my required call center services? – It is also important that your small business determine the best option when it comes to call center services. Such services generally are sorted into a pair of broad categories – sales and customer service assistance. Sales support will involve services such as answering calls from marketing campaigns, gathering and qualifying leads, making appointments with salespeople, backing a Web site and taking orders;
  • Will I need additional assistance? – Given that customers don’t work a 9 to 5 schedule, determine if your business will require after-hours assistance, especially given the fact that you work with customers in different time zones and/or receive calls from marketing campaigns during those hours. This is also important to consider in the event you have to deal with handling peak periods of day and/or seasonal large volumes of traffic;
  • Do we require reporting? – Also determine before settling on a provider if your business needs an audit trail, detailing what occurred with each and every call. This can be a factor when requiring systems involving accountability for your employees;
  • What are my outsourcing options? – Small business owners should keep in mind that outsourced call centers are less expensive in developing nations due to the fact that labor is in most cases cheaper than developed countries. Before signing off on an outsourced call center, take note that a solid call center should be able to handle high volumes of calls in a single day without a lot of pressure, determine what the center’s typical call waiting time is, gauge the attitudes and professionalism of the center’s agents so that you are not dealing with folks that cannot properly do their jobs. Lastly, also keep in mind the language skills of the call center operators, so that your customers are not having issues dealing with language barriers when placing calls;
  • Review a number of software brands – Take the time to not only review the different products available, but obtain background information on each company you are considering. Look to see if there is any pattern or history of problems for the providers, i.e. financial issues, bad experiences with customers etc. Any such issues should be a red flag before you proceed to do business with them. It is also a good idea for your agents to try out the software prior to deciding on a product.

 

With the right call center software in place for your company, you and your employees can increase the chances of ringing up more business.


                   



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