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How to set up a call center

How To Set Up a Call Center: Complete Step-by-Step Guide

The call center industry is growing at an amazing rate.

The revenue generated from this global industry is currently estimated at $22.9 billion. It is expected that by 2022, this value will rise to $400 billion with a global workforce of about 1.8 million.

These figures are impressive; it is however not surprising considering the outstanding benefits of having a call center.

What’s more, with the use of innovative software you can now set up a call center to grow your business. Opening a call center is one of the objectives you can find on a company’s roadmap.

It is not too late if you have not included this aspect in the long-term plans for your business. There are currently smart software programs that can be used to get your in-house call center up and running in minutes.

Small and medium-scale businesses can leverage the benefits of a call center to get ahead of the competition.

We all know how tough the business industry is these days, the benefits of an in-house call center – which will also be discussed in this article – will surely motivate you to start making plans to start a call center for your business.

You will also learn helpful tips on how to set up a call center.

First, let’s discuss some of the features of a call center.

Table of contents:

  1. Inbound and outbound call centers
  2. How to set up a call center for your business
  3. Why you should set up a call center (in-house)
  4. How to set up a call center (in-house)
  5. Going live with your call center
  6. Important KPIs to monitor while running a call center

Inbound and outbound call centers

Two terms you often come across when researching how to set up a call center are inbound and outbound operations from a call center.

In simple terms, inbound call centers are set up to receive calls initiated by customers or curious people who need to find out more information about the company’s products and services.

For example, if you have an e-commerce website, your potential customers may need to find out more details about the displayed products on the site. They call your customer service team at the call center to make their inquiries. In many cases, the caller is satisfied with the information they receive and make a purchase.

Outbound call centers are set up by sales-focused businesses that need to reach a wider audience to inform them about the products and services with the aim of making a sale. In this case, your sales team makes calls to advertise products to potential clients.

Before setting up an in-house call center for your business, it is important to determine which type of call center you need. However, with our software, you can have an in-house call center with both inbound and outbound features. This is called a blended call center.

How to set up a call center for your business

Don’t be alarmed by the sub-heading because it is a really simple process. Gone are the days when learning how to set up a call center was a hectic task.

Now, all you need is the infrastructure, trained staff, fast internet connectivity, and excellent software for your calls.

The use of innovative software has eliminated the hassles of installing, managing, and repairing telephones, which were used in older call centers.

If you have the experience, structuring your in-house call center will be easy. On the other hand, you can use the services of certified consultants to get your call center working.

Why you should set up an in-house call center

The main reason for setting up an in-house call center is that there are a lot of benefits that come with such an action. Scalability, privacy, and improved customer experience are only a couple of them.

Here is the shortlist of benefits you can enjoy by setting up an in-house call center for your business:

Improved customer experience

Your sales figures will rise if you can ensure every customer who uses your products or services is satisfied.

Call centers act as an additional support system for existing marketing strategies. By contacting your customer service team through the call center, your customers can understand how to get more value from your products.

It is cost-effective

Setting up an in-house call center for your business is now cheaper because you do not have to buy and manage many telephones for the operation.

With the use of software, your call center will run smoothly and effectively.

Scalability

It is possible to scale the size of your in-house call center.

Understanding how to set up a call center involves an analysis of your business. The set-up you create should match the business operations and size. However, in the case of business expansion, you can always scale up your call center to meet the higher demands.

Increase in profits

Many small and medium-scale business owners have found ways to increase their profits by leveraging call centers. With the use of strategic outbound calls, it is possible to upsell particular products to make more money.

Privacy

One of the significant advantages of an in-house call center is the privacy it offers. If you run a business and would like to protect your trade secrets, an in-house call center is the best option for you.

The alternative – outsourcing your call center– will require a lot of information sharing across so many public or private platforms that can lead to the compromise of your business secrets.

Feedback

You need feedback from your customers.

The information generated from call centers as feedback is very valuable.

You can leverage feedback from your customers to improve the business operations and address weakened areas to meet the needs of your customers.

How to set up a call center (in-house)

Let’s discuss some valid strategies that can help you with how to set up a call center from scratch.

Selecting the features

You could either choose to establish an inbound or outbound call center.

The choice is mostly dependent on the nature of your business. However, it is better to have a blended call center (both inbound and outbound). You can achieve this with the use of our call center software.

Find out the requirements

In many countries, there are federal agencies that protect the interest of consumers. These agencies also monitor the operation of call centers to ensure the public can get the assistance they need at any time.

It would help if you found out the rules and guidelines that control the operations of call centers for businesses to avoid legal issues.

Set up a meeting with the software developers

Before buying the call center software, you should communicate with the developers.

This meeting aims to help you understand how the software works and if it is a good match for your business.

It would also help if you also asked about the infrastructure needed to use the software. With this information, you can make a better budget for your call center project.

Set up the station

At this stage, your team sets up the equipment, computers, and furniture needed for your call center. When everything is in place, you can begin to test run the equipment.

Staff training

After selecting your customer service team, they need to be trained.

Staff training is an ongoing process because technology changes quickly and your team needs to perform excellently at all times.

The call center software is easy to use; it will not be difficult to learn the different features of the call center software. After training your staff, they can test run and apply the skills they learned for a few days, and finally, you launch the call center.

Going live with your call center

One of the best feelings you will experience during this project is launching your call center publicly.

The following tips will help you at this stage:

Inform your audience

After launching your in-house call center, you should use all the available media and communication channels to inform your audience.

It will be helpful to send out messages through your social media accounts, email list, and physically inform customers if your customers visit the office.

Getting the word out there is important.

Be responsive

The staff training program helps your team to respond quickly when inbound calls are received. However, the real-life experience as a customer service staff helps your team improve their ability to respond quickly.

Product Knowledge

If you have not been regularly educating your team about the company’s new and old products, this is the time to make a change.

It is important that your customer service team at the call center know all about your business products and services. With this information, they can easily provide satisfactory answers to questions asked by people who use the call center service.

Advertising new products

You can leverage the call center to inform every customer about new products or features that have been recently introduced in your business. This action can potentially increase sales and promote business expansion.

For example, when a customer calls the center while checking their requests, your staff can quickly inform them of new products or features to help them get more value as your customers.

Important KPIs to monitor while running a call center

As the business owner, you should be aware of the following Key Performance Indicators (KPI). Studying KPIs will reveal the benefits derived from your call center.

Some crucial KPIs for call centers are as follows:

Response to the service

It is important to monitor the frequency of calls made or received at the call center. If a low number of inbound calls are received, you must increase your efforts at creating more public awareness.

How long does it take to answer calls?

If you notice longer call queues, quick intervention is needed. It is possible your staff are spending too much time on calls.

They need to be trained on how to quickly and effectively help their callers to keep the line moving.

The average duration of calls

Knowing the average duration of a call will help you make long-term plans regarding the improvement of your call center to meet the customer’s needs.

Abandoned Calls

Some customers may be too impatient while waiting to speak with a customer care representative. If you observe the number of abandoned calls is rising, do what you can to resolve the problem.

You can retrain staff or hire more employees to increase the strength of your customer service.

Feedback

Do your customers get the help they need after contacting your call center? The use of software for call centers makes it easy for the staff to manage calls and provide solutions quickly.

If your customers are unhappy, you need to find out why they feel that way and make quick changes. Make use of feedback and improve how your call center operates.

Your time to set up a call center!

An in-house call center for your business provides a platform that allows all customers to get help and make inquiries regarding your products and services.

After its launch, your goal should be focused on improving the service quality. Fortunately, this process is easier because all you need is a good location, infrastructure, fast internet, and the call center software to reach more customers worldwide.

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