Contact Center Archives

Home » Posts tagged 'Contact Center'

7 Best Practices for Call Center Scripts that Convert

Miguel Isabal 23rd December 2020 Call Management, Tips

How your agents communicate over the phone can make a huge impact on the success of your call center strategy. Convert more callers into returning customers and reel in the sales with effective call center scripts. We even include a downloadable template below!

How Does Using Call Scripts for Customer Service Improve Communication?

Call center scripts can make or break the way your business interacts with its customers. These scripts carry information about your products and services intending to convert callers into recurring clients and, ultimately, generate sales.

However, if agents and reps are not trained to understand the flow of different conversations, they may end up offering poor service. Call center and customer service scripts can be used in these instances to train agents and provide easy-to-apply guidelines to follow. This way, your sales and support teams will be able to respond to and resolve customer queries more quickly and accurately, improving overall customer service.

What are Call Center Scripts Used for?

Call center scripts and customer service scripts are guidelines agents use to communicate with customers and users. These templates are ready-to-use based on different customer interactions and scenarios. Agents can use these to respond to queries and complaints or help customers find better products and services. Some customer scripts can be used to collect customer feedback or product reviews.

How to Create Effective Call Center Scripts: 7 Best Practices

When creating your call center script, focus on developing scripts for both inbound (incoming) and outbound (outgoing) calls. This way, your customer support teams are prepared for callers seeking customer support and product inquiries and your sales teams are prepared for sales pitches and lead calls. Additionally, call center scripts can help reduce training time and agent turnover. Businesses that don’t have time to offer rigorous training and provide in-depth knowledge can use scripts to get the job done quickly.

Here are 7 call center script best practices to consider when developing your business’ scripts. We also include tips for effective scripts and how to train your employees to meet your standards.

1. Hire Excellent Customer Service & Sales Reps

First, hire quality customer service and sales talent. Use business networking sites to find agents and reps that have experience, training, and certification. This will ensure you have a robust team ready to tackle whatever issue comes their way. Plus, they will have developed the right personality needed for delivering scripts naturally and effectively.

2. Keep Call Center Script Writing Tips in Mind

When creating your script and training your agents to make the most of the script, keep these key tips in mind:

Develop scripts that lead to action and be clear in their purpose.
Plan for multiple scenarios.
Allow for flexibility (but not too much) and more genuine interaction with customers.
Write scripts keeping common customer complaints and preferences in mind.
Emphasize the importance of understanding customer needs so they can be helped efficiently.
Include positive phrases and reword negative phrases.
Focus on personalization and train agents on proper etiquette.

3. Create an Effective Call Center Script

Your call center script should include these useful elements:

Greet the customer and say the name of the business.
Introduce yourself.
State the purpose of your call (outbound call) or find out why they are calling (inbound call)
For outbound calls: go through your script at a decent pace and pause for questions or concerns.
For inbound calls: listen carefully and attentively to the caller. Take note of key issues or questions, repeat to clarify, and offer practical solutions. Provide accurate information or offer a follow-up call, if you do not have the information on hand.
At the end of the call, ask if they need any additional assistance, thank them for calling, and add a pleasantry.
Score the call.

4. Train Agents & Employees Well

Besides merely providing your employees with quality scripts, you also need to train them in how to use the scripts well. Spend sufficient time teaching employees bad and good call center practices. Help them understand the company’s goals and standards. When training employees:

Focus on making customer service a top priority.
Keep communication two ways; adopt active listening.
Demonstrate examples of bad customer interactions and provide solutions.
Use call recording to identify positive and negative behavior.
Use call monitoring to listen in on calls with new employees so you can train them “on the job.”

5. Emphasize the Importance of Utilizing Customer Data When Using the Script

Part of executing a call center script well is personalizing it for each individual customer. This means using customer data alongside your script. Businesses with a customer-first strategy or those that are customer-focused need to use customer data to offer better, more customized service.

Before your agent or rep answers the call or calls a customer, they must pull up the customer’s data, history, purchases, and so on. This ensures your agent is prepared for the conversation and has all the context needed. Additionally, the customer won’t have to repeat their query again and again or bring the rep up to speed. You can save time for both your agent and customer. And move towards resolution faster.

6. Use Call Recording to Analyze the Effectiveness of Scripts

Recording business calls can help you and your teams listen in to calls from the past. This is a good way to identify what is working and what isn’t and how to improve your phone interactions. Pay attention to your best-performing agents. How are they effectively bringing new clients on board? What techniques and strategies are working? Then integrate their practices into your call center script so others may attempt them as well.

7. Provide Agents with Knowledge Bases and Support

Finally, make sure your reps can provide accurate responses to customer questions quickly. And to do this, they will need access to knowledge bases or support resources that outline common customer questions, product descriptions, company policies, and so on. This way, they can consult accurate resources if they are hit with a question or query they do not have an answer for.

Improve Sales with Call Center Scripts

Call center scripts have a great impact on whether a customer continues to do business with your company. Ensure your scripts are customer-centric as well as informative and helpful. Train employees to have an upbeat attitude and treat each call as a new slate. And before you know it, your scripts will be an effective aspect of your strategy that brings more and more customers to your business!

Downloadable Call Center Scripts Templates

Ready to get started? Then, grab these call center scripts and share them with your teams. Here are scripts to help you handle different situations and phases during customer calls.

Download Your Free Call Center Scripts Here

CC Scripts download

Your Complete Guide to Call Center Offshoring & BPO

Beny Mouen 10th December 2020 Call Management, Learn

What are the advantages of outsourcing your communication needs? Do the advantages outweigh the cons? Learn everything you need to know about call center offshoring & BPO services.

Call Center Offshoring & BPO Explained

Businesses can save money by outsourcing their business processes to an offshore call center. Call center offshoring — also known as call center outsourcing and business process outsourcing (BPO) — can help you delegate certain sales and customer service duties.

Why Do Businesses Outsource Processes?

From large enterprises to small businesses, companies across the board have outsourced (some, if not all) of their services to BPOs. And the main reason for this is to reduce costs. With call center outsourcing, you send out customer service and sales processes, which gives your business more time to focus on developing customer-focused products and services. So, not only do you save on the cost of running a sales and customer service department, you make more space for business development.

How Does an Offshore Call Center Work?

An offshore call center takes on some business processes such as customer service, lead generation, technical support, and human resource management. As such, they work to bring on new clients and retain existing ones.

These call centers are well-equipped to handle customer inquiries and concerns. And they have the most advanced software and tools that support call management, performance monitoring, data security, and more.

What Services Does a Call Center BPO Offer?

Businesses in almost every industry are outsourcing various processes to offshore call centers. These industries include business services, healthcare, retail, e-commerce, telecom, banking, and more. The plethora of services covered by offshore call centers has, in fact, led to subspecialties such as:

Customer service & lead generation — Which focuses primarily on generating sales for a business and offering customer support services. As part of the lead generation process, agents contact prospects and leads on a predetermined list provided by the business. Some call center outsourcing services may even help with the creation of lead lists through market research. As part of the customer support service, agents answer calls made to business clients and offer troubleshooting help, resolutions, and more.
Customer interaction — Oversees a company’s communication channels such as email, phone conversations, voicemail, and social media; appointment-setting and scheduling services; marketing and telemarketing services; order and payment processing; customer support and customer success; customer feedback, and more.
Travel & tourism — Focuses on offering support and itinerary-planning services to travelers. Works with local and international tourism companies for deals and promotions.
Financial services — Focuses on finance and banking-related services such as payment processing; activation of services; collection; billing and counting services; general accounting, bookkeeping for small business, auditing, and more.
IT and software-focused — Offers technical support; technology-related troubleshooting; offshore software product development; implementation services; IT helpdesk, and more.
Virtual assistants — Acts as a cost-effective resource to help you grow your business, by managing incoming calls and providing customer support.

Pros & Cons of Call Center Offshoring

So, should your business take advantage of call center offshoring & BPO services? Let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages of using an outsourcing service.

Pros of Using a Call Center BPO

1. Lower communication-related costs

Sending your business processes offshore can help reduce or eliminate costs related to business communication or running a call center. Since you do not need a comprehensive team of sales agents and customer service reps and managers, you can save on hiring costs as well.

2. Lower staffing issues

Your BPO will be responsible for hiring, training, and managing agents and reps. You won’t have to worry about conducting performance analysis or scheduling agents, or managing call center agents. This can save you time and money.

3. Better call management

Offshore call centers come equipped with advanced call center software and tools. This ranges from call management features to call recording and analytics. With these services, you can often get better customer support and learn how to appease customers better. Additionally, you can handle high call volumes or high periods of call traffic by outsourcing to your call center BPO from time to time.

4. Better business continuity

Virtual call centers can have multiple geographic locations spread across the globe. This can help your business offer 24/7 customer support in regional languages and time zones.

Cons of Call Center Offshoring & BPO

1. Lack of company knowledge

When you outsource business needs, not every agent may be thoroughly schooled in your company’s mission, values, and product education. As such, they may not be able to provide the level or standard of service your business promises.

2. Less control over business functions

When outsourcing, you give control of basic and core services to agents and employees you have not worked with. Additionally, it may be hard to track and monitor each agent representing your business for quality assurance.

3. Decreased customer satisfaction

Usually, agents and reps from a call center BPO don’t offer the same personalized service as your business would. Customers realizing this may be less satisfied with the service they have received and may seek better service elsewhere.

Choosing Between BPO and KPO

The terms BPO and KPOs are often used interchangeably. However, these two types of outsourcing services differ in a variety of ways. In this section, we will discuss Knowledge Process Outsourcing services (KPOs) and the differences between KPOs and BPOs.

KPO: Definition and Types

What is a KPO? Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) is the outsourcing of information-related processes. KPOs are considered an extension of BPOs and require more complex skills outsourcing business processes. Knowledge process outsourcing services include specialized expertise and advanced technical skills. Common types of KPOs include:

Market Research
Business Research
Legal Services
Medical Services
Accounting & Financial Consulting
R&D
Content Development & Design
Data Analysis
Corporate Training
Education and Learning Solutions

Benefits of KPOs

A company may choose to use a KPO to handle high-level, complex tasks instead of hiring in-house employees to handle those tasks. KPOs are built to handle such tasks and provide expertise, making them a reliable source. Here are the benefits of using knowledge process outsourcing services:

1. Cost-effective & scalable

KPOs can help your business reduce costs in a number of ways. Get access to expert services at reasonable rates while increasing profits. Cut down on infrastructure and operating costs, and increase or reduce staff as needed. Overall, using KPOs make for a cost-effective solution.

2. Access to experienced professionals

Your business does not have to take on hiring and training experts for different internal functions. Instead, you can spend time focusing on core services like product development and sales while outsourcing other services to a KPO. This also helps reduce the cost of recruiting and training new employees.

3. Low asset & equipment investment

When outsourcing services to a KPO, you can save on office space and equipment costs. No need for extra hardware or high investment in real estate and tech equipment.

4. Better use of resources

Additionally, you can utilize your own resources in other activities or processes when you outsource certain services. For instance, you may invest in workflow automation to support your employees’ productivity and efficiency, or chatbot services to boost your customer service efforts.

BPO vs. KPO

So, what is the difference between BPO and KPO? Here are some key differences:

Skills needed: BPOs are less complex and require low-level skills, while KPOs are more complex and need analytic and technical skills.

Level of expertise needed: Employees working at a business process outsourcing service need basic professional expertise, while those at a knowledge process outsourcing service need advanced and specialized expertise.

Types of tasks: BPOs focus on administrative tasks while KPOs focus on analytic and more complex tasks.

Offerings: BPOs are all about efficiency and streamlining processes; based on a set process and rules. KPOs provide professional expertise and knowledge.

Day-to-day: Call center BPO employees may have a standard, monotonous routine designed to reach targets. KPO employees, on the other hand, offer specialized insights (such as forecasts) and may work directly with the client.

Related: Call Center Trends [2024]

Is Call Center Offshoring Right for You?

Depending on the size and needs of your business, a combination of onshore call center and offshore call center services may be a better choice. This way, you still have control over your own call center. Additionally, you can take advantage of virtual call center software to utilize the same tools and technologies that call centers use. And you will have the backup support of offshore centers as well. To learn more, speak with our experts at 1 (888) 908 6171.

What is Call Center Performance Management? [2024]

Nadine Sampson 22nd July 2020 Call Management, Learn

Sales and customer service reps and employees are often the first line of contact between your business and its customers. Therefore, their performance can directly impact how successful your business or call center is. Call center performance management is a surefire way to test and review employee performance and provide room for improvement.

What is Call Center Performance Management?

Call center performance management refers to the tracking, analyzing, calculating, and improving of agent and employee performance. Whether you run a virtual, remote, or on-premise call center, conducting performance management and reviews is important to determine how your agents are performing and how satisfied your customers are.

How to Manage and Improve Performance in Your Contact Center

Customers often reach out to a business to gain information about a product or service or to resolve an issue they are facing. And when they do so, they are almost always expecting a quick response, low wait times, friendly interaction, and a quick resolution. And so, your agents should be able to provide:

Personalized and friendly customer service
Improved first call resolution
Fast call resolution during the first call (in other words, high first call resolution rates)
Simple handling of the problem
Service for any additional issues

Call center performance management is tracking whether your agents and employees are able to do the above while upholding company standards. And then, training them appropriately, if they fail to meet your standards. The goal is to help your agents provide high levels of customer service and enhanced caller experience. Identifying where they are failing can help you as you help them succeed.

Measuring Call Center Performance Management

Call center performance management includes evaluating agent performance during customer interactions and how they line up with business goals. The best way to conduct performance management is to identify and use KPIs applicable to your business. Some KPIs to consider are:

Customer satisfaction scores (CSAT)
Average handle time
First call resolution
Average speed of answer
Average response time, and more

To measure the performance of your call center, first set realistic business goals. Then, use contact center software to learn about average handle time, wait times, conversions, first call resolution rates, customer satisfaction goals, and so on. By studying these metrics you can get a good idea of the strengths and weaknesses of your employees. As a manager, you can then make well-informed decisions about workforce management and ways to improve customer service.

Contact Center Performance Management Tools

1. Call Center Software
Your call center software can help with tracking important KPIs and metrics through call logs and activity reports. On-premise call center software is run by the company while a virtual call center software is hosted by a cloud server. The type of call center software you should choose depends on how much control you want to have over the software as well as your in-house IT team.

2. Contact Center Metrics and KPIs
As mentioned above, call center performance management includes tracking and measuring agent performance. Use relevant call center KPIs to study and optimize agent behavior before, during, and post calls.

3. Inbound/Outbound Call Recording
Use hosted call recording to listen in or review calls. These recordings can also help you train new employees by demonstrating acceptable and unacceptable agent behavior.

4. Coaching and Training
Use training material to continue training customer service employees on ways to reach and maintain company standards. Refresher courses, workshops, webinars, software tutorials, etc., can come in very handy.

Start Optimizing Agent Productivity!

Call center performance management will not only help you identify your team’s strengths and weaknesses but will also show you what steps need to be taken to optimize productivity and efficiency. This can help your call center offer better customer service and improve customer satisfaction. Start today!