Inbound call center agents handle incoming calls for your company, usually in large volumes. Traditionally, call centers take on product orders or provide customer service during hours when your office is not available.
Call centers will typically use international toll-free numbers when the call center is located outside the country. They are especially beneficial in areas where labor is less expensive. For example, you may have a few call centers setup in the Philippines or India. Depending on your industry, you may even have call centers specified just for bringing in new sales opportunities.
International call forwarding services are imperative to sales teams. Whether you are the owner of a call center in the Philippines or India, a toll free call forwarding service provider can get your enterprise set up with a call center phone system so you can increase sales at your company. We highlighted 5 key features that can increase the effectiveness of your inbound call center.
Your Inbound Sales Team
Inbound sales, by definition, is the budding relationship between a potential client that reaches out to your company and a salesperson from your organization. Because the digital realm has transformed the way companies interact with consumers and make sales, enterprises have now included digital phone numbers, or virtual phone numbers, to streamline the process.
When these features are integrated into your processes, your inbound call center can be more effective than ever. Global Call Forwarding is able to help you attract the revenue you want with new and more modern techniques than ever before.
Below you can read about 5 of the top call center phone system features that can improve the performance of your inbound sales team.
1. Call Recording
Call recording is a feature that allows you to record any inbound calls automatically. Simply select the number you want to record and enable or disable the feature as needed. With this in place, you can monitor your international call center’s conversations and understand how to improve the sales process. As a manager or business owner, you may find that after listening in on a few calls, you will have just the right knowledge to help out your employees. You can also use these recordings to train new sales staff.
When you keep and store these calls from your personalized Control Panel, you can also recover lost information from previous calls in case that you need to remember important details about your prospects. Let’s say, for example, a prospective client has spoken to a salesman in your India call center. However, when the same client calls back a week later, your salesman is either out of town, on vacation, or no longer working for your company. To find out information about this specific client, you can access your Control Panel and pull important information from their previous conversations. Now you will be able to hand off the inbound client to another member of your call center in India without worry. This can be a useful add-on to your current plan with Global Call Forwarding.
2. Call Transfer
This feature is just like having an auto-attendant or virtual assistant! Call transfer allows you to make a transition immediately or place a person on hold while you brief the individual on the other line. This can be done even if all three parties are in different countries or area codes.
How does this help your inbound sales? If a potential client contacts your call center in the Philippines and has reached your virtual assistant, your assistant can place that person on hold while they brief the salesman. This allows your salesman the opportunity to quickly research the client’s needs or requirements. This is especially useful if a salesman would like to offer unique products or services that are even better than the competition.
3. Simultaneous Ringing
There are many reasons to have simultaneous ringing in a call center. With this feature, you can forward calls from your line to two or more numbers through your inbound call center. Even though they will ring at the same time, the call will only be connected to the first salesman to answer it.
This is useful if you have a sales team that is not always in the office or at their desk. Perhaps they frequently travel and meet with different business partners. With simultaneous ringing, they could get calls transferred to their personal cell phones if this is a more convenient option for them. This ensures your team does not miss out on important communication while they are away.
4. Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
Interactive Voice Response (IVR) gives your callers a computer greeting and directs them to the appropriate line for their needs. All of this is automated for their convenience as well as yours. All they have to do is navigate through the menu system through their voice and keypad. Best of all, this system is customized to your needs. Within your IVR, you can include company announcements and new deals. This even gives you another opportunity to sell!
IVR also saves your employees time and effort if there are individuals who tend to call your company for a simple, specific reason. For example, if a customer contacts your India call center because they only need to receive their account information, your Interactive Voice Response can do it for them!
5. Black and white lists
Filtering calls is now easier than ever. Reject numbers coming in from specific area codes to maximize your efficiency. No more unwanted or unsolicited calls!
If your call center in the Philippines is getting hounded by spam, for example, you can integrate black and white lists with toll-free forwarding services. Your “Black List” blocks unwanted callers while a “White List” places preferences on those you want to hear from.
Improve Your Inbound Sales Team
These are just a few of the call center technologies that can improve the performance of an inbound call center sales team. It is incredibly important, now more than ever, that your sales teams remain consistent in the way you provide service.