Call Center Costs And Differences

We are in a worldwide economy. With the web, skype, and other ways to communicate, everyone on earth can be your competition. I almost don’t care what industry you are in. But today I’ll look at my industry of a piece of my industry, telemarketing or telesales. I will not be talking on the target marketing side of the business.

Who is my competition? Where are they, what are their costs and can they really compete in my area of expertise?

Let’s start with costs. For you hardnosed negotiators who beat on your call centers for the lowest cost, getting it and end up getting the trainees or the callers who don’t produce the best results.

Columbia - $10.80
India - $13.50
Philippines - $13.70
Argentina - $13.90
Mexico - $17.90
USA - $27.80
Canada - $28.60

In these there are all sorts of options form vendors whose agents work from home to US bull pen brick and mortar call centers.

Then there is the question of whether to use a call center outside of the US or North America. In 2007 17% of global companies used a call center outside the States. In 2009 that number had gone up to 18% and it is forecast by Datamonitor that in 2012 the % will grow to 20%

Now the upside is that as the statistics above show, an offshore call center can offer significant saves when looking at wages, benefits, taxes, technology and other costs But the down side is that the cultural aspect of going off shore. Customers can come away with two kinds of feelings, either have an experience in which they feel they are dealing with a call center that is only interested in the company and not their experience thus total frustration or they can have a good feeling that the company cares about them. But in trying to avoid customer annoyance is a major reason to keeping your calling done here in the States. There is a growing backlash against callers and companies that are shipping there call center work out of the States. You have an option, you can save money by off shoring or you can have an accent or custom problem going over the border.

If your running a 27/7 customer service center you might need to work the clock with one shift down somewhere else, but monitor activity closely for any backlash from your customers.

As for expertise, if you are a Printers, Advertising Agencies, Graphic Studios, Advertising Specialties, Trade Show Booth Builder, Sign Shop and other creative industry you had better hope your competition does not heir us. As for other areas we are good but cant back that up with hard cold statistics.


So use a State side caller or go offshore. You have more choices today than you did even just a year ago. That’s the good news, so now . . . choose wisely; they will become the voice of your business.

Larson Notes & Satire: Larson is and will be, a US based Call Center. I made that decision years ago when a client decided to off shore their work to save a few bucks and gave me a 2 week notice. That left me scrambling to fill up more hours of calling time than was humanly possible to achieve in 2 weeks. With 5 different payment plans from straight hourly to straight incentive (for selected industries) we can keep our clients in control of their costs (Side note “Gene the machine” if you’re out there I have a project I need you to work on!).

Calling on this side of the phone is not easy, the thought is all you do is sit around, drink coffee and talk on the phone, yet for those in the business every minute is accounted for. We can’t hop in a car and drive to the next appointment and stop at Starbucks along the way for a coffee. We just pick up the phone listen attentively, record as much information as possible hopefully make a connection... then off to the next call! A caller gets no respect, yet, as a group, is hit on from both sides of the selling world, management and customer. Ever get slammed on the phone? It’s not a nice feeling. Ever really had your total working time put under a microscope, every day? Do that for a few weeks and keep smiling.

Now if you need good solid sales leads we produce, and we can do it at under the industry benchmark of $89.00 a lead.

Note: If you’re reading this blog on a Ning that is “closing” or will be in (it looks like) July unless the owners want to pony up some cash. (Bad move on Nings part but it’s their system to do as they will) afterwards you can read our little blog @ http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com or join http://businesswarfare.spruz.com.

If you want to find out about our Bird Dog program call us at 847-991-0488 and put some money in your pocket or if you are a client actually reduce the cost of your service to the point of ZERO, NOTHING, ZILCHO.

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
847-991-0488
howard@larsonassociates.ws
http://www.larsonassociates.ws
http://larsonassociates.blogspot.com
http://member.merchantcircle.com/larsonassociates

https://twitter.com/LarsonAssociate

P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.

P.P.S. An American Company, marketing American Companies! Call or email to get an appointment to pick my brain (a $125.00 value) for 30 minutes.