Call Center Empowerment

Think about this, in a survey released by WhitePages of more than 540 telemarketing centers, fewer than 2/3rds of companies that have telemarketing centers are able to deliver actionable customer service information to sales people due to data overload and a lack of focus on customer satisfaction. That is only 1/3!

 Using Big Data in Contact Center, managers were overwhelmed by too much data flowing in and out from too many sources and that was causing an inefficiently in both consolidation and utiliization. Heck even small amounts of data can flood out a company’s program.

If reps are not able to or allowed to take the next step towards customer satisfaction or getting to the purpose for the call, you really need to empower them with the tools, the data and the freedom they need. Then they need to be not just calling but be given enough time for each call. This has always been a big problem for any kind of telemarketing work. Its smarter to stay with a customer as long as it takes to get to the customer of prospect to the desired action point, than work on getting a specific number of calls per minutes.

Telemarketing reps are not as connected to customer data, and for good reason. More than 40% of customer contact information is still manually inputted by the rep instead of being fed through an automated API or Web-based system. Some of the reason for that is that there is not a good CRM system on the market that I have seen that works for even an average number of prospects or client data. As a result, half of telemarketing  reps say they faced productivity challenges by having to ask customers for even the basic contact information they should be given in the first place. Some of that goes with the territory but the better the data, the better the list, the better the results are going to be.

For more than one program I have run, I get a little upset when the Owner or the CFO or the Marketing Manager asks me about the number of calls they are getting per hour or how many people we need to get run a certain program. Its like they could care less about quality. Companies continue to look at telemarketing reps and centers as cost centers instead of revenue centers.

Companies must look at telemarketing in a different way. If they decide to use them to sell or up-sell products and services, they have to empower the telemarketer to sell better. That means keeping data updated so that reps will immediately know who they are calling and giving them enough time to get the job done.

Companies need to distribute the data to the reps to let them get action. Business is way too competitive. You really have to start looking at telemarketers as a competitive advantage.  Telemarketers that are able to use the training they've been given are happier in their jobs and do a better. And a happy caller is a productive caller.

Larson Notes & Satire:  For many this should be outsourced. Do you really have the time to manager a telemarketing department? Consider what is the best job you could or should be doing for your company?  Where does your real talents lie?

If you’re behind with your numbers we CAN help! If you want your business to be more and have more, call us for an appointment.

If you need a Signature Page that will bring your company's web site not just more hits but good solid sales leads call 847-794-8710 or 847-991-1294. I'll get you set up. And it even works on those $10 and $15 a month sites.

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
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