10 Best Practices Followed By BPO Companies while Providing Call Center

Riya Lewis

Call center companies have evolved to become the support pillars for the customer support function of many leading companies. They are known for providing highly efficient call center services that can help businesses based in the US in retaining and acquiring customers. No wonder that more and more companies look forward to call center outsourcing service for getting ample time to focus on core business aspects. The main reason behind the increasing popularity of call centers can be given to the best practices followed by BPO companies based in India. Here is a list of top 10 best practices followed by an experienced BPO company, that makes it a highly desirable company to partner with.

1) Effectively Evaluating Call Center Agents During Interview

Call center agents become the core part of any modern call center team, considering that they’re the ones responsible for greeting and interacting with customers. The call center service providers ensure strict measures when it comes to hiring the right call center talent. It becomes extremely important to hire professionals who will be representing the company in a positive way but also keep the other employees and agents highly motivated. Hiring experienced call center agents by a BPO firm can help to drive performance that will make a difference in business growth.

2) Enabling Call Quality & Monitoring

Right after the agent interview process and selection, the managers should devote great time on framing strategies for ensuring agent training, growth, learning, and development. The quality of both inbound and outbound calls dictate the performance of the call center agents of a call center services provider. The use of the latest software technology is encouraged by the BPO companies for effectively managing the prevailing call quality. A separate call quality team is often appointed to ensure that the desirable quality is being maintained throughout. This improves the call monitoring abilities of the service provider.

3) Regularly Communicating With The Agents

Besides, monitoring call quality and scoring, managers and team leaders of a BPO company make it a point to schedule enough time towards the diligent and hard working agents. Better communication between the agents and the management ensures that the call center experts are kept highly motivated and have a positive frame of mind. The advantages of regular and effective communication works in favor of both the parties. The team leaders get to share ideas and opinions related to performance improvement and agents get to communicate their experiences and impressions of their calls with the customers.

4) Recording Customer Feedback

It is good to focus on improving the call center agents, however, sometimes the best option is to focus on customer feedback and experiences equally. Regular surveys conducted in different parts of the world have revealed that contemporary customers are not shy about expressing their opinions about customer support experience. Most customers use social media platforms to share their grave concerns. Call center outsourcing companies ensure that customers can send their immediate feedback right after the termination of the call. They can share their feedback via SMS, on mobile application or via email depending on their convenience.

5) Focusing On Important Metrics

Keeping an eye on important call metrics and agent Key Performance Areas (KPAs) is a good alternative to ensure a high level of performance of a call center service provider. However, too much data and analysis can land an outsourcing company into big trouble and shift its focus from providing profound customer service. The outsourcing organizations are not shy to share the relevant metrics and data with their clients and business partners. This ensures that the clients have enough data and information present with them during all times. They can regularly check and evaluate their return on investment of partnering with the call center company. Important call center metrics often include: average call handling time, average hold time, call abandonment, etc.

6) Avoiding Negative Words & Language

One of the top fundamental call center best practices include the creation of an effective call script which involves a highly professional language, a positive and helpful tone, and key phrases to leverage. In addition to this, the agents receive intensive training to avoid certain phrases and types of language to prevent any negative interactions. Customers who approach a call center for seeking assistance or registering complaints are often already in a bad mood. Using a rude or unprofessional language can further irritate them and the business can stand a chance to lose its valuable customers.

7) Regularly Training The Agents

Training both inbound and outbound agents is not a one time process. Training and learning is an ongoing process and a call center outsourcing firm ensures that the agents receive regular training sessions and seminars. Any update in the product or service range offered by a business needs to be informed to the agents as well. This means that learning and updating skills is a regular phenomenon in the call centers. Training the skilled call center agents to perform at their peak level is the foundation of any BPO firm and they strictly ensure that the entire training process is treated with appropriate care.

8) Incentives & Reward Structure

The positive performance of the call center agents must be encouraged in the form of positive recognition and rewards. Most BPO companies have an incentive structure in place which helps the agents make extra money apart from their prevailing in hand salaries. The incentives depend on the performance of the call center agents and is often included in the variable pay. Rewarding the best performers ensures that great work is encouraged and all other employees can feel motivated to perform better. The other agents can look to work on improving their existing skills and expertise. Also, they make sure that negative performances are noted and taken into consideration.

9) Making Use Of Latest Technology

Call center companies are known for making extensive use of the latest software system and updated technology. They know that their clients choose them because of the technological advancement they posses. Due to this reason, such outsourcing companies invest heavily in purchasing the latest call center software and systems. Besides this, they make effective use of CRM tools to better manage customer support functions. The call center agents can be empowered to better understand the caller as the tools depict customer contact history. The outbound telesales or telemarketing agents can be well-aware of customer likes and preferences and pitch them accordingly.

10) Continuous Growth & Improvement

The BPO companies always try to facilitate and introduce a culture of continuous improvement of call center operations and services. One way to initiate improvements is to hold regular and lengthy team meetings where the call center management and the agents can review the performance of the past week, month, or quarter. This will help in the analysis of the performance of each and every agent. The entire team can bond together and discuss grave concerns. The management must welcome every single opinion concerned with service improvement and development. Improvement and growth must be a priority and must be reinforced to every single employee from time to time.