Guidelines for Call Center Agents

The call center sector is always written about. But you hardly get tips or words of advice for the BPO agents and employees who make this business possible. In this article we will take a closer look at some ways in which the agents in telemarketing services can improve their performance and enjoy their job at the same time. Your liking for your job is primarily in the mind. If you can attune yourself to love what you do, you will soon find yourself getting better at it. Telemarketing can get tough for those who are in this sector for the wrong reasons. In the world of stiff competition, you need to be a little better than the average to succeed. Some ways of doing things, many of which are subtle changes in your lifestyle, can make all the difference. Let's find out!
Firstly, get the toughest jobs done first. When you know that making lead generation calls to some contacts would be difficult, pick up the phone and get those out of the way first. Call center agents should always work with a free, open mind. Being bogged down by the thought of them getting stuck on sales is like a writer's block to a screen writer. If you get the tougher telemarketing calls done right away, you will have a better state of mind to do the easier tasks.
Secondly, lead a better life. The BPO job that you do is stressful. You invest a lot of mental energy in the process. You have to replenish yourself every single day to avoid burnout. When you are not at the call center, listen to music, read books or watch movies. You can also indulge in some exercises early morning. Go for brisk walks and do some freehand exercises. Sitting for hours on a chair at the telemarketing unit damages your vertebrae and postures. Exercise also keeps your brain cells active. Meditation and yoga are very good ideas for a telephone answering service agent.
Thirdly, create a positive vibe at the workplace. Keep a clean desk. Call centre jobs are all about order and schedule. A cluttered desk is the expression of a confused mind. Moreover, you tend to forget things and get depressed when your desk is strewn with stationery. Schedule all your meetings well in advance. Customer service and lead generation are both services that have a lot to do with time. If you are not working to a schedule, you will miss your deadline.
Fourthly, keep distractions at bay. You don't really need IMs and social media pages when you are doing transcription services. Turn off the alerts on your computer. If you must log in to your call center IM, keep it mute. Let it not interfere with your work. Identify the non-essential tasks in your call center services. Determine which ones take time but hardly add to the productivity. Make small daily deadlines for yourself. That way you will be making use of every minute that there is.
We provide counseling and guidance to our customer call center agents to help them cope with the pressure of customer service.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ivana_Lewis

Call Center Benefits

Are you a business owner looking to make use of call centers and the services they provide? The use of call centers can increase your productivity. What does this mean for the small business person? It means an increase in your bottom line - truly a benefit derived from the use of call centers and the services they provide.
Call centers offer business services that typically include telemessaging, order collection, customer service options, customer care, outbound calls that follow leads, and more. Plus, the services supplied by call centers are offered in multi-lingual options - representatives that speak Spanish, French, Chinese and English will be handling your clientele and increasing your business.
Telemessaging is a process in which a hired agent collects all of your incoming messages for you and your business. Once your messages have been collected by professional agents, they will be directly sent to you in the medium that you pre-select. Whether you desire the warm transfer approach, or you want your messages sent to a special voice mail, representatives are happy to take and direct your business calls for you. Alternatively, if you prefer, you can easily receive a pager notification - whatever is easier for you in terms of communication.
Do you want live representatives to handle all of your website chat users? You can hire a message center to handle all of the incoming web clients you receive at your website. Answering email questions and controlling live chat is no problem whatsoever when you hire a professional message service to handle the job for you.
With the services offered to you by professional message centers you can earn more money for your business. Qualified representatives will be more than happy to follow leads to new clients, search out new clientele for you with an outbound service, and they can even process any and all credit card orders that you may receive. Want to give your customers the impression that you are a caring business professional? Hire a message service to handle any and all customer service issues with the greatest of care. Or, if you prefer, you can create a customer hotline where qualified representatives will address any and every question your customers may have.
The benefits associated with developing your own call handling center are truly phenomenal once you consider them. Not only will you generate new clients, but you can keep existing clients satisfied. Furthermore, with your call handling associates hard at work taking care of the important and finer details of your business you can spend your time on more important issues like monitoring that bottom line. Watch your profits increase by leaps and bounds because you have a professional staff of friendly individuals working hard for you and your company!
Clearly, you have more to lose by not creating a call handling solution for your company than if you try a call handling service out for size. The nominal fees associated with such services are nothing compared to the benefits you will derive from the services afforded to you. Go ahead - test the waters and create a call handling solution for your company - you'll be pleased with your decision to do so.
Sunil KumarYour Independent guide to Call Centers
अर्तिक्लe Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell

Business Process Outsourcing - Why BPO is a Global Industry

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is an industry, which has two key values at its core. Firstly, a business process outsourcing company must be able to add value to the services offered by their clients. Without this added value there is no incentive for a company to outsource. The second value, and one which is often given more importance, is the ability of a BPO company to save their clients money.
These two advantages have led to a boom in the BPO industry in recent years. Businesses have had to cut their costs in order to stay competitive. Good BPO companies not only offer a way of doing this, but they are also able to instigate improvements in the services that these companies provide.
It is important to recognize that not all BPO companies are the same. In order for a company to be able to offer the level of service that you should be looking for in a business process outsourcing company, you must choose carefully.
Successful BPO relies on the company having the resources and expertise to offer their clients real value. The margins, which are involved in BPO, are often miniscule. To offer both an improvement in service and a cut in cost, a BPO company must be a finely tuned machine.
One of the critical elements, which separate the excellent from the average business process outsourcing companies, is their reach. In order for an outsourcing company to be able to offer their clients real value they must have a global presence. There are some processes, which are ideally suited to being fulfilled in a particular country, both for price and quality. Different processes will call for different facilities and skills. You need to choose an outsourcing company that understands this, is able to identify where best to fulfill the service you require, and have the means to implement it all.
If you are thinking of outsourcing some of your businesses non-specific processes then you need to be sure that you are getting the best value for money. In order to do this it is worth using a company that has been established for a long time and that understands the industry perfectly. It is also worth using a company that is not limited to a few locations, or services. The more experience, resources and variety that a business process outsourcing company is able to offer you, the more value you are likely to receive.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tom_Pearson

Outsourcing of BPO Services – Check List to Refer

In the last two decades, outsourcing Bpo services has turned out to be a global phenomenon and there are many companies in this category claiming the excellence. Also, there are many global BPO service providers offering BPO services in India alone. But still, the word outsourcing invokes a fear of losing competitive advantage and intellectual property. Before finding the right collaboration answer, take a look at the following questions for generating a well thought strategy:

Why are you outsourcing a particular task to Global BPO Service provider?
What kind of operations are you outsourcing?
Where and who will handle which process?
Are you collaborating with the right service partner?
How and where the process will get started?

Why are you outsourcing a particular task to global BPO service provider?
The companies shall not outsource the BPO service just because their competitors have adopted the trend. The organization must analyze whether your company really lack the technical advantage of delivering a particular solution or not. The management must also understand that how a BPO service in India or any other country is going to impact the business and finally the customer.

What kind of operations are you outsourcing?
There are many global BPO service providers offering BPO services in India alone pertaining to: research, development quality control, documentation, service, manufacturing, marketing and distribution. The decision makers must analyze that what is the risk involved in outsourcing a BPO service and is there a proper mitigation strategy available for averting the risks.

Where and who will handle which process?
It is a very important question, which arises while outsourcing the BPO service. The tasks of global BPO service providers must be clearly specified. The decision makers should be aware that who performs flawless roles of Product Manager, Architect and Quality Analyst among the global BPO service providers.

Are you collaborating with the right service partner?
Do not outsource the BPO service process until you know exactly that what problem is he going to solve and how effectively he will perform. Coordinate the issues in joint meetings and examine as many prototypes of processes, which they have developed.

How and where the process will get started?
Cultural issues also determine the working of your partner. The working culture of a BPO service in India will be much more different in UK or Japan. The organization must also anticipate the linguistic and cultural issues while finding the right global BPO service provider. Not only that, even the formalization of process must be done before one month while selecting the process. Additional time must be required for finding the right location dealing with travel and acquiring the work permits for starting BPO service in India. Conceptualize about the whole process and imagine that what kind of network compilers will be used and how much technical help will be rendered.
Companies across the world are in search of global BPO service providers for outsourcing the BPO services. It is always not necessary that you will only get the right solutions from the client and you will save huge money in the process. While operating as a Product Manager, one must answer these basic questions before outsourcing the BPO operations.

Sunil Kumar, Chief Executive Officer of Cleave Global e-Services. Pvt Ltd. has profound experience in global bpo services industry and expertise in projecting calls center campaigns in the ITES industry. He holds a Masters degree in Economics and with his extensive experience in outsourcing bpo services India. He is a Six Sigma (Green Belt) certified professional. He brings quality and process control in all operations.

Value Added BPO Service

The rise in the amount of revenue that the BPO sector generated in the recent past has attached more value to the sector than it previously had. It was during the recession that the other industries were looking down the barrel while call centers expanded their base globally. Several call center companies were buying out the weaker ones in first world countries like USA and Canada. These units were marked sick because of their lack of telemarketing projects. Their expensive call center services led to their downfall. The third world countries capitulated on the opportunity they got. They bolstered their work and made significant strides towards value-added services. All of a sudden they were strict with quality and were particular about telemarketing services. Let's find out the various ways in which they added value.
Step 1: The seriousness associated with telemarketing services has increased manifold because of the contribution it was making to the domestic economy. The government was taking an active interest in the development of the BPO sector in countries like the Philippines. This took care of the manpower problems. The best minds of the employee pool were willing to work in the call center sector. Managers, business development officers, software engineers, writers, and designers: there was room for everyone at the call centers. The diversification of call center services made it possible for different walks of life to blend with the business process outsourcing industry. Because of this amazing improvement in the intelligent brains that were running the show. The quality of work had to improve without a second thought.
Step 2: BPO units are more plenty into planning and strategies. Veterans in the call center sectors have to admit that things were a little haphazard when the business process outsourcing industry started off. However, with the passage of time, a method in the madness started to emerge. Companies were keener on planning their moves rather than grope their way through. Planning at the conceptual level saves telemarketing resources. Agents are more focused about their work and each one knows the responsibility entrusted to them. If everything is planned to the T, you can also make out ground for innovation in telemarketing services. Your idea is always to beat the competition and offer something different and unique to the clients. Once your call center services have that extra edge, you will have clients queuing up to ink deals with you.
Step 3: Technology does what you cannot achieve through manpower skills. When you are targeting large sections of consumers, manual lead generation or telemarketing will not take you far. You have to depend on Web 2.0 tools or other technological matters like web-enabled telemarketing services to ensure that you are making the right connect. Facebook and Twitter, two modern ways of generating leads and even offer customer service support, have to be integrated in your call center services in a seamless way. It's only when you start connecting with the customers in a way that makes them feel special and wanted that you actually add value to your BPO service.
We offer quality call center services to our global clients. We are experienced in various telemarketing projects and we attach proper value to every project we work on.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ivana_Lewis

BPO Services: Destination India

A subset of outsourcing, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) involves contracting the operations and responsibilities through a third party service provider. From the last couple of years, the BPO industry has evolved as the most substantial sector in the Indian market. India has emerged as the most favored location for all Bpo services across the globe. This has accelerated the Indian economy to the heights, progressively boosting the statistics depicting the growth in the years to come. It has been however forecasted that by 2020, more than 80% of the world of business process outsourcing services will be served by the Indian companies. Marked as the best place to attain superior quality services globally, the BPO industry is strengthening its foundation in India.

With the changing needs of the country, call centers across the country are mushrooming as a quality service provider in outsourcing solutions. Acknowledged for its skilled manpower and state-of-the-art technological support, Indian BPO call centers are generating maximum profit for its clients. In fact, the customer care service of the industry has been setting benchmark ever it became synonymous with the industry.

With language always seen as a major obstruction in the overall growth, many BPO firms have made a strong attempt towards offering BPO services in multiple languages. This has motivated the clients to enable marketers to approach the masses effortlessly.
Several factors have contributed to the success of call centers in India. What are they? Let’s take a quick look then.

Progressive infrastructure
Considered as the fastest growing nations in the world, India has turned out to be a popular and favorable hub for major MNCs around the world to set up their BPO segments. These organizations not only outsource service requirements to the local companies but also hire manpower to handle its business operations as well extending help to their partners residing anywhere in India or abroad.

Lower per capita income
Although a developing nation, India has skilled and well-educated manpower in abundance that can be employed at subsidized wages. Since the labor cost is considerably high in the developed nations, majority of organizations from the developed countries find India as a perfect destination to fulfill their outsourcing needs, thereby, leading to the establishment of massive BPO call centers. Their prime focus has always been the youth where hiring is concerned as they want to reap maximum benefits in the shortest possible time.

Quick adaptability to alien culture and style
Indians are quite flexible in nature and can easily adapt themselves to the working style and new culture. Therefore, the foreign consumers find immense familiarity in India that makes them comfortable to carry outsourcing needs at ease, therefore, making India a hotspot for service seekers across the globe.

Mammoth youth power
India has always been the land of education. So, it may not be surprising to know that around 60 percent of educated Indians are actually youth. Equipped with professional graduate degrees and comparatively good English speaking ability, most of them are employed in multinational companies and other business outsourcing vendors situated in India. This has proved to be a major reason, which is offering an exceptional hike to the BPO services.

Off-shoring activities like customer services uses up the available manpower in India, providing an extensive range of call center services like customer care, live phone support, IVR, email response in a bilingual or multi-lingual mode.

With the presence of a call center steadily becoming a necessity, catering to the global demand has become a pre-requisite. Indian firms are opening up BPO call centers not only in the metropolitan cities but also in Tier-II and Tier-III cities. The gradual realization of the importance of a BPO is actually dawning in the minds of the corporate giants, which is further motivating India to expand its ability to meet their demands each time.

Summary: India has definitely turned into a hotspot destination for the BPO service industry as it is backed with an enormously skilled manpower. The land – known for its diversity – has always been open to multinational firms to setup their bases here. The BPO industry is growing at the rate of 17 percent every year, employing around 10,000 people.