TODAY’S ENTREPRENEURS USE OUTSOURCE AS A SOLUTION

Taction - The Contact Center article as posted by Peter DeHaan Publishing Inc © 2007-2009

By Randall McKee

The other day I phoned a men’s goods company to find out more about their business. A nice lady answered the toll-free number, which I realized had forwarded to a cell phone. She asked my name and business and then handed the phone to the CEO/ Sales and Marketing Director. While conversing with me, this fast-talking, genuinely honest person was simultaneously entering a new order to fulfillment via wireless laptop and obviously hurtling down some expressway, most likely to source new and exciting products while still getting business done. This explains their corporate profile indicating only four employees. The lady who answered the phone counts for one, he is probably the other three!

This, my friends, is the new face of the catalog industry. A fantastic illusion whereby business owners and operators are no longer strapped to their offices or warehouses, no longer bound by business images of old. No vast employee woes, no expensive phone systems, no bricks and mortar. Today’s storefronts are made of ones and zeros, managed by PDA and wireless laptop wielding visionaries.
Overhead is manageable because it’s more clearly visible, allowing for more actionable cost of business controls. Something the traditional business owner may have more than a little trouble ferreting out. Outsourced warehousing and fulfillment, customer care, and marketing campaigns are becoming the norm, which is good news for those of us who offer outsource services in this brave new world.

I asked Ian MacDonald, Vice President and General Manager of CenturyNovelty.Com, a Multichannel Merchant Award 2009 Silver Winner to express how outsource affects his business. “Outsourcing customer service creates a competitive advantage on the cheap,” said MacDonald. “Every company would offer 24/7 service if that convenience to the customer would generate enough sales to be profitable. Outsourcing makes 24/7 service affordable; in fact, it is far less expensive than trying to do it in house. When staffing in house, you pay your employees by the hour, whether they’re on the phone or browsing Facebook waiting for the next call. With outsourced agents, you pay by the minute and only when they are on the phone. A recent review of our services found sending our calls to an offsite call center were 44% cheaper than staffing our internal call center 24/7.

“24/7 availability shows your customers that you‘re serious about providing a stellar customer service experience. When you’re open all day every day and your competitors are only open 8 or 10 hours a day, customers notice and understand who values their business. Outsourcing allows me to focus on growing the business, not running it. What if one of my agents calls in sick or wants to leave early? Now, it’s not a problem because we just send the calls to our outsource call center.”

This new vision has efficiencies built right in when you consider that instead of purchasing or leasing space to operate, answering phones to manage customers, equipment to manufacture, people to pick, pack, and ship these processes can be outsourced to those who already do these things and do them well.

Today’s entrepreneurs may not be the Mom and Pop shops of yesteryear but they care about their customers, they’re ready for your business, and they’re here to stay – with the help of outsourcing call centers.

Randall McKee is Sales Manager for Taction – The Contact Center; he may be reached at rmm[@]taction.net.

To view this artcile in it's original context use the link below.

http://www.findacallcenter.com/article/entrepreneurs-use-outsource.html

Please watch future Print Issues of Connections Magazine for a copy of the article, "Today's Entrpreneurs Use Outsource As A Solution."

The Power of Two, Call Center Math

Customers don't always praise you in the Call Center world. Mostly they never call again, yet when they do the power of two can be immense.
On December 18th Customer A called and spoke with Agent X. Probably had a few questions, we're all comparison shopping these days.
And again on December 21st Customer A called back to place her order and spoke with Agent Y. The following Shift leader edited (for confidentiality) email hit our in-boxes not long after.

'I spoke with Customer A today. She placed an order with our very own Agent Y. She had the highest of praise for Agent Y. She said that Agent Y was polite and competent and was very impressed with her efficiency and customer service skills...'

And then this email...

'While I was speaking with Customer A (who sang wonderful praises for Agent Y) she said that she had spoken with Agent X on Friday, Dec. 18. She wanted to let me know that Agent X was also professional, pleasant, and efficient. She said that because she had received the highest quality service from not one, but two of our agents she would be purchasing of all of her products from [us] for a long time to come!! Thank you, Agent X for always being pleasant and professional. Your excellent customer service skills are greatly appreciated!'

So if Agent Y x Agent X= Customer A for life, then perhaps Agent Y x Agent X x Customer A= Customers B, C, D, E, F, and G?

We call these Accolades, and for customer acquisition, satisfaction, and retention it's like the "new" math only better!

Dedication, Call Center Workers @ Taction Have It

Flu and winter have finally taken hold in Maine with some folks too sick to make it in or sent home to save us all and others with frozen water pipes, closed day care woes, and other everyday obstacles to clocking in on time. As the annual reminder email to staff goes, "we are a small community of isolated villages and towns..." where the average commute is 30-40 minutes of icy and sometimes mountainous back roads.

It's a wonder we have any seats filled at all, yet ATTAs are flying 'round our in-boxes as Agent after Agent stays over two hours late on a shift or comes in an hour early to ensure we answer every call possible that comes in.

Good thing because with 4th quarter almost spinning off the rails the phones are humming with catalog sales flooding in and Customer Service Representatives trying to ease customers holiday anxiety we are full on in the busy season and grateful for our dedicated workers. You folks are truly world class call center in every aspect. Thanks.

Christmas for Kids @ Taction - The Contact Center

Each year Taction "adopts" 25-30 children, ranging in age from infants to 17 years old, through the Department of Human Services, State of Maine. This annual effort is coordinated through our Human Resources Department and our local Health and Human Services (DHS) office. For most of these children this will be the only gifts they receive. DHS provides a first name, age, size, favorite color, likes, wants, and needs for each child. These key insights allow "adoptees" to provide gifts that are meaningful for each individual child.

Employee volunteers sign up to "adopt" a child (or several) for Christmas starting in the fall. Those that are not individually "adopted" are provided gifts by Taction's Community Services and Wellness Committee (CSaW) fund to ensure that each child on the list has a merry Christmas. Monies are raised throughout the year for this effort by assigning special "Jeans Days", "Jeans Week", and holding auctions, book sales, and general donations all of which are completely employee funded.
We are pleased to note we are on our way to creating
a few more smiles, on Christmas morning, again this year!

No one likes to think of a child going without on Christmas!

Accolades and ATTAs, A Culture of Reward

This initial post is for future reference and to allow readers to gain insight into two very important cultural aspects of our call center community. Quite often our employees are rewarded for doing right with public recognition, this blog and subsequent feeds build value toward this effort, wherein announcements of either an Accolade or ATTA (As in ATTA Gal or ATTA Guy!) has been earned.

In our call center we represent many client companies with unique offerings and customers. An Accolade can be generated by either customer feedback and/ or client feedback and is defined as: When a customer and/ or client goes out of their way to praise an employee.

ATTAs were created to reward employees for generally doing good  including, but not limited to, working extra time to help out their fellow employees, shoveling snow or other housekeeping, even walking an employee to their car when it's late at night and dark.

As a culture that values reward, Taction - The Contact Center, will be posting Accolades and ATTAs quite often.