Handling constant inbound calls can take a significant amount of time and effort for any growing company, and when you’re trying to build a business, time is money. Furthermore, missed calls or lack of communication can be discouraging to current and potential customers. So, how do you make sure you’re available and responsive without allowing phone calls to take up the entirety of your day? It might be time for your business to start looking into using a call center. Having trained agents able to respond to customer inquiries across multiple platforms isn’t just an efficient solution for your company, it also boosts consumer confidence and gives the appearance of professionalism.
If you’re on the fence, let’s go over five reasons you should consider a call center for your business.
1. Communicate with customers in a timely manner across multiple platforms.
If a customer is considering a purchase or having an urgent issue, it’s important that they receive a response to a potential inquiry quickly. You don’t want to lose money because you weren’t able to answer a simple question or troubleshoot a problem. Not only that but as online shopping and social media expand, you need to be able to handle incoming messages across multiple different platforms. The amount of time this consumes is generally not sustainable or useful for a company that’s trying to grow. A call center would respond to inquiries as they come in and could even handle communications on Facebook, Instagram, etc.
2. Boost credibility and project a professional image.
A custom greeting and a trained agent are exactly what most customers expect to be greeted with when calling about a problem, so it’s always a positive thing for a business to meet that expectation. Creating consumer trust is one of the biggest challenges any company or brand faces, and providing consistently high-quality customer service and being responsible and thorough in responding to inquiries and calls is a great way to get started.
3. Cut extra costs and save money.
Employees are one of the highest-cost investments your business will make, and for good reason. Because of that, you want your employees to be using their time in a way that best serves the company. By creating a system in which calls are only escalated if they require specific expertise or attention, you free up your employees to work on more meaningful projects without sacrificing the ability to address and respond to consumer concerns.
4. Increase sales and productivity.
Most customers don’t leave a voicemail when calling a business and even if you call back, you may not be able to reach them. You want to ensure that anyone calling with a question or indecisive about a purchase will have their concerns addressed immediately. Operators can also handle orders via the company website, so you won’t lose sales, no matter the time of day. The combination of easily accessible customer support and employees being free to work on larger problems is sure to produce a bump in your company’s efficiency and productivity.
5. Improve your availability.
All businesses have hours, and employees generally need to sleep at some point. A call center, especially one with AI chatbot support like this Microsoft call center, extends your availability when you don’t have employees on the clock. Depending on the type of business you operate, it’s entirely possible that you’ll have customers requiring assistance 24 hours a day, especially in an economy that’s becoming more and more global.
As your company’s needs grow and your volume of customers increases, responding to all inquiries and questions can start to take up an inordinate and unproductive amount of time for any business. This is especially true for smaller companies that don’t employ a receptionist dedicated to screening calls. Even if your company can afford to hire employees to handle inbound communication, availability and efficiency can still be significant issues when it comes to providing top-notch customer service. If you find yourself overwhelmed or on the receiving end of some customer frustration, it’s well past time to do some research and consider whether or not a call center is the right solution for your business.
