Nowadays, call centers make the world go round. They’re deeply woven into the fabric of our society, and it would be impossible to get anything done without them. From marketing and promotions to text alerts warning of unsafe weather—a lot of services right now rely on them and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
For business owners, this means that operating your own call center is both cost-effective and incredibly lucrative. The industry is constantly expanding, and the demand for it likely won’t slow down anytime soon. Communication is always going to be one of the most essential parts of our lives, and call centers are the best way to facilitate that.
What Kind of Call Center is the Best to Start for Newcomers?
There are many different kinds of call centers, offering a wide variety of services. But, despite the array of options available, you’ll also see a lot of mixing and matching between the different kinds. After all, the infrastructure doesn’t differ that much, and offering different products and services is a great way to ensure you have a consistent and stable stream of revenue no matter what happens.
However, if you’re just starting out, it’s best to focus on just one thing instead of trying everything out all at once. One of the best places to begin is by setting up an outbound call center and learning the ropes there.
What is an Outbound Call Center?
An outbound call center is an operation that basically cold calls customers for a wide variety of purposes. The first thing you’ll probably think of is marketing offers and promotions, but they can also involve survey requests, research initiatives, fundraiser invitations, and so much more.
It’s a big industry, and there’s always room for newcomers looking to get in on the action. As long as you know what you’re doing and hire the right people to make your calls, then you shouldn’t have any problem making money off of being an outbound call center.
If you’re looking to get started, here are a few things that are absolutely essential to have for your operation:
Voice Termination Services
Voice termination services or VoIP are the bread and butter of any call center, but especially for the outbound call centers. Analog calls are too expensive and not as flexible, making it difficult to maintain a sustainable operation.
Finding the right VoIP provider is critical in ensuring your call center runs smoothly. Make sure that you get a service that can connect your calls anywhere in the world. It’s also essential that you consider call quality and integrations that come with the package. After all, getting in touch with the lead is only the first step on a long journey.
CloudPBX
The VoIP service is what will actually connect your calls, but you’re going to need a lot more than that if you’re going to run a full-fledged outbound call center. The second thing you’re going to need is a CloudPBX.
There, you’ll find all the pertinent data you need. You can keep your leads there or sync it with your CRM of choice to keep everything organized. That’s also where your own phone numbers and your agent information are going to be stored.
CloudPBX is also invaluable when it comes to quality control and training. You can view your call history and listen to recordings, ensuring that you’ll always have records to fall back on whenever you want to evaluate your team’s performance.
And that’s not the only feature you can expect from a top-quality CloudPBX. The interface agents see should be optimized to help them do their jobs in the best ways possible. You’re going to need a Lookup function to ensure that the numbers you’re calling are reliable and useful leads. And if you really want more flexibility in your operations, you can even ask about whisper and barge options that will allow authorized administrators and managers to take the reins of a call that isn’t going as expected.
Autodialer
As an outbound call center, it stands to reason that you’re going to be dialing a lot of numbers throughout your operations. This can be tedious and time-consuming if done manually, not to mention prone to human error.
That’s why every call center needs its own autodialer to make the process more efficient and reliable. With that tool, all you need is a table listing all your leads and you can let the thing handle the rest, from figuring out which agent calls which lead to actually dialing the numbers.
When choosing your own autodialer, make sure you find one that’s dynamic and automatically adjusts depending on requirements and call volume. That way, it won’t just be assigning numbers to agents no matter the circumstance, but will instead take into account answered and dropped call rates and react accordingly.
You’re also going to want something that can give you real-time analytics. That way, you can make sure that your operations are performing as planned and that you’re meeting all your targets. And if you aren’t, it’s time to plan out some interventions and review your processes.
DID Numbers
Now that you’ve sorted out how you’re going to call your leads, it’s a good idea to also consider what the person you’re contacting will see once their phones light up with your number. And this is where DIDs come in.
Do you want everyone you’re calling to see the same vanity number despite coming from different phones? If you’re calling people from different countries, do you want to appear like you’re calling locally? There are a lot of ways you can change and control the number the customer sees when you call them through DIDs, and it’s a really good idea to take advantage of that fact.
It’ll help with your branding; having a recognizable number means that people will be more quick to trust you and answer your calls. And this is especially true if you’re planning to make your operations international and call leads from other countries.
People are more likely to answer local numbers, making it a good idea to get one. Establishing an actual local presence isn’t easy, but getting a set of DID numbers is. Just be sure that the numbers you get are from an established and reliable source to protect your own reputation.
Additional Features to Consider
When you’re just getting started, it’s a good idea to focus on one thing and make sure you and your business are standing on solid ground before building something bigger and more elaborate. But that doesn’t mean you can’t start planning for the future.
You may be running a call center, but there’s no reason that you should limit yourself to just calls. Outbound bulk SMS messaging is also a great revenue stream that will fit right in with a business like that.
You can send out promotions both through cold calls and text messages. It’ll give you a lot more versatility and flexibility, a great feature to have when you’re working in the constantly changing world of call centers.
And if you’re not ready to expand yet, that’s okay too. There are still a lot of ways to improve and further optimize your current setup. For example, using a speech-to-text function can work wonders for record-keeping, and quality control, or if you simply want an easy way to translate calls from people you don’t share a common language with.
Every business has different needs and challenges, and call centers are a big undertaking. If you want to get started with setting your operation up or you’re looking for specific features to further optimize your business, then get in touch with CommPeak today and we’ll have all the solutions you need.