Posts Tagged ‘people’

Should You Employ Your Own People for Cold-calling or Use a Telemarketing Agency?

Cold-calling is a proven many for many small businesses to generate leads.

But, for many businesses, there’s always the question of who actually does it.

Even for larger companies with dedicated sales teams this is a valid question: should you use your own people or turn to a specialist telemarketing agency?

Let’s put aside how to find a good telemarketing agency, and focus on the question of whether you should use internal resource or outsource through a telemarketing agency.

For many companies, there are three compelling reasons to use a telemarketing agency:

1) Focus

2) Capabilities

3) Cost

This article examines these three reasons and suggests why, in many cases, it makes more sense to use the services of an external telemarketing agency.

1) Focus

Firstly, a strong reason for using a telemarketing agency is that they will focus on the task of generating leads for your business. Many companies, when using an internal resource, will hand this over to either an admin person or expect it to be done as part of their sales role.

But, let’s be honest about what really happens in most businesses: they find something else to do.

Unlike a telemarketing agency, which employs people who cold-call day-in, day-out, your employees have other duties to perform. And, believe me, they will find anything else to do rather than telemarketing. The same goes for if you choose to hire your own people “just to cold call” rather than use a telemarketing agency. After a few months, I guarantee, they will be doing something (anything) else rather than telemarketing.

Larger telemarketing agencies that recruit raw telemarketers have huge problems with churn. If you think that you can recruit and retain someone to do the role long term, think again!

Using a telemarketing agency means that you have a resource focused on telemarketing. By using a telemarketing agency you ensure a continual effort to generate leads, not the reluctant, ad-hoc approach you will get form your own people.

2) Capabilities

Hand-in-hand with the issue of focus is that of capabilities. By working with a telemarketing agency you will access people who are far better at telemarketing that your own people. Even if you have dedicated sales people they often won’t match a good telemarketing agency when it comes to cold-calling.

An external telemarketing agency also brings capabilities around data acquisition, segmentation, collateral development and “pitch” development which your own people will lack. Think about it; a good telemarketer working in a small telemarketing agency will pitch around 100 prospects in a week. Given that the best telemarketers have been in the game for at least five years, that’s over 20,000 pitches. That’s experience you will only get by working with a telemarketing agency; you’ll never get it from an in-house employee.

3) Cost

Finally, another reason for many companies to consider using a telemarketing agency is cost.

When comparing using your sales team, or even yourself as the owner of a small business, against the cost of a telemarketing agency, the costs are pretty compelling. A telemarketing agency will charge, on average around £250-300 per day for a telemarketer. That’s attractive even when you compare it against the cost of your sales people. But when you consider the cost of them not being in front of prospects and actually closing, the cost justification stacks up in favour of the telemarketing agency.

When comparing a telemarketing agency against an admin person making “a few cold calls” the costs need a little more study but they still make sense. Usually, the best approach is to consider two factors: a) the cost per lead and b) the opportunity cost.

When looking at the former, the telemarketing agency, which is always more efficient, typically wins. In addition, when you think about the opportunity cost of not getting new leads into your pipeline and the resulting lost new business growth, it’s usually obvious that using a telemarketing agency is the best investment.

So, in summary, when thinking about whether to use your own people or a telemarketing agency, consider the total picture of how much focused your own people will be, how good they will be, and what is the real return on their costs.

We believe that, taking all these elements into account, a telemarketing agency is the most attractive route for many businesses.

India: No Country For Old People?

India: No Country For Old People?
As India competes in the global economy, new challenges arise for its aging population, who once relied on their children to help them through old age. Morning Edition commentator Sandip Roy explains.

Read more on NPR

Real People, Real Results From An Order Taking Call Center

Customers often measure a company in its ability to provide superior customer service. An impeccable delivery comes from an interaction with a live person taking the call.

If your business is primarily engaged in promoting goods and services, you may need a professional team of agents who both have the skill and the aptitude to take specific orders with precision.

Taking orders requires real people

Order taking services is a serious matter every small and medium business owner should know. For one, it enables your business to respond to the immediate concerns of the customer such as making instructions or clarifying issues. Some organizations have walked the extra mile by turning to the latest technology in hopes of seeking new and inventive ways to boost this service for improved productivity. Automated order systems, popular in e-commerce web sites, have attempted to map out this seamless task but failed to an extent. Why? It is because customers still want a real human voice on the other line responding to get all matters resolved quickly and carefully.

Live order taking can do exactly just that. You have a team of experts managing customers while making them feel your business is there to serve. When a customer comes across a short-term promotion or responded to an ad, can a machine answer questions real-time?

Productivity = Profits

The service of taking orders goes far beyond routine. And the benefits of integrating it into your business operations are tremendous. Anyone in the team can best represent your business and promote your products and services more effectively. The best part is that they do not have to be part of your in-house staff but an outsourced call center maintaining an inviting “front door” for you.

The good news is this: Live order taking is here to stay. The service demands real people doing real interaction with customers. It adds personal touch, which in turn can build long-term trust and loyalty.

Order taking in the voice of a live person goes a long way in providing clarity in the mind of the customer. It establishes a lasting relationship that no automated systems can provide.

Call Center Dealing With People

Call Center is a position where you can handle high quantity of incoming telephone calls, inquiry, comments, and questions on behalf of a large organization. In this business you are just going to sit beside the phone or headset wearing answer all the inquiries of customers. Some companies choose to separate the management of customer contacts by average. Some companies establish a department for inbound calls and outbound calls.

Inbound Calls are centers to buy things, such as airline tickets, questions about their utility bill, emergency assistance like their car wont start. The customers are the one who first calling the customer representative.

Outbound Calls are centers who initiate to call the customers. Customer representative might call to inform that the product is now available or because the customer has not paid the due date bill, or to report on a problem that the purchaser is having.

Here you encounter different people especially on this kind of field; you should learn how to deliver a consistent outstanding customer experience. Usually you are dealing with old peopleâ??s mystique who frequently scolds us. Others may misinterpret the behavior of old people. They may seem them as anti-social, stuck-up or rude, or unfriendly. But on the positive side, they re also perceived as good listeners, modest, reserved and easy to be around, there is a mystique bout old people. People who are different are criticized and not readily accepted. Old people act out of preference. But this old people are the most important client of yours.

The full time environment of being a responsible engaged Call Center Agent requires a great deal of adjustments and the ability to carry on a fine balancing act. Call center job is not as easy as it looks, but it doesnâ??t require you to freak out or become a monster when things donâ??t always turn out as planned. In this business you learn to take things in stride and once you get the hang of it, you actually found out that the satisfaction of having a fulfilling life feeds your career and having a successful career, in turn, helps nurture your life.

We at Global Response can help you.

Why do some people under estimate being a call center agent/customer service representative?

I don’t really know what’s wrong with being one..

my company wants to hire some people in india for call center jobs, but does not want to go to call center?

companies, and wants to hire them directly without opening a company in india. This is to minimize the costs. Is it possible to do, and what’s the process?

What do you call people who draw blood for plasma centers? are they called phlebotemists?

i know venipuncture is drawing blood too. but what are the people who draw blood in plasma centers and blood donation centers called, and what type of degree do they have to work in that profession?