What to Look for When Choosing a Call Centre

You’ve decided it’s time to enlist the services of a call centre to help your business meet the

needs of its customers. Don’t let a good decision become a costly mistake by choosing the wrong call centre for your business needs. Here’s what to look for when choosing a call centre.

Call Answer Efficiency

Ask the company if most (90% or more) of their calls are answered within 3 rings. What’s their call abandonment rate? If a call centre isn’t answering your customer calls quickly, this can lead to frustration and even a loss of customers, who’ll blame you for their lack of support.

Average Hold Time

Just answering the call isn’t enough. If your customers are placed on hold for a very long time, they’ll be frustrated and angry when they finally receive assistance. Ask the company what their average hold time is per call. The lower, the better, and you may want to test the hold time for yourself to see if you think it’s acceptable.

Software and Hardware

Does the software that they use guarantee that call information is recorded properly and any messages that are left won’t get overlooked? Will their system allow calls to be routed to the correct department or employee so that issues can be resolved quickly?

Outdated hardware or software can make it difficult to provide an acceptable customer service experience, so don’t be afraid to ask about it.

Staff Reliability

Is their staff extensively trained to do their jobs, and is the employee turnover rate high? Unhappy employees can make lousy customer service representatives, so look for a company that offers a good working environment for their staff.

Backups

Does the company have a backup power source in place in case of a power outage during inclement weather? Just because the weather’s bad at the call centre, it doesn’t mean it will be bad elsewhere, and customers will still expect their calls to go through.

Take the time to find a call centre that will handle your customer calls the way you would handle them, and you’ll be more likely to have a great experience.