Diversify through Call Center Services

Business firms have to continuously expand their domain in order to prevent stagnation. Expanding business areas would mean that they need to carry out additional areas of work. For example, a consumer-oriented firm will be able to broaden their consumer base through the help of the Internet. In other words, they need call center services to help them out. A business firm cannot add infrastructure and skill sets overnight to handle the extra work load. A call center can step in and take over the work.

The most common form of diversification is to graduate from telemarketing services to online lead generation. Business firms have found out that the use of telemarketing calls is not a good option because of the restrictions clamped by telecom watchdogs like the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The switch to online sales lead generation will help them bypass the restrictions and promote their products/services to a wider base of consumers.

Diversification also helps brands conduct market surveys for better product placement and branding. For a business firm, these are aspects that need professional help. Hiring a call center is the best option for these business firms.

Wanted Telemarketing Calls!

Most know telemarketing calls to be something that you avoid and sometimes learn to tolerate as you would accept nightmares! What if the customers actually wanted those lead generation calls? Then the BPO agents would have more ground to make a sales pitch. They would also have better listeners on the other end of the receiver. But can that really happen? If you can create the right buzz through call center services and brand promotion, it is possible. You have to find out what makes the customers curious. You can go online and create something of a positive impact through social media channels and discussion boards. When you are popular among the netizens, you will be noted and the aura around your brand will attract them.

The cardinal rule of marketing is that when you push something under the nose of people, they tend to reject it. However, when call center services tease the users into believing that your brand can actually provide them something unique, they will surely come to you. They will call your customer service department and ask questions. They will write emails and leave comments on your client’s website. It will be a different ball game when you will be leading the way. The impact will be more significant and the consumers you are telemarketing too will be willing participants in the loop.

BPO between USA and India

The thorn in the bilateral talks between USA and India is the issue on the offshore BPO outsourcing. The President of America, Barack Obama, will be visiting India next month. The call center industry is gearing up to meet and find out what the President has to say about the offshore outsourcing business. The American shores are politically active about the question of using offshore call centers for their projects. The Obama administration has already banned the use of such centers to get government work done. The President has categorically stated that he is not keen on allowing the taxpayer’s money to be spent in generating jobs in other countries.

However, this protectionist measure of the President does not have the support of a clear majority. The Senate voted down the anti-offshore BPO bill. Because of some hard lobbying from the Republicans and the business owners who have high stakes in the offshore call centers, the bill couldn’t get the majority that it was looking for. When the President comes to the bedrock of offshore telemarketing services, that is India, he will be faced with some uncomfortable questions, that’s for sure. It remains to be seen what the President has to say about the issue when he walks to business persons holding considerable revenue coming from the USA.

Striking BPO Deals

There’s some sort of process and method that is followed when your BPO strikes a deal with a client. The representatives of the call center would like to hard sell their call center services. The problem is that when they try to do that, they often tend to go overboard. They give off this impression that they can achieve more than they actually can. This spurs the client into thinking that they can expect some major hauls in their business because of telemarketing services. While this is true, in the short term parlance, it’s quite impossible to attain. When clients find that out through practical experience, there is a growing mistrust between the business partners, something that is not ideal for growth and progress.

The ideal way to negotiate BPO deals is to keep things straight. Talk it out with your client and set realistic targets on telemarketing services. When you spell it out how the project is going to phase out, clients are grounded about their expectations. The lead generation department needs to be careful about their targets as well. It is advisable to set targets according to the technology you have on board and the manpower at your disposal. Bite off only what you can chew. If clients come out of the partnership bitter and disillusioned, it’s bad for your call center.

Telemarketing Agents’ Safety

The safety of the telemarketing agent is function of the BPO unit’s responsibility. Though you cannot directly take the call center to task for safety lapses, the firm has to be accountable for the issues related to getting the agent back home. Keeping this need in mind, several call centers have beefed up their security regime in the recent past. Countries like India are a cauldron for nefarious activities when it comes to travelling at night. For women telemarketing agents, it is a nightmare unless there are some stringent actions taken. Sensing this dire need, BPO units have boosted up their security cordon.

Some simple steps taken by the call center can eradicate several niggling concerns. To begin with, the BPO units are arming the drivers of the pool cars with GPS cards. These cards will help the call centers to monitor the movement of the cars at all times. They can immediately wave a red flag when they find that the car has changed routes. Telemarketing agents are also provided with plastic cards that they can swipe with the driver. This will allow the security experts to find out when the agent was dropped off. Many BPO service firms also advise their agents to call up the phone answering desk and report when they reach home. Such steps doesn’t just ensure safety, they also make the agent feel good about working in the company.

Telemarketing Expression Matters

Communication skills are important for telemarketing. This fact was always known to the call center agents and to those who hired them. But surveys have revealed that it’s not just the communication skills that make a difference in telemarketing services. The agents have to be clear in their expression when they are talking to the customers residing in the USA and Europe. As it is the agents working out of call centers in countries like India and the Philippines have a problem with the accent. That makes it difficult for the customers to hear what they are being instructed. Without clarity of expression, call center agents have no chance of making a sale or even getting the customers to understand what they are saying.

The BPO units have to be careful about the training of these agents. It’s important for the call centers to offer voice modulation and speech training. The telemarketing agents have to get their voice intonation right so that they can speak to the customers in the language that they understand. It makes no sense in trying to fake the American twang! That is not the solution to the problem of the answering service. Experts also feel that the phone answering agents have to be careful about being relaxed. If they are worked up about pulling off the sale, they will only sound grave and desperate. Smiling is one aspect of telemarketing services that cannot be seen, but makes a mean difference.

Canadians Brace for Telemarketing Surveys!

The Canadian citizens are preparing themselves to wage another battle with telemarketing calls in the coming year. The Canadian government is conducting the census as per their rule of having one every five years. But they have not made the survey mandatory! The citizens have to answer call center calls asking for their basic information like name, address, age and sex. But they are not liable to answer BPO agents asking for their education, ethnicity and other personal details. The Canadian government is likely to fine citizens who don’t answer the basic information calls. However, the ground is set for the telemarketing services centers to tap the citizens for information that is not related to the census.

That is the fear on the minds of the citizens. They are wary of call centers tapping them for information to build up their database. This sort of a mass survey will be extremely beneficial for BPO units who want to add some more columns to their database. The government is taking steps to ensure that fraudulent call centers don’t use the guise of the census to gather information for their business profits. The survey will be conducted across 4.5 million Canadian homes and the whole logistical arrangement will be nightmare for the government. It remains to be seen how the call center units hired by the government do their job.

BPO Business Booms in Philippines

The BPO business in the Philippines is seeing some great days now. After successfully challenging the growth percentage of the BPO giant India and beating their growth rate convincingly, the call center industry in this country can only get better. The support of the government and the constant faith of them in the capabilities of their telemarketing manpower to generate enough business are the pillars of their progress. The telemarketing services of the country see their delegations as part of every major business process outsourcing conference. They like to place themselves in the thick of things. These representatives are also not wary of taking on the political legislations of a country like USA.

For those not in the loop, the BPO experts of the Philippines were in USA a couple of months back to protest against the anti-offshore call center outsourcing bill of New York Senator Charles E. Schumer. The delegates told the Senator that they expected better steps from an economic super power like USA because such legislations affected the economies of countries like theirs. Their argument was to allow telemarketing outsourcing to their country as usual. If there was something to be done, they requested for higher tax cuts. It remains to be seen if their efforts actually stalls the bill, but not every government would go to that extent to nurture the business process outsourcing industry.

Politicians Not Telemarketing Agents!

Politicians in the USA are entitled to call numbers registered on the Do Not Call (DNC) list. These calls do not come under the violation of the telemarketing laws. The laws restrict the calls made by call center agents who are selling some product/service. Politicians and charity institutions do not fall under this law. Several citizens in the USA are pestered by the BPO agents who call to convince the citizens to vote for one candidate or the other. Generally hardcore supporters of one party issue complaints against the other for breach of privacy. But there are no laws to condemn the call centers making these calls. Insiders are happy that it is so, or fake complaints would have flooded the guardian body, Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Very recently, the FTC had slotted advisors and counselors under the telemarketing laws. If they call their clients at times of the day when the telemarketing services law prohibits them, they will be fined. Moreover, the FTC also made it clear that call center agents cannot ask the customers to pay for services that they have not rendered. This is particularly true for the debt recovery BPO agents. They demand payment even before the customer has been relieved of his debt. Their fake call center services add to the debt of the customer instead of relieving him! The question about the politicians calling for votes has been part of the American electoral process for decades.

Advantages of Cross Selling in Lead Generation

The lead generation processes of many call centers revolve around cross selling. This is the procedure of offering the existing consumers some related products/services. This sales lead generation process has numerous advantages, both for the call center as well as for the consumer. To begin with, the telemarketing agents can sell products/services to existing customers. This is like tapping the same consumer base and coming up with a fresh set of revenue earnings. Cross selling works particularly well in the retail sector. Telemarketing services receive a considerable boost when the BPO unit tries out the process of cross selling.

From the perspective of the consumer, cross selling works well because the lead generation agents tap into their latent demands. They may not be aware of certain products/services that can make life easier. It’s the job of the telemarketing agent to poke at that demand and offer them something that they need but didn’t realize that. Sales lead generation, in this case, acts in favor of the consumer as well. Clients, who have a chain of products, often ask BPO units to help them out with cross selling. It’s a nice way to have revenues coming in from your existing group of customers. There is a little risk as well. If the new product doesn’t live up to what the consumer expects, it reflects badly on the brand identity of the client.