How Outsourcing Your Inbound Calls Saves Your Money

There are many benefits of outsourced customer service. One of them is serious savings. Here’s how outsourcing your inbound calls to a call center saves money.

Which is why 47% of customers stop doing business with a company after a bad experience. And it takes a customer 12 positive experiences to make up for just one subpar experience.

But hiring and training customer service employees takes time and costs money. And, if you have a business that sells to customers nationally or internationally, you may need round-the-clock customer service.

That’s why more companies are looking toward outsourced customer service to handle their needs. Keep reading to learn how the top call center outsourcing companies will actually save you money.

Outsourced Customer Service Lets You Focus on Other Business Functions

Hiring a call center outsourcing company lets you focus more of your time and resources on the rest of your business. Instead of spending time managing customer service staff, you can focus on sales, content creation, and product/service development.

In fact, outsourced services can take entirely take over your business call center.

Consistent Expert Support

That means an entire department’s functions are now in the hands of experts who know and understand how vital customer service is and deliver it to you and your customers consistently.

No Loss of Business Outside Company Hours

Even if your business only caters to local customers, that doesn’t mean you may not want someone answering your phone after regular business hours. That’s especially true if you have a service-based business.

If you’re a doctor, vet or plumber, your customers may need to reach you. And if you ship products nationally or internationally, different time zones make it difficult for some people to reach you.

Save Money by Having Access to Foreign Speaking Employees

You can also work with an outsourcing company who hires people with the exact native languages you need to be covered. And, you can even have access to workers from different countries around the world.

Customers Love Always Being Able to Reach Your Company

Customers feel frustrated when they can’t reach you. In fact, most customers expect your business to return their phone call within 12 hours. If they’re emailing you, they expect an answer that same business day.

If they don’t hear back from you in a timely manner, that means you have an unhappy customer who feels ignored.

24/7 Availability

And that can mean a loss of business. But not if you have access to a call center outsourcing company.

They’re available 24/7. Not only will you be able to impress new customers, but your existing ones will appreciate being able to reach you after hours as well.

Outsourcing to a Call Center Service Mean No Unexpected Expenses or Hardships

While your employees may be devoted to your company, that doesn’t mean they don’t get sick, take a vacation or have doctors appointments. If you have salaried employees, you may end up paying two people to handle one job.

Top call center outsourcing companies instead have to deal with the burden of making sure they’re fully staffed.

No Expenses for Hiring and Benefits

Employees cost companies money. Even if you hire an employee for $8 per hour, you could end up spending $3,500 in turnover costs.

You also may end up spending upwards of $1,800 just to train that same $8 per hour employee. And if you provide benefits, an employee earning $50,000 per year can end up actually costing you anywhere between $62,500 and $70,00.

While you can save money by using a staffing firm, but there are costs associated with that method as well. And don’t forget that you also need to buy your employees equipment and provide them with a space to work in.

Works With the Ebb and Flow of Your Business

Most call center outsourcing companies base their rates on the following:

Number of customers
Number of ways of communication
Number of people involved in the process
Working schedule of the customer service employees

In the world of business, your companies needs will naturally ebb and flow over time. If you hire a full-time or even part-time employee, that means you may need to hire and fire people.

Can Make Necessary Staffing Adjustments

With an outsourcing company, you can simply adjust your needs as needed when you need to. That helps you budget more efficiently, especially during leaner times.

It also ensures that during busier times you’ll always have the help available that you need. That’s especially important during the holidays when there’s a greater need for extra help.

Don’t Lose Business to Your Competition

When your customers become unhappy with your business because of poor customer service, they will find another company to help them. And if your competitors are offering 24/7 access to their customers, that’s a big draw.

Also, if you’re the only business out there providing after-hours calls to their customers, that’s a big draw. Just by offering outsourced customer service, you may end up bringing in new business.

Availability Leads to Positive Reviews

Don’t forget about how important reviews are these days. Happy customers who consistently receive exceptional customer service no matter how or when they reach out are more likely to leave you excellent reviews.

Not only do positive reviews help persuade new customers to give your business a try, but the more reviews you get, the more organic SEO (search engine optimization) you receive.

Reviews and Social Media

They may even talk about their awesome experience with your company on social media. That’s just as good, if not better than a personal recommendation from a friend or family member.

That’s built-in marketing you don’t have to pay for. You just have to keep delivering excellent service.

Build Brand Loyalty

65% of customers become more loyal to a brand just because the company responded to them. It’s a lot cheaper to retain a customer than it is to acquire a new one.

And don’t forget that loyal customers love sharing their positive experiences with others.

Enjoy 24 Hours of Selling

Not everyone can or wants to shop during regular business hours. Some are night owls or insomniacs who end up shopping during the wee hours of the morning.

Making sure they have access to your customer service department means you’re doing business even while you sleep. Having representatives available to answer questions, take detailed instructions, and take orders 24 hours a day means extra opportunities to earn profits.

Ways to Save Even More When Using a Call Center

How much you spend by outsourcing to a call center company largely depends on what your needs are. However, there are a few ways to save even more.

Perform an Audit

Once or twice a year perform an audit. Find out what went really well, what needed a little adjustment, and what the severe problems were.

Consider the levels of productivity, service, and revenue when performing your audit. This will help you make necessary process improvements so you get the best service at a reasonable price.

Set a Budget

Prior to setting your budget, carefully define your marketing strategy. Small companies may only require one or two staff members handling calls from your customers.

Many of the top call center outsourcing companies offer the ability to either pay call center costs per call or per working hour of a team.

Look Into Self-Service Options

You can reduce your cost per call by reducing the volume of inbound calls. All you need to do is to offer your customer self-service options.

This is also helpful because many people prefer to help themselves. And some people downright dislike having to deal with another human being.

Offering customers the ability to help themselves allows you to deliver great customer service without compromising quality.

Solve Customer Issues the First Time

One way to save money is to determine how to best resolve a customer’s issue the first time they contact you.

First call resolution works by empowering the frontline agents with the capabilities and knowledge to resolve most of the issues they come across. Look for a call center that uses integrated call center software.

Call Center Software

That provides agents with access to caller history and allows them to route the customer to the most appropriate agent to handle their issue effectively.

By solving the issue the first time, you’ll decrease your operational costs, cost per call, and call volume.

Incorporate Callback from Queue as an Option

No one enjoys being put on hold. No one wants to wait to speak to someone in customer service.

But sometimes those waits can’t be avoided. Thankfully, there is an option that makes customers feel happier about having to wait.

Happy Customers, Increased Savings

Callback from queue allows customers the option to receive a call from someone representing your company as soon as they’re free. And not only do you end up with happier customers, but it also decreases the number of callers waiting in the queue.

This allows you to decrease the number of staff you need available.

Find the Right Call Center for Your Needs

If you’ve determined that outsourced customer service makes the most economical sense for your business, it’s a good idea to do some research. Not all call center outsourcing companies are the same.

Check out their online reviews. And make sure they provide the services you need at the best prices. Click here to answering service prices for 2019.

Mike Cynar On / Answering Service, Call Center Services