Despite a connected world the phone remains an essential business tool. Jerry Stitzel considers three call center options you might employ to achieve a competitive advantage
How you connect with your customers is key to the success of your business. Despite living always-connected lives, your customers still reach for the phone when they are ready to buy or need to solve an urgent problem. That hasn’t changed since Alexander Graham Bell made the first telephone call and told his assistant Mr. Watson, “Come here, I want to see you.” Phone calls remain a vital component of how your business connects with your customers.
Call centers and answering services can help your franchise organization maintain its brand standards for customer service and engagement. Having people specifically trained to assist people when they call you is an easy way to show that you value your customers. In addition, by utilizing outbound call capabilities, you can also expand your capacity to recruit new franchise owners or respond to customer enquiries from other sources. Many call center functions can be outsourced but many may need to be handled internally.
Given the enduring importance of calls within your customer service strategy, how do you decide which call answering solution – in-house or external service – is best for your business? Numerous options are available and, if you aren’t familiar with how the call centre services work, it can all seem very confusing. In essence, there are three ways that a franchise can leverage call center services depending on your brand standards and organizational culture:
1. Establish an internal call center
2. Partner with an external call center
3. Utilize both; adopt a hybrid approach.
Sadly, there’s no pro-forma guide to selecting between these options. Your specific circumstances will determine the best approach. However, there are some common factors to consider when making your decision.
When you should consider using an internal call center:
Complex process requirements: Do your business processes require accessing multiple screens or systems, or require detailed knowledge of products or familiarity of a local area?
Fluid call response needs: Do you need to regularly change call scripts and protocols or quickly implement new systems or processes?
Specific brand expertise: Is your brand so specific that your callers expect an intimate understand of complex products or services for almost every call?
Challenges of internal call centers: Can you scale your internal team to keep up with growth? Can you meet the initial and ongoing costs for infrastructure and call handling systems? Do you have the capacity for the necessary personnel management and human resources functions?
When you should consider using an external call center:
Streamlined process requirements: Do you have a process that is designed for efficient call handling?
Stable call handling protocols: Are your scripts and call protocols well-established and proven to be effective?
General customer service expertise: Can the majority of your calls be addressed by a customer service representative who doesn’t require specific product or service knowledge?
You need a very specific skill set that you are not staffed to meet: Do you need emergency medical response capability or agents that have professional training in sales or IT?
Challenges of an external call center: Major changes to scripts and protocols may take more effort due to communication and implementation inefficiency. Shared agents will not have detailed knowledge of your products or services making it difficult to adapt to sudden complex changes.
When you should consider a hybrid approach:
If your franchise can manage two service levels: Can you adapt your call protocols to allow for full service during business hours and a scaled back response after hours and weekends?
If you struggle to manage your queue times and call volume spikes: Can calls roll over to an agent who uses a simplified script or protocol to assist a caller?
If your call center doesn’t provide 24/7/365 capacity: Hiring for around the clock service is expensive and a staffing challenge.
If the corporate office needs a higher level of expertise, but the franchise owners can utilize a less detailed level of support, or vice versa.
Challenges of a hybrid approach: Creating and implementing time-based call routings so that calls will route to the correct call center for the desired service level. Developing multiple scripts and call protocols that can be implemented across the two call center platforms.
As you weigh up these options, consider your own business structure and the nature of your current processes. You shouldn’t have to rebuild your processes around call answering capabilities; make sure that your answering option fits around your business. For instance, if you are a new franchise and are still developing your brand then you might consider using an external call center to permit experimentation without a large commitment of personnel or capital. This would allow you to draw on the expertise of an external provider rather than start your own answering process from scratch.
If you are a fast-growing franchise that has a fairly stable process but you are struggling with scale then a hybrid option may be the best option. This allows you to maintain your brand standards yet adjust dynamically to your changing needs. For example, external solutions allow you to scale your call capacity quickly by accessing a pool of skilled call agents, which gives you time to build your internal capabilities.
For a mature franchise with stable brands, solid infrastructure and predictable growth, an internal call center is a solid option since it maximizes your control of messaging and processes, which allows your agents to provide a consistent and repeatable experience for every customer call.
However, even mature franchises may not have the capabilities or desire to create an internal call center. In this case, another option is to contract with an external call center service that offers a dedicated call center option. A dedicated call center provides all of the advantages of an internal call center – full time staff, expert knowledge, and complex call processing – but it is set up and managed by an external provider. In essence, your call center would be housed and managed for you without additional capital expenses, capacity management, or HR oversight.
When properly implemented based on the particular needs of your business, any of these call answering options will enhance your customers’ experience with your brand. Picking up the phone and talking to your customers will permit you to stand out from the crowd; you’ll be offering excellent customer service when it is needed most. After all, customers phone you when they urgently want help. If you can be there for them you will have more than just a competitive advantage, your customers will know that you truly care.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jerry Stitzel is the Lead Franchise Account Executive for AnswerForce, He has extensive expertise in developing call center solutions for the franchise industry. Jerry may be reached at jerry@answerforce.com, +1-888-885-7769 https://www.answerforce.com/
