*Updated for 2024*
Call centres handle your business' communication while aiming to boost your business efficiency and reduce costs. The end is that you shift customer-related responsibilities to the call centre. As a result, your staff can focus on other tasks, boosting productivity.
Luckily, you have access to many reputable call centre services if you are in Canada. Different call centres are better at handling specific responsibilities and offer a wide range of services. To pick the best option for your business, you need to first understand how each service works. Here are the top five services your business could leverage from a Canadian call centre.
Inbound Call Centre Services
When a customer calls your customer care centre, your team will offer a solution or help serve the customer. An inbound call centre service is tasked primarily (or exclusively) with handling calls that come into your business.
Inbound call centre services are often offered to existing or new customers who want to buy from you, book an appointment, or report an issue. Some of the specific focuses of this system are:
- Help Desk Support: When your customers face problems to which the cause is known, your call centre offers solutions. If the person does not understand the issue, your call centre can identify potential issues or make a service request.
- Dispatch services: Your call centre receives and transfers calls whenever needed. This is most popular on property management accounts. For example, a tenant can call into your call centre explaining how they have a leak under their sink that requires immediate repair. Your call centre can dispatch the plumber on file to go fix your tenant's sink.
- Processing orders: Depending on the nature of a call, your call centre will take different actions to handle the caller's requests. For instance, to explain your customer's choice, record orders, and collect payment information. This is popular for companies with an older customer demographic.
Outbound Call Centre Services
Outbound services refer to the calls your call centre employees make to consumers or potential customers. These calls are intended to achieve an essential goal for your business. For instance, to follow up on clients, reach out to new targets, or inform your clients about a new product or service.
Some call centres, like Telelink, will focus exclusively on Inbound call centre services with some notable exceptions. Telelink will only do outbound call centre services that are customer-centric - never sales or telesales. Telelink chooses to only perform customer-focused outbound sales because as an organization, we do not hire, train, or coach for sales skills, only customer service. Here are two outbound call centre services that Telelink does perform that can help your company.
- Customer NPS Surveys: Net Promotor Score is the gold standard in customer experience programs. NPS measures the loyalty of customers and helps you make informed business decisions based on real customer feedback. Utilize a call centre service provider to help you execute the survey and call your customers to walk them through a short survey.
- Recalls: If your company has issued a recall on an item that requires official notice to customers, you can utilize a call centre to help make those mass notifications. Choosing a call centre that specializes in inbound services will help give your customers better customer service during those types of calls.
Automated Call Centre Services
As the name suggests, automated call centre services automate pieces of communication between customers. The most popular form of automation in call centres is IVR systems for call routing automation, the IVR also handles some call types. Examples of automated call centre services are check-in reminders, franchise locator, and email management.
Automated services also upgrade to use chatbots that answer more complex queries. So, a customer does not speak to a human being unless the question is too complicated for the chatbot. While this is happening in the industry, Telelink avoids the use of chatbots altogether. We know there is no substitute for a human voice and genuine interaction. Other common services that automated call centre services offer are as follows.
- Interactive Voice Responders. At times, the customers seek services for common or frequently asked questions. In such cases, the software will walk the caller through any necessary steps. Then, if a need for detailed answers arises, the call is transferred to a call centre representative.
- Location Search. Customers might want to visit a physical location. When a customer calls to ask for directions, your automated call centre can assist them.
Omnichannel and Multichannel Call Centre Services
Omni means the services are present anywhere, which allows customers to reach you via any channel, such as chats, calls, emails, and social media. For example, when a customer contacts your call centre, the database stores the data. So, when a customer speaks to a different agent in a subsequent call, they can access pertinent information to help address an issue.
Because an omnichannel agent operates as a single entity, your customers get quick answers and solutions. An integrated omnichannel gives a business the momentum necessary to move and stay ahead of the competition.
In contrast, a multichannel lets customers reach you through many channels but cannot switch between channels. Thus, customer interaction via different media is not visible to the agents in a multichannel centre. For instance, the agent who connects with a customer through social media will be unaware of previous conversations via phone.
Virtual Call Centre Services
In the past, call centres were confined to physical premises. Thanks to fast intent, and a changing landscape for the workforce many call representatives can work from home. Virtual or cloud-based centres combine inbound and outbound services with other advanced features.
Virtual call centres can be operated from anywhere, are quick, have an easy set-up, and don't require programming skills. Another big advantage is that you can integrate virtual call services with existing tools like sales support and CRM. What’s more, virtual services do not compromise the quality of the end-user experience.
This approach offers an excellent channel for customer engagement as your team won’t be geographically confined to one timezone. They could be working from anywhere in the world, ensuring an operator is available 24/7. That means customers always have someone to speak with.
What's more, virtual call centre services can significantly reduce your costs. After all, one major expense associated with call centres is rent and maintenance. Reducing call centre overheads can be particularly beneficial for seasonal business operations.
What call centre services will you consider?
Despite the name, call centre services benefit your business in ways other than communication. If your business has not deployed one, you are missing out on its many benefits. The time to cut the long wait is now, and the way to do so is to utilize one or more of the services above. The advantages of doing so are worthwhile since you can get a high return on investment.