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For many industries, like hospitality and telecom, call centers are a given. There’s no way to meet customer demand without adequate agent staffing (and ample training for those agents). But the unfortunate reality is that many of these businesses also see their call centers as a drain on their revenue.
At Conectys, we regularly partner with companies of all sizes around the world who want to outsource their customer service and experience a positive revenue-to-call-center correlation. Here are the three ways we make sure that our call centers keep customers’ revenue steadily growing, rather than depleting it.
How to increase revenue in a call center?
1. Keep attrition low by focusing on Retention
Without a doubt, agent turnover is usually the number one cost of maintaining a call center. Different reports have found call center attrition rates to be pretty high. It’s also been said that an average call center spends around $4K hiring a new employee, and then close to $5K training that person. If the turnover rate is almost half of your workforce, imagine how quickly those costs skyrocket. It’s not pretty.
At Conectys, our approach to managing attrition is to focus on employee retention and satisfaction. When employees feel pride in what they do, have opportunities to be developed and advance in the company, have engaging management and are connected from a community standpoint, they are less likely to leave. This matters to you because you won’t be paying for all the direct costs of poor attrition when you outsource to us. It also means you won’t have to suffer the indirect costs of poor attrition, either.
For example, when agents are practically going in and out through a revolving door, your customer satisfaction is almost always decreased, service levels are damaged, AHT is increased, and so on. Spare yourself this kind of attrition, and you’ll keep significantly more money within your walls.
2. Optimize first call resolution
Another area that contributes to revenue losses at typical call centers is a low percentage of first call resolution (FCR). This one is pretty simple. After all, if you can resolve a customer’s issue in their first call, they won’t need to call back and use another agent’s time. You can improve your FCR rate by properly training agents to be thorough with every customer, and having enough autonomy to tie up all loose ends the first time around.
At Conectys, our FCR rate has stood strong at 89%, again far exceeding the industry average. This means that when you outsource your customer service needs to us, you’ll be getting extensively trained agents who know how to satisfy your customers the first time they call in – and you’ll be saving money by not using duplicate resources on the same customer for the same issue.
3. Automate certain steps
We’re firm believers that some aspects of customer service must be handled human-to-human. But there are some ways in which automation can actually bolster your customer experience, and if you’re not tapping into it, you could be losing money.
For example, if a banking customer needs to check their balance, they should be able to do so through an automated system. Or if a customer needs to make a simple payment, that should be something they can do online or over the phone without ever talking to an agent.
We’ve found that many businesses are not sure which parts of their processes to automate, and that’s part of the value our partnership brings. We can help you make smart decisions about automation that will improve the quality of your customer experience without unnecessarily taxing your agents or reducing your revenue.
Revenue in a call center – if it is possible? The Takeaway
If you have your own call center or have outsourced your customer service needs to a third-party call center in the past, and had a negative experience, you’re not alone. But call centers don’t always drain your revenue, and can actually help you boost it. You just need the right partner that has structured its call centers to operate efficiently and savvily.
