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Call Centre

SUNDER RAMACHANDRAN

Outbound calls dead?

Do you think that outbound call centres don't have good prospects with the `Do not call' registry coming into picture in most countries? I work in an outbound centre and have already seen work shrinking.

Kavitha M

The `Do not call' legislation does not kill the outbound call centre industry, as many people believe, but instead establishes guidelines to reach out to customers.

Companies are permitted to call customers with whom they have an established relationship and have already conducted business.

Most companies had not previously invested in proactive customer care, despite the fact that existing customers are often the most receptive.

Outbound calling is not dead. Rather, it is going through a shift change from a disruptive activity to a relationship-oriented function.

Get into action!

I have been facing challenges in getting my teams to take the quality feedback seriously. They think that it's just a policy and do not really implement anything. What ideas do you have for this problem?

Dinkar Bhatt

Take calls yourself - visibly, in front of your team. And critique your own performance. You will instantly show your reps that mistakes are okay as long as you learn from them, and that you understand the kind of things they cope with every day.

This will also make them take the feedback seriously as you will be the role model for positive behaviour.

Rewarding agents

What do you think are the most powerful rewards for agent motivation?

Amol

There are no easy answers to that question. Ask agents specifically what kinds of rewards motivate them.

And what they don't care about. You may be spending money on an incentive programme that means nothing to people.

Pizza parties Vs gift vouchers; monetary incentives Vs shift trading. Different people want different rewards and the only way to find out what will work is to ask.

Create an advancement system, whereby reps know that if they succeed and add value to the company, they will be rewarded with more responsibility and better pay

Ask them what they don't consider a reward and you will get most of your answers.

List of BPOs

I am interested in working for a BPO. I have recently completed my Intermediate can you provide me a list of call centres/BPOs in Hyderabad?

Ashish Rai

You can visit the following sites to get a comprehensive list of call centres in all cities:

http://www.bpoindia.org

/companies/captive.shtml

http://www.nasscom.in

Programme going back

One of our clients has decided to end the contract and wrap up the process. How do we communicate the same to the agents?

Rohini Hatange

There should be an optimal level of communication beyond which further communication becomes counterproductive. Too many meetings, memos, conferences, electronic mail messages and on-the-fly discussions may be symptoms of weaknesses in the process, or worse, a lack of trust in the environment.

Get the agents together and communicate honestly the realities of the business. This will also help kill the rumour mill.

(If you have any questions, write in to - sunder.ramachandran@gmail.com)

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