There are a number of ways in which a call center can be categorized. But to be concise, there are primarily two categories in which it can be defined: outbound and inbound. Despite the fact that call centers of these categories have a lot of things in common when we think of technology and structure, their impact and their set of offering vary as day and night. While it is a well-established fact that inbound focuses primarily on order processing and customer service, the outbound call center solution is all about sales. But many of the leading business conglomerates already has a professional sales team in place who already have a handful of leads that they are going after. So, the question arises, how would even the best call center with specialization in making outbound calls be of any help? Here are some of the reasons:
- The make-up
The best call center with top-notch outbound calling program assign a team of call center executives with the task of cold calling the contacts of pre-specified companies in order to generate a certain level of curiosity about a given product/service. Their primary objective is to transfer warm and relatively hot leads to the sales staff, who have the responsibility of closing down the sale. Some small business entities call for executives to close the sale within the boundaries of cold-calling process. But, in a majority of cases, executive responsible for outbound calling is the one that controls the initial phase of sales cycle, like scheduling appointments for on-field sales personnel or convincing the prospective customer to receive product information via email. It is important to note that most of the outbound calling programs tend to direct their attention towards informing the potential buyers about a new market offering. The executives have a knack of proposing the most feasible solution to a long-standing problem.
- Advantages
One of the major advantage of an outbound call center is that their activities are solely directed towards cold-calling. This activity is generally avoided by a vast majority of modern salesforce as they do not see any value addition to their existing set of skills. The best utilization of a sales personnel’s time is to feed him/her with qualified leads that have expressed profound interest in our offerings. The best call center executive tries to make sure that they interact with a prospect in such a manner that convinces him/her to ask for a detailed picture about the product, thereby setting an appointment with on-field sales executive.
- Success factors
During the call center setup process, it is vital to clearly define the task of a call center executive as it is critical success factor for the BPO firm. Call center executives need to have a well-defined road ahead of them that defines their objective, that is, to schedule sales appointment as it brings in a sense of direction and focus to their efforts, along with high levels of confidence in achieving their goals in the long-run. A professional outbound call center executive needs to have a unique skillset that pertains to their function of expertise. Apart from this, they need to enjoy each and every dynamic of a sales process. The need to be extremely comfortable in interacting with strangers in a friendly manner. They are required to impart their interest and showcase enthusiasm while discussing about their product/service.
- Setting up
In the training process of an outbound call center, the focus is often on development of an “elevator pitch”, which gives a brief insight of the product/service. The process often starts with a cold call, followed by a brief Q&A session that acts a stimulus for a call center executive to engage in an initial conversation. The best call center solution companies engage their call center executives in mock cold calls during a training session, in order to demonstrate effectiveness on floor. The training also includes goal-setting: providing executives with objective pointers, that include a target about a specific number of sales appointments on daily or weekly basis.
We can safely conclude from the above discussion that sales is particularly tough to do we don’t have quality leads to service our requirement. The best call center solution provider with proficiency in outbound calling will be of immense help if we are looking for leads that have the potential to deliver expected results. Their executives make sure that a certain sense of intrigue is maintained while interacting with a prospective customer about our product/service. Every business entity understands that their sales team is expensive and they need to perform as per their expectations. A business cannot thrive if it does not have a sales team with a proven track record of delivering extraordinary results.