5 Questions to Ask to Hire a Quality Call Center Service

Considering hiring a quality call center service for your business?

Wondering what you should be looking for?

Quality call center services can be a lifesaver for a business and can go a long way in improving the customer experience. However, choosing the wrong answering service or call center can cause a lot of unnecessary problems.

Below we’ll look at the 5 top questions you need to ask before hiring a call center or answering service.

1. What is Your Availability?

The first thing you need to find out about a call center is what type of availability they offer. You need to know how flexible they’re going to be and when exactly they’ll be handling calls for your business.

Are you looking for a call center that handles calls 24/7? Or is it fine if the call center only makes and receives calls during regular business hours?

Some call centers may not offer 24/7 services, so it’s important to find out what you can expect beforehand. You may also need to take holidays into account as well, depending on the nature of your business.

2. What Level of Reporting Can Be Expected?

A quality call center will offer very detailed reporting and data to your business. They will be very transparent in everything they do.

Some call centers will only offer very basic information pertaining to the volume of calls and activities during a time period. However, great call centers will offer thorough data analytics as well as access to recorded audio that you’ll be able to review.

It’s important that you ask any call center you are considering working with what level of reporting you can expect from them. Be sure to find out what reporting you will receive before you hire a call center.

3. What Volume Can You Handle?

Depending on your company and its size you’ll have different needs when it comes to serving your customers. Many call centers will have a minimum volume required of businesses before they’ll be available to work with your company.

You need to be sure you know how many calls you’ll be expecting to receive each month. Take the time to make your best estimate.

If you’re a smaller business that is looking into call center services, make sure you find a company that will work with you and a lower amount of calls.

4. What Inbound and Outbound Services Do You Offer?

It’s important to make the distinction between outbound and inbound services before choosing a call center.

Inbound services, or answering services, may include support for customer service inquiries, technical questions, or the processing of payments.

Outbound services usually include cold calling and making sales, generating leads, and collecting data using customer surveys.

If you operate a small business that is simply looking for a customer support answering service you’ll likely have different needs than a larger company that is hiring phone services to generate a high volume of leads.

5. Do Your Agents Have Experience With My Industry?

When choosing the best call center for your business, it’s important that you find a company that knows the ins and outs of your industry. A call center should be able to comfortably handle any of your industry-specific needs and requirements.

A medical office phone call will be very different than what can be expected from a call that is made on behalf of an airline, for example.

Some call centers won’t have any specializations while some call centers will have years of experience in multiple industries. Before hiring a call center, take the time to find out exactly what type of expertise they bring to the table.

The Importance of Choosing a Quality Call Center

Hiring a call center to handle calls, ingoing and outgoing, can provide some great benefits for your business. However, you shouldn’t take the decision lightly.

It’s important that you only hire a call center that you can trust and truly offers the quality you need. After all, a call center will be the face of your business.

Looking for a quality call center and answering services? Request a quote today to learn more about what Unicomcan do for you.