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5 Reasons Why Shared Inbound Call Center Services Are Excellent for SMEs
Are you looking to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of your customer service operations? Shared inbound call center services offer a cost-effective and scalable solution to meet your customer support needs. By partnering with a shared call center, businesses can access a dedicated team of professionals who specialize in delivering exceptional customer service, allowing you to focus on core business activities.
The shared service model is a business strategy in all industries. Ninety percent of outsourcing companies prefer this model rather than dedicated service. However, out of all the companies that are outsourcing, only 24% are small and medium enterprises. The rest are big corporations and the Fortune 500.
The low number of SMEs outsourcing is due to the assumption that outsourcing is a luxury. They thought that call center service was a “nice to have” feature in the company. This is no longer true, mainly because most consumers constantly rely on their phones.
With this in mind, let us take a look at how the shared inbound call center services will benefit the SMEs:
Low-Cost Service
Let’s start with the basics. Outsourcing, in general, helps you reduce your workforce expenses. Most offshore call center agents have a 70% lower salary than US agents. But don’t let it fool you —the service quality is as excellent as having a local customer service rep. We’ll talk more about this later.
On average, outsourcing companies can recover their initial investment faster if they do shared call center services. 80% of outsourcing corporations see a return on investment in just three years. You can get $7 million to $15 million in annual savings by having a fully functional shared inbound call center service.
These figures are essential, especially for SMEs planning to improve their product. They can allot the saved cost to research studies and marketing strategies to boost their service.
Guaranteed Experienced Agents
Speaking of quality BPO agents, people in shared call center services have experience working in several industries. It will benefit your small business since they can apply what they’ve learned from other companies for which they’ve worked. They might have experience handling inbound call centers from your industries. Therefore, they already know how to deal with customers’ concerns. Take advantage if you’re a start-up with minimal experience taking customer care. 22% of SMEs started outsourcing their service during their 2nd to 5th year in their respective industry.
| YEARS OF SME’s OPERATION WSME’sHEY OUTSOURCE | DISTRIBUTION OF SMEs OUTSOURCING BASED ON THEIR TENURESHIP |
| One month – 6 months | 5% |
| Seven months – 1 year | 4% |
| One year – 2 years | 6% |
| Two years – 5 years | 22% |
| 5+ years | 63% |
In addition, BPO firms can also provide a quality assurance team to monitor the agents’ productivity. It is also one way to ensure that there will be no subpar performance regarding your incoming call service.
Reduces Call Queue Volumes
A typical SME operation usually has 70-250 employees. These people have different roles to fill in the company. They hardly have enough time to answer customers’ inquiries. Businesses only expect a few calls from their customers daily. But, there’s still an ethereality that no one might answer as everyone has tasks.
SMEs usually have 62% unanswered calls from their customers. This is alarming, considering that small businesses must entertain the majority of their clients. Of these answered inquiries, 70% tend to look for another company if the first business can’t accommodate the call. This will be a lost opportunity to acquire new prospects.
When you outsource shared inbound call center service, you will reduce the number of unanswered calls in your business. Typically, one agent can answer 40-50 inbound calls daily with an average handling time (AHT) of 3 minutes. Getting a couple of shared call center agents is enough to cover your small business.
You can follow this formula to determine how many agents you need for your shared call center service.
Shared Service Agent Indicator
SSA = Shared Service Agent
V = Average Daily Call Volume
ACD = Agent’s Average CAgent’s Day
SC = Number of Companies Being Handled By a Shared Service Agent
SSA = (V / ACD) x SC
For example, an average SME receives 40 calls per day. Then, one call center agent also receives 50 calls per day. If the shared service company handles seven companies, including yours, then:
SSA = (40/50) x 7 = 5.6 or 6 Shared Service Agent
Now, some of you might ask, “Why not just hire” one dedicated call center agent to work on those 40 calls since they can take 50 per day?”. Well, the average hourly salary of an offshore reliable call center agent is around $6-$8.
Meanwhile, a “shared” customer” support” agent costs around $.20 per hour. So, if you need seven agents, a shared service call center will only cost you $1.4 per hour. This is still way more affordable than hiring one call center agent to focus on your business.
Besides that, BPO companies offering dedicated call center service need more than just one agent for you. They usually have a minimum number of people before providing their service.
24/7 Coverage
Most SMEs only operate from 8 am to 6 pm, the regular working hours. However, your customers might still inquire about your product past business times. Industries like eCommerce also constantly need holiday agents when people purchase most of their products.
It may not be practical for small businesses to hire seasonal employees to cover their inbound service during peak seasons. Your 40-50 calls could spike up to 200+ inbound inquiries. You also don’t want to pay fees for your agents if incoming messages suddenly rise.
Having a call center team makes you formidable from unexpected increases in call volume. A shared inbound call center service can also give you an around-the-clock customer support team. Third-party service providers have several agents ready to work on a shifting schedule to run your inbound service.
Faster Onboarding Process
Creating your dedicated inbound call center service will take much time to produce a result. You must train them for 1 to 2 months to ensure their productivity when operating your inbound call center. This is not advisable for SMEs, especially as they need quick results to improve their product further.
Offshoring a shared service expedites the process and set-up time for your inbound call center. BPO firms have software readily available for industries wanting to outsource their business. You no longer need to worry about your business model since they can assist you.
The training process is also faster since shared call center agents already have a background in inbound call services. All they need to train for is your business strategy and brand awareness. 87% of agents are more engaged with your company if you have a faster onboarding process. More involved agents mean a higher productivity rate.
Are Inbound Call Services Still Relevant for Businesses?
The rise of other communication channels challenges the value of phone conversation as an effective tool in business. Platforms such as social media and emails have grown remarkably over the past few years. However, it is not enough to dethrone phone calls as the best means of communication.
| Communication Tools | Customers Preference |
| Call | 60% |
| 16% | |
| Face-to-face Interaction | 15% |
| Contact Us Form | 4% |
| Social Media | 3% |
| Other | 2% |
60% of consumers prefer to call the business to raise their concerns. Meanwhile, only 3% of customers use social media to send inquiries. This shows how talking to a live person is still an essential indicator of business effectiveness.
The age range of customers who want to use phone calls when talking to a business is also critical. It will dictate your future strategy for customer interaction and marketing campaigns.
66% of millennials prefer to talk with the business over the phone. It proves that even the younger generation still likes communicating with a live agent. Overall, an inbound call center is still the best tool for communication in the foreseeable future.
So, you need to improve your service to increase your company’s credibility. You don’t want to have a high rate of abandoned calls just because you can’t provide customers with a better inbound call center.
How to Avoid Abandoned Call Center Services in Inbound Calls?
Speaking of abandoned calls, here are some ways to reduce the risk of customers leaving your business:
- Always provide a voice prompt announcing the estimated answering time for your customers’ phone calls. Customers will help set the callers’ expectations to stay on the line.
- Give your customers the option to hang up during peak hours and receive a phone call once they can call back. It’s like the customer’s still waiting in line without the need to stay on the phone for a long time.
- Keep a record of all abandoned calls. You can call them back after the peak hours. Some customers might still want to transact with you after they hang up. They will appreciate your effort in calling them back even if you have a lot of calls coming in.
- Keep your customers busy while waiting. Simple instructions like preparing the order number or answering some questions in the call prompt first will help them forget that they are waiting.
- You can also play music to entertain your waiting consumers. They will barely notice the long hold time since music keeps them company instead of dead air.
- Offer self-service IVR for your customers. It is a great feature for some industries like logistics and eCommerce. All they have to do is provide a reference number, and an AI can give them all the details of their order/purchase service.
- Determine your peak traffic hours to strategize which time you need more agents. Some BPOs offering a shared service call center can inform their agents to prioritize their calls during a specific time. That way, you won’t lose a lot of won’t calls.
Shared Inbound Call Center Outsourcing Companies in the Philippines
If you are looking for a shared incoming call service company, try Magellan Solutions. We have over 18 years of experience providing call center service for SMEs.
Our inbound call center services include:
- 24 7 Answering Service
- Virtual Receptionist
- Phone Answering Service
- Customer Support Outsourcing
- Outsourced Technical Support
- Multilingual Call Center Services
Our Business Developers can help you set up your key performance indicators (KPIs), which will guide you and monitor your business’s progress with us.
We also offer guaranteed flexible pricing options based on several factors, like service and the number of agents you need. Magellan Solutions understands that start-up businesses have limited funds for outsourcing services.
Our security is also world-class because of different standard certifications. Magellan Solutions also has an ISO/IEC 27001:2013 Certification. This ensures your company’s sensitive information is safe in our system. Our expert team provides security measures against phishing and data breaches.
Contact us today and get a free 60-minute business consultation. Please fill out the contact form below.
