The Contact Center Blog

Considering the Rising Canadian Dollar

Traditionally, the Canadian/US exchange rate has favored the American client. Recently this has changed due to the rising value of the Canadian dollar. Many people have asked me why U.S. clients are continuing to choose Canadian and other near-shore options for outsourcing? The answer is that Canada can still offer a few key advantages:

• Lower turnover. Comparing records on Statistics Canada and the U.S. Department of Labor sites, we can see that in spite of the healthy Canadian economy the U.S. still maintain an average lower unemployment rate then Canada, which leads to lower turnover of employees. This creates more stability of staff translating to better consistency in service quality.
• Better Education. When choosing an outsourcer, you are choosing their agents to speak with your contacts and represent your organizations. Canada statistically has a more highly educated workforce. According to a study done a few year ago by The Urban Institute, about 8% more of the Canadian workforce have obtained at least a high-school diploma.
• Pricing. Yes, that’s right, we’re still generally less expensive up here. How? According to jobfutures.ca it’s a generally higher standard of living at a lower wage. In the U.S. the national mean hourly wage for contact centers is $11.63, where as the average in Canada is only $10.60.

Outsourcing to near-shore centers has always worked well due to geographical proximities and cultural similarities. Canada has been the near-shore leader for over a decade now and there's more than one reason for that. If you’re considering outsourcing, I recommend calling on a few Canadian companies and let them give you their best shot.

I think you’ll be impressed.

-Jeff Fettes

Benefits of Call Center Outsourcing

I came across this blog entry, "Aside from Cost Savings" and it discuss the other benefits to outsourcing, outside cost. As the article mentions, the top reason to make the decision to move to a 3rd party usually starts with cost savings, but there are many other benefits to be aware of. I'd like to explore the additional benefits specifically in the call center space.

Flexibility - by outsourcing you can have the flexibility to scale your campaigns up without having to manage the additional resources required to meet service levels. Vise versa, you can scale down your campaigns and not have to deal with reducing resources and firing staff. This also allows you to efficiently and cost effectively deal with the seasonality of your business.

Focus on core competency - This is one of  most touted advantages to outsourcing. But In the call center industry specifically, this is even more important. Being in the call center business is tough. The business is very dynamic and needs a true focus to be operating productively. By outsourcing the customer service and sales side of your business, you can focus growth and development. With a direct focus on both sides of your business, you have all areas covered to meet revenue targets.

Quick ramp up, low risk - If you are starting a project from the ground up, you can reduce set up time and quickly ramp up by using a 3rd party. They will already have the facilities, human resources, technology, and processes in place to get you started faster than you can on your own. This is also a benefit if you are not sure of volumes and marketing success rates in which case you can use an outsourcer to test the waters and prove the concept before moving forward.

There are many more benefits I can add in...I'll write a part 2 soon. Anyone else have any specific to the call center industry to add?

- MK

ERA Conference 2007

I recently attended the Electronic Retailers Association Conference 2007 in Las Vegas.  I was there looking for new partners and possible clients for my contact center outsourcing business.  Although, in the end, I didnt get the value out of the trip I was hoping for, I certainly gained a couple of interesting perspectives:

1)  The ERA, in general, is truly focused on DRTV clients with "spikey" volumes that come in short spurts.  Although at 24-7 INtouch we service a fair amount of medium sized DRTV clients nicely, I realized the scope and complexity of some of the larger, more established DRTV brands.  As an outsourcer, you really need to decide what you want to be because a traditional customer care or order taking call center is not equipped to provide superior service to these clients.  In the end, I struck a deal to become part of a consortium of call centers that will combine to have about 7000 seats of capacity and focus on high volume (10,000 calls or more a week) DRTV clients.  The company running this DRTV call center consortium provides all of the technology that distributes the calls to the different call centers based not only on agent availability but agent performance.  This company provides all of the reporting and truly gives us a chance to compete for the larger DRTV clients.  In the end, I just wasn't comfortable taking on these clients on my own.  I truly would prefer to share the volumes (we don't typically like to do this) but provide an exceptional level of service.  Although we will continue to handle our small and medium DRTV campaigns in house, this truly gives us a chance to provide exceptional service to the very niche DRTV call center client with large volumes and complex needs.  Anyways, the point of this was definitely NOT to plug my company, but to point out how very distinct the needs of these clients can be.

2)  Las Vegas is a bad place for a conference.  Tough to keep focused and way too easy to get sidetracked.  I prefer more neutral locations, like Chicago, for conferences.  Thats all I'll say on that, I'm sure you get my drift!

Greg Fettes

Great Customer Service - Good to Great

As a guy who lives in the call center industry, I am always grading the quality of any interaction I have with call center agents.  I just can't help myself.  I am overly critical of the "average calls" but then realize thats what seperates good from great.  In my professional life and in my personal contacts with call centers, there is nothing that drives me crazier than "average" calls.  Unfortunately, I think in most cases the public accepts "average" from call centers because over the years this is what they have come to expect.  That's why when I experience a call that goes way above and beyond my expectations, it totally blows my mind.

Recently I had a call with the Air Canada Super Elite Desk (yes, I fly WAY too much!) that was truly above and beyond.  I was having trouble with the Air Canada website trying to book a flight so I called in for help.  Typically there is a 15$ charge for using the call center (highway robbery I say!) instead of the website.  I explained my situation (I wanted to use the website but it was not working) and she explained that in order to waive the fee she would need to send me to their tech support line to troubleshoot first.  Then I explained, somewhat annoyed, I had already spent a half hour trying to book this flight and wasnt willing to invest any more time in booking with Air Canada.  This is where the call could have gone 1 of two ways:

1)  Agent:  "I'm sorry, sir, but the Air Canada policy states that you must go through tech support to waive the fee.  There is nothing I can do about this"

    Greg:  "Can I talk to a Supervisor Please! (in an annoyed tone)"

2)  Agent:  "I'm sorry, sir, but the Air Canada policy states that you must go through tech support to waive the fee.  I completely understand and wish there was something I could do to make it up.  If you dont mind holding a second, I will check with my Supervisor. (on hold 15 seconds)  Sir, my supervisor has allowed me to go ahead and waive the fee.....

I know it seems like something small, and the result either way would have been the same (supervisor would have approved the waived fee), but option 2 leaves a very good feeling while option 1 leaves something less than desired.  Thank goodness, this Air Canada agent took option 2.  And not only that, but her ability to empathize with my situation and make me feel important was incredible.  She kept total control of the call and made sure that by the end I felt good about the way it was resolved.  The only complaint I had on the call is that the agent herself was not empowered to make the decision to waive the fee.

Anyways, it was such a positive experience I felt inclined to write about it.  Call center agents like this give everyone in the industry a good name!

Chat and Email Poll - Taylor Research Group

I came across this poll from Taylor Research Group: "How much has the percentage of emails and web (text) chats has has increased in the past year?". The results are interesting as ~ 87% of respondents all saw an increase, ~13% saw no increase, and not one respondent experienced a decrease. As shown in the industry, chat and email use is on the rise. For 24-7 INtouch we expect to see an increase in both chats and emails as our clients ramp up for the holiday season - as much as 20%.

Image source: http://www.thetaylorreachgroup.com/data/newsletters/200710_Newsletter.pdf

Actions Speak Louder Than Messages

If you’re going to outsource…OUTSOURCE! Hiring a full-service professional call center to just take messages is sometimes a good temporary solution if you need a rapid set-up to cover a large number of calls and really don’t have a long term need to invest the money into getting your outsourcer trained on how to service your customers. However, if you plan to outsource calls long term, you have to be prepared to put in some effort.

Remember that even though you want to create the illusion of seamlessness to your contacts, there is a separation there. Outsourced agents will never be quite as familiar with your organization as your actual employees are. To create that illusion, information will have to be more carefully scripted and presented so that it’s easy for the agents to read and present to your contacts. To do this effectively, you may want to develop specific custom web-based tools to help the call center access information in a way that’s familiar to them.

Might this be expensive? Difficult to do? Yes, but it’s worth it. The old expression, “you get out what you put in” comes to mind. If you truly want your outsourcer to be a seamless extension of your organization, you have to empower them to be able to actually help your contacts. “First call resolution” is an expression in the contact center industry you may have heard. It means that when the caller phones in, their concerns are addressed and dealt with on that first single call, without further follow-up being necessary. According to a study done by the CFI Group, this is the most important issue in contact satisfaction. The major benefits to first call resolution include:

• Your callers will leave the call more satisfied if the reason for their call has been resolved (i.e. order placed, payment made, etc.)
• Your overall cost is diminished as you are paying for the time your outsourcer spends on the phone. 1 call is cheaper than 2 is cheaper than 3.
• Seamlessness between you and your provider. Nothing screams “outsourcer” like a call center agent who asks to take a message for what should be a very simple task (checking their account balance, placing an order, etc.)

All that being said, you have to be realistic at the same time. If you’re a small company and your main reason for outsourcing is that you don’t receive many calls but you still want the phones covered when customers call, then outsourcers may not be able to achieve a first call resolution for you on that scale. The important thing is to understand the importance of a first call resolution and to keep an eye on your process as you progress, looking for new ways to empower your call center to work better for you and your contacts.

-Jeff Fettes