HOW TO CHOOSE AN OUTBOUND B2B CALL CENTRE

Transcription

1 TM HOW TO CHOOSE AN OUTBOUND B2B CALL CENTRE 7 CRITICAL QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE YOU SETTLE ON A VENDOR All Rights Reserved. OnPath Business Solutions Inc DISCLAIMER: This document is for reference purposes only. All images and contents shall not be reproduced, shared or copied in any form without prior written permission from the author.

2 Table of Contents Executive Summary...3 Talent Pool Question Selection & Training Question Agent to Management Ratio Question Program Set Up & Launch Question Call Monitoring & Appointment Verification Question Program Metrics & Reporting Question Technology & Security Question About Us All Rights Reserved. OnPath Business Solutions Inc Page 2 of 11

3 Executive Summary This report was prepared for companies who are looking to outsource their B2B call centre activities. The intent of this report is to help you avoid some of the pitfalls of hiring a call centre vendor. This report highlights seven critical questions to ask before you settle on a vendor. 1. Talent Pool: Why the geographic location (city) of a vendor s facility is so important. 2. Selection & Training: Are inexperienced agents making your calls? 3. Agent to Management Ratio: Why you need to have a ratio of less than 10:1. 4. Program Set Up & Launch: B2B campaigns are not easy measurement and control is vital. 5. Call Monitoring & Appointment Verification: Quality control and quality assurance is a must. 6. Program Metrics & Reporting: Why your reports need to produce actionable business data. 7. Technology: How bi directional CRM systems integration can help boost your business. A conversation is the foundation through which people build trust, exchange ideas and ultimately look for ways to do business together. It makes sense that better and more frequent business conversations lead to action and profitable relationships. This report is dedicated to helping you find a vendor that can execute high quality outbound business conversations. Whether your industry is technology, energy, media, finance or government, this report will help you choose the right vendor for your B2B campaigns All Rights Reserved. OnPath Business Solutions Inc Page 3 of 11

4 Talent Pool Question 1 Vendor Question: What kind of talent pool can you draw from based on your geographic location? Great People Make the Difference! Without great people it will be very difficult for a call centre to launch a successful campaign. More often than not, the geographic location (city) of a call centre will dictate the quality of the talent pool. A call centre that is located in a city which has multiple universities, large technology and government employers and a multilingual culture will have a much better talent pool from which to draw from. Having a great people in your outsourced call centre team means better results for both you and your company. When the Rubber Hits the Road You need a team who can engage in intelligent business conversations with your customers and prospects. Excellent communication skills, superior sales acumen and sufficient product knowledge are essential to launching a successful conversation campaign. If your campaign requires an intelligent business conversation, then you need to make sure that the call centre you ultimately hire has the right talent pool from which they can draw from. Many call centres will not disclose the location from which their agents conduct your calls. More often than not, call centre agents do not work from within the facility. In fact, many call centres outsource their services overseas or even to prison inmates. That s right prison inmates! Imagine if your customers found out that the call centre you hired was using prison inmates to initiate the phone calls. How would your customers react? We recommend that you visit the vendor you are considering to hire. This will help ensure that you see the working conditions and demographics of the agents making your calls All Rights Reserved. OnPath Business Solutions Inc Page 4 of 11

5 Selection & Training Question 2 Vendor Question: What are your hiring and training practices? The Most Important Aspect to Call Centre Operations Agent selection and training is one of the most critical aspects behind call centre operations. If a call centre does not select the right people and train them properly the chances of having a successful campaign is minimal. Selection & Training A call centre should have written applicant assessments in order to test a range of skills. Some of the skills required for a call centre environment include strong verbal communications, computer program knowledge, typing speed, sales and customer service experience. Call centre applicants should also engage in phone based interview testing. Phone interviews allow the interviewer to test voice quality, poise under pressure, language skills and overall communication presentation. Once an applicant is selected, new agents should receive a minimum of one to two weeks of training. In addition, new agents should receive on going feedback and call monitoring from program leaders on a day to day basis. Many call centres place agents on the phone right away the same day they are hired. If you don t want an inexperienced agent calling on your campaign, then you need to make sure you know how long the new agent training program is. New agent training programs should be a minimum of one to two weeks All Rights Reserved. OnPath Business Solutions Inc Page 5 of 11

6 Agent to Management Ratio Question 3 Vendor Question: What is your agent to management ratio? Agent to Management Ratio Many call centres have an agent to management ratio of 12:1. For some, this ratio can be as high as 16:1. What this means is that the average call centre has too many agents per manager to properly monitor and control your campaign. If you are seriously considering outsourcing your B2B call centre activities, then you need a vendor who has an agent to management ratio of less than 8:1. The Right Management Ratio The ideal call centre should have an agent to management ratio of less than 8:1. Studies show that this ratio provides the optimal level of monitoring and quality control for outbound B2B campaigns. Not only should a call centre have a low agent to management ratio, they should also have a sufficient middle and upper management structure to support the various complexities of running a call centre operation. Many call centres pride themselves in maintaining an average agent to management ratio of 12:1. From a cost perspective, the higher the agent to management ratio the more profit for the call centre. You want to work with a call centre that cares more about the success of your program and less about their profits. As mentioned above, the optimal agent to management ratio should be 8:1 or less. This ratio will ensure that there is proper monitoring and control over your program All Rights Reserved. OnPath Business Solutions Inc Page 6 of 11

7 Program Set Up & Launch Question 4 Vendor Question: How do you set up and launch a typical B2B outbound sales program? The Foundation for Success Good processes provide the foundation to all successful outbound B2B campaigns. A call centre must have various measurement and control mechanisms in place to ensure that your will have the best possible program performance and results. Analysis & Planning While all campaigns have their own distinct requirements, there is a standard set of actions that must be taken to minimize costs and maximize results. To achieve the best possible results, there needs to be a series of checklists to ensure all facets of your campaign are handled smoothly. A campaign analysis and planning review can help with this process. Before the launch of your campaign you should be able to review your campaign specifics such as your key business requirements, value proposition definition, timing, action plans, possible volume constraints, prospect lists, data planning, CRM systems integration, reporting requirements, and delivery timetables. Launching a successful outbound B2B campaign is not easy. That is why you need to makes sure that the call centre you ultimately hire has sufficient experience in this area. The last thing you want to do is waste hard earned marketing dollars on a company that cannot stay within budget or deliver on your expected results. Many call centres only offer one of two types of services outbound B2C or inbound B2B. If you re planning to launch a large outbound B2B campaign, you need to make sure that the call centre you ultimately hire has a proven track record of success. As part of your research, ask for two or three client references. In addition, ask the vendor about their sales methodology. Does the vendor follow a proven sales methodology like SPIN Selling? SPIN Selling is a successful training system on how to sell complex and/or high value products and services All Rights Reserved. OnPath Business Solutions Inc Page 7 of 11

8 Call Monitoring & Appointment Verification Question 5 Vendor Question: How do you monitor calls and verify appointment information? Call Monitoring Call monitoring is an essential part of ongoing coaching and training. A call centre should monitor agent calls and continuously train agents on how to improve their business conversation skills. The best way to monitor calls is to have a team of employees who are dedicated to only one thing monitoring calls. Appointment Verification A call centre should have a team in place to verify all appointment information before it goes out. If appointment information is missing or the prospect does not meet your specific criteria, then a call centre should have the systems and people in place to further investigate. A call centre that does not have appointment verification processes in place will have difficult time maintaining a high volume and highquality of appointments. Most customers that outsource their B2B call centre services end up with mixed results. One of the biggest reasons for this is due to a lack of call monitoring and appointment verification. As part of your research, make sure to ask the vendor about their call monitoring and appointment verification processes All Rights Reserved. OnPath Business Solutions Inc Page 8 of 11

9 Program Metrics & Reporting Question 6 Vendor Question: What kind of information is contained in your call reports? Standard Reports In addition to call monitoring and appointment verification, a call centre should measure and report on every aspect of your campaign. Some of the report details should include: Call Lengths: Determines who is not engaging (short calls) as well as who is building rapport but not closing (extremely long calls with low results). Standard Call Volumes: Allows you to zero in on deficient activity levels. Long Wrap Up Times: Ability to see which agent is not typing in all the data during the call and therefore may not be following the Program Guide or needs to improve their typing skills. Poor Call Results: This report allows you to find out if the problem is with the agent or script. Real Time Reports A call centre should provide customers with access to a 24/7 website portal to see real time reporting statistics. Customers who like to keep their finger on the pulse of a campaign will like real time reporting. Real time reporting is also beneficial to customers who are in price sensitive industries. Many call centres will not report on Return On Marketing Investment (ROMI). If you cannot report on ROMI, how will you ever know that you achieved a positive return on your outsourcing investment? Before you settle on a call centre, make sure you ask them about how they plan to calculate the ROMI for your campaign All Rights Reserved. OnPath Business Solutions Inc Page 9 of 11

10 Data Security & Technology Question 7 Vendor Question: What data security and technology systems do you have in place? Data Security A call centre should utilize a range of software and hardware tools to manage client programs and data. Data should be stored in a database like MS SQL and backed up on an hourly basis. Access to data should be strictly controlled with NT based security and physical access control. CRM Systems Integration It s now possible to use sophisticated.net web based approaches to actively link with client CRM systems. Electronic Call Guides A call centre should use different electronic systems depending on the nature of the specific program. In most cases, an electronic Call Guide or script is developed to support the campaign. Call guides provide a mechanism to ensure that important messages are available to the agents on the fly so that they can easily capture information during a conversation. Telephony Integration A call centre should have a sophisticated phone system. Telephony integration allows for the recording of phone calls and auto dialing. IT Administration Team A call centre should have a team of technology experts. Ideally, a call centre will have an in house team of DBAs, MCPs, MCSEs, programmers, telecommunications professionals and information systems staff to ensure all systems are functional and well supported. In Canada, all call centres must comply with the Federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). If applicable, some call centres must also comply with the more stringent Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) Code of Ethics which adds seven (7) additional privacy related requirements. Before you outsource, make sure you ask about privacy laws and the protection of your data and information All Rights Reserved. OnPath Business Solutions Inc Page 10 of 11

11 About Us OnPath is a premier service provider of outsourced, business tobusiness outbound sales and marketing programs. For the past 15 years, we ve focused in on this niche and nothing else. We re also one of Canada s largest and most successful CRM vendors supporting such products like Salesforce.com, Sage Saleslogix, Pivotal and Microsoft CRM. Our extensive experience in generating business for complex products and intangible services, particularly in the high technology sector, has received accolades from such clients as Cognos, IBM, HP, EDS, Cognos, Alcatel and Aliant. After 6 consecutive years of double digit growth, we have recently expanded its operations into a new, state of the art facility, strategically co located with the St. Joseph Communications Group, the largest privately owned print, document, publishing and media, and content creation company in Canada. We have invested in an entirely new infrastructure including a new telephony system, networks, servers, workstations, and security systems. Within the next five years, it is expected that we will leverage our current business model and grow into three (3) centers of approximately 200+ seats in geographically strategic cities across Canada and/or the US based on client requirements and labour market rates. OnPath is dedicated to executing high quality outsourced Business Conversation Programs on behalf of larger Technology, Energy, Media, Finance and Government clients. We increase sales volumes through high quality business conversations and communicate with the right people, at the right time, at a lower cost than you can do it yourself. Founded 1993 Headquarters 1165 Kenaston Street Ottawa, ON, K1B 3N9 Canada Programs Simple Conversation Programs Complex Conversation Programs Capabilities Appointment Setting Closing Sales Lead Nurturing Up Selling & Cross Selling Attendee Recruitment Member Recruitment Win Back Programs Market Intelligence Strategic Consulting Program Development CRM Technology Industries Technology Energy Media Finance Government Make a smart call: Start a conversation with us today! Visit us on the web at: All Rights Reserved. OnPath Business Solutions Inc Page 11 of 11