How Outsourcing Makes It Easier and Less Costly to Manage Call Surges
Quick question:
How did your inbound call center handle call spikes last year? I’m not just talking about the predictable, seasonal upticks in volume. I’m also asking about last minute rushes that are always impossible to predict and super challenging to handle.
Whether your customer care call center is in-house, outsourced, or both, one thing is certain: you need the resources in place to handle whatever comes your way.
It’s a lot easier said than done. It takes the right team of customer-centric agents and brand passionate supervisors. It takes cutting edge technology that empowers that team to be accessible to every call.
But it also demands a higher degree of staff planning and flexibility than ever before.
Every spike carries risks. Rapidly scaling up just-in-time to meet your customers’ needs is critical to sustaining your brand. Rapidly scaling back down is important to your budget. In today’s economy, juggling these demands is nearly impossible for many in-house inbound customer care teams.
Why? Four reasons: Time. Money. Focus. Team Morale.
Staffing up – even for predictable surges – creates a hiring cycle that places substantial demands on your in-house team.
It requires you to spend several days or weeks recruiting and hiring additional agents. You’ll then invest more time – at least a few weeks –training them on your systems, processes, and brand. Absorbing a team of new, “temp” hires and bringing them up to speed is tough on the current, “permanent” team and, the smaller that current team, the greater the disruption to team moral.
But let’s assume that all goes perfectly and every agent you hired sails through the entire onboarding process. Congratulations! Your staff has just ballooned to a size necessary to handle the upcoming seasonal spike. But soon, as calls begin to dwindle, post-spike, you scale back down. In a few months, you’ll start the whole process all over again.
Across the country, in-house call centers continue to work this process. And across the country, an increasingly tight labor market has made this process virtually impossible to sustain.
Today, a growing number of businesses is discovering how outsourcing helps remove the disruptive, costly, and unpredictable effects of call spike management.
For experienced outsource call centers, managing seasonal volumes, call spikes and other peak call patterns is an every day responsibility. Positively representing our clients’ brands, and making sure we have the right number of agents on the line at all times is what we have been doing for decades.
We know how to work with every client to plan for the unexpected as well as the expected. Before you consider moving to an outsource call center, ask each potential provider how they handle spikes. Here are some of the ways we do it at Skybridge Americas:
Robust, Expert Forecasting Teams and Teams
Here, we have two highly skilled teams who provide forecasting, scheduling, and service level oversight. While they work collaboratively, each team has specific areas of expertise.
Agents Anywhere
Through our SkyAgents program, we’re able to hire, coach, and retain the most highly qualified customer care agents, regardless of their physical location. By working from their own home and avoiding the hassles of daily commutes, these agents are able to take on last-minute, longer or shorter shifts, allowing their team to handle call volume fluctuations.
Expanded IVR Functionality
Leading call centers are able to use IVR technology to broadcast basic product information, along with best times to call, when call volumes exceed current staffing. As soon as volumes subside, calls flow back to live agents.
Are you ready for the call spikes coming your way? If you’re ready to learn more about outsourcing, reach out to us at Skybridge Americas. We would love to talk about how we can help you boost your brand and deliver an exceptional customer experience.
by Bobby Matthews
Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Skybridge Americas
bmatthews@skybridgeamericas.com
Find out how Skybridge Americas can help you delight your customers and grow your business.
We seamlessly integrate our superior customer care skills with your brand messaging. For more information, contact us at 763-299-4570 or submit our contact form.
