Simple Reminders to Improve Customer Service

Every business owner knows how important it is to maintain a healthy relationship with their clients. This is why you need to establish excellent customer service. So when the time comes, your customer service gets a little stale, here are a few tips to shake things up. Read on to know more about it.

• Clarify customers’ concerns

There are times that your customer is not clear with his or her concerns. They may be not sure about the problem or frustrated about it. As a result, it is affecting the whole conversation. To resolve this, you need a very efficient interaction.

Use open-ended questions so you can clearly deliver information. Keep in mind that closed questions tend to deliver confirmation. This will help you control over the conversation. Once you have identified the problem, you may now proceed to a resolution. When you need vital information, use the open-ended question, but make sure to include the word, “exactly.”
For example:
Can you please tell me “exactly” when did you start experiencing this problem?

• Take away the negative energy

Always keep calm when making or taking a call. Set aside your emotions and keep in mind that you are a trained professional. Focus on your goals. There are many ways you can do to motivate yourself. You can read self-help books or browse online for more tips. Improving your work habits can also be a huge factor. For example, reporting to work a few minutes before your shift allows you to do more things. You can establish your mindset and review your goals.

• Be proactive with your calls

Your philosophy should not always be answering to every query, but making an excellent interaction with your customers. If you have new promos, find the best time to offer them. Every call should be responsive, not reactive.

• Transfer calls accordingly

Never let your customer wait for a long time and make sure to transfer calls to the right department. Efficiency and consistency are the main keys to excellent customer service. So make sure the agents know what they are doing. Proper reinforcement should always be conducted.

• Make sure you have enough active agents

As mentioned above, you should not let any customer wait for a long time. So make sure there are enough active agents at their work station ALL THE TIME.

These simple reminders can help you improve your call centre team’s performance. Always remember that every feedback from your customer will reflect your company’s image and reputation. 

How to Improve Your Call Centre’s Metrics

Having a difficult time tracking your team’s performance? Here’s how…

Monitoring the performance of your agents is very important. This is one way you can gauge their improvement and how you can reward them. When creating a monthly scorecard, make sure your metric is clear, accurate, and fair to all agents. Letting your team members know about their performance can not only help them see the areas for improvement. This is also a good motivation tool, which allows them to create another goal for the following months or years.

• Focus on the improvement rather than the result itself

When giving out the scorecards, team leaders and supervisors should discuss every aspect of the result. Keep in mind that the main purpose of this is to help the agents identify their weaknesses. Discuss with them on how to improve their scores. Reward those who have been consistent with their scorecards to motivate others. 

• Reinforce the importance of your metrics 

Make it clear to your members that the individual contribution is to the overall objective of the whole team. This is why they need to excel in every aspect of their daily tasks. Providing discussion logs and incident reports are also crucial. Always remember that these are sensitive issues. By now, you should know how to address your team. Keep in mind that each member has different personalities and may have different views regarding this. 

• Establish goals among different teams 

One way to refuel competitiveness around the office is to establish the same goals among different teams. Create a “Leader Board” so everyone can see their performance and how far they are to reach the goal. You should also make a deadline for every goal. 

• Anticipate the changes for KPI

While having a concrete formula to compute the KPI is important, you should also anticipate the changes you need to make. Keep in mind that the company’s objectives may vary in a span of time. Business growth is one of the biggest factors for these changes. In time, each should contribute more to sustain the requirements of the company. 

• Reward those who are deserving 

Rewarding your agents is very important to motivate the whole team. It shouldn't always be monetary. Simple praises or pat on the back for a finished project is one of the best rewards an employee can receive. Let them know how valuable they are to the team. Be creative when giving rewards. In most call centres in the Philippines, they usually have discount cards or concert tickets for those who are consistent with their performance.   

Call Centre Progress Forecast

Today, BPO companies are booming, encouraging many expats to invest more in the Philippines. Other than cost efficiency, many business owners are overwhelmed with the quality of work they are getting. In this post, we will take a look on how the call centre might look like in the future. 

• Bigger competition among outsource providers:  As we talk about the future, many experts are projecting a cutthroat competition among service providers. Every entrepreneur in the BPO industry is doing their best to improve and modify their system for better recruitment and business flow. Your facilities and equipment can also be a huge factor. As we all know, everything is fast and becoming more and more advanced. 
• The forecast: Complex problem solving?: According to BT survey, 53% of business professionals are saying that the call centre industry would be largely focused on complex problem solving. This means dealing with the concerns that cannot be resolved through self-service options. In line with this perspective, you need to train your agents to be more versatile. There will be more functions and roles to every team member. Your managers should also be more vigilant to avoid discrepancies. 
• Importance of culture and work environment: Recent survey findings also show that call centre offices will still exist for a long time. According to experts, clients find it more valuable and gives them more confidence to work with agencies or companies that have their own offices and facilities. This is mainly because they can focus more on the accounts or campaigns they are handling and there are more risks imposed when you hire a team working from home.: While technology is taking place for people who work from home, the cultural mentality of the industry still becomes more important. 
• Better collaboration and communication in the year 2020: While most call centres in the Philippines are getting more and more systematised in handling multiple accounts, there are still companies having problems with their flow. This is because of lack of unity between shifting teams. This makes it more difficult to find the right information for their customers. 

This is about to change when call centre agents start to take advantage of the new advanced tools like Deep User Profile Content—this is an enterprise-wide directory for better profile and content collaboration. This tool may also be transferred onto mobile devices, marking a huge step in presenting a more proficient and better image to the customer as we head towards the future! 

Getting Ready for Your Next Big Step: Applying for Call Centres

Call centres are still booming in the Philippines, which leads to more career opportunities and is now being targeted by a lot of people, especially fresh graduates making a huge step in the corporate world. Most people think working as a call centre agent is an easy take. They usually think it’s not labour-intensive and often referred to as a dead-end job. This is not entirely true. The truth is, they need to undergo a thorough screening process and there are a lot of benefits you can get. Apart from good compensation, they impose career advancement for individuals.

So before you decide to apply, here are some of the things you need to consider: 

• Make a deep research on the company
• Just like in any job application, it is advisable to know more about the company and position you are applying for. It’s always a plus point if you know something about the company and their expertise. This only shows that you are interested to work for them. For example, if you are applying for sales, make sure you know the products or services they are offering. This can help you during the question and answer portion of the interview. 
• Be prepared with the questions that the interviewer may ask you
• One way to prepare for a job interview is to have an interview simulation with your friends or even yourself. You don’t necessarily need to have someone sit in front of you, although it would be better. Just try to picture out some of the questions that you think they will ask you.  Be articulate and professional at all times.
• Keep calm and wear your best clothes
• In order to be the perfect package in front of your interviewer, you need to look at your best as well. It is always better to look presentable at all times. This can also boost your confidence. Dress up well and formally as much as possible and always keep your composure during the interview process. As every young professional would say, “your resume is just a detail printed on a sheet of paper. It’s how you present yourself and prove you can be more than that.”  

Applying for call centres in the Philippines is not that easy. Just follow these simple steps and you will be on the right track. 

Should You Ring or Should You Reply?

A virtual receptionist is not only tied to the phone. Emails are also used by VRs to touchbase with their clients. However, since telephone communication is their main strength, the contention whether to ring instead of to reply a client is always present.

When is it best to ring (phone) than to reply (email)?

• Ring if, for some reason, your client is upset. When addressing sensitive matters with strong emotions involved, giving an urgent call shows that you care. It also eliminates the possibility of misinterpreting even a carefully-written reply sent through an email. The power of a friendly and concerned tone over the phone can spell a world of difference.
• Ring if you need to explain a complicated call or a long message received. When providing the details of a complicated call or message, you will have to make a long retaliation about it as well. It will take time if you do it on email. You need to find the right words, string them coherently and hope that the client will not have any questions or need for clarifications after that. Calling to explain not only saves you time and effort of explaining, but also provides your client the opportunity to ask you when something is not so clear.
• Reply if it is just a minor, non-urgent matter you need to inform the client about. If it is just to remind your client about an upcoming meeting he will be having (which your client will be most likely informed about too through an alternate route such as a phone or calendar notification), then a simple email should do. Otherwise, calling your client to remind him of every minor detail about his day can potentially be a source of annoyance. 
• Reply if you need to send clients’ files of official documents he specifically requested you to accomplish or gather. The age of snail mail is definitely out and the convenience of an email reply should not be discounted at all costs. 

At the end of the day, if you feel like calling, trust your instincts and go ahead. More often than not, it is easier, quicker and better for virtual receptionists to just give their clients a call than emailing them. You get their attention and you can engage with them with  thorough feedback process. Also, calling allows you to make a great impression. Whenever there is an opportunity to make an impressionable statement, get it. It doesn’t come so often. 

Why you Should Outsource your Customer Service?

More often than not, customer service is the backbone of any business. It indicates success and it’s opposite. While customer service is mostly kept in-house, a good number of small and large businesses today are outsourcing it. 

If you are not one of many industrial organizations still not outsourcing customer services, you might be missing out on a lot of benefits. 

Should you be outsourcing your customer service requirements? You should and we have 4 reasons here to help you do so, if not, even consider it.

Adding help without breaking the bank

More often than not, the quality of customer service can be improved by adding more people to answer the hotline. Increase manpower to your customer service department by outsourcing customer service representatives. Today where the process of recruitment and actual hiring can be done through digital means (Skype, anyone?) it is possible to get the best and most experienced set of people to add to your customer service department with confidence and ease. 

Immediate support available

We are all consumers at some point and all of us share the sentiment that being put on hold for 30 seconds translates to 30 minutes on the customer mood metre. The act of waiting can make customers angry, especially if they are calling to report a problem that needs immediate support as much as possible. 

As you double your customer service capacity, it means you can accommodate more people who are calling the hotline. Minimise, if not eliminate, the waiting time and greet customers who are calling quickly on the first 2 rings. Even if you cannot readily address the issue or the problem being reported, answering the phone immediately is good customer support at its finest.

Streamline customer service in general

Customers call the hotline for a variety of reasons. Some call for a very minor issue while some call for a major disappointment. By outsourcing your customer service needs, you can streamline the entire customer service process.

You can filter the customer’s query according to the level of complexity. If the query is simple, your outsourced customer service representatives can take it. If the query is quite complicated, then your in-house full-time customer service reps have to handle it since it goes without saying that they know more about the product or the service than the outsourced team. 

By streamlining your customer service in general, you can eliminate and reduce customer waiting times, produce happier customers and maintain a healthier customer service operation. 

Make a 24/7 operation possible

Ideally, customer service should not sleep even if your store is officially closed for the day. A 24/7 operation is best to have to give your customers the support they require when they need it. Your availability truly shows that you care.

Make the 24/7 operation possible by outsourcing your customer service. The beauty of outsourcing lies in the time zone. When you outsource people from the other side of the globe, you can achieve business continuity as there are people who will proceed running and answering the hotline even if you are asleep on your side of the world. 

Reap the benefits that only outsourcing customer service can offer. With so many contact centres available, it is certain to meet the provider who will meet your needs and specific customer service requirements. 

5 Ingredients of Great Customer Service

Regardless if it is done in-house or outsourced, the 5 essential ingredients of great customer service apply across. 

It is not a secret that great customer service is necessary for any successful business. What will propel your business to the top is not only the quality of the products you are offering to your consumers, but also the kind of help and support you give them when they need it. It is also quite a waste of time and energy to see everything you have built crumble down with customer services as the sole liability.

Pick up the phone

It is obvious, but the first ingredient to great customer service is to answer the phone. Let these statistics speak for itself. 

• 30% of callers will not bother to leave message when their call goes unanswered. You lose a valuable prospect and a chance to make an impression.
• 62% of callers will not bother to call back if the phone is busy. Why would they bother right?
• 79% of callers will not call back if no one picks up the receiver. Who would anyway?
• And to be put on hold is the last thing any caller would want to be. 60 seconds or less is eternity. We've all been a caller at some point and to be put on hold is not in everyone’s 

Always answer the phone. Do not let it ring on purpose unless you cannot pick up the receiver immediately. 

Make no empty promises

When pacifying an angry client, promising them what you cannot deliver won't do anything good. While it is easy to over deliver just to calm them down, it is best to remain practical at all times. Deliver only what you can and what is allowed by the company. It might even get you in trouble if you promise customers of a solution or an upgrade that you are not in the right position to call. 

Listen at all times

More often than not, the reason why we fail to deliver what our customers expect from us is we fail to understand what their concern is all about. Listening is the only way to avoid misunderstanding what customers need from us. It is also true that listening calmly allows us to understand what the customer’s issue is all about. 

Be kind and respectful

Nothing will make customers warm up to you than a kind and respectful tone on the phone. The voice you keep can also help pacify them on the get-go since they know you will take their problem or request well. A kind and respectful tone will be received well regardless of the demeanour the customer currently has. 

Own the situation

Especially if there is a problem that is completely the fault of the company, you need to own the situation and make the necessary amendments. Own the situation by making the caller aware that you will personally see that the problem will get resolved the soonest time possible. If you need to escalate the issue, inform the caller about that so they know their problem is being treated seriously and with urgency.

Invest on good customer service by hiring people who are best on the job. Invest on training too so you get the customer service reps who will not disappoint you and will not disrupt the smooth flow of your business.

Ways Small Businesses Can Lead the Game

A good number of small business owners like to think of themselves as invincible; they can do everything, be hands on as much as possible and have the level of expertise required for them to be successful at their small start-up venture. 

Even if small business owners have the drive and the will power to do it all, even the most organised and experienced small business owner need help running their enterprise. This is where outsourcing, among many other ways to cope and manage, enters the picture.

Although the idea of outsourcing is having offshore employees do the work for you, it is not just about sending work outside the country. It is about outsourcing expertise that you may not readily have available onsite. While small business owners like to believe that they have it all, it is a fact of life that there are professional expertise that can never be attained. Professional expertise such as IT support, marketing, advertising, logistics, bookkeeping and web development are examples of tasks that are best outsourced if not immediately available at hand.

Aside from outsourcing, another way for small business to lead the game is to have a web presence. More often than not, visibility is all it takes for businesses to be known, to take off and to be sought for their services. Poor and limited visibility in the commercial scene not only decreases one’s growth potential, but decreases the morale of the people invovled. After all, what good is the promise of being able to provide quality products and services if the means for exposure is not exhausted along the way?

The beauty of having a website for any small business is the cost-efficiency. There are websites that you can build on your own for free or websites that someone able can do for you at a reasonable cost. You can even outsource web developers, designers and writers for your website requirements. 

Advertising online is essentially free, but the time you need to invest on it comes with a price. If you can dedicate a small portion of your time updating your website, adding new content to your blog or engaging with your customers on your social media channels, then you will be surprised at how much you are able to save from the cost of advertising by investing time on these free tools. 

At the end of the day, it all boils down to the time a small business owner can ably put to the table. Even owners of large and well-established businesses need to invest on ways to properly manage and expand their time simply to accommodate the mountain of tasks that need their attention. 

Also, make it a habit to tap free tools that are widely available for anyone’s use. 

Aside from time and the use of free tools, it also boils down to the selection of the right people. Getting well-capacitated people to work for you is the best way to achieve success. And when resources for hiring manpower is not that high, there is always outsourcing to save the day.

Should You Outsource Your Telemarketing Requirements?

Telemarketing is the backbone of a majority of companies today. When products and services need to be marketed outside the walls of traditional marketing practices, the use of the telephone usually comes to the fore. 

Telemarketing is also called inside sale. It is a form of direct marketing where sales representatives call prospects to buy a particular product or service. While telemarketing includes web conferencing, the use of the phone is its main and most common element in making a successful sale. 

There are different categories filed under telemarketing. These categories are lead generation, sales, outbound marketing and inbound marketing. 

Lead generation is a process of gathering pertinent information about a prospective buyer. The name, the industry the person belongs to and contact details are the goals of lead generation. 

Sales is the process of persuading a prospect to buy a product or a service that is being marketed. 

Outbound and inbound telemarketing operate differently from one another. Outbound telemarketing is a form of proactive marketing where prospects and existing customers are directly contacted for a sales pitch and other sales-related requirements. 

Inbound telemarketing is the accommodation of incoming calls such as orders and requests. The rate or the number of inbound calls is usually a reflection of how effective an advertising or a publicity program fares. When more people call, it means that the advertising and publicity strategy were well-received. 

The question if you should outsource these telemarketing requirements can be answered wholly in the affirmative. 

Regardless of the category of telemarketing your company requires, telemarketing is both repetitive and essential. It is repetitive since it cannot be assumed that 10 out of 10 phone numbers a telemarketer calls during the day will yield into a successful sale. The process of making a call hoping at least one will convert into a sale is a long and repetitive process. 

Outsourcing telemarketing requirements provides that air of certainty. For as long as there are more than 10 offshore telemarketers calling at least 10 prospects a day, the statistical probability that one call will convert into a sale goes high. 

Instead of having your in-house employees in charge of your telemarketing requirements, outsource telemarketers instead. You can have your telemarketing procedures running round the clock even if you are officially closed for the day on your side of the globe.

Outsourcing telemarketing lets you free up your time and channel these instead on other income-generating aspects of your company. Telemarketing is income-generating also, but not the same as the other processes in your company that you cannot possibly delegate to other people. Telemarketing is a process in your company that you can have someone do for you with confidence. 

Moreover, since the majority of telemarketing transactions takes place over the phone, transitioning your telemarketing requirements to an offshore facility can be done with ease. Investing on the needed infrastructures may cost quite a sum on the upfront, but the benefits of outsourcing it will keep flowing in the company from that point.

With the peaks and valleys your company will be faced with, you need a solution to address it at the most cost-effective level possible. Outsourcing your telemarketing needs is one.

3 Reasons Why You Should Outsource Your Content Writing Requirements

Just as more and more companies offer their services to companies by virtue of outsourcing, the options on what kinds of services or jobs to outsource vary as well. While outsourcing call centre services have been the trend for a decade (and more) already, outsourcing web content writing is also gaining momentum. Thanks to the demand for websites, outsourcing web content writing has yet to keep up with pace. In this article, the 3 reasons why you should outsource your web content writing requirements will be discussed. 

• Outsourcing will help you find your voice

It is true that no one knows your business better than yourself. You are the founder, director and owner so it follows that if there ought to be one person to write your website, it has to be you. But that is not necessarily the case.

You may know the words to include in your website – your business’ history, vision, mission, products and services – but if you do not outsource your web content writing requirements to people who do so professionally, your website may look like an encyclopedia page.

The beauty of outsourcing a web content writer is they know what to highlight from all the details you want to reflect on your website. You can have great website content. And they – the web content writer you will outsource - do not need to be an insider. You just need to give them the facts and they will do all the talking. 

• Outsourcing will give you a fresh perspective

You will be surprised at how an outsider can view your business from his perspective. Outsourcing your web content requirements may be the answer to a perspective that works all along.  

In coming up with a website for your business, what is most essential is how it appeals to your audience more than how it appeals to you. You may know your business inside and out, but that does not mean that the audience you are targeting will think of it great equally. An outsourced web content writer will not only help you provide a fresh perspective, but a perspective that will be most appealing to your audience. 

• Outsourcing will take care of the minor details

Since an outsourced web content writer is all about writing great copy for website appreciation, contracting their services mean they will be able to proof your website copy and free it from errors on grammar and spelling to name a few.

Website content needs to be crafted well. No excuses. A website with errors is a website that loses its credibility to its audience, and you do not want that to happen all because of an error that could have been avoided easily.

Further, most web content writers are aware of SEO trends. SEO stands for search engine optimisation and it is the aspect of a website that allows it to be seen in search results such as Google. With SEO strength combined with their writing prowess, web content writers can help position your website at a favourable rank on search engines while making sure that it looks good and it reads well on paper.

3 Popular Misconceptions of Outsourcing Customer Service

Outsourcing may have been an option not long ago, but now, it is the norm that businesses, whether large or small, have adopted in their respective organisations.

 One of the popularly outsourced processes these days is customer service, and the benefits of doing so just keeps on pouring. Examples of the benefits of customer service outsourcing are:

• Immediate customer service round the clock
• Increased efficiency and productivity
• English competency can be guaranteed 
• Inexpensive form to show that you care
• Reduces your workload to half or even more

Despite these benefits of customer service outsourcing, there are still quite a few misconceptions that surround the practice. And in this article, popular misconceptions will be discussed and a short explanation will be included as well to debunk it. 

1. Language barrier: While it is true that language skills are embarrassing problems in some outsourcing destinations, there are also countries that boast their language skills as their pride and glory. In the Philippines, for instance, customer service agents' strong command of the English language is their selling point as evidenced by many companies that choose to have their customer service needs filled up by Filipinos. You will be surprised at the number of Filipinos who appear to be native Americans or native Australians on the phone. The resemblance can be uncanny.
2. Quality is compromised: It is important to note that just because outsourcing customer service worked for other companies, it does not mean that you can expect the same for your own organisation. Like any process or transaction you engage in for your business, your time for training is an investment that you should not underestimate. Invest in good training so that the quality of the calls will not be compromised. Either you conduct the training yourself by visiting your outsourced destination or entrusting the training in the hands of the contact centre who will be managing your offshore site. At the end of the day, the quality of the call is highly controllable.  
3. Training will never end: For business owners, it is important that their employees get their rhythm. While there are skills and knowledge that are generic, there are specific details about their skills and knowledge that they want their employees to be trained in, and this goes to both in-house and offshore employees. The truth is, business owners need to spend only on the initial training provided that they hire the best agents their contact centre of choice can find. And this is not hard to do considering recruitment and screening can seamlessly filter out the best candidates from their long list of confident hopefuls and so-so applicants. Also, investing on training documents that can be replicated for the use of your offshore employees is not that big of a price tag to pay. 

Outsourcing customer service may have its own hits and misses, but that should not be a reason for you not to consider outsourcing as part of your business plan. And by debunking these misconceptions, it is hoped that outsourcing your customer service needs will be put in a more favourable light. 

Tips on How to Get Hired in a Philippine Call Centre

Call centres are ubiquitous in the Philippines. Considered as an outsourcing capital because of the cost advantage and the overflow of talent, it is more than enough reason for foreign companies to invest their call centre and back office operations in the said country.

If you are fresh out of college and looking for a job, consider starting a career in the corporate world as a customer service representative. How should you prepare and compose yourself for this kind of job title?

First, you should have high computer IQ. Since the job requires you to use the computer for processing and documenting your calls, you need to be knowledgeable about computers and not just the phone. Know the basics of how to operate a computer and how to use applications that will be used for documentation. You do not have to possess mad computer skills like programming and coding. The basics suffice.

If you need to sharpen your computer skills, there are a variety of tools that you can use online for free. Some call centre Philippines conduct a typing speed test also so prepare for it with free tools that you can find online.

Second, you need to sharpen your communication skills. Since you will be talking to customers located on the other side of the globe, you need to be fluent and comfortable communicating in their language, English. Practice your fluency, grammar and intonation. While mimicking an accent is not required in some call centers, it can be plus points for you when you apply for the job.

Below are suggestions that can help you sharpen your communication skills for the interview and before you start working on the floor. 

• Look for training tools online. It can teach you how good communication sounds like. These tools also provide tests that will assess how your communication skills fare and pointers to help you improve.
• Watch the news. You can pick up a few pointers by watching news anchors deliver the news. Notice how they enunciate their words and the tone their voice takes. 
• Listen to podcasts. 
• Read English books and magazines. 

Third, understand what customer service entails. Since you have no experience yet working as a customer service representative, you need to know what this kind of industry will require you to do. 

The principles of customer service delivered physically are quite similar when delivered over the phone. What are examples of these principles?

Customer service is making sure your customers are satisfied when they request an answer or assistance from you.

• Customer service is having that friendly, courteous and helpful demeanour. These traits can be translated over the phone through voice modulation and tone of approach.
• Customer service is doing everything you can so the customer does not leave or put down the phone dissatisfied with the absence of answers. 
• Customer service is an extension of the company. The way the call is managed is representative of the company as a whole.

Definitely, there will be training conducted once you get hired, but it does not mean that you should not do any form of preparation on your end. 

Being a call centre representative can open a lot of doors for you in the future and it is worth considering if you are starting out as part of the workforce. Perform well and you can inch your way up the corporate ladder, take up a managerial position and flourish your career even further.

Outsourced Loved Life: The Pros and Cons of Online Dating

Even if the actual figures aren't in, more and more people are outsourcing their love lives from online dating websites. With so many dating websites and the fact that a lot of people are connected to the internet on their mobile phones or whatever device is convenient for them to use, it is not surprising how easy it is now for people to find romance and their love match digitally.

However, it is important to take the concept of online dating and digital love matches with a grain of salt as these have their respective pros and cons too.

Pros	Cons
A lot of single Australians have tried online dating and have found love digitally. According to a July 2013 report by RSVP.com.au, an Australian dating website, at least 51% of Australians have tried online dating or at least have considered getting on a dating website.	With 51% of Australians online, online dating websites can be one of the most crowded places you can go to find love. With 'competition' getting stronger, it can be an exhausting experience for hopefuls to find that match they are looking for.
It is not just about getting on board dating websites. It is possible to find love in social media too such as Facebook or Twitter. Having an appealing profile page is enough to attract a potential mate online.	There is that tendency to 'over package' oneself. There is also the tendency to lie about one's age, one's actual image, weight, height and marital status. Deception can go to extremely high levels in online dating.
Finding love online means you get to meet people outside your geographical limitation. You can meet a potential mate from around the world. You can meet a lot of people also to whom you share the same interests with.	Meeting up with your love match physically can be a tad dangerous as well. You can never be so sure what their intentions will be after a face-to-face encounter. Also for some, meeting someone online can be addicting and they may not even be the type who would want to take the relationship to the next level by meeting up.

What other pros and cons can you think of about outsourcing love life?

What Happens Inside an Outbound Call Centre Facility?

The general idea we have about call centre facilities is that calls are mostly received than sent out. With customer service hotlines given, it becomes a bit instinctual that if a consumer needs to report an issue or require an answer to a technical question, he or she needs to reach out to the company and not the other way around. However, this is not the case with outbound calls.

An outbound call centre facility is one where call centre agents call current customers and prospective ones on behalf of the company they are working for. Outbound call activities are usually enabled using a predictive dialer that allows a large number of phone numbers to be called per hour.

A variety of outbound call activities happen which can include outbound sales or telemarketing, customer service, lead generation or customer acquisition and survey.

With outbound sales or telemarketing, agents call a prospective list of customers and introduce a product or a service that they are offering. A team of outbound telemarketers can monetise campaigns and bring in revenues for the business. With a skilled, engaging and persuasive team of telemarketers, they can cross-sell and up-sell products and services that a company offers and even introduce current promos and price slashes to entice consumers into shelling out money.

Although the majority of customer service is inbound such as when consumers call the customer service hotline for help, it can also be done outbound. When agents call your current customers, they can generate feedbacks, opinion and address complaints. If you want to show that you care about your customers, why not reach out to them, request for a few minutes of their time and hear them out on what they have to say? 

Lead generation is also an important feature of an outbound call centre facility. In a sales-driven environment, leads are essential to establish and expand your market base. While essential, lead generation may be one of the aspects of your business that you need to spend for, but provided that it is managed by skilled outbound agents who knows the demographic of customers you are looking for, you can reap the benefits of lead generation in no time.

Surveys also work like outbound customer service. Doing surveys for your business is a good way to gauge just how you are faring in the eyes of your existing customers. You can learn about their personal opinion about your product or service and in the same vein, make improvements based on their feedback. 

With surveys, you can also improve your image and ensure brand longevity. Moreover, surveys also encourage an open dialogue where existing customers can voice out their concerns and the outbound call centre agent, acting as the representative of the company or the business, listens intently. There’s just so much that businesses can learn from their customers. And surveys can definitely help in that effort. 

With outbound calls, it becomes easy to reach out to your base and know what the current pulse is. And with so many opportunities to partner with call centre outsourcing companies, you can even hire call centre agents overseas while meeting efficiency and cutting down on your call centre operational costs both at the same time.