A call handling service is a small call centre, sometimes known as an inbound call handling centre, which is primarily used to answer or receive calls by phone. Such a centre is generally operated by a single business to administer incoming or outgoing customer query or product/service related enquiry from clients. Customer queries usually relate to the product or services offered by that particular business. Call centres are highly productive entities and are capable of handling calls that may exceed the call handling resources of an individual or even a medium sized company.
The major benefit of call handling is to make a customer feel at ease when contacting your company. If you are using a call handling system for incoming customer calls, it will allow you to put an immediate number in front of the caller which is available only to that particular client. This instantly puts the caller off as he does not know who the call is from. This reduces your call handling cost, as there is no wastage of time which is normally taken by the call handling personnel when a caller hangs up. This also enables you to identify customers with a better sense of customer care as they would be referred immediately. It is often seen that most customers who have received great treatment in the past go to the same place to get a good treatment now.
It is seen that most companies make the mistake of hanging up on prospective customers who just hung up without being invited for a further conversation after hanging up. There are many call handling mistakes that can be made in such circumstances. These mistakes reduce the efficiency of your business and can increase your call handling costs unnecessarily. For instance, if a prospective customer goes to your business and is told that your call handling process is non-stop, this automatically puts him off as he would not like to wait for long hours for your representative to get over his or her phone calls.
There are several other reasons too why you should use an excellent telephone handling system that offers round-the-clock call handling options. If you are running an online business where customer queries frequently arrive at your office, you would need to handle them immediately so that you do not lose a customer in the middle of an important work. Some businesses have been known to lose customers just because they did not receive a call promptly. An excellent call handling feature that works round-the-clock helps you avoid such problems.
There are also many companies that do not have enough agents working in their sales centres to take care of all customer queries. This is a common problem faced by most companies working in this field. It takes a lot of effort and money to hire enough agents to take care of calls from a variety of customers. With call handling systems, you can always hope that your agents are available to take your calls at all times, because your call handling service is always ready to take calls from your existing customers and potential customers as well. This ensures that your agents always work efficiently and in higher quality as compared to agents who are working on call only from their offices. This is because your call handling agents would be able to work efficiently and effectively even under pressure.
A good call handling system is able to follow-up on customer requests promptly. Most call centers have the option of recording a customer’s request for follow-up. Such a feature helps agents to follow-up on every request made by customers, which results in increased efficiency and quality of service. Agents who have easy access to all the details of a customer’s call can follow-up on those customers who have enquires, or who have left messages for service. For example, if one customer had called to ask about certain software, and another customer had left a message for that product, the follow-up feature would automatically remind your agents about the software and what it can do for their client.
Poor call handling is often the cause of lost sales. Most customers want to talk to someone live, and not just to a voice mail box. In fact, more than seventy percent of the general public believes live phone conversations are more reliable than those which are recorded or sent in an email message. It also happens that some customers call with no immediate need to speak to a live agent and simply hang up when they do not get a prompt answer to their inquiry. Such call handling process ensures that such customers are not lost in the call queue, which leads to a waste of productive time for agents. When a customer hanging up does not help resolve an issue, it should be dealt with very promptly.
Poor call handling is also the reason why many callers do not return calls from call centers. In order to remain competitive, most companies offer incentives to callers who return their calls on time. Incentives may come in the form of reduced costs for making repeated phone calls, or free calls when the customer calls an agent on the same line that is used by a competitor. Customers who are treated courteously by call handling agents also tend to remain loyal to these firms. With good call handling service, a company can expect returns from its clients, both existing and new.
