Call Center Solutions

Call center trouble can crop up even if you have all your variables and parameters mapped out. Part of the problem is that individual call center managers must be given some license to run the show; otherwise, traffic would backlog and queues would stack up. Unfortunately, when you delegate responsibility to individual service center managers, you run the risk of losing control of the operation.

This is particularly a problem if you're running a call center overseas. Even if you work with a knowledgeable and known firm, and even if you employ some checks and balances, you can't be there in person observing the call center 365 days a year. Moreover, since many overseas and domestic firms farm out telemarketing work to freelancers, you may also lose a degree of personnel control.

Solving Call Center Problems

Yet tightening the leash isn't always the best solution to call center frustrations. Indeed, even the most well-organized and well-intentioned telemarketing staff sometimes gets thrown for a loop by customer responses. So what's the answer? Is it better training, faster equipment, clearer phone lines, smarter computer software, or what? The truth is that general diagnoses tend to be inaccurate.

Just because you gain more information about a complex problem, like a call center backlog, doesn't mean that you’ll solve it more readily. Your best solution may be to tinker with your call service setups to see if adjusting variables (like hold times and freelance vs. in house attention) makes a difference. If an experimental set up works better, you can expand winning ideas for use at other call centers.