The majority of business owners want to achieve the same forward velocity that call center technology is always pursuing. You might be assessing the features your provider offers and whether they are ready to meet the demands of your growing business if you are currently working with a center to help manage the flow of traffic. In actuality, some Call Centers are lagging behind the times because they don’t have to. Their clientele is limited, and they don’t need the value-added advantages that a larger firm offers. For that very reason, you might be outgrowing your service.

Will you gain a competitive advantage by utilizing cutting-edge technologies with another provider? Or would it be preferable to remain where you are and make a few internal changes? If you’re a business owner who has already begun call center shopping, you might not know what your present provider is lacking or what add-ons to look for to boost lead conversion.

There may be workarounds in the shape of applications or third-party websites that can help you strengthen procedures without having to start from scratch for people who see the need of progressive technology in today’s industry but are unable to change service providers. The difficult part is figuring out what you need. To help you get started, we’ve created a few road signs.

Let’s go over eight reasons your call center has to be upgraded, as well as alternate software options for company owners who aren’t convinced about changing suppliers. Regardless of the route you take, making the effort to improve daily operations can ensure future achievements and ultimately result in a higher bottom line.

Reason #1: Your on-call process is clunky, and you can’t keep tabs on your crew

Solution: Utilize advanced on-call technology

• How are on-call schedules handled at your present center?
  • Can you plan out your rotation ahead of time?
  • Do they keep track of which employees are taking calls and how many tries it takes to get a response?
  • Is it simple to deal with last-minute changes?

If you said “no” to any of these questions, your center’s on-call procedure is most likely not user-friendly and could be obstructing the prompt resolution of client concerns. What should a new center ideally have in terms of on-call features?

• The ability to arrange Warm Transfers, Cold Transfers, and Reach On-Call ahead of time
• One-click scheduling that allows you to replicate the same rotation across particular days or time sets
• Fast updates for last-minute modifications via a mobile app or the internet
• The ability to select the Reach method that works best for your team: text-to-speech (TTS), SMS, or full call recording
• The ability to send an email or SMS message to every contact who is on call, or to the person who answers a TTS or call recording first. Reach
• The ability to scale or modify the quantity of outbound attempts to your team for specific on-call kinds
• The ability to halt an active Reach from your secure web portal or mobile app if the message has been picked up elsewhere
• Quick stats that display typical response times and the staff members who are responding

If you are using a third-party on-call system for scheduling and you decide to move contact centers, make careful to find out if the new provider has their own proprietary software integrated into their web portal or if they can access or interface with your current on-call schedule.

Reason #2: You’re wasting time entering data into a CRM

Solution: Integrate with platforms that do the work for you

The first step to expanding your clientele is managing lead data. Therefore, call details could be lost in the shuffle if you don’t have a perfect system in place. After every call, how do you receive leads from your present service provider? via fax, SMS, email, or a mix of these? And after you obtain the info, what do you do with it?
• Do you enter every new lead into your CRM by hand?
• Are you moving information to a spreadsheet from your smartphone?
• Do you use your phone to monitor everyone and everything?

It’s time to figure out a better way to arrange your leads and client inquiries if you said “yes” to any of these questions. CRMs, or customer relationship management software, are easily accessible to all kinds of enterprises. Look for a CRM platform that can use an email parser to complete the task or that can also populate lead data from an email, like Salesforce, while you’re exploring which one would be ideal for your purposes. This will save you time and enable you to put the consumer at the center of your attention.

Reason #3: You’re using your cell phone to text callers

Solution: Communicate via chat-to-text features

Responding to potential clients on your cell phone and keeping them all straight is a nuisance while you’re racing from job site to job site. Additionally, if you’ve ever unintentionally texted the wrong person, you are aware that communicating with customers via your cell phone is a surefire way to go wrong. How, therefore, can your call center assist?

Finding a contact center with a secure user interface that lets you text and call clients directly from their lead page—without requiring your personal cell number—is the ideal situation. Going a step further, you want a tool that your whole team can use to quickly evaluate communication notes and lead phases, making sure that work is spread fairly.

Examining business text messaging options that integrate omni-channel communication through a website or mobile app while excluding your personal information is the second best option. You can keep all of your conversations in one location with alternatives that also function as CRMs.

Reason #4: You’re manually sending new customer emails

Solution: Send automated emails through a secure app

It’s common to be busy. We rarely have time to ourselves because of families, children, pets, and your business. Every minute matters, regardless of your particular circumstance. Therefore, why take the extra time to manually create welcome emails when you can have an automated system do it for you as a business owner attempting to handle chores more effectively and attain that false concept of work-life balance?

Let’s discuss what communication elements to look for at a new center if your m.o. is to sit at a computer and process a ton of intake forms after hours.
• A customizable email app that lets you send messages—including web links and attachments—instantaneously in response to calls.
• A customizable SMS app that lets you provide online links and information to callers instantaneously. You can even send callers SMS messages to confirm contact information while they’re still speaking with the agent.
• Customizable scripting, which allows you to incorporate different programs into a single script path and facilitate simultaneous communication across multiple channels

Third-party email marketing programs are the next best option if switching call centers for this kind of capabilities sounds excessive. To ensure you’re getting what you need, several of them provide a free trial. Seek out services like this one that integrate a CRM with customizable marketing emails. Don’t undervalue analytics’ ability to assist you in determining which content generates the highest number of lead conversions.

Reason #5: You’re not following up with web form submissions in a timely manner

Solution: Have agents instantly call prospects that have submitted forms on your site

There are just not enough hours in the day for you to call potential clients or handle service issues, even though you have a dynamic website and a speedy contact form that receives a lot of hits. It’s too late to contact anyone by the time you’ve completed all of the tasks on your schedule, with the exception of Mr. TV Dinner and Mr. Sandman. The only thing left to do is give them a call early in the morning, before to your initial appointment. They might also still be asleep. Your call center can help with this.

While most call centers handle incoming calls, many are also able to create leads by making outbound calls. Government cold calling restrictions can make this difficult, but you don’t have time to follow up on every lead. What other choices are there, then?

Certain call centers have the ability to immediately contact those who have made a request for help or information on your website. This is how it operates. Your contact form is filled out by an online visitor. Their data is sent to your call center through a code that your web developer incorporates into your website and the center supplies.

Abracadabra, an outgoing call is started as soon as the caller’s information is received!
It makes perfect sense to give everyone who takes the time to fill out your online form a call back right away. You are less likely to get a potential consumer on the phone the longer you wait to contact them. Reaching out to a prospect within the first five minutes of their webform submission actually increases conversion rates by eight times, according to studies.

Reason #6: You’re waiting for an operations team to update your recorded greeting, script, or message delivery setup

Solution: Have the capability to make your own updates on the fly

You will first work with the sales and operations teams of any new contact center to develop a script that will handle the kinds of calls you get when you put up a free trial. You may know exactly who will call, what questions they will ask, what information agents should collect, and to whom it should be sent. However, what if you overlooked a crucial item that agents must record? What happens if the right employee doesn’t receive the message because you overlooked a phone number or email address? Do you have to wait for the operations team to update these items, or can you do it yourself?

• A robust user interface that puts a call center’s capabilities front and center in the palm of your hands is among its best features. The ease of updating whenever and wherever you choose is a major selling factor, even if you’ll be using the UI more for call information. When searching for a call center, you should inquire about the following UI features:
• Adding or removing mobile numbers and email addresses to update message delivery
• Customizing the information received via SMS or email
• On-call schedule and staff adjustments
• Adding or removing script questions to ensure that calls flow properly
• Adding or removing FAQs to help agents answer straightforward questions
• Connecting with various integrations, such as CRMs, and adding them to your script
• Adjusting your upfront greeting, call recording and callback options

You’ll also want to become familiar with the center’s knowledge base, which should be an in-depth set of instructions and videos for all of the tools available to you. As a good rule of thumb, if you aren’t exactly clear on how to make certain updates, it is best to wait for your call center account manager to walk you through it.

Reason #7: You’re getting too many spam calls

Solution: Filter out spam calls with an IVR

Try to imagine a world without robocalls. It’s tough, right? If you have a phone number, then just like everyone else in this galaxy, you are the unlucky recipient of spam calls and texts. Even with the National Do Not Call Registry and increased FCC regulations on the subject, spammers continue to ignore rules and try to sell you something, or worse, scam you. The odds of stopping them seem about as astronomical as winning a jackpot lottery.

Spam calls can present a real problem when you’re forwarding your phones over to a call center. Because calls are automatically answered, agents must field every call that hits your line. It is not until they answer that they will be able to determine which calls are spam, and which are legitimate. There are also some spam recordings that are so convincing, agents believe they are speaking with a person. All this does is rack up minutes on your account,  increase your monthly billing, and ultimately waste your time trying to decide which calls are legit and need a response.

What options are there to address robocall concerns at the call center level? The solution is simple. An IVR, or interactive voice response system, is the most effective way to send robo dialers on a one-way trip to Pluto. A “press 1 IVR” will ask callers to press 1 to connect with an agent. While humans can press the digits that transmit DTMF signals so that the system knows an option has been selected, robo dialers cannot. Instead, the IVR will be programmed to disconnect any caller that has not entered something, thus saving you precious time and money.

If you don’t plan to switch call centers anytime soon, check with your phone provider. They may be able to set up a paid add-on so that you can screen calls before forwarding, ensuring that agents only receive the real deal.

Reason #8: Your call recordings are not available

Solution: Work with third-party recording software

Having the ability to listen to every call handled on your account is an important feature for those businesses where call recording is permissible. It typically serves two primary purposes. First, recordings are valuable for instances when you need clarification about a message received. It can be a challenge for agents to capture every detail a caller provides, especially in complex matters, or occasions when the caller is verbose and almost impossible to derail. Second, call recordings are an integral part of the quality assurance process of any call center.

If your center does not provide you with access to your recordings, the lack of transparency may mean you are missing a key indicator that agents are not performing with the professionalism your callers deserve. On the flip side, call recordings provide an avenue for recognizing agents who are performing above and beyond to leave a great impression with your callers.

When changing service providers is not an option, third-party recording software can help. Look for platforms that offer a multitude of services, all rolled into one. For example – a provider that bundles call routing, call recording, and call tracking metrics. If you do opt to record calls on your own, be aware that federal and state laws regulations regarding recording are different depending on where you and your callers are located. Several states and countries require two-party consent, meaning that both parties must agree to being recorded.

Whether or not you are able to move beyond your existing provider, it doesn’t hurt to investigate the ever-evolving world of call center capabilities. Learn about everything you can, and have those little gems tucked away in the back of your mind for future reference. And if we can offer one final piece of advice to light your path, it is this: never underestimate the power of feedback. If your current call center doesn’t know what upgrades you need to prevent you from shopping around, then what incentive do they have to make any changes? Speaking out is mutually beneficial and worthy of consideration!