One of the most important of serving your customers is being accessible to them. When customers get their problems resolved they are most likely to stay. Being a product or service provider, it is your responsibility to provide adequate channels for the customers to reach you. While talking about communication mode, phone calls are the most popular way of contact to date. Most companies set up a call center or adopt one to reach their customers. This is to take the complaints of the customers and service requests. The call centers arrange phone support queues and distribute the calls evenly to the agents. Though having an outbound contact center or inbound call center set up is important for business growth and customer satisfaction but setting it up is not an easy task. 

What Are Inbound Calls?

Inbound calls are initiated by the customers to the support team or the customer service of a company or a business. The call center of the organization takes such calls and handles them to take care of complaints and service requests. Answering the inbound calls is important and of course, a primary function of the support teams to improve the customer experience. 

When it comes to call centers and customer service, inbound calls are fundamental aspects. Typically, the companies provide a number to the customers that the customers can use to reach with their requests and complaints. The organizations either have their own call center set up or remote people take care of that. The companies set up call centers to provide 24*7 hours of service to their customers so that they can get their solution at any time. 

The call centers will also call center tools that will help assist with the inbound call distribution. According to different industries, the call systems can check the incoming calls and analyze them. Next, the software transfers the calls to the concerned representative who is the best to end up the issue. It will increase the productivity of the organization besides improving the customer experience. 

Once the inbound calls are connected, the representative will go on to solve the issue on the first course of interaction. If that is possible, the representative of the inbound call center service will follow up by emails, phone calls as required. In this case, the representative should set the expectation for the customers by following up with them until the problem is solved and should carry on with the communication. 

How to Start a Call Center 

While setting up a call center, there are a few steps involved to follow – 

• Creating a strategy 

• Determining the number of representatives and hiring them

• Investing in equipment 

• Call center promotion 

• Call center metric analysis and re-evaluation 

Creating a strategy 

Before you go ahead with hiring the call center agents, first plan a strategy. The strategy is about how you want to implement the new customer channel. The inbound call center services are of two types – customer service or customer support. Once you are determined with the type, start planning for the strategy and the type of representatives. The call centers for customer support are more into inbound calls and the support teams are also into outbound calls. Finally, you should consider how the call center grows with your company’s expansion. When you have more customers, you would need to develop plans to grow the call center to handle the higher call volumes. You should also prepare to confront an unexpected crisis that could affect the business. 

Determining the number of representatives and hiring them

Labor costs are always expensive and while setting up your call center, you should determine the number of representatives while setting up a call center. You need to estimate the expected call volume your agents have to handle every day. Once you are ready with the estimate, you have to start hiring the representatives. While hiring, look for energetic people who can fulfill their duty with full responsibility. If you hire the best pool of representatives, they will overcome the most difficult situations or can manage stressful customer interactions. Look for people who have strong and par excellence communication skills and have problem-solving abilities. 

Investing in equipment 

A successful call center needs effective equipment to help the representatives to work and perform. You would find different companies selling software that can process calls and deliver them to the agents. Such software can be upgraded and expanded according to the company’s growth. 

Alongside software, you need to invest in hardware for a good operational environment. It includes items as upgraded computers, monitors, keyboards, call center headsets and more. Additionally, you need to assure good internet connectivity inside the office to assure an uninterrupted workflow. While the tools may seem expensive initially, they will help the company grow and you can add more gradually with the business growth. 

Call center promotion 

When you are setting up a call center, you should share exciting news with the customers. Share a bond with the marketing and sales team for promoting the customer service you provide across all possible channels. If you give support on other modes such as live chat, start promoting yourself as an omnichannel service provider. It makes you accessible to the customers and shows your dedication to them. 

One of the most effective ways to promote your service is by offering a beta version to premium users. Then slowly ungate it for them and make it available. 

Call center metric analysis and re-evaluation 

Once the inbound call center service has been kickstarted, start analyzing the call metrics. Make sure the daily goals are assigned properly and met. If you find your team is struggling with one area, you may have to pay attention there and re-evaluate.