Overseas Call Centres - Why?

Here's a little tidbit you may not know about call centers...

This isn't universally the only model, but it is a predominant one.

Now picture this...

A call comes in to a customer service call center. It is routed to the next operator who is in line for the call due to their spot on the rotation. This *operator* is sitting at their call center station looking at their computer screen and up pops a screen with a FAQ along with the product details.

They take the call (your question, complaint, order, etc.) and have a very limited amount of resources in front of them to use as help for your situation (call).

If your situation can be handled by using the information availible in front of them (FAQs, product details, etc.) you may have a decent experience. If your situation is outside the scope of what is availible on their screen, you may have a negative experience.

So the call center employees' day may start off with a call generated by an informercial about Dogg Diapers, and then when their rotation comes around again they may handle a call from a disgruntled customer of Bank of Antarctica, and the next call they see may be about a muffler bearing for a SUX 6000.

And on it goes, day in and day out. They may have to handle dozens or hundreds of accounts using the data provided by the call centers customer base. Dozens or more products or services they know absolutely nothing about except for what is in front of them on their computer screen.

I looked into a company for one of my products once that had 36,000 operators working three shifts. They handled everything under the Sun. I have been in call centers where hundreds of computer stations sat vacant because the sales force could not keep up with the expansion envisioned by the call center owners who wanted to get into the game.

Those owners would take ANYBODY as a client provided you would furnish them the basic knowledge base and pay their fee.

What you need to understand is in many cases you are NOT dealing with the company you thought you were, you are dealing with the lowest bidder for a service.


Sidenote:

Here's something else most people will never know...When you see an informercial for a product on TV, the telemarketing expense for the promoter is actually more expensive than the product itself. The last bids I got for a product to sell at $19.95 were $2.31 for the product, and $3.89 (average $) for the telemarketing call center.

Folks, telemarketing call centers are a huge business. Think about this...For every product Billy Mays sold on TV, more money went to the call centers than went to the manufacturer of the product.

It's all about volume.

KJ