What is a Call Center?

The hallmark of a great company is exceptional customer service. They say the customer is king, and who doesn’t want to be treated like royalty?

Within a single company, there are a million different ways to provide a customer with great service. As the key point of contact between business and consumer, call center services are an integral part of any thriving business and a large part of maintaining customer satisfaction.

But what exactly is a call center? How do they work, and why are they important?

Call Center Definition

A call center is a department within a company, or a dedicated company that handles inbound and outbound calls. We personally experience the joy (or agonies, depending on the experience) of call center services on a regular basis. Every time you call your insurance company with a question, or you contact a business to return those shoes that didn’t fit, you are dealing with a call center.

Some people use the term call center and contact center interchangeably, but there are differences between the two. A call center traditionally uses the phone as their sole means of communication, while a contact center uses a variety of communication means, such as email, text, social media, website chat features, carrier pigeons, etc. (For the literalists among us, we are, sadly, not being serious about the carrier pigeons.)

What is the Purpose of a Call Center?

A call center has a few key goals to accomplish, including creating and maintaining a positive brand representation, providing exceptional customer service, and understanding the customer’s problem and resolving issues quickly and efficiently.

Whether a client needs technical assistance, a question answered, or information about a company and their products or services, it is the duty of a great call center agent to accomplish whatever is needed to meet the customer need.

What Types of Call Centers Are There?

There are many different types of call centers.

• Inbound call centers handle calls coming in from customers, answering questions or providing needed information about a company, product, or services.
• Outbound call centers make calls on behalf of a company. Usually these services work in concert with the marketing and sales department of a company.
• Blended call centers handle both inbound and outbound calls as needed (bet you could have figured that out all on your own but hey. Just being thorough here).
• An in-house call center is a call center owned and operated by the company it represents. It works as a department under the direct oversight of the company.
• Outsourced call centers are professional call center companies that are their own entities and are hired as third-party vendors or partners to make calls on behalf of a company. This takes the burden of hiring, training, managing, and investing in software and equipment off the shoulders of a company itself.
• Offshore call centers offer services outsourced outside of the country. While this is often a low-cost option with around the clock services, language and cultural barriers can present quality and customer satisfaction issues.
• Virtual call centers operate under the same parameters as a “regular” call center, but the agents can work from anywhere, are connected by software, and all data is stored in the cloud.

What Does a Call Center Team Look Like?

A call center is made up of many key members, including:

Agents/Representatives. These are the incredible folks making and receiving calls. They are the main point of contact between the customer and the company. Ideally, these people are highly trained and excel in creating a great experience for the customer while representing the company in a positive light.

Team Leads. Depending on the size of the operation, a call center may divide their agents into teams and choose qualified individuals to oversee and lead those teams in accomplishing their goals on a daily basis.

Directors/ Managers. The heads of the department organize tasks and establish performance expectations while making sure operations are optimized and running smoothly.

IT Professionals. With so much software, tech, tools, and data to keep track of, it’s essential to have the best nerds the multiverse can offer on a call center team to guarantee everything is up to date and working the way it should.

Quality Assurance Team. Quality assurance (QA) reviews and monitors calls to ensure that representatives are providing excellent customer service to their clients and doing their job correctly.

How Does a Call Center Work?

While every day has its own set of unique situations, the basic anatomy of a call remains very similar across the various types of call centers.

1. Contact with the customer. Depending on whether the call is inbound or outbound, the customer calls the agent, or the agent calls the customer. Sometimes an automated system will help narrow down the customer need and forward the call to the department or individual most likely to be able to help.

2. “How can I help you?” The agent then seeks to understand the need and resolve the issue, answer the question, or provide information as quickly and thoroughly as possible. A good call center agent is a master of communication, asking the right clarifying questions and listening effectively to unpack what is needed to make the call successful, whether the goal is to resolve the customer issue (inbound) or close a sale (outbound).

3. Resolution or follow-up. While the goal is to address the issue and get it wrapped up in a single interaction, sometimes that’s just not possible. If that happens, the agent schedules a follow-up when they have what is required to fully resolve the need of the customer to their satisfaction.

What Are a Call Center’s Main Duties?

The duties of a call center orbit around the customer, their needs, and the experience. Building trust and loyalty in business begins with these types of interactions. If the customer is happy, everybody’s happy. And as a company’s customer satisfaction rates increase, the more likely those customers will spread the word and bring in more organic traffic and sales.

Whether you are overseeing or working directly in a call center, there are many ways you can create an exceptional customer experience.

1. Create a personalized customer experience, each and every time. Every individual is unique, and a great agent will have the skill, knowledge, and perception to do their research beforehand as well as quickly pick up the vibe of the customer they are serving at that moment in time. Everyone wants to feel special, and the customer is no different. If the customer feels important and valued on a personal level, chances are they will keep buying and building that relationship with the company.

2. Communicate with curiosity and LISTEN. Effective communication requires both speaking and listening, and this is especially important when working to understand the customers’ needs. Don’t assume you know the answer right off the bat. Instead, ask lots of clarifying questions. This not only serves to dig down deep into the customer’s problem or question, but it also shows you genuinely care and want to take the time to understand.

3. Stay organized and resolve issues quickly. Providing a customer with a great experience requires you to be organized and on top of your game. You should know the company/product info inside and out so you can respond quickly and with confidence. You also need to be familiar with the tools and tech you use on a daily basis for making calls and documenting data so information is reported correctly and you can do some basic troubleshooting of your programs if something goes wonky.

4. Report customer roadblocks/issues as they come up. Consistent or reoccurring issues between a company and the customer can mean the death of that relationship and a loss of sales. Swift and proper reporting of issues to directors or management is necessary for a company to stay on top of problems that arise and get them resolved ASAP. Stay humble and remember that having an issue or making a mistake isn’t necessarily a bad thing–it’s the response that counts. A quick resolution that seeks to serve the customer can be an incredibly persuasive way to prove just how far your company will go to resolve a problem and make it right.

5. Remember you serve the customer. No matter how horrible your day has been or how tired you are, don’t lose your mojo. Don’t skimp on service and only provide your customer with a halfhearted or temporary fix. A short-term solution is no solution at all. You’ll only create more work for yourself, frustrate your customers, and potentially tarnish the brand and reputation your company has worked so hard to create. Take a breath, eat a cookie, go to the bathroom and knock out your Wordle for the day…whatever it takes to make a quick reset and bring your best to your customers.

K…Now What?

The services provided through a call center are a huge boost to any company’s overall customer experience. With that, it’s clear that it takes a lot of work to operate, oversee, and execute an exceptional call center.

That’s why we established Squeeze in the first place. We want to provide you with alllllll the benefits of a full-service call center (and then some!) with none of the hassle. Our highly trained professional agents make the calls, we report directly to you, and work WITH you as a partner to meet (and let’s be honest…exceed) your goals for creating and maintaining an exceptional customer experience.

We’re ready to help you stand apart from the crowd. Just contact us today to start chatting. It’s that easy.

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