Devoted to purchasing, purchasing agents, and all things related

In modern society, our lives our touched by call center services practically on a daily basis.  From banking to shopping to utility bills, call centers have invaded every industry imaginable.

Here are 7 things I learned about managing call center services:

1. Companies have special lines they can use to monitor their phones calls being taken at outsourced call centers.  More of them should use them.

2. Call center sales reps emphasize regional "strengths" aka stereotypes during sales meetings such as claiming that people are nice in the South and more educated in the Northeast.

3. Training for agents must be specified carefully in the contract for issues such as who is responsible for providing it and paying for the reps' time at the outsourced call center.

4. Many outsourcing call centers have minimum volume levels (much higher than you might expect) that you must project or they will not even bid on your business.

5. If a call center offers to credit you for calls that contain errors (including typing mistakes) in the cal documentation, you can believe they have strict quality standards.

6. Call centers can help a smaller business expand its customer service to 24 hour/7 day a week availability.  This somewhat intangible benefit should be factored into decisions.

7. A good way to wade through the large number of call center prospects for the RFP process is to call the corporate office of companies whose service impresses you and talk to their Purchasing Department to find out what call center they use.

Have you managed call center services in your Procurement career?  Send your Top 7 List to PurchaseRealm@ComprehensiveAdvice.com and I will share it with my readers.