More and more Filipinos are going to other countries to look for work and earn for themselves and for their families. It is estimated that around eight million Filipinos are abroad. However, due to the increasing popularity of outsourcing and the Call Center industry in the Philippines, more young professionals are choosing to work in the Philippines and be with their loved ones. One of the tasks that Filipino call centers do is telemarketing. In fact, when the call center industry was starting out in the Philippines, most of the call centers then were engaged in telemarketing. The primary task of telemarketing is to promote a product or a new promo through the phone to prospective buyers of the product or service. In some instances, telemarketing also involves web conferencing if the customer agrees to do so. In some instances, telemarketing is done through the music or voice over being played while a person is waiting for a phone operator to become available.
Generally speaking, telemarketing can either be directed to businesses or to consumers. In any given call center, there are different purposes why an agent would call a prospective customer. One of these is lead generation, which is simply another term for gathering information that will be relevant to the company and to the product or service being sold. This is a tricky task, however, since there are customers who are very much concerned with their privacy. Nonetheless, Philippine call centers have taken pains to study the privacy regulations and precautions of the countries that they provide service to.
Another aspect of telemarketing that Philippine call centers engage in is sales. Filipino call center agents are chosen from a pool of qualified applicants, a lot of them are newly graduates from universities and colleges all over the Philippines who are eager to start on their career paths. When they have undergone the accent and the training and the call center training, they are also trained in the process of closing sales that are legitimate and that will truly answer the needs of customers.
Some of the calls made by Filipino call center agents are outbound. They call prospective customers who have already indicated some interest in certain products and services and they call to follow up on those interests. On top of that, there are also inbound telemarketing sales. Usually, inbound calls are received in response to some advertisement or marketing campaigns launched by the company. These campaigns usually take the form of take-one brochures at public stations or brochures handed out by marketing agents. Inbound calls tend to be easier to handle because most customers are decidedly interested in purchasing the product or service being offered by the company.
Since the boom of the call center industry in the Philippines, a number of companies and organizations worldwide have contacted the services of Philippine call centers for their telemarketing needs. The Philippines has already captured 20% of the call center market in the world and it is expected to grow in the next few years because of the preference being given to the Philippines by companies outsourcing their telemarketing needs
In the quest to effectively manage calls, maximize the workload of call center agents, and the desire to help customers solve their issues and concerns, several technical tools and refinements have been devised by call centers in the Philippines. These tools serve the agents, as well as the management in dealing with the thousands of calls being routed to the call centers on a daily basis.
Philippine call centers are now using software that predicts the length of time that an agent spends in helping a customer. For outbound calls, the system then makes a call even before the agent completes the call. This way, another customer will be served right after the agent concludes the call with a customer. The logic behind this Predictive Dialing is that not every call made will be connected. Some lines will be busy, some calls will not be answered, and still others will be disconnected. By dialing more calls than the number of agents, predictive dialing software makes provision for the calls that are dropped along the way.
Credit card holders enjoy different features and level of service. As such, when Platinum card holders make a call, they are automatically sent to agents specializing in the Platinum card. This example illustrates that call centers in the Philippines do use prioritization of their calls. This is accomplished through the IVR or through the number dialed by the elite customer. Those who are also calling for the second time after abandoning a call are put on the priority of call queue.
In addition to this, call center management in the Philippines, are increasingly recognizing the importance of specialized agents. In any given account, there are different levels of service that should be provided, and there are different expertise called for depending on the nature of the call. As such, the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) has been designed. Through this system, callers are able to choose from a set of menu what kind of service they are looking for. Depending on the choice they make, they will be routed automatically to the department or agent that can best help them. For simple queries and tasks, customers are sent to generalists who lack in-depth training on different aspects of a product. But if their concern is a little too difficult for a generalist, the customer is routed to a different person.
Lastly, telephone and computer software have been integrated so that the computer program is able to detect the number input by the caller on the telephone and determine if the customer has entered the correct PIN. This way, service can proceed immediately, thereby contributing to more efficiency and effectiveness. This also helps lower the average talk time and average handling time of the agent.
These tools for call centers have been designed to help customers and agents to enjoy the best service there is. For agents, however, these tools can only do so much and there is still no substitute for genuine and honest concern and willingness to help the customer.
James Stinson has sinced written about articles on various topics from The Internet, Recruitment and Guide Guitar. James Stinson is Owner and Founder of Global Sky Inc. He employs a team of 50 in a high quality call center facility based in the Philippines. For more info on outsourcing your project visit:. James Stinson's top article generates over 90500 views. to your Favourites.