Call centres are an integral part of all major businesses and handle large volumes of inbound and outbound calls. To understand what is best for your business, you must analyze what your business requires and how you can fulfil it.
In this article, we will discuss the difference between Inbound Call Center services and Outbound Call Center Services.
What are inbound call centre services?
Inbound call centres handle mostly the calls that come to them from customers and potential clients. Due to the nature of these calls, this type of call centre is usually more customer-centric.
Call centres are responsible for answering customer questions, resolving concerns, and handling complaints. Inbound call centre representatives are often the only contact many customers will ever have with your company. For that reason, they need to be trained and certified.
What are outbound call centre services?
Contrary to call centres that receive calls, outbound call centres make more calls than they receive. Their primary objective is to reach out to customers and generate sales. Representatives work from lists of existing or potential customers in these call centres. In this call centre service, agents make sales calls and cold calls and assist customers in upgrading the services.
What is the difference between Inbound & Outbound Call centre services?
Outbound call centres call out to make sales, whereas inbound call centres receive calls and deal with customer service issues. The objectives of inbound and outbound call centres are different as well. Inbound centres typically handle customer service issues to maintain trust, customer retention and to build new customers. On the other hand, Outbound Call centre services involve building interest among new customers.
Types of Inbound Call Centre Services
Inbound Calls- The company’s call centre will receive calls from prospective customers, rather than from current clients. When this happens, the call is called an “inbound sales” call and talented staff can take advantage of it.
The call centre can then be staffed specifically with sales in mind, allowing the company to act in its best interests. Larger businesses often have entire call centres dedicated exclusively to inbound sales, as opposed to combining several types of calls.
Customer Service- It involves the agent dealing with the client queries and their customers. The services handled by this type of Inbound Call centre involves customer feedback, returns, making customers accustomed to the products and services.
The best customer service typically involves being timely and attentive to the needs of the customer. It also involves making sure to fulfill the needs of the customer. It must reflect positively on the business or company.
Technical Support- Customers tend to contact technical support when something goes wrong with their product. Whether it is a cell phone that won’t receive pictures or a computer that doesn’t work correctly, technical support is where customers go for help.
Inbound support centres that handle technical support need staff that can deal with complaints and demands in a diplomatic manner. It is because most of the calls are disgruntled. The right people can respond to inquiries, and tempers can be cooled, restoring the brand image.
Inquiry Calls for Upgrade or Renewal- In this type of inbound call, business representatives talk to existing clients who have chosen to renew, upgrade, or combine their subscription plans. Customers tend to be satisfied with the service they receive from the business, which results in them continuing to do so.
As part of their training, inbound centre agents must be knowledgeable and convince customers of the benefits of retaining or upgrading their current plans. In addition to knowledge and assurance, they must be trained to process the renewal or upgrade on their own.
Types of Outbound Call Centre Services
Telemarketing- The idea behind telemarketing is to generate leads using the telephone to pitch products to prospective customers based on a list of prospects. When they tell prospects how to use the product or service, they generate interest.
Lead Generation- By making cold and warm calls, outbound agents identify opportunities to pique prospects’ interest in the company’s products. During these calls, agents gather information to determine the probability of a prospect becoming a customer.
Market Research- Market researchers and businesses sometimes make outbound calls to learn more about their target audience. While the agent is speaking with the customer, they ask some questions prepared by the market research firm.
Appointment Setting- They are responsible for scheduling appointments between the customer/lead and the sales representative assigned. They confirm the best date and time for the current or potential client to meet with the company. Outbound agents should be efficient and accurate in their work.
Now that you know the difference between inbound and outbound call centre services, you must do some assessment of your business. Choose the type of call centre service based on what your business requires. There are many reliable and reputed call centre service providers you can contact to outsource.