Location, location, location!
We’re lead to believe that in terms of a property, these are the three most important pieces of criteria! But, is the same thing true in regard of your call centre? Is location really that important?
Perception against fact
Look across research carried out about call centre experiences and it would appear that most people tend to prefer to deal with centres operating from a location within the UK. It’s surely not correct to assume that if a call centre is based within the UK the service will automatically be better than if it were based overseas. But, does it matter whether opinions are formed due to perception as much as fact if the preference suggests that UK call centres are favoured over foreign based teams.
When someone asks, “What is your call centre service location?” they actually want to find out one or more of these questions:
- Do your agents work from home? – The giveaway is when there is obvious background noise such as a dog barking or baby crying whilst a business call is underway. This is particularly unnerving if the call involves someone placing an order and giving financial details out over the phone. Immediately there may be some doubt as to how secure the environment is for sensitive data. Employing home based call centre agents is a growing trend and works well for many companies, but it is worth ensuring that it isn’t a false economy that ultimately costs you business.
- Is your call centre based in the UK – It seems to have got to the point now where many people won’t interact with call centres that are based in another country at all. Reasons may vary wildly but a major one is often connection quality. Additionally, although overseas call centre staff are often extremely well trained and knowledgeable, a misunderstanding of UK culture or terminology can make for a frustrating conversation.
Home or abroad?
Although some offshore services have a lower hourly or per-call rate, the quality of the consumer’s experience often offsets the difference. A strong resurgence in UK interest in keeping jobs onshore can influence where consumers buy their products. Conversations including cultural differences, language barriers and unfamiliar accents can send up red flags, lowering conversion rates.
The future?
A quick look at research that has been carried out suggests that businesses with UK call centres have a definite advantage over their competitors with foreign call centres. An approach that initially is concerned with cost cutting often ends up being a false economy with teams that were at one time moved abroad being brought back to the UK before long.
The cost effective implementation of call recording and call logging software can go some way to helping to set up an operation on site. In the case of call logging it can highlight exactly what the needs of the business are in regards to size of team, hours worked and frequency of calls. Call recording technology is helpful in terms of streamlining the operation, offering specific training pointers where needed too.
If you’d like to investigate the potential of our products please do contact us or give us a call on 0333 0022 440. We will be able to organise for you to receive a complimentary trial of our call logging and recording software to ensure it’s exactly the right fit. What more could you ask for?