Offshore Outsourcing & Scammer

Like everywhere in business you get for what you pay for. For this an outsourcer need to know what is in his budget and what he can get for this budget. As better the quality should be as higher the budget need to be.

You like to reach as many people as possible for a low budget?
Why are you not sending out mass mailings, mass emails and short text messages in this case? You can even record some messages and send it to the caller by using a full automated system. You need no human agents in this case. You can send out millions of emails or short text messages during a short time. If you have not the infrastructure for short text messages or calling with voice recordings, we have it. You need only provide the data, the content and you need to tell us how many we shall send per hour.

You like agents, which are working like robots - Take robots?
Why do you not use an IVR system with speech recognition in this case? There you can play recordings done by professional speakers. You need no human agents in this case. The system is able to run 100 000 simultaneous outbound calls. That is not really a problem. Are you able to pay the phone bill in such a case? Are you able to handle the responses and the flames if you are using such a system? Will your own phone system not break down in such a case?

You like to have an accent free professional speaking agent for low cost?
Use the Avatar technology with professional recordings. But think that the called one will remember the sound of the voice. For the case you are calling the same number a second time you have to change the recordings. An agent can handle multiple calls by using the Avatar technology. But he has to listen to the caller for selecting the correct sound file played in answer to the called one.

You like human agents which are calling, but the costs should be very low?
No problem, search for one or more of the many call centers, which are working with using the technology like dialer and queues.

You like to have a quality call center, where the agents are taking time and handle each called one like a king?
Even that is possible, but in this case you cannot expect, that such a center is working on a per sale base. There are a lot of quality centers with high qualified agents available. All this centers have something in common: They are working only on an hourly base and you have to provide them good quality data with more information than only phone numbers. The call volume per hour and agent will be lower than from the other choices above, but the success rate will be much higher.

I know it is hard to bring quality if the broker or the customer thinks that everything is free and they need only pay for sales and not for the work, which is behind the sale and are even thinking that you need to take all the risk. The highest risk is their own product, which they are not able to sell by using a normal way like in a shop. Reject such offers like I have described it in “A LinkedIn offer where the broker likes to reinvent the slavery - David Goodstein”. The result of taking such an offer will be that you are destroying your own reputation. 

A good sale needs time. You are expecting a good quality work from your agents. Why are you making it hard for your agents by using such dialer where the called person hears a prerecorded message while you are connecting to your agents? 

If the caller gets it, that he is listening to a tape, he knows already that you nothing else than a Call Center. The sound of a recording is different than the greeting of from the agent even if the recording is from the same agent, which shall pick up the phone. That is not a technical issue it is depending from the stress and mood of the agent, which changes the sound of his voice during the shift. 

Use another system than such a dialer like described before. Your agents are not robots. Let the agent decide his own workflow and working speed. This will reduce the amount of called people over the phone per hour, but will increase the sales rate. Use a system like “Click to Dial” or “Code to Dial”. This can be simple done by your internal website with a button like “next caller” or by dial a code at the phone. In such a case the phone of the agent rings first and the VoIP System will dial the next caller in the list. Sure the agent need to wait until you reach someone, but the agent is already in the line and the called one does not hear a prerecorded message.

Let your customer provide the data of the people which you should call. Your customer knows better the target group of his product. For this he can make a better selection by using an address broker. Good address brokers in the US are trading their addresses only if you are using an IP-address from the US or you have a postal address in the US. The data, which get traded here from one center to other centers, are useless, because they got already used too many times. Good data are expensive, but your customer likes to sell his product. If your future customer does not like to provide data, than he is too greedy in any case and his product is from a very low value too. Such products don’t get sold good. In such a case you should take only the contract if he is paying per agent, hour, phone minutes, data and the necessary clean up against the “Do not call list”.

Make your own fair contracts and conditions for which you are working. These contracts, which I have seen until now from the brokers and customers don’t have even the value of the paper on which they will get printed. You have only duties and no rights in these contracts, which I have seen until now. They are only for ripping you off. If one point of your contract does not fit for your customer, than this point can get negotiated, but don’t let get yourself ripped off.

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David Goodstein is searching for a call center at LinkedIn, where he can pull money, the call center has the risk and the work. The difference to the other scams is only, that the offer is very well described including the cheat (I have only picked out the most important parts):

• "The only thing the customer is responsible for is the monthly monitoring fee. The fee ranges in price between $39 and $60 a month"
  Sorry, who likes the monitoring? In a normal world is it this one, who asks for the monitoring need to pay for it. In this case is it the client, for whom is done the work!
  
  
• "You are responsible for your VOIP minutes"
  Your client is not able to pay the phone bill for the calls to the United States, which are normally traded at www.voicetrading.com for US$ 0.0052 and at www.voicebuy.com between US$ 0.0045 and US$ 0.0075 per minute. This is already too expensive for his customer. How would his customer pay the bill in this case for the call center?
  Sorry Mr. Goodstein, but you like to have a gift? Which gift gets the call center? At this world is nothing for free.
  
  
• "Initially (first 2 weeks) your commission is based off of completed installations only and not on a transfer basis (payout is $150 per installation)."
  Mr. Goodstein, do you really think that someone can survive with $150 for 2 weeks even in a low wage country? Do you really think that you can get someone, which takes the risk of your business for you? I think that nobody will be so stupid and accept such an offer.
  
  
• "We require you to use our Non - Voice Avatar like technology."
  Wow Mr. Goodstein, you like to make a test drive with your Avatar? In such a case you have to pay the agents per hour and not per lead! How the agent will be able to handle difficult and angry people? Mr. Goodstein do you have even recordings for this kind of people? How long is your list of recordings? Should the agent listen to the customer or permanently search for the correct recordings in the list?
  
  
• "After the 2 week trial basis, if we see your team is capable of sending quality transfers on a consistent basis, we will pay you $6 per transfer, with a 60 second buffer)"
  We have seen already that you are not searching for quality. But even $6 is too less, if you accept only 59% of the transfer, like you have sent it in the Excel file, which is attached here. In this case the $6 is only $3.54. Mr. Goodstein, we all know that the US south states lost the war for the slavery. Do you like to reinvent the slavery again?

Dealing with an angry caller is never an easy task. Unfortunately, call center customer service representatives have to do it all the time. While the stress and anxiety of handling these situations fade as reps learn the ropes, the importance of handling difficult customers well never fades.

A dissatisfied customer is likely to tell between nine and 15 people about their experience, whereas a satisfied customer may only tell between four and six. That means that, unfortunately, when it comes to customer support, bad news travels faster than good.

There are methods that can help you to effectively handle difficult customers, reduce their anger and engage in conflict resolution. Below is information borrowed from the field of psychology, a profession that specializes in interacting with difficult individuals, reducing their distress and repairing the relationship. They are few customer service techniques that you can employ to help achieve customer service conflict resolution excellence!

• Work as quickly as possible
  As they say, time is money. The more efficient you can be means the more customers you can help throughout the day. Most, in fact 90 percent, of consumers would rather deal with issues over the phone than via chat, email or social media.
  As they say, time is money. The more efficient you can be means the more customers you can help throughout the day. Most, in fact 90 percent, of consumers would rather deal with issues over the phone than via chat, email or social media.
  
  
• Listen to the entire story first
  When you do get a difficult caller on the phone, ask the customer how you can help them. Then, sit back and listen, really listen. When a customer is explaining a problem, don’t interrupt them at all. Don’t cut them off. Don’t even cut in to ask for clarification. As they talk, have a pen and paper or computer tab handy. This way, you can jot down any details and potential questions you’d like to ask for clarification reasons after they’re finished.
  Not only will listening to the whole story first give you a better idea of the issue or question they’re calling about, but it will also help the customer feel better. There are few things more frustrating to an angry caller than not being heard. Let them talk while you actively listen and take notes.
  
  
• Look for warning signs during a conversation
  Chances are, your customer’s anger did not come out of nowhere. Look for signs that your customer’s emotional state is deteriorating: a clenched jaw, tense posture, clenched fists, fidgeting, significant changes in behavior (i.e. a talkative person who becomes quiet) or a more harsh tone of voice.
  
  
• Allow them to vent
  When the customer has reached the point of anger, allow them the space to voice their frustrations. Spend the time that is needed, do not interrupt and occasionally show support with statements such as, "I understand", "I agree, this can be frustrating", etc. Simply put, that's good customer service.
  
  
• Show empathy
  When the customer has finished venting, respond calmly and treat the individual with respect. Empathize with the individual with statements such as, " I understand how upsetting this must be for you".
  
  
• Don’t get into a power struggle
  By giving your customer the space to speak, you are putting the ball in their court and communicating to them that their situation deserves attention. Do not try to overpower the customer by cutting them off, telling them they are wrong or ending the conversation.
  
  
• Identify their mood state
  Are they irritated, annoyed, frustrated, anxious or angry? Accurately identifying their mood state will help you understand the causes for their mood (let’s call it anger and adjust our customer service).
  
  
• Make sure to understand their anger
  Try to figure out exactly why they are angry. This may take some work on your end as sometimes the thing they are yelling about might not actually be what they are angry about. Ask yourself the following questions: What triggered the anger? Were they criticized, ignored, treated unfairly or overwhelmed with hassles? Do they have unmet expectations, needs or wants? Do they lack options?
  Look at the situation from their point of view.
  
  
• Keep your cool
  Do not let yourself be manipulated by the customer’s anger. Always remain calm and professional. Speak softly and address the customer by name.
  
  
• Don’t try to justify your point
  Trying to speak rationally to someone who is angry is not effective and will make matters worse.
  
  
• Use active listening
  Try to paraphrase back what the customer has told you. Keep your statements short and simple. Avoid company jargon or referring to company policy.
  
  
• Try to find one point of agreement
  If the complaint is valid, acknowledge that.
  
  
• Ask for their solution to the problem
  Use phrases like, "Can you tell me what you need?"
  
  
• Break their problem down into manageable segments
  Start by addressing the issues that are easiest for you to solve. If the customer can see an immediate change, they will understand that you are helping them fix their problem.
  
  
• Try to solve the issue
  If you know the solution, fantastic! Dive right in. If you’re unsure, don’t make any promises that you can’t keep. "I’d love to help you with this issue" isn’t quite the same as saying, "I’ll send you a new one by tomorrow" if it can’t be done
  If you don’t know the answer, put the caller on hold and consult your manual or other resources as quickly as possible. Remember, an angry caller is only going to get more annoyed the longer he or she sits on hold. If you can’t resolve the issue quickly, you’ll need to ask a coworker or manager for help.
  If you actually need to transfer the caller to another department or manager, let them know first rather than just pushing a button and sending them along. Many annoyed customers are hesitant to be transferred because they fear their call will be dropped, they’ll be placed on hold again or they may be annoyed that they have to explain their issue again.
  One way some companies handle this is by having the first customer service rep actively call and then introduce the customer to the second service rep. This attended transfer gives the worker a chance to efficiently explain the problem and it does not leave the angry caller hanging.
  
  
• Always have a solution
  Provide information about why something is not possible, but always have a solution that might help meet their needs. If your company cannot meet their needs, refer them to one that can.
  
  
• Negotiate for a win-win
  Explain your viewpoint carefully and negotiate the differences.
  
  
• Repair the relationship
  Compliment the individual. Tell a joke.
  You may have to give them particularly special treatment. Not all companies are able to offer discounts or freebies to disgruntled customers, but many do. If you have a problematic customer who refuses to relax, you may have to throw them a freebie as a last resort.
  This is sure to calm them down because everyone loves free stuff. Even though it may seem like a loss of money upfront, paying to keep a customer loyal will likely pay for itself in the long run by cutting back on marketing costs. A new customer costs six or seven times more to market to than a returning one. Plus, it’ll save on the bottom line. Increasing customer retention by just two percent decreases overall costs by an average of 10 percent.
  Do whatever it takes to make sure the customer is happy at the end of the conversation.
  
  
• Take a deep breath
  and, most importantly of all, be as helpful as possible but never take an angry caller personally. The majority of the time, it’s not you. It’s them.

These techniques are the key to calming a customer, arriving at an effective solution and winning back their trust is being prepared to deal with a difficult customer. Practice these steps before the situation arises so you will be fully-prepared to handle anything that comes your way.