When running a call center, deciding if and when to scale is very important. Hiring too soon or too late can affect how much profit your company makes, so it is important to know how to prune expenses and update processes. In this article, we will explore how your call center can scale while ensuring that the business model is still profitable.
Triggers That Show The Appropriate Time To Scale A Call Center
There are some indications that show the call center expansion might be on the horizon. Many of these indicators assist in preparing ahead of time and also assist in managing a possible high demand of services.
1. Higher Levels Of Calls Being Received
If you notice that your team of tele callers is recieving more calls than usual, it means that you need to think of expanding your call center. Say, if your agents were catering to around two to three hundred calls every day but started getting three to five hundred calls on a daily basis, the number of missed calls is going to skyrocket. An increase in the number of calls often requires more resources to properly balance everything.
2. Lack of Employees for Current Database Issues
If your current workforce does not support outbound calls, this is clear evidence of the need to expand. Not having enough employees to reach your existing customers can constrain business growth and lead to missed business opportunities.
3. Changes to the Existing Products and Services
Subsequent to the launching of new products or services, there may be additional staffing and technology requirements for the new clientele. New expanded lines of products require greater investment on both marketing and selling activities which means the infrastructure of your call center needs to change too.
4. Improved Performance with Existing Set Up
If the system as it currently stands, provides positive results, this is the time to start thinking about expansion. Monitor monthly growth rates, check returns, and evaluate the system to check whether it is ripe for expansion.
Maximizing Profits with Expansion Objectives in Mind
There are some investments that those who run call centers need to take into account, and adequate profitability during growth is one of them. Here are some ideas to make sure the profits are maintained through the expansion phase:
1. Keep Track Of Your P&L Accounts
Profit and Loss Account statement sheds light on everything concerning one’s earnings, spending, and other income related profits in a month. Strategic management of employee absenteeism, call inflow, and other overhead expenses attempts to mitigate risks and guarantee expansion will not negatively impact the company’s desirable financial performance.
2. Spend Less On Customer Acquisition (COCA)
Advertising to acquire new clients is quite expensive. Dr. Vivek Bindra states that already engaging with customers is much easier and cost effective, specifically, seven times. COCA can be decreased if you bring more of your customers on board utilizing existing databases, and in turn, profitability can be increased.
3. Increase Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)
The revenue or output per one employee is captured by ARPU. To calculate ARPU assign costs like salaries, infrastructure, calling, and overhead rate, and, as a target, try to get a minimum production of top ten the expenditure made on the employee. It would be wise to craft a strategy towards achieving that is focused on reasonable cost and significant returns.
Innovation:
The Word That Defines Success
Consisting of products differentiating with each and every launch, marketing innovation is very vital for retention of interest with clients and customers. Some forms of innovations that contribute to a call center’s success include the following:
1. Service Innovation
Consumer expectations and behavior change every day which is why companies need to constantly adapt to improve services on a regular basis. Developing something “new” can entice customers to repeat purchases and also set yourself apart from the competition.
2. Marketing Innovation
The technological world is constantly changing and adapting and with it, new tools that can be used to easily improve and enhance the operations of your call center. This will make it possible for you to gauge the inflow of calls, strategies conversions better, and optimize business operations. Lastly, a call center has to constantly keep the pace with modern tools in order to stay competitive and save money.
Most Important Steps to Enable Effective Growth for a Call Center
In order to avoid major obstacles when dealing with business expansion, making use of these strategies will be most helpful to businesses of all sizes:
1. Learn Growth Patterns
Your call center’s monthly growth patterns should be tracked on a monthly basis and from this information, the appropriate time to scale will become clear along with the changes that need to be made.
2. Employ Digital Marketing Technolgies
Tools used in digital marketing make it easier to predict how much a company is likely to grow in the future, as well as track how responsive the audience is. Knowing the approximate marketing scope done and it’s potential impact helps in knowing the necessary expansion requirements and in making informed decisions.
3. Pay Attention to Technology and Infrastructure
When expanding, think about whether to scale up your existing infrastructure or build a new one from scratch. While modernizing your infrastructure will help you expand the business at lower costs, investing in new technology will improve the efficiency of operations, leading to higher profitability.
4. Safeguard Profitability Through Growth
Profit loss does not come with expansion so long as there is attention to efficiency, cost reduction, and optimization of business operations. Managing these variables alongside growth guarantees sustainable profitability.
Conclusion
For any call center to grow, it requires to put in great time and effort pre calculation, growth controlling measures, cost management, and other innovative measures to guarantee seamless development and success.
Your call center can thrive in a more competitive world by managing metrics such as ARPU, controlling costs like COCA, and keeping pace with product and technological innovation. Actively tracking growth patterns and ROI and best utilizing the data available to you will enable to further success strategies.
Categories: Telesales and Call Centre Operations