SME - Call center

[ineedmorehp]

Inline with the Good investment or business venture thread,
and for the benefit of all here are some details on operating small-scale (5-20+ agents) call center.

First of all, call/contact center is not easy money. You need to have budget for x number of people/agents/I.T., rent of facility, and telco.

There are several ways to earn and below are the most common:

Inbound - basically agents receive incoming calls. These calls can be technical and non-technical (e.g.: inquiries, directions, help desk/I.T. services, order taking, and alike - madami pa). You get paid here either PER HOUR, PER HOUR PER AGENT, or PER PERFORMANCE - successfuly made sale, appointment, etc.

Outbound - opposite of inbound, wherein agents make calls to clients and businesses to sell, market/survey, make an appointment, credit/debit card pulling, and alike. You can get paid either PER HOUR/PER HOUR PER AGENT, PER PERFORMANCE (mostly).

And

Seat Lease - here you own a call center with complete I.T. equipment, offices, workstations (desk, computer, handset/headset, LCD, internet-ready, telco line, dialers, etc.). This involves huge amount of investment in order to complete the facility. This is the simplest way to earn. You get paid for each seat leased per shift and/or day. Shift = 8-9 hours; 3 shifts per day.

For the inbound and outbound, you need a campaign/program which is provided by direct clients/contacts or brokers.

Brokers are the people who look for prospect clients in abroad to outsource their telemarketing, inbound help desk/support, etc. and you don't have to worry going abroad. Of course, payment from client can be directed to you or the broker. Be sure your broker is not a fly-by-night; gone after receiving the payment of your client. Do you homework.

Direct clients/contacts - you happen to know a person who worked in a call center and dealt directly with brokers and/or clients. Sometimes, relatives and friends in overseas are asked to get clients for you. It is also possible that they center has overflow and just outsource the project to you or lease in your facility to handle such.

Other sources of clients can be off-shore/outsource directories and internet.

Now that you have client(s), you need people to run your program/campaign! ...Agents, team leader, Quality Assurance, Managers, and of course I.T. people.

Sana informative 'to sa inyong lahat...

[russpogi]

Ayos to Jan ah! Gusto ko sana nito kaso 'ala pang pera pang-invest!

[ineedmorehp]

Ei there! Kami we started small lang din 5 agents and the facility were given to us for free. Well not really free but in exchange of the services we rendered in building their call center.

There are lots of people we met and went into the biz. Some were successful while others "pinang hinaan ng loob" because of non-paying/payment of campaign/program, which we have experience as well.

Btw, we have some campaigns which is open to interested parties. THe reason why we're not running it is because of insufficient funds of course. Small time lang so we can't handle everything.

[Chip]

how are the calls setup ba? Voice over IP?
do all call centers need a dedicated leased line?

[vice]

ok to ah. We have an office space that can run as a small call center. Pano ko ba ma-contact yung mga brokers na yan?

[ineedmorehp]

*Chip - sir depends sa client and/or budget.

*vice - we have some campaigns that pays good at the same time reliable client and campaign for expansion. You might ask: bakit di nyo nalang patakbuhin kayo mismo? Answer: we don't have enough space and/or funds to do so. SME lang kami. Kaya kami nagkaron ng extra and/or for expansion dahil natuwa samin client and/or client referrals.