With the ubiquitous nature of smartphones and social media, both potential and existing customers have more opportunities to connect with businesses and brands – and vice versa – than ever before. No longer can a business thrive solely on the basis of high-quality products and services; in this age of constant connectivity, high-quality multi-platform customer service is the ultimate key to sustained success. While this is true in any field, it is especially relevant if you own and operate an automobile dealership.

You are not just selling cars, you are presenting a lifestyle choice, and a major component of that process is the ability to provide convenient and satisfying customer service that results in repeat business and positive word-of-mouth. Rather than handling these duties in-house, outsourcing your car dealership’s customer service to a reputable multi-channel contact center can make a real difference to your bottom line in many ways.

Reduce Operating Costs

Since most call centers serve multiple clients in a range of industries, the operating costs of the facility, equipment, maintenance, and training are spread out instead of footing the bill all by yourself. By the same token, these agents are experienced, knowledgeable, adept at dealing with customers in a courteous manner, and versatile enough to handle any situation that may arise. With everything already in place, you only pay for services as needed. Whether it’s on a regular basis, during peak periods or holidays, or if you find yourself shorthanded for any reason, the parameters depend entirely upon the unique needs of your dealership.

Increase Customer Satisfaction

Because strict quality control is the name of the game, you can rest assured that the agents representing your dealership will uphold the same high standards of professionalism and dedication to customer satisfaction exhibited by your in-house team. Entrusting your inbound and outbound customer service needs to a first-class call center means reduced hold times when customers try to contact you, and the extended hours offered by firms such as KPI Connect allow customers the convenience to connect with your dealership outside of traditional business hours.

Free Up Staff

Instead of tasking your skilled in-house team with answering common questions via phone, email, web chat, or social media, outsourcing these duties to experienced customer service specialists will free up your staff to do what they do best and focus their valuable time and effort on core business activities. Not only will outsourcing allow your staff to be more productive, but potential walk-in customers will appreciate receiving prompt attention rather than waiting for someone to finish up a phone call or email.

It does not really matter how great your product or service is, customers tend to remember their interaction with your company more. It is for this reason that a good customer service team and fast responses can improve the overall image of your company.

If your customers are experiencing long hold times, they will hang up, and every lost call is a potential customer lost. However, there are ways to improve the efficiency of your customer service department and ensure that your customers have a good experience with your company with every contact.

Service Level and Occupancy Rate

There are two important measurements used in call centers to determine their efficiency: Service Level and Occupancy Rate.

There are two different parameters of measurement to determine what the “Service Level” is:

1. Whether the agents at the call center are able to answer the calls
2. The quickness of the agent’s ability is to help customers and resolve queries or concerns

Occupancy Rate refers to the total call handling time and total after call work time and subtracts agents’ idle time. High occupancy rates indicate low agent availability and long hold times, which can lead to call drops and low service levels.

If your call volume exceeds the number of customer service agents you have, you are going to have a high occupancy rate. This is very stressful for customer service agents, because they are over-worked. This causes them to be stressed out and can lead to high turnover rates. You may have customer service agents who are well-trained and possess all of the skills and qualities needed to provide good customer service, but if they are over-worked and feeling stressed, they will not be able to empathize as efficiently with customers in order to provide good customer service.

One of the best solutions to this problem is to outsource your customer service calls to a call center. This eases the workload of your employees, so they will be better able to do their jobs.

Contrary to popular belief, it does not take jobs away from your employees, but rather makes their jobs easier and leaves them happier. There are also many other benefits to outsourcing, as well.

Benefits Of Outsourcing Your Customer Service Department

Answer more calls

During peak call times, it can be very difficult for a handful of in-house employees to answer all of the calls. They may not have the experience needed to get through the calls quickly enough and then answer the next call before the customer hangs up. Also, whenever your office closes, there is no one there to answer calls after-hours.

A call center solves all of these problems. Their customer service agents are trained to handle calls quickly and efficiently. Fewer calls will be dropped due to long hold times because they hire ample agents that are very well trained. Some call centers, like KPI Connect, even offer after-hours operations, answering calls after you have gone home.

Customer Satisfaction

It does not matter why your customers call, they expect someone to answer when they call. If their calls are not answered, or if the hold times are too long, it leads to low customer satisfaction levels. However, with outsourcing, none of these problems are present. Not only are the agents trained to portray your company’s image and make your customers happy, they are trained to do it quickly, as well.

Increased Sales and Profits

You might be thinking that outsourcing is going to cost more money than it is worth. However, it can actually increase your profits. Simply by answering all of the calls, your profits will grow. Happy customers are likely to buy more, meaning there is potential for even more growth.

Outsourcing is not a decision you should make without some consideration. Lots of people have reservations about it but, consider the amount of benefits that outweigh the drawbacks and the potential to make your employees and customers happier. It is a great idea to at least consider outsourcing your customer service calls. It would most likely increase the efficiency of your customer service department and increase your profits, which is a good enough perk that most businesses would not pass up on.

Regardless of what kind of business you are running, having a prompt and efficient customer service department is imperative. There is no better way to foster strong customer relations, boost your retention rates, and increase loyalty to your brand than through solid customer service. However, as your business expands you will likely come across the expected growing pains, such as more questions and feedback from your consumer base. If your customer service department is not fully prepared to deal with these demands, it can seriously damage your company’s image and reputation.

An in-house call center can work in certain situations, but when a business experiences growth, the shortcomings of keeping it in-house quickly become apparent. Before getting to that point, it is a better idea to examine all the potential drawbacks of maintaining a call center in-house.

Time Requirements

Time is a resource that is crucial in all aspects of business, and doubly so when it comes to customer service. Running a call center in-house will require considerable amounts of time from your employees. Every call from a customer must be received, every question answered, and all feedback heard. With an in-house call center, this means that you employees are tied to the phones, which doesn’t leave them with much time to attend to any other important or day-to-day duties that they may have.

A simple solution to this problem is outsourcing the call center duties. Once you do so, your in-house staff can return their attention to the tasks that are vital to keeping your company running in top form. What is more, when you outsource, all your call center duties will be handled by trained professionals whose primary focus is dealing with everything that customer service entails.

Hiring Call Center Exclusive Staff

Some businesses can’t afford to assign their existing employees to call center duties. If that is the case, the next step is to hire and train staff exclusive to the call center. You will also require IT experts and HR agents in order to ensure that everything runs as smoothly as possible. Unfortunately, the choice to hire staff to handle all aspects of the in-house call center is something that comes with a hefty price tag attached, particularly if extensive training is needed.

Rather than going through the entire recruitment, hiring, and training process, outsourcing your call center can actually cost you less in the long run. You will get access to agents that are already trained in customer service and call center technology, saving you the cost of training and IT and HR requirements.

The Cost of Call-Center Infrastructure

Incorporating call center infrastructure into your existing business is going to be a large expense, and not one that should be taken lightly. Consider everything that is required for essential call center operations: adequate office space, agent workstations, and all relevant technology and hardware. These costs can be an incredible drain on your resources and what is more, those costs will likely increase over the years due to upgrade necessity and maintenance requirements.

Outsourcing your call center needs can spare you these costs and in addition, be a far more affordable solution in the years to come. All maintenance and upgrades will be dealt with by the outsourcing company, removing that particular problem from your yearly to-do list.

Outsourcing is the Solution

Dealing with customer service in-house is no small task and will require serious commitment, funding, and time that you, your employees, and your business may not be able to spare. An argument in favor of in-house call centers is the aspect of control, but if you choose to partner with a reliable, trusted outsourcing company, like KPI Connect, that will not be an issue. Instead, the company will work together with you in order to ensure that all call center operations are handled exactly the way you want. Call KPI Connect to find out how we can help you.

Call volume for any business fluctuates from day to day. Some days you may have little to no calls, however, other days you may have very high call volume. If you are not prepared to deal with the number of calls you are receiving, you may end up missing calls, which is bad for business. Every missed call is potentially money lost, whether they are customer service calls or sales calls. So, it is extremely important to take call volume into account for your business.

Here are some of the benefits when you outsource your overflow to a call center like KPI Connect.

Customer Satisfaction

When a customer calls to make a complaint, ask a question or to make a purchase, they expect someone to answer that call. If your in-house staff gets swamped and does not get to the phone in time to answer, it understandably leads to unhappy customers. Satisfied customers and good customer service lead to returning customers and can even generate new customers due to customers recommending your company to other people.

Peak Hours and Extended Hour/After Hours Operation

Sometimes peak hours are affected by things like seasonal sales, customers having questions or problems with new products, or your business hours. During peak call hours, it can be extremely hard to answer every call. A call center is better adapted to handle them such times as these. They can also handle your calls after your business is closed for the day because they can have extended hours. This means that even more of your calls will be answered.

Lower Training and Equipment Costs for Your Company

Training your employees to handle customers’ calls in a polite, professional manner while also solving customers’ problems and complaints can become a large business expense. The equipment and supplies add up, as well. This is entirely avoided by outsourcing your overflow to a call center. They are already established, meaning their staff is already trained and they already have the facility, complete with the necessary equipment.

Call Center Employees will be Trained on Your Brand

Your company’s values and brand do not have to be compromised if you make the decision to outsource. By telling the outsourcing company what your values are and what you do and do not want, they will have the ability to represent your company fully. Together you can write a script for your company that the representatives will stick to while on the phone with your customers, which also gives them the opportunity to advertise more of your services and products while ensuring no call goes unanswered.

Sales and Profits

You may assume that outsourcing will cost more money than it will make for your company. On the contrary, it can actually make you more in profits. By simply answering the calls during peak hours and after hours, there is understandably more money to be made on sales because more customers are attended to and fewer calls are missed. The less calls that are missed, the more money there is to be made.

Employee Happiness

An over-worked employee is often not a productive employee. Managing phone calls can be time consuming and can be hard to manage along with all of the other business operations on a day to day basis, leaving your employees stressed out. You do not have to let the quality of your customer service slide, or other business operations become less effective. Outsourcing your overflow calls will free up workload and cause your in-house staff to be happier and more productive.

Making the decision to outsource your overflow calls is nothing to take lightly. Lots of people have reservations about outsourcing, but it can be a very agreeable arrangement for both you and the company you outsource to. By expressing your values and concerns to the company you are considering outsourcing to, you can rest assured that they will be heard and adhered to.

Outsourcing can maximize your profits, create a happier and more productive workplace for your employees, and save you money. When you outsource to KPI Connect, you will also be provided with the results of the calls that can tell you what is working and what is not. So, for all these reasons and more, you should consider outsourcing if you are concerned about your call volume, overflow, and your customers.