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Bangladesh Call Center Marketing [ Mar 28 2009 02:09:35 ]
As we know that the marketing is the key element of any business activity. And if it is a service oriented firm then there have nothing to do without marketing the products to the target customer. The Bangladesh call center companies should consider outstanding marketing techniques for survives the industry. Here we mention some common marketing techniques that the Bangladesh call center can apply to their business. Those successful marketing techniques will increase your sales and effective for building your call center businesses.

Keep adding something new to your product line:
If every time you add something new to your call center business you create an opportunity to get more sales of your product. As for instance, something as simple as adding new information on your website provides another selling opportunity when customers visit your website to see the new information.
Adding a new product or service to your product line usually makes a big increase in sales. Adding a new product or service to your product line increases your sales in 3 different ways:
1. It will attract new customers who were not interested in your current products and services.
2. It will generate repeat sales from existing customers who also want to have your new product.
3. It will enable you to get grater sales by combining two or more items into special package offers.

Become a valuable resource:
Try to be a resource for your prospects and customers. You can do it easily; supply them free information and help them do things easier, faster and less expensively. You will get another opportunity to sell something every time they come back to you for get free help.

Separate yourself from your competitors:
Try to create a reason for customers to do business with you instead of with your competitors offering the same or similar products. As like, provide faster results, easier procedures, personal attention or a better guarantee to them.
Establish the unique features you offer to customers that your competitors do not offer. Promote that features in all of your advertising and marketing. Give your prospects a cause to do business with you instead of with your competitors and you will automatically get more product sales.

Promote the final result:
Keep your mind that your customers do not really want your product or service; they just want the benefit produced by using your product or service.
As for instance, car buyers want comfortable transportation with a certain value. Dental patients want healthy teeth without suffering any pain. Call center customers want professional service in cheap price.
Make sure your call center web pages, sales letters and other sales messages are promoting the final result your customers want.

Prepare yourself for changes:
Change is the greater challenge to your call center business success. Remember that the days are gone when a call center business could continuously grow by simply repeating what it did successfully in the past. Aggressive and innovative competitors and rapidly changing technology and environment make it impossible.
Expect change and get-set-ready for it. Don't wait until your profit declines to take action. Establish the tendency of looking for early signs that something is changing. Then confront it before you start to lose profit.

Bangladesh Call Center Maintenance [ Mar 15 2009 00:29:15 ]
The call center management challenges A successful call center management operation requires a multitude of skills—managerial, troubleshooting, negotiating, and patience, not to mention a personality that works well under pressure and is able to manage the different types of CSRs who will work at the call center. Most internal call center operations should have ready access to technical support for resolving hardware, software, and communications problems including familiarity with computer and communications technologies is an asset as well. A requirement for new job-related management skills resulted with the steady growth in the call center industry.


The position of call center manager has evolved and is now a portable, definable position, recognized from company to company and across different parts of industry.

As a significant element of customer-centered business the global growth of call centers has led to the employment of a large number of people in call centers. Since the growth of call centers outpaces the supply of employees, the industry is not saturated. This industry has had a difficult time attracting a steady supply of qualified workers. Turnover in the call center business is a major problem as well. Turnover rates are significantly higher than those of other business sector. A recent benchmarking study of call centers done by the Purdue University Center for Customer-Driven Quality found that turnover is an industry-wide problem. The survey marked that inbound centers have an average annual turnover of 26% for full-time reps and 33% for part-timers. Nearly half of the call centers said that part-timers handle 5% or less of their total calls.

However, in the context of the axiom that "good management of human resources means happy, long-term employees," the guidelines and experiences of successful call center managers can assist new and existing call centers to manage the human resources that are so essential for success.

Workforce Management Automated Systems
The varying mix of contact volume, coupled with the growing complexity of staff scheduling (longer operating hours, weekend shifts, mixture of full- and part-time staff, etc.) make the problem of workforce management ideally suited for the computer. Workforce management (WFM) software, united with the historical and real-time statistics of the ACD, is an essential tool for today’s professionally managed call center.

The necessary functions associated with a workforce management software system are as follows:
1.Call quantity forecasting.< br /> A WFM system uses historical and current call information from the ACD and other contact center systems to predict future call quantity based on overall calling trends, seasonal factors, and other predictable calling patterns. Forecasts are automatically updated with new information about contact patterns through a direct edge with contact center systems such as the ACD, outbound dialer, or email/fax servers.

2.Staffing calculation.
A telephone traffic engineering technique is used to establish the required number of staff based on the forecast workload for incoming calls. This technique, called Erlang C, takes into account the arbitrary arrival of calls into the center, as well as the “hold for the first agent” queuing that typically takes place. Other mathematical models are used to factor in the chronological workload of emails and/or outbound calling.

3.Staff scheduling.
“Bodies in chairs” staff requirements by the side of non-productive time estimates (for breaks, trainings, meetings, etc.) are used to determine a schedule requirement for each half-hour or quarter-hour period. A set of most favorable schedules is then created based on these requirements and a call center’s unique scheduling rules and constraints. These schedules are then assigned to staff based shift bid system and employee preferences.

4.Day-to-day performance tracking.
Perhaps the most significant component of a workforce management system is the intra-day comparison of actual performance against the plan. Call center management must actively compare authentic workload by half-hour to the forecast, and actual number of staff on the phones to the program plan. The call center manager needs to see these changes as they are happening, in order to make required adjustments to meet service goals.

Call Center Workforce Management Tools to Justify Cost Not all call centers need an automated system to bring about workforce management tasks. Need is a function of size and operating intricacy. Usually call centers with more than 30 agents with an increasingly complex scheduling environment (round-the- clock operations or an increasing volume of emails/faxes, for example) can cost justify automating these functions.

An automated workforce management system normally produces measurable improvements in the subsequent areas:

1.More efficient schedules.
The savings linked with more efficient scheduling can take many forms, including reduced overall staff hours, reduced need for overtime, and identification of overstaffed periods to offer time off without pay. Workforce management scheme users generally experience a minimum decline of staff hours of 2 % and average potential is in the 5 – 10% range.

2.Automation of workforce management tasks.
Depending on how often forecasting and scheduling responsibilities take place and to what degree they are currently automated, there is a wide range of potential savings in staff time by automating these tasks with a full-featured workforce management coordination. It is generally expected that at least 25% of administrative and managerial time currently stanch to the manual performance of these tasks can be saved.

3.Reduction in workforce shrinkage.
Many hours of staff time are lost in most call centers due to extreme amounts of non-productive time (time spent not handling calls). An automated workforce management system can provide historical and real- time information on schedule observance and schedule exceptions for better management and control of staff, sinking workforce shrinkage by 2-5% in most call centers.

4.Reduction in network costs.
By creating a set of schedules that minimizes understaffing as well as overstaffing, implementing workforce management results in a more steady level of service to callers and may reduce queue time and toll-free network costs.

5.Increased revenues.
For call centers that identify revenue by answering calls (catalogs, reservations centers, etc.), workforce management computerization can help reduce queue times and improve service, thereby reducing the number of abandons and increasing the number of revenue calls completed.

Increasing Staff Costs
Many businesses confront a major problem: rising staff costs. Over the next few years, management of call center staff will move to the forefront of corporate concerns because
•The average call center spends between 60 and 70% of its annual budget on staff salary.
•Globally, agent turnover rates average 22% and approach 50% in some case.
•Increase in staff absenteeism is and is as high as 17% in the health care industry, 10% in the telecommunications and consumer products markets, and averages 9% across all vertical markets.
•Over 80% of companies use external advertisements to search for agents and 72% use recruitment agencies; both of them involve significant costs.
•Call center location clustering is increasing and has caused severe shortages of qualified staff in places. In most countries with major call/ center clusters, recruitment is becoming very difficult.
•There has been a rapid increase in the growth of the call center sector.
•The requirement of skilled and experienced agents and training costs will increase accordingly with the growth of CRM and multimedia interaction.
Cutting call center costs
The call-center is supposedly the place with a lot of phones and people sitting next to each other talking at the same time. There is a lot can be done to cut call-center expenses. But the first step is to measure them and measure the performance of call-center. It's a superior idea to start with running costs. There are some questions that web-site can answer easily, for instance put product brochures, manuals or frequently asked questions online, then huge time will be saved.

Before making any changes measure the conversion of calls into leads and sales. There might be a solution which is a great improvement, but it cannot be done in this way, unless having a numbers that prove the idea. The conversion should be check regularly and try to understand why it is higher or lower, or why it is getting better.

A lot of calls almost about the same thing use auto responder, which will suggest selecting suitable area and probably answering the questions. But again, remember to assess and control; now it will be the number of callers who depart the line.

To get much more sale-oriented calls, it’s actually not only about call center, but make sure everywhere print a phone number; also print a web-site address, where people can find detailed information. Creating a separate web-site for a single product or service will be helpful for much more sale-oriented incoming calls.

Bangladesh Call Center Training [ Mar 15 2009 00:20:09 ]
Without a proper phone training program in place chances are that customer's telephone experience with the organization isn't being maximized. The phone skills and techniques used by the team members are essential to organization's image.

Customers deserve top slash telephone customer service. Anything less and missing out on a golden opportunity to develop long term, loyal relationships with customers and potential customers.

To get one chance to make a first intuition. It is essential to creating a positive first impression for effective phone answering skills that sets the tone for the rest of the customer’s interaction with the organization.

For achieving a customized phone training program to improve business, phone etiquette in business office or call center contact the experts who offer training for Call Center. To establish telephone etiquette excellence, experiences help organizations. Creating powerful and lasting telephone based customer experiences training experts help customer service call centers, small medical offices, and all types of organizations. Customer’s first impression of organization is often a telephone call. Implementation of an effective telephone etiquette skill training program is essential.

Training Courses
Call Center Foundations Training Course
This course was designed specifically for the business person entering or transferring to a call center, and others accountable for interfacing with call center professionals. It is of most value to:
• Leaders stimulating with forming a call center
• Professionals new to the call center task
• Managers and executives with call center supervision
• Recently promoted agents and team leads and those with getting higher responsibilities
• IT, human resources, marketing, and other professionals that sustain or interface with the company call center or help desk
• Consultants and sales professionals with call center clients and scenario
Call Center Foundations presents the 'big picture", and introduces participants to the module parts, job roles, and performance factors that make up today's world-class call center.

Call Center Manager Training and Certification
To brush up most important call center management skills and update the vision for building and leading a highly qualified team in compliance with current best practices.

Call Center Supervisor Training and Certification
This is the most up-to-date training and certification program for call center supervisors. The v2.0 CCCS certification preparatory program trains supervisors in important communication, leadership and coaching skills, and presents best practices for the development of advanced agent training, motivation, maintenance, collaboration, performance capacity, and self-assessment programs.

Call Center Metrics, Analytics, & Reporting
This seminar equip with a methodology for creating and using metrics that help to manage call center and drive positive behaviors. Essential Skills and Knowledge for Effective Incoming Call Center Management. This training course help to build a solid foundation for successful call center management.
Call Center Training usually highlights training modules related to:
Call Center Profession
This deals with recognizing the functions, arrangement and key players of a typical call center and the subsequent uniqueness of the business.

Increased Customer Relationship
This generally refers to the effective ways using Key Performance Indicators to balance the contradictory interests of the call center's stakeholders or the valued customers.

Workforce Management
This aspect of the training relates to the forecasting, scheduling, occupancy and staffing principles and their consequent impact on the life of the CSR and the success of a call center.

Call Center Technologies
The training on call center technologies bring about excellence in customer service, through state-of-the-art call routing applications and a mixture of other latest performance management tools.

Performance Management
This refers to the different ways through which the long-term value of a customer could be defined. Also,the application of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) ethics to recognize and skillfully respond to the valued customers.

The different channels for delivery of training comprise of:
• Face-to-face classroom training
• Conference sessions
• Web-based seminars (webzines)
• Self-paced training (books and toolkits)

Bangladesh Professional Training Institute (Bangladesh)
Description:
BPTI has entered into the skill development sector of Bangladesh in early 2006, with the platform of R&G Group. BPTI has earned the reputation of being a cost effective and career oriented training institute in Bangladesh. This has happened as BPTI got the support from the experienced and committed faculty and management team work hard.

BPTI's Services for - Domestic & International Call Centre Support includes:
• Call Center Agent Training
• Call Center Management Training

BPTI Training Contents:
• CUSTOMER SERVICE
• GLOBAL ACCENT
• CULTURE SENSITIZATION
• COMMUNICATIVE ENGLISH

Institute of Call Center technologies (ICCT) (Bangladesh)
Description:
Institute of Call Center Technologies is the leading training and development organization in Bangladesh. ICCT driven by a vision to provide cutting edge learning solutions to organizations and individuals to succeed and enhance performance, Of training and consulting professionals. ICCT trying to bear best international practices and deep local Knowledge to their clients and students. It is the first call center training institute in Bangladesh which actually provides the total solution including softwares, technologies, human resource and the technical supports of a call center industry with an office space of 1500sqft situated at Farmgate, Dhaka, Bangladesh

URL: http://www.icctglobal.com/
Part of Hero Group, Hero Mindmine Institute (HMIL) a subsidiary announced the launch of a call centre training institute in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Windmill Education Services (WESL), the authorized Business Partner of Hero Mindmine Institute Limited for the country of Bangladesh is the newest venture of the Windmill Group, which is involved in human development sector. Collaborating with the vision of Hero Mindmine, WESL aspires to build Skilled Human Resources by giving the light of training & education and enhance the career performance. Its recent collaboration with Hero Mindmine shows the companies commitment in bring state of art know how to Bangladesh market for giving world class training and courses for developing skilled manpower.

Bangladesh is the country where the potentiality of IT related business is very high. Bangladesh has an underdeveloped, yet a very promising ICT sector," said Ram Venuprasad, project manager, Technical Assistance for the Development of Bangladesh's ICT sector, Commonwealth Secretariat, at a press briefing. "With the current potential, Bangladesh should have generated at least $32 million a year through outsourcing and other services, rather than its actual $3-4 million," he mentioned. He reasoned that this redundancy is, due to the lack of an adequate marketing plan. "Hopefully with the completion of this project, Bangladesh would be standing firm with the marketing strategies that it always missed previously,"

Windmill Group got the first HCCP and Call Center license under the umbrella of ONECALL, another wings of the Group. The 200 seats ready to use call center is backed by Software solution from Drishti and hardware by HP. Group has a plan to expand it to 1000 seats within February 2009.

The contact details of Windmill Education Services Ltd. is as follows –
Hero Mindmine Institute Limited (Windmill Education Services Ltd. )
House # 90, Road # 5, Block –F
Banani, Dhaka-1213
Phone # 9893773, 8835379
Fax # 9891253
Email: info@windmillbd.com

Bangladesh Call Center Resources [ Mar 14 2009 23:58:45 ]
The call center business is new at Bangladesh. People are thinking about start this business but as it is new so they have no more information and experience that how to start and what resources are needed. Our website will give you some useful background about the resources needed for starting a call center.

Call center can be "in-house" or "outsourcing". In-house call center functions as a part of a business and provide service to that particular business and an outsourcing call center is a business that provides call center services to other companies. Another important matter is that call centers can handle inbound calls, outbound calls, or both.

Starting a call center is a time-consuming, complex, and expensive task. The steps also depending on rather you plan to be an in-house or outsourcing call center. Similarly, the equipments and other resources are also variable for different types of call center.

At the very first you will need a license from the Government to do the call center business in Bangladesh. The BTRC (Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission) provide the call center license on behalf of the Bangladesh government. After getting the license you have to plan for your whole business. To know more about the BTRC and call center license in Bangladesh please visit our home page.

This is a critical step to gather the resources for the call center establishment. Call center equipment and software can be too much expensive. The features available on the equipment and software you buy will dictate the types of services you can offer and how efficient and effective you will be. Once you buy the equipments and software then you must need a training to operate those. Normally, your vendor will install those equipments and software and provide some training to use those. The vendor will also be able to tell you when you need to place your order with them to have the system installed and staff trained for your launch date.

The most important resources for a call center are human. Hire and train staff is much more important. Hire and train more staff than you project you will need for your call center. It has two impacts. First, not all of the employee you hire will be retained. Despite your best screening and hiring efforts, some employee will quit before they finish training, while others will quickly conclude that it is not the perfect job for them, and still other employees will find a better job. Second reason is that when you go live there will undoubtedly be unanticipated problems, which extra staff can help resolve.

The most of the call center resources will be provided by the different kinds of organization. You also can get some credit facilities from them. You can contact with BTRC for more information about the call center resources providers. In Bangladesh there also have more agencies those who provide the call center resources. You also can find them on the internet. The local news papers also provide the information and advertisement about the call center resource providers.

Bangladesh Call Center Establishment [ Mar 14 2009 23:51:28 ]
Introduction
Critical factors that need to be considered when setting up Call Centre. The matters those are vital to the successful establishment of a best practice Call Centre, such as telecommunication and information systems requirements, office facilities and design. Resource issues such as staffing, structure, recruiting, initial training and the development of integrated marketing and communication strategies.


Major Establishment Factors
Factors associated with establishing Call Centre major factors, including telecommunication and information systems, facilities management, resourcing, staffing and integrated marketing and communication strategies.

The detailed task analysis listed below provides a checklist of the key elements related to the establishment of a Call Centre.
Organizational design: Span criteria – number of levels and functions Support roles: infrastructure – important technology and telecommunications (IT&T), facilities management, financial analysis.
General: human resource manager, staff development and training manager, administration / office support manager.
Operations: quality assurance manager, resource manager, forecasting / scheduling and reporting analyst.
Facilities planning: site selection; detailed facilities design – requirements / specifications; viable location analysis; fit out and construction; space planning.
Business model: business case analysis; business performance and expectations.
Processes: performance reporting; processes and procedures; key performance indicators (KPIs); forecasting / scheduling; quality assurance.
IT Systems and telephony: PABX / ACD; call monitoring; local area network (LAN); data, desktop support; server platform; mainframe; software; security.
Business recovery: viable operating options to maintain business operations in the event of business interruptions and unplanned disasters
Human resources management: critical competencies and job standards; job descriptions; roles; accountabilities; pay and rewards; human resource policies.
People: skills; knowledge and competencies; recruitment; training. .

Telecommunications
It is important to put the right telecommunication systems in place from the beginning, as mistakes are expensive and difficult. The right technology for a Call Centre is very difficult to determine as understanding technology requires a comprehension of the terminology that is being used.
An agency should allow sufficient time to develop an effective telecommunications plan. The initial audit of the existing telephony infrastructure and call analysis will provide the basis for deciding future telecommunication requirements for the Call Centre.

Information systems requirements
One of the key building blocks of a Call Centre is the information systems that will be established. The suitability of the existing information system will need to be assessed. A consultant and / or systems integrator should be consulted to help choose the most appropriate technology for the agency's needs.

Hardware
Hardware, the physical equipment used to operate the software, includes the screens, processing unit or drive, CD-reader, keyboard and printer. There are a number of different hardware figurations, including stand-alone personal computers (PCs), networked PCs that are part of a local area network (LAN) linked to a central database and management control system, and an existing mainframe computer.

Software
One of the most important considerations in choosing software is the question of compatibility with the hardware that will be used. Customer contact software should provide CSOs with proper customer information so that they can handle inquiries properly. The system should have the ability to manage new callers as well as regular customers, and allow for easy and flexible scripting. It should also incorporate automatic tracking of call outcomes and have a calendar and diary that records date and time automatically when entries are made and can schedule follow-up calls as appropriate.

Workforce Management Systems
The main goal of workforce management is to determine the optimum ratio of staff to call volumes and service level standards. The use of roistering software can provide significant staffing efficiencies. Proper facility planning will have a major impact on the operational performance of the Call Centre. The following outlines the key project steps involved in facility planning.

1. Benchmarking
a.Network conduits and cabling Identify similar Call Centers
b. Site visits to three or four Call Centers;

2. Sizing
Estimate calls volumes;
Determine staffing and position level
Estimate furniture and space required
Incorporate information gained into design.

3. Site design
Incorporate furniture and room requirements;
Infrastructure: cabling, conduits and rooms;
Select preliminary finishes, lighting, and decor;
Validate space required.

4. Site selection
Determine selection criteria;
Site visits to buildings in top two or three locations.
Select top two sites - begin lease negotiations

5. Agency approval
Lease signed, approve final floor plan;
Approve all furniture;
Approve infrastructure design.

6. Construction and documentation
Permits;
Lighting and plumbing plans;
Furniture and electrical plans.

7. Budding
Approve final finishes, lighting, decor;
Order furniture;
All infrastructure hardware / software ordered;
General contractor hired.

8. Actual construction Demolition / construction: walls;
Infrastructure: rooms, cabling, electrical, plumbing.
9. Voice / data Infrastructure installation
Network conduits and cabling;
Infrastructure hardware / software installed;
All vertical and horizontal cabling complete

10. Furniture Installation
Modular furniture base installed;
Infrastructure cabling installed within furniture;
All communications outlets wired & tested.

11. Site preparation and move-in
Supporting vendor contracts installed;
Transition of facilities management;
Move-in

12. Finish Construction
Lighting, ceiling, security installed;
Finishes - painting and decor;
Office furniture installed.

Office Equipment
Running of the Call Centre among the resources required for the efficient office equipment such as fax machines, photocopiers and printers, whiteboards, training room furniture and equipment, TV / VCR, overhead projector and shelves for stationery and other office items.

Security
In a Call Centre adequate provision should be made for security. This includes restricted access to customer records and the database, confidential material, and personnel files. The telecommunications and information systems room is also likely to be a restricted area with access codes required. The Call Centre must also have adequate protection against fire, water and other damage.

Staffing
Appropriate staffing is one of the most critical aspects in establishing a Call Centre. Ensuring that correct numbers of staff are recruited and deciding on what levels they will be hired are two key decisions in effective human resource management. The number of calls and their duration are the two important factors in determining the staff numbers required in a Call Centre. Estimating call volumes is more difficult in an inbound Call Centre than in an outbound Call Centre. The basic process for estimating staff numbers is as follows:

Step 1 - Determine the number of calls to be made / received;
Step 2 - Determine the average talk time for each call and after-call work time;
Step 3 - Determine the actual productive time of a CSO.
When calculating staff, the number of calls handled per CSO is directly linked to the service level objectives and call quality outcomes. In other words, a focus on call quality outcomes may mean fewer calls handled per CSO.

Organizational structure
It is important to develop a structure that provides overall effective performance management within a Call Centre. A typical organizational structure for a 30-seat Call Centre. Typically a Call Centre with fewer than 10 CSOs would have a Call Centre manager, team leader and a combined support staff member / CSO. A Call Centre with more than 50 CSOs would have three to four team leaders, senior CSO levels, specialist support staff, a workforce analyst and a staff development / quality assurance manager. Support staff for Call Centres includes information technology and telecommunications specialists and finance and administration personnel.

CONCLUSION
The Call Centre needs to be integrated into the agency's overall marketing strategy to maximize its effectiveness. This will help to coordinate the various agency initiatives. This coordination will ensure that the Call Centre is not faced with unexpected call volumes because it was unaware of a planned marketing event. Unexpected call volumes that are not handled efficiently can lead to widespread customer dissatisfaction, destroying the success of the marketing system.