What is an inbound call centre?

A key contact point between consumers and businesses, inbound call centres play a vital role in a wide range of organisations. But what exactly are inbound call centre services and how do they work? Keep reading for the answers to these questions and more.

How do inbound call centres work?

Inbound call handling centres are set up to receive incoming calls from customers, or prospective customers. Many of the calls are from customers who have questions about products or services, or who want to resolve problems.

These call centres can be run in-house or by specialist third-parties. In both cases, it is essential that effective telephone answering systems are set up to ensure calls are taken and dealt with as efficiently as possible. In addition, the customer service representatives tasked with answering the calls must be well trained so that they can serve as effective brand ambassadors for the businesses they represent.

What services do inbound call centres provide?

Inbound call centres can provide a number of important services. For example, agents may take sales and process payments directly over the phone, and they are often an important contact point for product support queries and problems. This could include answering questions about products or services, helping customers navigate the purchasing process, updating account information, giving delivery information, changing passwords and more.

They might also be involved in upselling and cross-selling. For example, subscription-based companies might take calls from people who want to upgrade or change their existing plans. In situations like these, inbound call agents may be trained to carry out the upgrades themselves or to redirect the calls to sales agents who can perform this task.

What are inbound call management strategies?

Customers and prospective clients who call your business will be at different stages of the buying process. This means that to make the most of your inbound call centre, you must ensure you have effective strategies in place to handle a variety of queries. As part of this, it’s crucial that your phone systems are capable of handling the volume of calls you receive, and routing calls to the correct people when necessary. You will also need to ensure you have well-trained, capable call centre staff available at the right times.

Additionally, you may require systems that can record calls, problems and solutions. These systems mean customers don’t have to repeat themselves if they speak to different agents, enhancing customer service and boosting efficiency. You might want to track the effectiveness of your inbound call strategy too by recording metrics such as the number of calls taken, sales levels and customer satisfaction.

Can you outsource inbound call centre services?

All of this can sound daunting, particularly if you are a small business with limited capacity in-house to carry out these tasks. This is where outsourcing comes in useful. It is absolutely possible to outsource inbound call centre services, and indeed many businesses find this is essential.

By delegating inbound calls to an outsourced call centre, you can ensure that your customers receive the level of support they need at all times without having to divert important internal resources to this task. A specialist third-party will ensure your phone lines are staffed with skilled customer service representatives whenever you want them to be.

You can use these services flexibly too. For example, you can choose to outsource all of your inbound calls, or have a third-party on standby to manage overflow calls or busy periods. You can also use a third-party to triage your calls. For instance, they could deal with the initial stages of all inbound calls, only passing customers over to your team when your direct intervention is needed. This will save you time while ensuring that all customers who need to speak to you directly can do so.

To find out how CallCare can help you with inbound calls, simply browse our website or contact our experts today.  

Posted by Gemma Harding

As Head of Client Services, Gemma is an expert in the customer service industry. With over 20 years of experience in the call handling process she will guide your organisation to an improved customer service strategy. Hobbies include all thing equestrian.

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