1-800 call centers

[Vagabond]

Has anyone ever used a call center? If so which ones and what was your experience. I was looking into this and I think i'd only need order takers since i'm offering a hard offer. The annoying thing is that the sites dont have per-minute prices, you have to fill out a query form..

Does anyone know how much these generally cost per minute?

Also, are you able to set up call forwarding so that it would ring me first in case i'm at home working, but I can send calls to the call center if im not around or or busy? Although, I'd expect the volume of phone orders to be extremely low since I'd be accepting CC's on a secure and encrypted site.

[RichB]

You can setup call forwarding type things at places like gotvmail.com, they're actually rather advanced call routing for very cheap.

If it were me, I wouldn't even mess with taking order via 1-800 if I could avoid it, I'd force Internet sales unless my market was geriatric or something.

You could have gotvmail try your cell first and if no answer route to a VM box saying that due to high call volume you will return their call. Not as jazzy but cheap and you can see if you get enough sales via 1-800 to justify the headache and expense.

[Marcie]

I was wondering the same thing. My cell # is on my autoresponder already but I can see where eventually that would need to be outsourced. I do have a demographic of people who may want to talk to a real person before ordering, in large part because of the high price on my product (it's a B2B product). This may even be the kind of thing a VA firm could handle I would think...

[RichB]

I don't think a VA would as "on call" as you need them to be and unless they're domestically based you would have a language issue I wouldn't want to present to a customer.

Page 200 of the book lists call centers Tim recommends, why not call them and find out for sure?

[Marcie]

I don't think a VA would as "on call" as you need them to be and unless they're domestically based you would have a language issue I wouldn't want to present to a customer.

Page 200 of the book lists call centers Tim recommends, why not call them and find out for sure?


Duh ;) There is also a list in the reader-only resources (chapter 11). I copied this from angel.com:

How do you price an Angel.com solution?
Angel.com charges you on a per-minute basis, with any discounts from our standard per minute price determined by volume, length of plan period, length of commitment and the type of application. Standard pricing starts at $.17 per minute for toll-free minutes, and $.12 per minute for local (703) minutes.

[Vagabond]

hey, yeah i checked out the ones he linked to on this site, i actually didnt see that price info on angel.com. thanks Marcie ;)

Ok so figure .14-.21 is prob what most will charge, i just wanted to get an idea. I will def try and force online sales, maybe write "for faster shipment order online!" but i will prob look into just having an 800# option, esp if there is no cost or very little cost to have it. and if after a couple months no one uses it i can cancel it.

im just kinda lookin at options at this point.

[JimSalzano]

I've been using an 800# system from www.GetTeleCenter.com for a few years now. The service works really well for me. I have setup various extensions to forward to a company in India I am using for fielding customer service and tech support calls. I have my sales extension forward to my home line and if I'm not there it tries my cell. The cost of the service is like $35 a month and it includes a ton of features. They also have a referral program so once you refer a few people you get your service for free. There's a free trial on their site if you want to give the service a try.

[brettod]

I've been using an 800# system from www.GetTeleCenter.com for a few years now. The service works really well for me. I have setup various extensions to forward to a company in India I am using for fielding customer service and tech support calls. I have my sales extension forward to my home line and if I'm not there it tries my cell. The cost of the service is like $35 a month and it includes a ton of features. They also have a referral program so once you refer a few people you get your service for free. There's a free trial on their site if you want to give the service a try.

Who do you have doing your customer service/tech support? I'm interested in a company more experienced in "keeping customer happy" and less in "technically we took an order".