If you decide to open your own business and provide outsourcing contact center services, but have never done it, I have bad news for you. Indeed, the network has enough information about how the contact center is technically and organizationally arranged. At the same time, three questions are almost completely not covered: how to build it, what to do in what order, what the economy should be like and where to look for customers. In general, for a detailed answer to these questions, you need to write a book of decent thickness, but here I will try to compactly talk about the first of them so that you understand the structure of the moment. If some things are not explained, it means that they simply did not fit into the format of the article, it does not allow chewing to the state of baby food, forgive me in this case. I'm serious. Just trust a guy who has been outsourcing and outsourcing for 18 years.
Correct course of action
First, decide why you need it. In this area, burn your nerves and those around you – how to beat an old man in outdoor games. I started going gray at 24. The contact center industry is highly susceptible to external influences. From laws and financial crises to weather events. If you call individuals, and there is a thunderstorm, you will dial statistically significantly worse than in good weather. By the way, it is very susceptible – it is very. In November 2008, the company where I was responsible for technological development lost half of the processed load in two days – due to the crisis, customers emergencyly recalled volumes. A little outsourcing would definitely kill. We survived, but it shook terribly. Secondly, the market has already crystallized and it will be extremely difficult to get into it – large and medium-sized customers have already been dismantled. There are conditional graduates of all sorts of business schools, as I call them “leads, leads, give me leads, I pay only for the result.” Another problem is that you, as the owner, will have to sell the services of your company personally. No other methods will give a sustainable result, here Internet marketing does not work to attract more or less serious deals, all sorts of packaging, by the way, too. You will only lose some money. You would have seen the website of the company that won the tender of the Russian Post for 450 operator positions. Even my 3 year old daughter can do better. But they won. And the packaged ones collect “leads, give me leads.” Sales are personal only. If you are afraid or do not know how, or rely on a competent commercial director, then in vain. It will not work. “So many of them fell into this abyss” On the plus side, if you are a guy, then there will always be women around, a lot of women. A lot is really a lot. And among them come across very beautiful, despite the low level of salaries of operators. But in general, there are quieter businesses, for example, shawarma from Uncle Ashot. In general, think 10 times. Chances are definitely worse than in public catering. If by this point I have not dissuaded you, we will assume that you know why you need it. Then listen. Every business school teaches you to start with a business plan. This is because a business plan can be ordered from them. And pay for it. And if you plan to build an OCC, then you must use every penny rationally, not be greedy, but rational. The economy of small call centers is very unstable, the load slightly fluctuated (load, Workload is the product of the number of calls per period by the average contact processing time) – and you are out of money. I always said this to my subordinates: “We say grandmas – we mean outsourcing CC – we mean grandmas”. You will need a business plan, or rather a financial plan, but later. For now , you'll need some literature, such as Alexandra Samolyubova's 100% Call Center. Take it and try to figure out at least roughly how it works. In principle, it is well written and quite understandable language. You can read my articles, I wrote a lot on the topic. Get a job at the CC and work for at least two months. And then – in another. For example, first to the bank, and then to some online store with 10 places. By the way, the profit of the store itself can be measured in very large numbers, but you should see what 10 places are and the supervisor enthusiastically calculates your salary for submission to the accounting department. And there will be many more miracles, I guarantee. Just arrange yourself so that you can go to the office. And try yourself in different roles: in sales, and in service. This tip will save you a lot of money as a start-up business. By the way, the worst time of the year to build an OCC is spring. Launch and get right away, client activity will drop. The same will happen with the activity of those who want to work for you. Therefore, it is optimal to start in July in order to be on the crest of the wave by autumn, the best time for our industry. For information, the average cycle of concluding a deal with a more or less serious customer is 3-4 weeks from a positive result of negotiations. Of course, it happens in every way, but the average for the hospital is like that. If you are still with me, then let's go directly to meat and potatoes, to the second part of my story about how not to throw money down the drain.
Dmitry Galkin, independent consultant on the creation and management of contact centers
