How does a small call center for an online store work from the inside?

The first thesis: each call costs 500 rubles, so it is really very important for us.

Over the course of a couple of years, we have evolved from two to three operators with cell phones to a full-fledged call center, confidently working on sales and service. Below are practical conclusions and a description of the work, which will be useful to those who are only going to make such a center at their place.

Technical platform

First, you need a multi-channel platform that allows you to receive an incoming call on one number at once for several people. When we were very small, we used “Allo Incognito”, but they have two features: it’s difficult to scale, the incoming number is not determined (you need to ask the number for the client) plus the outgoing number is not determined, therefore the client cannot call back. When we grew to a dozen operators, we chose a more systemic solution - a mini-PBX with two incoming multichannel lines from two different independent companies. This means that when one operator drops something, the second one does not work at the same moment, that is, the call center continues to work.
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How do we know something has fallen? All lines are tied to processing on a local server (statistics are kept there and other parameters are taken into account), and if there are no incoming calls on one of the lines for half an hour, two things happen:

• An alert is generated for the manager and senior shift;
• On the site, the phone numbers are swapped (the first one is called many times more often).

Working with voice over IP only is not very successful so far - it’s not possible to find the desired unlimited, for example. Therefore, the ideal option is hybrid: IP for incoming and IP + cellular unlimited for outgoing.

When the Internet falls off in the office, half of the call center services fall, so this connection is also suitable via cable from two providers. It is possible to switch to emergency mode on cell phones, however, with circumcision of almost all the functionality.

Another requirement for the platform is that it should be able to pass the number of the caller inside the software that handles the calls. The next requirement is the minimum billing of outgoing calls, that is, the “smart” choice of the call path. All outgoing outlets should give numbers, which are determined by a person as the number of our store, and not someone in the middle of the infrastructure.

If you are going to make your call center for a store with 10-15 operators, you should look in the direction of virtual PBX from mobile operators: this is one of the budget decisions. Sometimes even the city network can provide most of the functionality, depending on the region.

Types of calls and service

The online store can call on the following topics:

• Ask for something specific to the product , such as availability. Many stores believe that it is enough to say that there is such a product and hang up. From the client’s side, it looks like this: it is clear that if he picked up the phone and dialed you to find out if there was any thing, he definitely needed to be sold. And if this did not happen with a certain level of conversion, it means that the operator “scared off” something.
• Clarify about shipping or price . If you think about it, the motivation for the call is the same. With proper organization here is almost complete conversion into buyers.
• Clarify about the place of pickup or about the way to the point . This is also almost a finished sale, if you "bring the hand" to the store. Operators know in detail all the approaches to our points in different cities, in particular, some are even oriented on advertising side by side (people often call advertising something noticeable, for example, a shield on the road). With such a call, a reserve is immediately made in the store itself, if the customer has not thought about it earlier.
• For the selection of goods . This is a difficult moment: if a person has scored you and asks, he definitely wants to buy. Another thing is that in answering such a question, the whole sea opens up for possible jambs, so you need to think very carefully how to answer. Ideal outcomes - delivery or reserve in the store for a specific person.
• And the last case is calls for vacancies , spam and other issues of the organization. Spammers, by the way, sometimes it turns out to make customers, this is such a challenge.

Now imagine: your phone is ringing. If you do not pick up the phone - you lose 500 rubles, because you would statistically receive them for any answer. If you answer, but not enough fun, defiantly, positively or specifically - the same thing. Understanding the value of each call teaches that it is very important to the company very, very well and quickly.

Call Distribution

One call comes at once to 3-4 free operators. Who is the first to pick up the phone - order and sneakers. Yes, in many companies a consistent transfer is used, and it has its advantages, but after a series of experiments, we still stopped at this option.

The client is not forwarded to another operator if this is not an exception. The exception may be the notification of our error (then the client switches to the senior shift, which solves the situation). The second type of call forwarding is forwarding to people who are called through a call center. For example, by work or by wholesale. The third case is when the connection is broken, for example, in the subway: another operator can take the phone and, if possible, return it to the one that has already spoken to the client.

Before an outgoing call, the operator carefully scans the customer’s order, checks the availability of goods at the points, calculates the nearest delivery options, and so on (this is half automated), plus caches other data that can be useful in memory and on the screen. The phrase "uh, I'll see, wait, wait" in a conversation is a jamb. It is better to make a certain time to memory tradeoff, putting more operators, but at the same time guarantee the accuracy and efficiency of responses.

When the order is a game that is not available, the operator finds out the reason and informs the client specifics. For example, in the summer of 2011, wooden Genga stopped flowing due to fires - the Europeans made a beautiful gesture in defense of forests. The operator knew exactly when the next batch would arrive and was ready to offer analogs, or to pre-order these numbers. Our knowledge base contains not only data that there is no product, but also comments from suppliers and purchasers on this issue. By the way, suppliers often embellish reality, and purchasers add their data, consistent with reality. For example, if the supplier’s reliability ratio is low, the supply forecast is adjusted for two weeks so as not to create unnecessary illusions. These two weeks are calculated from the previous tardiness of this supplier. The result - the operator receives the data and can explain to the client not only the current situation, but also tell more about the game. This is often quite important, including for the purchase: for example, if it is known that the thing is out of production, the client will not wait for it, and, probably, will take an analogue or refuse the transaction. Do not create unnecessary illusions - this is an important principle of communication.

Further, the operator is always ready to accept the “bookmark” to pre-order something that has not arrived yet. He creates an event in the system that is triggered when the goods arrive - and we call to notify the person or write to him.

schedule

Incoming orders that come overnight must be processed before 12 am - otherwise, some customers, without receiving a call, will be ordered somewhere else. Another order processing period is associated with the deadline for delivery today, the third period with a window from 15 to 18, when the intensity of calls decreases, and you can use the time for outgoing calls. By the way, the maximum incoming - from 11 to 15, and then - in the evening.

The schedule of operators is calculated dynamically based on our data for similar periods of the last year, current trends and advertising activity. For example, on the day after the topics about the games on Habré ( one and two times ), an intensive shift came out, awaiting - rightly so - a habra effect.

Those who can not get directly to the operator in the local peak, are queued. This happens less and less, but it is typical, for example, for the new year. Even in moments of increased load, we try not to “brake” the client for more than a minute, this is fraught with loss of a call. By the way, for this on the same new year, all those who are not critical for the company's current processes get up to change - this is the manual (if everything is prepared in advance, then you can only watch at the peak - so why not get busy and answer the calls, or stand in stores?). In addition, direct contact with customers is one of the most important requirements. Only accounting can not leave his office - the rest must necessarily at least sometimes be on the "front line".

The own statistics obtained from the piece of iron, through which all calls go, help in the formation of the schedule: how many calls, how long the average contact lasts, how outgoing ones work. Each phone is authorized, so you can make details on the operators: for example, if you see a big difference in the total talk time for a particular person, the shift supervisor looks at exactly what he does. Now we are moving to authorization not by apparatuses, but by users, which will allow us to accurately track all parameters.

The walls act as a corporate blog - they contain the most important data such as telephones of neighboring departments, news (“A new gift package has appeared”) and other things.

The places in the call center are not assigned to the operators, but in normal seating, everyone occupies their own "relatives", usually decorated with different stickers and toys. Often around the place are some puzzle store type of balls-labyrinths, different notebooks with pictures and so on.

In the situation of increased load, the call center also takes the place of neighboring departments - we prepare for such peaks in advance, for example - in November we are already increasing the area of ​​the department for December sales.

We use an answering machine at night when nobody works. By the way, he had a funny incident on January 1 - they set him up incorrectly, and he told the client “you are the first in line” instead of the usual phrases at 4 am The client recorded an appeal to the experts, wondered at the queue length, managed to drink two more, grumbled a bit, raised a toast with friends and sang a song.

Call center operators are also engaged in answering questions on ICQ, Skype, mail and other channels. They are not engaged in social networks, these are the tasks of the site team, which, by the way, is right next door, so that you can always ask a tricky question about goods.

In their free time (“quiet” hours), operators play new games and read books from the library .

When the operator makes a joint, he must fix it himself. For example, if the delivery is scheduled for the evening so that the courier just physically cannot be there on time (although the operator assesses the situation before calling the customer), he goes to deliver the goods after the change himself. One such case in two months creates many legends, which, on the one hand, increase attentiveness, and on the other - make it clear that, in principle, it is not so wrong to make a mistake, the salary will always be.

Repeated calls to the same customer are rarely made, but are sometimes needed (for example, complex order statuses). If possible, they are made by the same operator.

Order coordination goes through our databases and cloud applications that help you understand who handles what and what.

Couriers who come to the customer do not enter the call center and call themselves: before leaving and an hour before knocking on the door. The call before departure, in particular, leaves the client with a phone number, by which you can negotiate with the courier in case of force majeure.

Very rarely, customers contact the call center about couriers. Over the past six months, operators clearly recall one case: on December 29, the courier of an external logistics company personally made more than 50 orders in two shifts in a row, drove to the last client and fell asleep in his chair. A customer called us to ask how to get rid of the body.

Efficiency mark

The most benevolent operators are most effective in commercial terms. They usually spend a lot of time on a call, give good recommendations and help to make the right choice. Another important function - operators insure against the wrong goods. I know only a couple of other stores where they can say "do not take this thing, it will not work for you" - it is important not to sell something, but to leave a person happy. Strange as it may seem for Russia, but the desire to sell seems to be less, but more precisely, as a whole, it leads to an increase in the average check: the client understands that he is not “sent” something.

Any negative feedback is processed in two ways: on the one hand, the client is helped to solve the situation, on the other - it is calculated internally what happened and why. If this is a flaw in the model, it is placed in a troubleshooting ticket for other subdivisions, if a person is not a cant, the senior receives data. The head of the call center looks at non-standard situations and statistics: based on this, decisions are made that we need to part with someone, for example. On the other hand, customers often leave positive reviews about specific people - this is an excuse for bonuses or other non-commercial buns such as a more flexible schedule.

This system has a downside: when the rumbled geeks (such less than a percent) call through, the operator tries to dissuade them from complex games, recommending hits. This is wrong, because geeks know exactly what they need. With the next version of the software we will be able to keep a client's history, in particular, to mark those who are well versed in the assortment. The second reason to make a story is to know the age of the child, if the games are for him: with age, preferences change, and there is an opportunity to form more accurate recommendations.

How is the operator selected?

As a seller: a sociable positive person with the desire to bring joy to the world. The only thing for the call center is still important voice and need the right speech. A person who says "calls", to get to us has no chance, despite other advantages.

There are no particular preferences by sex: girls can better advise and recommend (almost all girls are born-born sellers, they do not need to be taught). The guys in general are more specific and can give more accurate recommendations. In general, the effect is about the same.

Can I call and order pizza?

When it comes to service, many people remember the shoe Zappos with their example about a call about pizza - and tips from the seller on how to better find a pizzeria. We are introducing such an approach in our country, but right now it is unlikely to happen. After 3-4 months - most likely, yes.