Call Center Philippines

good customer service

5 Skills That Makes a Good Customer Service Representative 

Good customer service requires more than just the fluency to communicate with the clients.

There are a lot of reports about companies who provide bad customer service. Now, if you want to be different, see these 5 excellent skills that make a good customer service representative:

Skill #1. Patience

Every now and then, you’ll inevitably come across with difficult clients who will test the extent of your patience. If you’re dealing with customers every day, make sure to be extra patient. Avoid easily getting pissed and practice effective breathing exercises that’ll help clear your head and be more composed while talking to clients.

Derek Sivers explained that quality service always beats fast service. He emphasized the importance of better understanding the client’s enquiries and needs than getting all worked up.

Take time to figure out what help they might need and then calmly assist them in solving their reason for calling. Be the level-headed person between the two of you and provide them with answers. Make sure to let them know that you are more than willing to help on whichever matter they are dealing with. At the end of the day, you never know how much customers appreciate good customer service.

Skill #2. Knowledge of the product or service

The best customer service representative has a deep understanding of the product or service that the company offers. If they are not well-informed about it’s every nook and cranny, how will they help the client about its many enquiries?

More than anyone in the company, the customer representative should know the service offered from the front to the back. It is the only way to make sure that they can attend to every client’s concern without a hitch.

Skill #3. Clear communication

To achieve clear communication between the company and customers, the agents should have a clear voice. In addition to that, an agent should be cautious about the words they use to avoid any misunderstanding with the client. By doing so, will eventually help you to stay away from bad circumstances.

Mimicking the customer’s tone and language is one way to communicate clearly because it shows that you understand and acknowledge their issue. It helps in creating rapport and establishing a better relationship between the client and the agent. Thus, marking it as a great call.

Skill #4. Empathy

Another requirement that makes a good customer service representative is the ability to empathise with the client. Empathy is a character trait that can be improved and learned upon. To understand the client’s dilemma and share their feelings would make a great impact on the customer as they will perceive the agent to be caring.

For instance, the client’s concern regarding your service has no hope and it is clear that they are at fault. Now, the client was asking you on what can they do to refund the certain service but you know that there’s no solution. The client was old and is clearly upset. But because of your empathy, you feel the client’s dilemma and you’re trying to calmly make them understand that there’s nothing else that you could do.

The ability to empathise gives the agent an automatic gentle voice while relaying the message. And thus, making it a great skill as a customer service representative.

Skill #5. Goal-oriented focus

One of the vital customer service skills that a company has been looking for is the goal-oriented focus. Aside from giving heart-warming customer service, agents also have numbered goals that they need to fulfil.

Business goals + customer happiness can go hand-in-hand without resulting in poor service. Thus, agents should be comfortable in achieving both.

If you’re looking for highly trainable customer service representatives, choose DBOS today! Aside from our dedicated and experienced agents, you can also check out our reliable offshore back office services. 

For more information and pricing quotes, contact DBOS for a FREE consultation today! 

business outsourcing companies

Top Reasons Why Philippines is the Ideal Outsourcing Destination

Most dynamic business outsourcing companies successfully achieve a favourable outcome from outsourcing in the Philippines. As a result, more foreign companies choose to offshore their non-core projects in the country. The low-cost labour, skilled people, and more lies other factors which affect the accession of companies who prefer the Philippines.

The Philippines is the leading offshore nation along with other remarkable countries on the list. From a young and humble industry since 1992, the irrefutable growth of the BPO business becomes visible. In addition, it has also paved the way for huge opportunities which helped de-escalate the unemployment rate in the country.

CBRE Philippines, consultancy firm underscored the immense growth of the economy during the industry’s peak in 2015. From there, the BPO industry’s development keeps on moving forward.

Dubbed as an ideal destination for business outsourcing companies, here are the few reasons why:

Labour costs are cheaper

Bagging the first spot on the reasons why business outsourcing companies choose the Philippines is the labour costs. It is not big news that the Philippines is a low-cost country wherein the standard of living is visibly cheaper than its neighbouring countries in Asia.

In other countries, the labour cost is relatively lower than in the Philippines. Some also offer a huge pool of, especially qualified professionals. However, why outsource in other countries when you can both enjoy the best of both worlds in the Philippines?

English proficiency

English – a universal language used in about 70 countries and is also considered as the Philippines’ second language. Used by a vast majority of educated Filipinos, it is strictly taught in schools and mostly utilised by the media. And with the sole proficiency in English, most Filipinos can confidently converse using the language.

As mentioned in Ruchir Sharma’s book, Breakout Nations: In Pursuit of the Next Economic Miracles, the Philippines is expected to be a “breakout nation” and considered the country as a well-educated English-speaking population that serves as an advantage to the country.

On a customer’s perspective, clear communication holds the key to good customer experience as well as boosts the brand reputation. If not met, the customer would most likely look for a competitor to assist their needs.

The Board of Investments (BOI), named the Filipinos as highly educated and with a literacy rate of 74% to 94%, making the Philippines as one of the largest English-speaking countries in the world. Moreover, they pointed out that the Filipinos also have a strong customer service orientation and are highly trainable.

Cultural adaptability

Philippine history has rich cultural diversity. Engraved with the influences of the country’s Spanish, Japanese, and American colonisers millennials ago, the Filipino way of adapting to any culture becomes easier. Their manner of communicating with different races become a key skill as they easily get along with the do and don’ts of each culture that they encounter the Filipinos’ cultural adaptability is mostly evident in work-related situations as they manage to get along well with clients from different countries as well as foreign bosses and co-workers.

The Filipinos are naturally friendly, good-hearted, and easy to get along with, that’s why the cultural difference is a manageable matter.

The BPO business is already a massive industry which generates a whopping amount to competitive countries and their economy. One of these countries is the Philippines. Formerly called “the sick man of Asia” for many years to the “new tiger economy of Asia”, the Philippine economy noticeably soared during the peak of outsourcing in 2015. Up until now, a lot of foreign companies and individuals remains attracted to outsource in the country.

With the dynamic business outsourcing solutions that the country offers, all your offshoring needs will surely be accommodated. Partner with us today and get a free consultation with our very own CEO/Founder!

Telesales Isn’t Dead—and Here’s Why

From an outsider’s perspective, telemarketing seems like an outdated form of selling your products. Today’s technology has forced the marketing industry to take great strides when it comes into advertising. From large LED screens playing video ads 24/7 situated in busy city streets, to subtle digital marketing techniques to help give target consumers a gentle nudge towards buying more goods, selling stuff through the phone is perceived to pale in comparison: it’s a marketing method almost as old as direct selling itself.

But today, call centres are still in demand because telesales still works. Despite the persistent misconceptions surrounding phone marketing, outsourcing telesales can still make a huge impact on your business.

It’s the least annoying form of advertising

Almost every time you go online, there’s always that pesky pop-up ad begging you to click on them. Even when you’re watching a video on Facebook or Youtube, or when reading an article, the average reader will have to go through a few hoops in order to dodge an incessant barrage of either static or video ads. Ads have gone from a necessary evil to a regular nuisance, and audiences are trying to actively avoid it. According to a poll, telesales is ranked as the least annoying form of advertising as only 4% of the total respondents have voted against it. This means that when conducted properly, telemarketing is less likely to be ignored by a target audience compared to other forms of endorsing sales.

Phone marketing strengthens human connection

Since telesales is conducted through voice calls, prospect consumers experience a more intimate approach. Customers were found to respond more with telemarketing because of the human interaction factor, affecting the perceived sincerity and personal touch of the transaction or session. According to recent studies, when making big decisions for large purchases like a car, insurance, healthcare, or the like, customers prefer calling businesses personally and talking to a real human being. Because of this, telesales is one of the business processes that are not currently in danger of being replaced by AI. This trend in customer behaviour also makes outsourcing telesales very ideal, as international agents from countries like the Philippines are well regarded because of their positive personalities and empathy towards their customers. Having a strong and experienced team of telemarketing can do wonders in helping to further develop your business.

Outsourcing telesales generates leads

Though there are several different ways to perform lead generation, telemarketing is among the most efficient method. Offshore telesales promotes better brand awareness and provides greater market insight. A significant chunk of the call centre industry specialises in performing outbound sales through offshore telesales. According to relevant statistics, outsourcing lead generation is ranked to be 43% more effective than in-house due to expertise and experience. Hiring an offshore staff to generate leads for your company stacks up numerous advantages on your end, as not only will you get better results, outsourcing also allows you to save money while efficiently improving your cash flow.

 

These are only among the many reasons why telesales continues to play an important role in business until today. Though times are changing, it doesn’t necessarily mean that all traditional practices are rendered defunct due to technological advances. Telemarketing isn’t dead, and it isn’t showing any signs of dying out anytime soon.

Looking for highly-skilled telemarketers to boost your company’s sales? Check out our staffing services to see which of our outsourcing services is the best fit for your business’ needs.

customer service call center

4 Major Reasons Why You Need to Outsource Your Customer Service

The quality of customer support can make or break a business. Bad customer service can often lead to an unsavoury reputation and drive potential clients away. Hiring competent personnel capable of handling any form of customer support is quite difficult: there are so many factors to consider when deliberating prospects like the employee’s personality, patience, and adaptability. Partnering with the right BPO company can help you bypass this challenge, and outsourcing might just be the answer you’re looking for.

Outsourcing makes finding the right agents easier

A fully functioning staff of professionals sounds like a dream but it can be made into a reality by hiring offshore teams. Outsourcing customer support to countries like the Philippines is a convenient solution as Filipinos are well known for their hospitality, patience and empathy towards customers. BPO companies help connect you with the right people to handle every aspect of customer service. Whether it be for live chat support, community management, or telesales, outsourcing allows you to tap into a wide market of talents for a fraction of the cost.

The wages you usually pay for one in-house staff member can already get you two or even three offshore agents, as labour costs are lower in developing countries. Since outsourcing significantly lowers your expenses than hiring in-house staff, it makes assembling an offshore customer support team as affordable and a viable option for businesses of any scale.

An offshore team automatically offers multilingual support

One good way to maximise the advantages of outsourcing is to partner with BPO companies in a country where you can also get clientele. That way, your offshore team can cater to a wider audience they can communicate with: customers within their country who speak their native language, and international customers they can talk to in English.

customer service
Hiring a diverse crew increases the variety of languages your customer support team can accommodate.

Outsourcing customer service improves cash flow

Not only is outsourcing helping you save money due to cheaper labour costs, but it also helps businesses grow by increasing profits. Customer care boosts revenues as it improves general metrics like first-call resolution, average handle time and customer satisfaction. Happy clients are more likely to give great feedback and make recommendations to their family and friends which can then bump up your sales. Maintaining customer satisfaction through live chat support or other means helps stabilise your income generated from sales, subscriptions and other services your business offers.

Multi-channel support is made possible and easy

One of the most impressive features of outsourcing customer service is that you can reach your clients and patrons through more channels. Whether it be through video chat, VOIP calls, live chat, social media and many more. Call centres often train their staff’s flexibility and capability in handling multiple channels for customer care, ensuring you only get qualified employees to be part of your company. Unlike with hiring in-house staff, you no longer need to buy additional equipment or software to accommodate for multi-channel support. Seat fees and set-up fees are already included in payment packages when you outsource, and these are used to equip your offshore staff with the latest tools to help them effectively perform their jobs.

 

Efficient solutions don’t have to be expensive. If you are looking for ways to expand your business but don’t want to overspend, outsourcing your customer service department can be a wise option. It eliminates a lot of hassle yet introduces numerous advantages you can benefit from.

Want to get started on outsourcing? Check out our services to see which options are a perfect fit for your business’ needs.

call centre agent smiling

Top Qualities of an Excellent Call Centre Agent

Working as a call centre agent can be stressful, gruelling, and may often seem like a thankless job. You can be sure to get yelled at and blamed by angry customers because they are dissatisfied with a product or service. An agent takes more abuse than you can imagine and receives less appreciation.

That’s why it takes a special type of individual with the right qualities to thrive and excel in this line of work. The reality is agents who provide great customer service do not often get the credit and recognition they deserve. While some may get frustrated and quit, others stick to their jobs and keep hustling until they attain the respect and success they deserve.