Running a Customer Service call centre comes with distinct challenges; from managing unpredictable call volumes to making sure your staff are engaged and productive. Any call centre manager can attest that an under-resourced team is a common challenge and the knock-on effects of this can have a negative impact on productivity, quality and profitability. When you are under-resourced, it’s not just Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that take a hit; Customer Feedback Scores drop too. Overworked, stressed agents are more likely to make mistakes, staff absences increase, and staff retention becomes difficult. All of which puts even more pressure on your team to hit their targets.Often there’s no quick fix for resource challenges, sometimes a recruitment freeze means you cannot grow the team regardless of mounting call volumes. Perhaps you only need a part-time resource or can’t offer consistent or regular hours, therefore limiting your ability to attract and retain high calibre agents.

But there may be another option: if you need a flexible and scalable resource to provide relief for your team during peak demand periods, then outsourcing overflow calls to an external call centre partner could be the answer. You can choose to divert a set number of calls per day, or just specific call types, and an external partner will support you to improve all aspects of your call centre team’s performance.

Having an overflow solution brings a whole host of benefits:

• It gives your team back time and relieves pressure. You no longer have to recruit and manage all of the resources for your call centre team. You can more easily cover staff absences, even at short notice, without adding more pressure on your internal team.
• You reduce the stress on your team, leading to higher wellbeing and better performance. This positive impact on team culture means reduced absenteeism and improved staff retention. More realistic workloads mean fewer errors and improved quality of service.
• The freedom to take the team off the phones and dedicate time to regular team briefings and training sessions.
• In the customer service business, the ability to scale up at short notice is invaluable, whether in preparation for annual or seasonal peaks or in response to unexpectedly high call volumes. The external call centre team will provide dedicated agents, but they will also have a larger pool of quality staff they can assign to your calls at short notice, covering all bases. Imagine being able to maintain or even improve your service levels when call volumes hit a peak.
• You retain control; you can choose to divert only specific call types, leaving your in-house team to deal with the higher value calls, or whatever works best for your business.

If you would like to explore how an outsourced call overflow solution could work for you, our expert team can guide you.  We have years of experience and will be able to help you build a solution that will assist your team.  Call us on: 1300 396 888 or email enquiries@forrestcontact.com.au to find out more.