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5th January 2021 blog, Business Insights

Becoming an Entrepreneur in 2026

2nd January 2021 blog, Call Management

What is Call Center Quality Assurance

28th December 2020 blog, Business Phone Numbers

NANP: The North American Numbering Plan Explained

23rd December 2020 blog, Call Center, Call Management

7 Best Practices for Call Center Scripts that Convert

21st December 2020 blog, Call Center

7 Useful Tips for Creating a Call Center Scorecard

18th December 2020 blog, Call Center

16 Tips to Ensure Outstanding Call Center Etiquette

Guide to call center offshoring and business process outsourcing (BPO)

10th December 2020 blog, Call Center, Call Management

Your Complete Guide to Call Center Offshoring & BPO

An image showing a chief customer officer performing the duties of her role.

9th December 2020 blog, Business Insights

What Is a Chief Customer Officer and What Do They Do?

3rd December 2020 blog, Business Phone Numbers

14 Reasons to Choose Global Call Forwarding

Becoming an Entrepreneur in 2026

Tom Senkus 5th January 2021 blog, Business Insights

There has never been a time more convenient to launch a successful business than now. Would-be entrepreneurs that have been contemplating a shift to starting their own successful venture now have the tools to create businesses that would not have been possible in years past. With the stability of 9-to-5’s becoming a thing of the past, more people want to take control of their future and steer their destiny towards achieving their dreams. Becoming an entrepreneur isn’t easy but the rewards are worth the push.

Becoming an Entrepreneur using Technology

Thanks to Global Call Forwarding’s innovations in telecommunications, you can upgrade your business using some of the technologies now available, thanks to cloud computing, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), and more. So, if you are considering the launch of a new business venture, here are some tips for success.

Think 24/7/365 Availability

One significant change in our modern world is being able to harness the 24 hours in a day, the full 7 days in a week, and the 365-day markets that are available at our fingertips. Furthermore, being able to instantly access new customers and clients in different countries can further scale your idea from just a thought you had on the way to work to a booming, successful entity quickly.

By using virtual phone numbers equipped with an add-on called “time of day routing,” you can handle inbound calls around the clock and for different time zones around the world. For instance, if you have a side business with regular business hours, you can forward those calls and voicemails to call centers and other staff using time of day routing. This can help you balance the transition of working a day job while waiting for your business to grow so you can strike out on your own.

Think Outside the Box

Because virtual phone numbers from Global Call Forwarding are an evolving technology, your business can use them in creative ways that can gain a competitive edge. For instance, you may have found that your business is popular in the New York City metropolitan area. However, as you may be aware, New Yorkers prefer to handle their business locally. In response, your business can use virtual phone numbers, with area codes in the NYC area and its 5 boroughs to appeal directly to local communities. Best of all, your business doesn’t have to be based there, especially considering the high cost of living and expensive real estate. Using the techniques of building a virtual office, virtual phone numbers take care of the communication aspect of your business – even if you’re located outside of the country.

Why is this possible? When a virtual phone number is dialed, the call is immediately routed to another phone number, the destination phone number. This destination phone number can be located in nearly any country around the world, immediately broadening your company’s appeal and allowing your new business to be instantly located in favorable business climates.

Becoming an Entrepreneur in 2019 — Source: Stockphoto.com O#23559 ID#5073704

Leverage Technology to Scale Your Business

When it comes to modern businesses, the keyword is “scale.” In other words, does your business have the capability to grow exponentially while still maintaining the quality of service that you provided beforehand? If the answer is yes, then you should seriously consider using Global Call Forwarding’s add-ons, such as “outbound calling.”

Outbound calling is a popular add-on that enables your business to call phone numbers in other countries to call recipients directly. Without this option, the caller ID will register a long string of numbers and letters that callers aren’t likely to answer. With outbound calling, your business can use a virtual phone number – which is identical to “normal” landlines – and have this reflect on the receiver’s caller ID, ensuring they never know the number calling isn’t a local, standard landline.

As an example of outbound calling, if you have a Canada virtual phone number and want to contact potential clients in Montreal, those numbers will appear on their caller ID. Contrast this with calling from the United Arab Emirates, where a +971 country code will appear on the caller ID – not to mention the charges of hefty long-distance fees, or even worse, the potential blocking by either party’s service provider.

Avoid Being a Perfectionist

It is only natural to want everything to go smoothly in the early days of your business. Achieving perfection may be ideal, but in business, it can be detrimental to your new endeavor. For instance, you may be handling a large number of potential contracts with distributors for your new product. By using “call recording” – a popular add-on – you can record those conversations when you’re weighing the various options available. And for some absent-minded entrepreneurs, it helps to have a useful reference for when things become less than perfect. This can help reduce stress in the early days of your business when you’re bootstrapping a new idea with minimal resources and limited attention.

* * *

Global Call Forwarding can help you start your new business in 2019. For more information on the most recent advancements in telecom services and subscription services available from the leading service provider, visit www.globalcallforwarding.com

What is Call Center Quality Assurance

Meryl D'Sa-Wilson 2nd January 2021 blog, Call Management

The process of call center quality assurance ensures that the results of your customer service practices match your desired outcome. Because you want to provide exemplary customer service, you must monitor the performance of your call center. This is a continuous process of collecting and analyzing data, training call center agents, and improving your service.

Set Goals for Call Center Quality Assurance

The first step is to evaluate the areas in which your call center needs improving. Outline the goals you intend to reach. Without a concise idea of where you want to start, you will not be able to develop a strong monitoring strategy.

Ask Your Customers Their Opinion

A good way to improve your customer service is by asking your customers what they want. But don’t simply contact them for their opinions as this is not likely to meet with a response. Instead, offer them some incentive. For example, offer them a coupon or reward if they take a few minutes to complete a short survey.

Monitoring Your Call Center With Software

Now you’ve set your goals for call center quality; it’s time to put your plan into action. The first step to assessing the quality of your service is to select the right software. When choosing monitoring software, there are several factors you need to take into consideration. These include:

Features: This aspect will largely depend on the size of your call center and the volume of calls you handle. Some software solutions enable you to automate parts of the monitoring process by analyzing speech and metadata.
Scalability: This is important if the number of your call center agents fluctuates seasonally.
Ease of use: You shouldn’t need to spend too much time training staff how to use it. Make sure the program is intuitive.
Security: The safety of your customer information it a top priority. When you are using software to track it, it must be secure within that program.

Which Metrics Will You Analyze?

There are many key indicators involved in call center quality assurance. However, it’s not possible to monitor all of them. Not only would it be too time-consuming, but you would not be able to analyze the overwhelming results. Choose indicators that are relevant to a particular type of activity and will interact to create a coherent result.

Record a Selection of Calls

Call center agents receive thousands of calls per month. It’s impossible for you to listen to them all. However, many software solutions enable call recording, but be sure to use it judiciously. Recording a random selection of calls can be a waste of time because it won’t be a sampling of a larger trend. Use the metrics you have already gathered and select calls which are not meeting your goals, for example, calls which ran on too long, or which were handled poorly, or those in which customers had to call back several times about the same issue.

Write Professional Scripts

Scripts are a customer call center staple. They help to ensure that your agents are maintaining the standards you’ve set for the quality of your customer service. A script is a necessity whether your call center deals with inbound calls. A professional script reflects the results of your monitoring. Your agents should be able to go off script when a situation demands it. This is where good training comes in.

Provide Regular Training

Training should begin with each new hire and should continue on a regular basis. Your quality assurance specialist should educate new hires about your customer service goals and how to meet them. Have your best agents buddy-up with new members of the team. This will give them extra confidence and encourage them to emulate your most successful agents. Training isn’t just for new hires, it should be continuous, but you need to make sure that it doesn’t become monotonous. Otherwise, you are defeating the purpose. Make sure agents stay engaged in training by varying your training methods and activities. Agents should also feel they are able to ask for extra training if they feel they need it. Training sessions should be tailored to suit individual agents as much as possible; if not, it won’t be relevant to his or her needs. Everyone’s time is better utilized when training is a direct result of call monitoring, and it will strengthen your call center quality assurance system as a whole.

As you can see, there’s much more to call center quality assurance than just watching over your agents. It’s about monitoring services and using the data to highlight areas where improvement is needed. It’s also about training staff on a regular basis, so they continue to improve. But that’s not all either. You must maintain a company culture of trust and cooperation to optimize your call center.

NANP: The North American Numbering Plan Explained

Beny Mouen 28th December 2020 blog, Business Phone Numbers

Need to get a phone number within the NANP plan but don’t know anything about the plan? Here is everything you need to know about the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), dialing codes, phone number formats, and more.

What is the North American Numbering Plan (NANP)?

The North American Numbering Plan — also known as the NANP — is a telephone numbering plan that serves 20 North American countries (listed below). The NANP region mainly covers the US and its territories, Canada, and some Caribbean countries.

The participating countries share numbering resources among themselves. The NANP was developed in 1947 by AT&T and implemented in 1951. The purpose was to simplify and facilitate easy direct international calling.

Format of NANP Phone Numbers

NANP phone numbers are assigned the country code (1) by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). NANP numbers are ten-digits long. This includes a three-digit Numbering Plan Area (NPA) code — an area code followed by a seven-digit local number or subscriber number. The format is usually represented as: +1 NXX-NXX-XXXX.

Which Countries are Included in the NANP?

Anguilla: 264
Antigua & Barbuda: 268
Bahamas (the): 242
Barbados: 246
Bermuda: 441
British Virgin Islands (the): 284
Canada: multiple local area codes
Cayman Islands (the): 345
Dominica: 767
Dominican Republic (the): 809/829/849
Grenada: 473
Jamaica: 876/658
Montserrat: 664
Saint Kitts and Nevis: 869
Saint Lucia: 758
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: 784
Sint Maarten: 721
Trinidad and Tobago: 868
Turks & Caicos: 649
United States of America: multiple local area codes
US Territories:
American Samoa: 684
Guam: 671
Northern Mariana Islands: 670
Puerto Rico: 787/939
US Virgin Islands: 340

Additional Facts about the North American Numbering Plan

Dialing between two NANP countries is quick and easy. Users simply dial the country dialing code, followed by the NPA area code, and a 7-digit local number. For example, when calling from the US to Barbados, users will dial +1 (246) xxx-xxxx.

Even though all numbers within the NANP share the same numbering plan and resources, calls made between NANP countries are not considered domestic calls. They are considered international calls and are charged international or long-distance calling rates. Fortunately, these rates are not much higher than domestic rates.

To call a NANP country from outside the NAN plan, users need to dial their exit codes, trunk prefix (1), and the national subscriber number (NSN). The format is:
(exit code) 1 (area code) xxx-xxxx.

For example, someone calling a Canada number from France would dial the exit code (00), trunk prefix (1), Jamaica’s area code (876), and the subscriber number (xxx-xxxx):
00 1 876 xxx-xxxx.

Learn More About NANP

You can learn more about the North American Numbering Plans by visiting our homepage. We provide international phone numbers from countries participating within the North American Numbering Plan. Find your new NANP phone number or buy a USA phone number by browsing through our website or receive assistance by contacting our sales team.

7 Best Practices for Call Center Scripts that Convert

Miguel Isabal 23rd December 2020 blog, Call Center, Call Management

How your agents communicate over the phone can make a huge impact on the success of your call center strategy. Convert more callers into returning customers and reel in the sales with effective call center scripts. We even include a downloadable template below!

How Does Using Call Scripts for Customer Service Improve Communication?

Call center scripts can make or break the way your business interacts with its customers. These scripts carry information about your products and services intending to convert callers into recurring clients and, ultimately, generate sales.

However, if agents and reps are not trained to understand the flow of different conversations, they may end up offering poor service. Call center and customer service scripts can be used in these instances to train agents and provide easy-to-apply guidelines to follow. This way, your sales and support teams will be able to respond to and resolve customer queries more quickly and accurately, improving overall customer service.

What are Call Center Scripts Used for?

Call center scripts and customer service scripts are guidelines agents use to communicate with customers and users. These templates are ready-to-use based on different customer interactions and scenarios. Agents can use these to respond to queries and complaints or help customers find better products and services. Some customer scripts can be used to collect customer feedback or product reviews.

How to Create Effective Call Center Scripts: 7 Best Practices

When creating your call center script, focus on developing scripts for both inbound (incoming) and outbound (outgoing) calls. This way, your customer support teams are prepared for callers seeking customer support and product inquiries and your sales teams are prepared for sales pitches and lead calls. Additionally, call center scripts can help reduce training time and agent turnover. Businesses that don’t have time to offer rigorous training and provide in-depth knowledge can use scripts to get the job done quickly.

Here are 7 call center script best practices to consider when developing your business’ scripts. We also include tips for effective scripts and how to train your employees to meet your standards.

1. Hire Excellent Customer Service & Sales Reps

First, hire quality customer service and sales talent. Use business networking sites to find agents and reps that have experience, training, and certification. This will ensure you have a robust team ready to tackle whatever issue comes their way. Plus, they will have developed the right personality needed for delivering scripts naturally and effectively.

2. Keep Call Center Script Writing Tips in Mind

When creating your script and training your agents to make the most of the script, keep these key tips in mind:

Develop scripts that lead to action and be clear in their purpose.
Plan for multiple scenarios.
Allow for flexibility (but not too much) and more genuine interaction with customers.
Write scripts keeping common customer complaints and preferences in mind.
Emphasize the importance of understanding customer needs so they can be helped efficiently.
Include positive phrases and reword negative phrases.
Focus on personalization and train agents on proper etiquette.

3. Create an Effective Call Center Script

Your call center script should include these useful elements:

Greet the customer and say the name of the business.
Introduce yourself.
State the purpose of your call (outbound call) or find out why they are calling (inbound call)
For outbound calls: go through your script at a decent pace and pause for questions or concerns.
For inbound calls: listen carefully and attentively to the caller. Take note of key issues or questions, repeat to clarify, and offer practical solutions. Provide accurate information or offer a follow-up call, if you do not have the information on hand.
At the end of the call, ask if they need any additional assistance, thank them for calling, and add a pleasantry.
Score the call.

4. Train Agents & Employees Well

Besides merely providing your employees with quality scripts, you also need to train them in how to use the scripts well. Spend sufficient time teaching employees bad and good call center practices. Help them understand the company’s goals and standards. When training employees:

Focus on making customer service a top priority.
Keep communication two ways; adopt active listening.
Demonstrate examples of bad customer interactions and provide solutions.
Use call recording to identify positive and negative behavior.
Use call monitoring to listen in on calls with new employees so you can train them “on the job.”

5. Emphasize the Importance of Utilizing Customer Data When Using the Script

Part of executing a call center script well is personalizing it for each individual customer. This means using customer data alongside your script. Businesses with a customer-first strategy or those that are customer-focused need to use customer data to offer better, more customized service.

Before your agent or rep answers the call or calls a customer, they must pull up the customer’s data, history, purchases, and so on. This ensures your agent is prepared for the conversation and has all the context needed. Additionally, the customer won’t have to repeat their query again and again or bring the rep up to speed. You can save time for both your agent and customer. And move towards resolution faster.

6. Use Call Recording to Analyze the Effectiveness of Scripts

Recording business calls can help you and your teams listen in to calls from the past. This is a good way to identify what is working and what isn’t and how to improve your phone interactions. Pay attention to your best-performing agents. How are they effectively bringing new clients on board? What techniques and strategies are working? Then integrate their practices into your call center script so others may attempt them as well.

7. Provide Agents with Knowledge Bases and Support

Finally, make sure your reps can provide accurate responses to customer questions quickly. And to do this, they will need access to knowledge bases or support resources that outline common customer questions, product descriptions, company policies, and so on. This way, they can consult accurate resources if they are hit with a question or query they do not have an answer for.

Improve Sales with Call Center Scripts

Call center scripts have a great impact on whether a customer continues to do business with your company. Ensure your scripts are customer-centric as well as informative and helpful. Train employees to have an upbeat attitude and treat each call as a new slate. And before you know it, your scripts will be an effective aspect of your strategy that brings more and more customers to your business!

Downloadable Call Center Scripts Templates

Ready to get started? Then, grab these call center scripts and share them with your teams. Here are scripts to help you handle different situations and phases during customer calls.

Download Your Free Call Center Scripts Here

CC Scripts download

7 Useful Tips for Creating a Call Center Scorecard

Nadine Sampson 21st December 2020 blog, Call Center

Call center scorecards are quality monitoring tools that help you test and analyze call center and agent performance. By doing so, managers can identify areas for improvement and success. Here we look at 7 useful tips for creating a call center scorecard and what you need to focus on. We even include a downloadable evaluation form below!

How to Create a Call Center Scorecard: 7 Tips + Evaluation Form

First, what is a call center scorecard? And why do you need one? Call center scorecards are a great tool used by many call centers when conducting performance analysis. You can track and measure call center metrics, agent responses, and phone interactions, as well as conversions. Here are 7 tips to help you create an ideal scorecard:

1. Define the Purpose of the Scorecard and How it will be Used

First, you must decide and be clear on the purpose of your scorecard. What elements do you want to include? How often will you utilize the scorecards? How will you collect information about agent performance? What parameters and metrics will agents be scored on? Additionally, is every parameter equally important? Defining the purpose and the various elements that the agents will be tested on can help aid in quick and accurate analysis.

2. List Down Parameters that will be Assessed

Part of using a call center scorecard is testing your agents on various parameters that help you and them understand what they are doing well and where they can improve. Some parameters to consider include:

Greetings: Agent greeted customers politely and with a clear introduction of the company and themselves.
Script adherence: With outbound sales calls, agent followed the script naturally and paused for customer questions or concerns.
Account and identity verification: With inbound calls, agent verified the caller’s information and identity to find their account and gather information about the customer’s past interactions.
Customer service quality: Ability to clearly determine the caller’s needs, provide accurate and useful assistance
End-of-call protocol: After resolving the issue, agent must ask if there is anything else they can assist the caller with.

3. Define and Note Different Call Center Metrics

Next, you might consider including certain call center metrics that apply to your particular business. Call center metrics or KPIs assess how a call center is performing. They also help managers understand how individual agents are performing. For example, which agents resolve calls quickly and accurately or which spend too long on calls, and so on. Most call centers use call center software and call analytics to track and measure relevant metrics. You may want to consider including the following on your scorecard:

Average time in queue
Response time
Average speed of answer
Average handle time
First call resolution rate
Customer satisfaction rate
Occupancy rate
Agent absenteeism

4. Include Different Types of Customer Interaction

Often, phone conversations might be the most common communication method for your call center. However, more recently, call centers have been striving to offer multi-channel or omnichannel customer support. If your call center offers more than one channel of customer interaction, then you should measure performance on each different channel. As such, try to include different types of customer interaction (live chat, email, video, etc.) used often in your call center in your scorecard.

5. Focus on Various Skills

Depending on the type of center you run, your agents may need to multitask using multiple skills. For example, you may have agents on both phone and live chat duty simultaneously. Or, agents may need to research solutions while managing the conversation and documenting each part of the conversation.

Different departments require different skills. Customer service will need to look at knowledge bases or support documents to provide help. Reception will need to ensure the customer arrives at the right department quickly. Sales needs to make pitches using customer data and personalization.

6. Monitor, Collect Data, & Refine

Since the purpose of a call center scorecard is to collect data and measure how your business and agents are performing, these scorecards need to be monitored regularly. By monitoring on a regular basis, you will not only gain insight into how well or badly your agents are doing, but also what elements or parameters are worth measuring and which ones are not useful.

Then, you can make the necessary adjustments and refine your scorecard for functionality and accuracy. Additionally, you can make necessary changes to improve agent and call center performance.

7. Treat Your Agents as Humans, Not Robots

Finally, remember that your agents are humans and not customer service robots. As such, set realistic goals and expectations when creating and monitoring your call center scorecard. Be flexible and leave room for error. Provide sufficient training materials so agents can continue to do better.

Evaluate Performance with an Effective Call Center Scorecard

Designing a call center scorecard takes time and refinement. Get started now by developing your own scorecard or using online templates and tailoring them to your needs. There are many resources available for tracking, measuring, and improving productivity. Take steps in the right direction and watch the efficiency grow in your call center.

Downloadable Call Center Scorecard Templates

Ready to get started? Then, grab our call center scorecard templates below, share them with your managers, and start evaluating your call center’s performance! We have scorecard templates for Outbound Sales calls, Inbound Sales calls, Customer and Technical Support calls, and Chat support.

Download Your Free Call Center Scorecard Templates

CC Scorecard download

16 Tips to Ensure Outstanding Call Center Etiquette

Nadine Sampson 18th December 2020 blog, Call Center

Effective and excellent call center etiquette can go a long way in securing valuable customers and leads. However, you may have noticed that the rules are constantly changing. In this post, we detail the dos and don’ts of call center etiquette and how you can offer an outstanding call center experience. Read on to learn more!

Top Tips for Excellent Call Center Etiquette

How call center agents conduct themselves during calls can determine customer satisfaction and retention. Poor etiquette leads to bad customer service and low caller satisfaction. Call center etiquette can be divided into four different phases of the call such as:

Answering the call.
Speaking to customers and identifying issues.
Transferring customers to another agent or supervisor.
Ending the call.

In each of these phases, you must demonstrate professionalism, concern, and a desire to genuinely assist your caller. We’ll look at each of these phases individually and the different aspects to keep in mind to ensure you are providing outstanding call center etiquette. Learn more about promising customer service tips here.

When Answering the Call

The speed at which you answer the call as well as your tone can determine how the rest of the call goes. If you take too long or answer the call in a rushed manner, callers will immediately be put off. Keep these tips in mind as well:

1. Answer the Call Promptly
Customers do not like to be kept waiting when they are trying to reach customer support. Always answer the call on the second or third ring. Any longer than that, they may feel frustrated and abandon the call. Additionally, if it is too hard to reach your business time and time again, that customer will likely switch over to a competitor instead.

2. Greet with a Friendly Tone
Always greet callers with a positive attitude. Callers can sense your inflection on the phone. Smiling while you’re on a call is an old trick that conveys a friendly tone through the phone. Starting a call with a positive attitude encourages the same from the caller on the other line.

If someone is distraught about their product and in need of help, your positivity will help ease their frustrations because they will know by your tone that you are eager to help. You do not need to go overboard with this. A simple greeting like “Hello, you’ve reached (name of company) my name is ___, how can I help you today?” will suffice.

Identifying the Issue

Next up is taking the time to listen to your caller and identify the issue. This means you should key into their emotions and being empathetic while clearly understanding what the problem is. After all, if you do not know what is concerning them, you may not be able to help effectively.

3. Adopt Active Listening
Let them explain and describe the issue to you before you repeat it. Nothing frustrates a customer more than an employee that is not paying attention to them and seems in a rush to finish the call. Take time to understand where they are coming from and what the problem is. Reinforce your understanding by showing you have heard their situation and are working on a resolution.

4. Identify the Issue
Once you think you have a good handle over what the issue is, confirm it with them. Reiterate the problem as best as you understand it. Something like, “So, from what you are telling me, I understand that you are having an issue with . . .” or “. . . that you would like to . . .” This will help you ensure you have thoroughly understood the issue and will also demonstrate to the caller that you have been paying attention.

5. Be Patient and Helpful
Always be patient. Whether they are taking too long to explain the problem or are repeating themselves, your patience will determine whether this customer returns or not. When a client calls a company, it is more than likely to resolve an issue. Patiently listen to them. If you are unable to help them, transfer them to the correct department.

Transferring the Call or Placing the Caller on Hold

Most callers do not enjoy being placed on hold or transferred to another employee. Unfortunately, at times, it is necessary to transfer the call to someone who can handle it better or place them on hold so you can find the right information and help them better. Here are rules to observe when transferring a call or placing it on hold:

6. Determine Who to Transfer to
Again, listening intently to what their needs are will help you determine what department to send them to. After all, customers will only get more agitated if they need support but you sent them to sales.

7. Explain Why They Need to be Transferred
Most callers do not like to be bounced around. However, sometimes it is inevitable, especially if they reached the wrong department, to begin with. Explain to your caller why they need to be transferred to another department or employee.

8. During the Transfer
When you transfer a phone call, make sure that there is someone in that department available to take the call. Stay on the phone with your caller until someone answers and then you can introduce the caller to this new department. Do not abandon your caller till they have someone who can take care of them.

9. Ask Before Placing on Hold
Before you put someone on hold, ask them for their permission. Instead of saying “I’m going to put you on hold now” or nothing at all, say “Would it be alright if I put you on hold for a brief moment?” Then wait for an answer.

10. Use The Hold Button Appropriately
Make sure you and your teams know how to use the hold button so there is no confusion. For example, when you place someone on hold while you speak to another customer, the person on hold should not hear you speaking with the other customer or hear employees in the background. Hold music or a custom message can be played when they are on hold, instead.

11. Do Not Place Callers on Hold for Too Long
Do not leave someone on hold for a long time. If they are waiting to speak to someone in particular who is not available, inform them that they will be waiting for a certain period of time. If the wait exceeds 2-5 minutes, check in to let them know you have not forgotten about them but are taking longer to find what they need. If they do not want to stay on hold for long, encourage them to call back later or offer to call them when you have the information or person available.

call center software — Source: Stockphoto.com O#100053743383

Ending the Call

The last part of maintaining good call center etiquette focuses on how to end a call. This largely depends on how the call went. Were you able to resolve everything or is a follow-up required?

12. End The Call Politely

Always aim to end the call on a “high note.” If something needs your attention right away, offer to call the person back and let them know you will finish the conversation after you have dealt with this urgent matter.

When the conversation has come to a natural end, ask them if there is anything else you can do for them. If yes, proceed to assist. If no, thank them for their call. An example of a good way to end a phone call is, “Thank you so much for calling (company) today, I hope you enjoy your weekend.” Or, “It was a pleasure speaking with you, I’m glad that we could help you out today. Have a wonderful rest of your day.”

Additionally, if your company asks for surveys post calls, ask your caller if they would be interested in participating in a brief survey. And respect their wishes, whichever way they lean.

Do not rush them off the phone, and always wait for the customer to hang up before you hang up.

13. Offer Follow-Up Information
Alternatively, if a follow-up is required, let them know how to expect it. Will you send an email or phone call reminder? Should they call you back instead of your company contacting them? Either way, make sure that you have the information they need when the follow-up occurs.

Additional Call Center Etiquette

In addition to the above points, there are some other aspects of call center etiquette to pay attention to, such as call management and training.

14. Training Employees and Agents
So that agents know what they are supposed to do and how to best help customers, they need to be trained well. This includes:

- Training new employees, even those that come with experience
- Offering refresher courses and workshops to current employees periodically
- Using call recording to record and review interactions
- Conduct regular performance analysis
- Provide access to seminars and training programs

15. Making a Call
Employees should be trained to make calls professionally. Be sure to introduce yourself and the reason for your call right away. Provide them with all the necessary details at the beginning of the call.

Leaving a voicemail is similar to making a call. Even with the voicemail, introduce yourself and explain the reason for your call. Also include contact details such as a phone number and, if needed, a time frame for them to call you back.

16. Forward Your Phone To Voicemail
If you are out of your office, send all incoming phone calls immediately to your voicemail so that the caller knows that you are unavailable. Having a caller sit through 20 rings before realizing that you’re not going to answer is impolite and leaves the caller with a negative feeling. Your voicemail should state who you are and when you will be back. An instant and informative voicemail saves the caller time and allows them the option of leaving a message or calling back at a more convenient time.

Offer Better Customer Service with the Right Etiquette

If you don’t try to do the best you can, chances are, you will miss the buck. To gain new customers and convert them into regulars and to treat your regulars like royalty, your call center etiquette needs to be on-point. Make the necessary changes, implement a strategy for continuous education, and watch as your business grows!

Your Complete Guide to Call Center Offshoring & BPO

Beny Mouen 10th December 2020 blog, Call Center, Call Management

What are the advantages of outsourcing your communication needs? Do the advantages outweigh the cons? Learn everything you need to know about call center offshoring & BPO services.

Call Center Offshoring & BPO Explained

Businesses can save money by outsourcing their business processes to an offshore call center. Call center offshoring — also known as call center outsourcing and business process outsourcing (BPO) — can help you delegate certain sales and customer service duties.

Why Do Businesses Outsource Processes?

From large enterprises to small businesses, companies across the board have outsourced (some, if not all) of their services to BPOs. And the main reason for this is to reduce costs. With call center outsourcing, you send out customer service and sales processes, which gives your business more time to focus on developing customer-focused products and services. So, not only do you save on the cost of running a sales and customer service department, you make more space for business development.

How Does an Offshore Call Center Work?

An offshore call center takes on some business processes such as customer service, lead generation, technical support, and human resource management. As such, they work to bring on new clients and retain existing ones.

These call centers are well-equipped to handle customer inquiries and concerns. And they have the most advanced software and tools that support call management, performance monitoring, data security, and more.

What Services Does a Call Center BPO Offer?

Businesses in almost every industry are outsourcing various processes to offshore call centers. These industries include business services, healthcare, retail, e-commerce, telecom, banking, and more. The plethora of services covered by offshore call centers has, in fact, led to subspecialties such as:

Customer service & lead generation — Which focuses primarily on generating sales for a business and offering customer support services. As part of the lead generation process, agents contact prospects and leads on a predetermined list provided by the business. Some call center outsourcing services may even help with the creation of lead lists through market research. As part of the customer support service, agents answer calls made to business clients and offer troubleshooting help, resolutions, and more.
Customer interaction — Oversees a company’s communication channels such as email, phone conversations, voicemail, and social media; appointment-setting and scheduling services; marketing and telemarketing services; order and payment processing; customer support and customer success; customer feedback, and more.
Travel & tourism — Focuses on offering support and itinerary-planning services to travelers. Works with local and international tourism companies for deals and promotions.
Financial services — Focuses on finance and banking-related services such as payment processing; activation of services; collection; billing and counting services; general accounting, bookkeeping for small business, auditing, and more.
IT and software-focused — Offers technical support; technology-related troubleshooting; offshore software product development; implementation services; IT helpdesk, and more.
Virtual assistants — Acts as a cost-effective resource to help you grow your business, by managing incoming calls and providing customer support.

Pros & Cons of Call Center Offshoring

So, should your business take advantage of call center offshoring & BPO services? Let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages of using an outsourcing service.

Pros of Using a Call Center BPO

1. Lower communication-related costs

Sending your business processes offshore can help reduce or eliminate costs related to business communication or running a call center. Since you do not need a comprehensive team of sales agents and customer service reps and managers, you can save on hiring costs as well.

2. Lower staffing issues

Your BPO will be responsible for hiring, training, and managing agents and reps. You won’t have to worry about conducting performance analysis or scheduling agents, or managing call center agents. This can save you time and money.

3. Better call management

Offshore call centers come equipped with advanced call center software and tools. This ranges from call management features to call recording and analytics. With these services, you can often get better customer support and learn how to appease customers better. Additionally, you can handle high call volumes or high periods of call traffic by outsourcing to your call center BPO from time to time.

4. Better business continuity

Virtual call centers can have multiple geographic locations spread across the globe. This can help your business offer 24/7 customer support in regional languages and time zones.

Cons of Call Center Offshoring & BPO

1. Lack of company knowledge

When you outsource business needs, not every agent may be thoroughly schooled in your company’s mission, values, and product education. As such, they may not be able to provide the level or standard of service your business promises.

2. Less control over business functions

When outsourcing, you give control of basic and core services to agents and employees you have not worked with. Additionally, it may be hard to track and monitor each agent representing your business for quality assurance.

3. Decreased customer satisfaction

Usually, agents and reps from a call center BPO don’t offer the same personalized service as your business would. Customers realizing this may be less satisfied with the service they have received and may seek better service elsewhere.

Choosing Between BPO and KPO

The terms BPO and KPOs are often used interchangeably. However, these two types of outsourcing services differ in a variety of ways. In this section, we will discuss Knowledge Process Outsourcing services (KPOs) and the differences between KPOs and BPOs.

KPO: Definition and Types

What is a KPO? Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) is the outsourcing of information-related processes. KPOs are considered an extension of BPOs and require more complex skills outsourcing business processes. Knowledge process outsourcing services include specialized expertise and advanced technical skills. Common types of KPOs include:

Market Research
Business Research
Legal Services
Medical Services
Accounting & Financial Consulting
R&D
Content Development & Design
Data Analysis
Corporate Training
Education and Learning Solutions

Benefits of KPOs

A company may choose to use a KPO to handle high-level, complex tasks instead of hiring in-house employees to handle those tasks. KPOs are built to handle such tasks and provide expertise, making them a reliable source. Here are the benefits of using knowledge process outsourcing services:

1. Cost-effective & scalable

KPOs can help your business reduce costs in a number of ways. Get access to expert services at reasonable rates while increasing profits. Cut down on infrastructure and operating costs, and increase or reduce staff as needed. Overall, using KPOs make for a cost-effective solution.

2. Access to experienced professionals

Your business does not have to take on hiring and training experts for different internal functions. Instead, you can spend time focusing on core services like product development and sales while outsourcing other services to a KPO. This also helps reduce the cost of recruiting and training new employees.

3. Low asset & equipment investment

When outsourcing services to a KPO, you can save on office space and equipment costs. No need for extra hardware or high investment in real estate and tech equipment.

4. Better use of resources

Additionally, you can utilize your own resources in other activities or processes when you outsource certain services. For instance, you may invest in workflow automation to support your employees’ productivity and efficiency, or chatbot services to boost your customer service efforts.

BPO vs. KPO

So, what is the difference between BPO and KPO? Here are some key differences:

Skills needed: BPOs are less complex and require low-level skills, while KPOs are more complex and need analytic and technical skills.

Level of expertise needed: Employees working at a business process outsourcing service need basic professional expertise, while those at a knowledge process outsourcing service need advanced and specialized expertise.

Types of tasks: BPOs focus on administrative tasks while KPOs focus on analytic and more complex tasks.

Offerings: BPOs are all about efficiency and streamlining processes; based on a set process and rules. KPOs provide professional expertise and knowledge.

Day-to-day: Call center BPO employees may have a standard, monotonous routine designed to reach targets. KPO employees, on the other hand, offer specialized insights (such as forecasts) and may work directly with the client.

Related: Call Center Trends [2026]

Is Call Center Offshoring Right for You?

Depending on the size and needs of your business, a combination of onshore call center and offshore call center services may be a better choice. This way, you still have control over your own call center. Additionally, you can take advantage of virtual call center software to utilize the same tools and technologies that call centers use. And you will have the backup support of offshore centers as well. To learn more, speak with our experts at 1 (888) 908 6171.

What Is a Chief Customer Officer and What Do They Do?

Nadine Sampson 9th December 2020 blog, Business Insights

Looking for your next job in customer service management? A Chief Customer Officer (CCO) might be your calling. In this post, we look at what a CCO does and how to become one successfully.

Chief Customer Officer (CCO): Job Description

A Chief Customer Officer, also known as a Chief Client Officer, is the executive responsible for an organization’s relationships with their customers. The CCO is responsible mainly for developing and implementing a customer-first strategy for the business they work for.

This means that CCOs influence various departments and functions within the business such as:

Customer Success
Customer Service
Technical Support
Customer Marketing
Customer Retention
Customer Expansion
Onboarding

The main goal of a Chief Customer Officer is to increase customer satisfaction and lifetime value. To do so, a CCO should have on-field experience as well as practical and technical knowledge of how things work in their industry. A CCO is usually responsible for five key metrics:

Revenue Retention — calculated by subtracting lost revenue, known as revenue churn, from total revenue in a certain time period.
Customer Lifetime Value – the revenue that a business can expect from a single customer account.
Customer Health Score – a high score indicates that a positive outcome is likely.
Net Promoter Score – the percentage of customers that are likely to recommend your company.
Renewal Rate – the percentage of revenue that was renewed in a certain time period.

What do CCOs Do?

Since the end goal is to improve customer success, a Chief Customer Officer might dabble in many aspects of a business’s functions. These may include:

Working with developers to create new products
Managing customer-facing employees
Overseeing customer marketing efforts
Encouraging customer service and customer success managers
Working closely with customer service reps

Chief Customer Officer vs Chief Commercial Officer

There are differences between Chief Client Officers and Chief Commercial Officers. The first major difference is that Chief Commercial Officers are in charge of the entire customer-facing operation. This includes marketing, sales, customer success, and technical support. Chief Customer Officers, on the other hand, deal solely with existing customers. This includes customer success and support.

Another major difference between Customer Officers and Commercial Officers is related to the size of an organization. Chief Commercial Officers exist primarily in larger B2B organizations. On the contrary, organizations of all sizes and types are likely to have Customer Officers. So, the two roles are quite different.

Organizational Structure

In most organizations, Chief Client Officers are part of the c-suite. This means that they report directly to the CEO. In other organizations, the Chief Client Officer reports to the Chief Customer Officer, who reports to the CEO. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to customer management.

Objectives of a Chief Customer Officer

Since Chief Customer Officers work closely with all departments of a business, they need to establish clear targets and standards to achieve their goals. Some targets a CCO should aspire to include:

1. Setting Clear and Practical Goals
Unclear or unrealistic goals will lead to high expectations and low results. It is therefore important to set practical goals and ensure your teams understand what these goals are and how to achieve them. You may even choose to work with them closely and outline successful strategies they can adopt to reach their goals.

2. Encourage and Motivate Teams
Instead of ruling with fear, it is advisable to use positive reinforcement and incentives to encourage and motivate your teams. A team fearful of failing and struggling to approach its superiors for help will not lead to good results. Provide training, educational materials, workshops, and make yourself reachable and approachable.

3. Be Aware and Present
Show up. If you are not present and there for your employees, you will not be aware of their challenges, what they are struggling with, or what is happening in your company. And without this information, you won’t be able to create a healthy and supportive working atmosphere. A healthy and supportive workforce leads to happier customers.

4. Focus on Financial Targets
Lastly, focus on achieving financial targets such as the Gross Retention Number, Net Retention Number, and Services Gross Margin.

How to Become a Chief Customer Officer

As with every job, becoming a CCO means getting your priorities right and fitting the bill. Here are some things to keep in mind when developing your profile:

Be customer-centric and customer-focused
Position yourself to work with front-line teams
Collaborate with teams as often as possible
Place importance on customer feedback
Demonstrate effective conflict resolution skills

There are many job boards where you can apply to become a Chief Customer Officer: Indeed, LinkedIn, and Glassdoor are among the most popular.

The Career Path of a Chief Customer Officer

The career progression of a chief customer officer involves a number of customer-facing roles. These roles can include being a customer support representative, a customer success manager, VP of support, and much more. However, some CCOs will assume the role without prior customer-facing experience, but with extensive business experience.

What is the Salary of a Chief Client Officer?

According to Salary.com, the average salary of a chief client officer or chief customer officer in 2024 ranges from $205,600 and $268,200. The job is well paid due to its importance.

CCOs Lead to Good Customer Management

The main goal of a Chief Customer Officer is to improve the way a business interacts with its customers. This ranges from product development to marketing to customer success strategies. If being a CCO is your calling, then it may be time to get the wheels moving in that direction and develop a strong foundation. Good luck!

14 Reasons to Choose Global Call Forwarding

Luke Genoyer 3rd December 2020 blog, Business Phone Numbers

Global Call Forwarding is a leading provider of telecommunications solutions for global businesses of all sizes.

Why should you choose us for your communication needs? Read on to learn more.

14 Reasons Global Call Forwarding is Right for Your Business

There are a number of factors that you need to consider when evaluating a business phone service. Here are 14 reasons why Global Call Forwarding is the best provider:

1. Proven Telecom Experience

United World Telecom (UWT) was founded in 1996. Global Call Forwarding was launched as a UWT brand in 2007.

We have more than 20 years of proven telecom experience and some of the most knowledgeable experts in this industry.

Our experience helps us provide solutions to companies’ biggest telecom challenges. More than 2,000 multinational organizations depend on our high-availability telecom network that has multiple layers of redundancy.

2. Competitive Pricing

Our pricing is straightforward without any hidden fees. We strive to bring you best-in-class solutions and service at competitive rates. Our numbers come loaded with advanced features that are included with the service.

We have 5 virtual number plans with included minutes and an additional per-minute rate. All taxes and other fees are included in the monthly rates that you see.

We also provide itemized invoices and full call detail records. Everything on your invoice will be clearly detailed. We’re really easy to get in touch with if you have questions.

3. Crystal-Clear Call Quality

Crystal-clear voice is crucial for customer satisfaction.

We never compromise on call quality. Instead, our partnerships with local and regional telecom operators enable us to deliver enterprise-grade voice at competitive rates.

Global Call Forwarding will help you ensure that your business phone calls sound perfect.

4. 24/7 Support & Dedicated Account Management

Real people. Real service.

We’re a US-based company with a regional office in APAC.

You can call us any time you need help. The direct phone number of your account manager is provided to you upon account activation.

24-hour customer support is available through our support ticketing system. We also have a live chat on our website and a Knowledge Base for self-service.

5. Huge Inventory of Local & Toll-Free Numbers Worldwide

Global Call Forwarding has the world’s largest coverage of international toll-free and local phone numbers available from many of the 195 countries worldwide.

No matter where you need a phone number, we’ve got you covered.

6. Advanced Service Features

Close relationships with our customers over the years have helped us create solutions to some of the most common problems facing businesses today.

Our most popular call forwarding features include time-based routing, simultaneous ring, IVR (i.e. “press 1 for sales, press 2 for support”), virtual voicemail. We also offer premium services such as hosted call recording and outbound calling.

All virtual phone number features can be managed in real-time through an online portal.

7. Easy-to-Use

We provide an easy-to-use virtual phone solution that can help you enhance business communications. There’s no programming required to use our service, but an API is available if you want to integrate with your other business tools.

Manage all number settings easily online or by contacting your account manager.

8. Outstanding Customer Reviews

We put our customers first. Go read our Google reviews or Global Call Forwarding reviews on G2 and you’ll see that our customers love doing business with us.

We work hard every day to add value to our customers and provide an outstanding experience.

9. Cost-Effective Alternative to Legacy Telecom Carriers

Legacy telecom companies tend to have higher rates and lower response times. This is because they work with thousands of employees across various locations and departments, which leads to higher overhead and operational expenses. Unfortunately, customers bear the brunt of these expenses. Global Call Forwarding, on the other hand, provides high-quality service for lower, competitive rates. Our customers only pay for the service they need and nothing else. Our customers have saved on business communication costs by switching from a legacy carrier to our service.

10. Dependable & Diverse Team

Over the years, people from more than 20 different countries have worked here. This is especially important because we operate on a global scale. Everyone brings a unique skillset and personality to the team. A lot of the Global Call Forwarding team is also active on LinkedIn!

We have fluent English, Spanish, and French speakers and natives.

11. International Footprint

We have a strong international footprint with global infrastructure and points of presence worldwide. We’re running 24/7.

12. There’s No Commitment

New business customers can get a 15-day free trial to test the quality of our service.

After the free trial, your service is month-to-month.

13. Easy Scaling

It’s extremely easy to add and remove phone numbers from your account.

We aim to provide fast phone number provisioning, which is very important in today’s remote work environment.

14. Stay Connected from Anywhere

Our service makes it possible for anyone to make and receive phone calls anywhere in the world. This can help you capitalize on outsourcing and global expansion opportunities for your business.

Try Global Call Forwarding Today!

If all the above reasons sound good to you, why not give us a try? You can start with a free trial to see how our service fits your needs. If you want to learn more, call us and talk to one of our experts. We look forward to hearing from you!