Kinds of Campaigns to Consider...

[tin_graham]

Hi!

I need a suggestion on which kind of campaigns our center should get and which ones should we avoid. We are getting a lot of offers and we are open in trying all sorts like inbound, outbound, hard selling, soft selling, appointment setting etc... Where is the best place to get good campaigns? What should a call center do to get a good and reliable campaign?

What do you think about the DATA CONVERSION?

Thanks!

[Doberman]

Are you outsourcing ??

[tin_graham]

We are a call center company. We just started the business and we have been fooled once by clients who didn't pay us even if we made good sales.

Well, the problem we have is how to get a good campaign for our call center. How do we know that a certain campaign is true and would really pay us for our services. And should we have someone abroad to do the client-finding for our center? What are the things we should consider in finding a campaign? What are the preparations to be done? To simplify all these, I just wanted to know, what should we do to get a good-paying and long-lasting campaign for our center and how do we secure our company that we will never be fooled again? Because our campaigns usually came from other tie-up centers and some, we got them over the net. We are operating for only a month now but there is still no money coming in in our company.

Please Help!

[Doberman]

First of all, I need to know what you meant by not being paid?
Wasn't there any contracts between you and the company? If there was one I don't see any problem in getting paid. If there wasn't then you should consider paying a visit to a lawyer and have your own contract with your own terms and conditions prepared.

As for the campaigns and where to get them from, I'm not from where you are so I won't be able to give you the perfect answer you're looking for.

However, try to look for small/medium companies who need to have a customer service division but they can not afford it. You need then to contact them, offer your services and get your staff trained and ready for the product they'll promote, provide info, etc.

I hope I understood your question and gave you good answers

[SavvyTraveler]

As I posted in my thread, I am an independant Travel Agent and I am looking for an agency to market packages for me. I can't imagine not paying for services rendered. I would be willing to write a long-term contract if I could find a center who would put the quality first. Please email me if you could handle such a project!

[Frank A. Engle]

Tin-

A couple thoughts...

1. It sounds as though you were involved in a pay for performance (p4p)project where the client pays you for sales made after you turn them in. These projects have to be taken very carefully and only with a company with a good reputation in the business. As a call center broker, I get approached by a dozen of those offers a month and can count on one hand the number that I have seen succeed for the call centers I represent. These projects are mostly taken as either a fill in for slow periods or as an "add on" sale in conjunction with an ongoing inbound or outbound project.

2. Three things are vital to initially attract business in the US (I assume that you mean the US when you mention "finding someone abroad"):
- A good historical record of performance in a specific vertical market
- Great per minute/per hour/per sale fees you charge clients. Depending on what country you are in, the typical rates you charge must be extremely competitive with other centers in your country.
- Complete visibility into ALL agent conversations via live monitoring, recording etc. by your clients

Hope this helps...Good Luck!!

[tin_graham]

Thank you So much for all your help. I will update you guys soon.

[tin_graham]

Hi!

Thanks for your responses. Anyway, We do have signed contracts between us and our clients but they did not followed what is written there. They still did not pay us with the services we gave them. It's a per hour campaign. Maybe, as you said, we should visit the lawyer for the next move with regards to that issue. What's keeping us to do is that we both came from different countries so we don't know if we could file a case against a company to another country and how much inconvenience and money our company will be risking on this procedure. Spending more money without nothing coming back is a no-no to our CEO.

I would also like to know if it is safe to deal with middle persons (meaning independent people who seek for centers to market a campaign. They are not related to any sort of marketing company or BPO.) What are the other source or means where we could get clients? In our case, the clients we get are usually from the net. We dont know anymore means where we could get campaigns directly to the clients. Can you suggest more? We have some ideas but we need suggestions from you guys who are professionals and more knowledgeable in this industry.

I will email you Mr. Mike and thank you for your offer. You will hear from me soon.

And finally, our center offers a wide variety of services to our clients and this includes the involvement of the client in our operation (e.g live monitoring, remote monitoring). But I am not saying that everything has been done perfectly. Like what I've mentioned, we are still new in this business, only a month of operation, so there are still more areas needed to be improved. We are positive about everything and we need advices from people like you guys. I believe that we are not competitors, we are a team in this business. And eventually, with all the encouragement and advices we get from our consultants and friends, we can get through. There will always be birth pains, right? Oooppsss!.. Im getting sentimental. Sorry =)

Thanks again and if there are more suggestions you could give or inspirational words to share, I am more than willing to read and reflect through it. Thanks!

Tin Graham