comparison of call center fees

[aggie]

can someone provide me with some benchmark pricing for inbound and outbound calling, scheduling, and fulfillment activities in the uSA, or perhaps point me to a case study that offers that info. I have been charged with making our internal call center profitable and I think our fees are below market. I need to confirm this before raising prices to internal customers. This is a tough business. Also, wonder what courses or seminars might help me? AT&T has a 3 day one for $2k.

[gkern]

I can provide you with comparitive pricing. I need some additional details around your service level, AHT, hours of service, and nature of the calls.

Greg Kern
CallTech
512-261-0409

[EMachinski]

I outsourced a call center for the last company I worked with. I have some very good contacts I can pass on..If you have any questions email me at: edm@twowaypager.com

[Frank A. Engle]

Aggie-

It is really beside the point to get what outsource providers charge for similar services. Outsourcers have net cost and margin guidelines they stick to in order to make a profit. What you may have agents do in an internal call center to provide good customer service may never occur in an outsource center unless specifically requested by the client. Since client requests vary dramatically and most vendors have confidentiality agreements prohibiting them from providing specific client parameter details, the rate information is pretty useless...IMHO.

The bottom line is:

Do you know what each seat in each performance area (Acquisition, Tech Support, Customer Service, etc.)costs you in your center and what your policies, procedures and KPI's are costing you in margin in each? Once you determine that dollar amount, you can compare it with revenue driven from each operation and then adjust your P & P's, Key Performance Indicators, or charges to customers accordingly to guarantee a profit from your center. This is exactly what most outsourcers do and then add their margin on top. Because top outsourcers use best practices and are experts at cutting cost to run their centers they can compete very favorably with inhouse centers. You are essentially an inhouse center being run on an outsource model from your "before raising prices to internal customers" statement. It makes sense to me to analyze the situation the way an outsourcer would.

That is how I would go about it. Hope it helps.

[Vince Matal]

The best advice I can give is to look at your center as its own business (and chances are it IS its own cost center). What is the cost of each seat? What do the "higher ups" consider profitable? Establishing, running and maintaining a profitable call center is not an easy task, hence the strong flow towards outsourcing this type of operation. It sounds as if you already have some, if not all, of the infrastructure in place, but that had an initial cost involved which in turn has to be looked at as well as the day-to-day operation of the center.

Bottom line is this: What would be considered a good profit margin? Once that number is determined (and, bear in mind, that number can fluctuate), then you will have an idea of what to charge your customers.

Good Luck!

Vince

[PaulScherr]

Originally posted by EMachinski
I outsourced a call center for the last company I worked with. I have some very good contacts I can pass on..If you have any questions email me at: edm@twowaypager.com

Does your current company outsource any work?

[earhart]

Aggie,

Didi you ever get you question resolved? I am now in the same position, and would ask the question precisely as you did.

What did you find out? I also looked for the AT&T seminar and couldn't locate.

Can you help?

Thanks

Charlie

Charles Earhart
ABN AMRO
charles.earhart@abnamro.com
312-992-4117

[aggie]

It is a challenge to be sure!! I think the response from Frank Engle was (in the end) the most helpful, but it has taken me quite some time to get there. I'd be happy to discuss this with you privately if we can figure out a way to do that. Bottom line, there is no silver bullet out there.

[Frank A. Engle]

Aggie and Earhart--

You can both feel free to give me call to discuss if you like. I would be happy to spend a few moments with you to discuss how you might go about finding the data you require internally.

Best regards-