Inbound/Outbound Conversion

[Carmildav]

I am the customer service manager of an inbound/outbound call center and am being advised by the home office that they want to start utilizing our part time outbound reps as inbound. My concerns are that my outbound department is doing extremely well and I don't want to jeopardize their production. They are very self-motivated and disciplined and I am concerned that alternating them between the two will impact negatively. Does anyone have any reps who are cross trained to do inbound some days and outbound on others? Thanks for any input.

[Manohar86]

Dear Carmildav,

First let me appreciative your concern and the way at which you are looking to resolve it.
Answer for your post is YES and NO. Yes, if your process are similar. Let us I run a campaign of selling Travel packages to tourists. My team knows exactly what sort of customers we are talking to and know to pose right questions to convince emÂ’ to close the deal. If you have a inbound campaign were in customers call and inquire about the tour packages your team should convert the inquiry to a sale of the same.
So, In such cases a cross trained team would do a wonderful job. It all depends on what kind of projects you are addressing.

And big NO if the processes are different and unique. Reasons I understand are you cannot expect people to work two different environments at the same time. How do I grade performance? Not every one is an all rounder nor we appreciate days of total football anymore. Management tends to bend towards such options, as it’s easy to say “LETS GET THEM CROSS TRAINED”.

Hope you get many more responses to get a better understanding on this subject.

Regards,
Manohar Srinivas Esarapu - Manager Logistics & OP's Support.
manohar86@yahoo.com

[Tom Naras]

Carmildav -

Based on my experience, it is difficult for most agents to flip back and forth between IB and OB. OB agents are usually high-strung and louder, and IB agents are usually subtle and customer service oriented. However, there are usually some agents can make the transition, (you will just need to identify which ones).

When I managed callcenters I avoided mixing IB and OB agents due to performance issues, and usually outsourced my IB calls. Have you thought about outsourcing your IB calls?

You can send any other questions to me at tnaras@cox.net.

Tom Naras

[rjpasto]

my experience (former PricewaterhouseCoopers call center practice lead) is that I/B and O/B calls involve very different interpersonal demeanors and transactional skillsets. Mixing I/B and O/B call handling most always diminishes overall performance outcomes of all call types. There are very different personality and skillset differences need be considered in selecting, training and compensating reps for I/B v. O/B calls. Combining calls looks good on paper, appears to offer a "productivity gain", but effectiveness suffers rendering the "gained productivity" unprofitable. It's a tempting trap - effectiveness/profitability needs be closely managed/measured as it ususally suffers.
Bob Pastorini

[Tony]

Our reps jump from IB/OB on a per call basis...one call may be I/B and the next three O/B, it depends on the flow of call traffic in and out.


We use Melita/Magellan by e-share (now Divine) and statistically our reports have shown that overall center productivity has increased significantly, as the I/B only agents dont sit idle for certain periods.

There is nothing to it, any competent person can adjust to the I/B O/B mix. 5 months ago all agents were dual I/B & O/B

The question of giving up efficiency/productivity FOR effectiveness...

effectiveness in what sense? (we are a call center for a large bank collection dept) so you mean in the ability to collect $$$, solve/cure delinquency?
please indulge further


Tony.

[MikeHCIT]

I just moved into a center that does both IB/OB. The center that I worked for previous was a wireless customer service center that did IB only.

This new one does both IB/OB in a CS and collections role. There are defined agents for each group, but some of my CS reps do OT in the collections group. I was really suprised to see this when I started there, until I got to know the reps that are doing it.

They seem to be the more aggresive reps, and have had no problems switching back and forth as far as I have seen so far. They are good with IB CS, and the Mgr of the collections group tells me they do a fair job in that group. Not as well as her FT collectors (which is to be expected) but well enough that she will pay OT out of her budget to them.

It can be done, but I think it depends all on the rep that you want to double dip so to speak.

Mike H
CIT Chicago, IL

[brettz]

Their are two issues that you will need to face. The first is can your technology provided a "Blended" environment, supporting both inbound and outbound calls by intelligently logging in and out of outbound campaigns based upon inbound call flow. Good technology will allow you to focus on the individual agents strengths in each area, for intelligent routing of both inbound and outbound. Meaning if an inbound call comes into your center, you would like to utilze a strong inbound player who may not be strong on the outbound side. This way your technology is selecting the best choices given the work loads.

The other is cross training. Experience tells most that in the past, most agents are typically inbound or outbound. Now days with heavy competition in the job market, and "blending" becoming more popular, agents are trying to be both. You would be ahead of the curve if you got going with this sooner than later.

If you would like to talk further please feel free to call or email.

Sincerely,

Brett
Adapt
773-634-2024