No matter what industry you’re in, superior customer service is the key to staying ahead of your competition. That’s why so many companies use call centers to maximize service without breaking the bank.
But what exactly are customer service call centers? This article explains the most common call center services in the most popular industries that use them as part of their business process outsourcing (BPO) plans.
What Is a Call Center?
A call center is a specialized company — or a specialized department of a larger company — that communicates with customers. A specialized department works only for the larger company while a dedicated call center company can have many clients.
Traditionally, call centers have focused only on phone calls (i.e., voice conversations), but more and more centers are relying on other live communications channels such as SMS, messaging services like WhatsApp, and web chats.
What Kinds of Services Do BPO Call Centers Provide?
Whether a call center is made up of a few employees or hundreds of call center professionals, call centers can be used for front- and back-office functions, including:
- Inbound call center services that receive calls from customers and are used for processing orders, customer service, and technical support/helpdesks.
- Outbound call center services that make calls on behalf of your company and are used to qualify leads, conduct surveys, and proactively reach out to existing customers.
- Automated call center services that don’t rely on human-to-human interaction but can be used to help customers with simple questions like tracking orders and finding office locations and hours.
You already know how much BPO companies can save you money by managing administrative services like information technology (IT), payroll, and human resources (HR). Let’s look at how BPO call center services can help in other ways.
What Kinds of Industries Use Call Center Services?
As you can see, call center services are very flexible. So, it’s no wonder that many kinds of industries use them to provide the best service to their customers at a competitive cost. Some of the most common industries that use call center services include:
- Insurance
- Healthcare
- Financial
- Auto
- Restaurants
- Travel
Let’s explore 6 of these industries in detail.
1. Insurance
Your insurance clients depend on you to be there when they need you. And it’s easy to lose a customer who feels they are getting the attention they need from their carrier. Building up an insurance company takes resources – and yours may be better spent on acquiring market share than on funding a department for support, claim verification and scheduling adjusters.
There are many ways nearshore inbound call center services can help, including:
- Alleviating your customers fears and concerns by being there when they need help the most.
- Handling payment processing.
- Verifying claims.
- Providing accounting and payroll services.
Your insurance agency can also reap the benefits of outbound call center services, which include:
- Rolling out new products.
- Direct-to-consumer sales.
2. Healthcare
Call centers are a must-have for healthcare companies that want to stay competitive. More and more patients expect personalized service from their healthcare providers, which means that proactive communication is almost as important as the quality of care itself.
A few ways that call centers help healthcare companies distinguish themselves from the competition include:
- Making appointments.
- Sending reminders about upcoming appointments and scheduling follow-up appointments.
- Managing patient feedback and complaints.
- Resolving billing issues.
- Managing requests for referrals, prescription refills, and other services that don’t require an in-person visit.
3. Financial
Business and governments depend on stellar money management in their financial services. If you are fulfilling that role you need experts backing you up who have impeccable credentials and foolproof guarantees. Bringing on call center services can help you grow your reputation while utilizing your important employees to bring in new business.
A few of the ways a BPO call center can help include:
- Treasury reporting
- Accounts payable/receivable & bookkeeping
- Claims processing
- Data entry
- Timely filing of reports
4. Auto
It may surprise you that the automotive industry employs call centers, but it’s true! If you own an auto parts store or repair garage, then it makes sense that you want your team to focus on their car expertise rather than their calling skills.
Here are a few ways that companies in the auto industry take advantage of call centers:
- Scheduling services.
- Confirming availability of common spare parts like batteries and lights.
- Reminding customers when it’s time for an oil change or other scheduled maintenance.
- Offering special discounts for spare parts and routine services.
5. Restaurants
Anyone that owns a restaurant knows that running a successful franchise means that staff are busy enough providing the best service to their in-person customers. So, it’s no wonder that owners turn to call center services to manage calls.
But that doesn’t mean that restaurants should ignore their phone lines. Call centers often support the restaurant industry by:
- Making reservations.
- Managing customer feedback and complaints.
- Distributing SMS offers and coupons to loyal customers.
6. Travel
Competition is tight in the travel industry, especially when travel companies are competing with direct reservation systems on airline and cruise websites and other automated booking services. Still, dedicated travel companies can offer customers a unique value proposition by having someone to take care of things and make emergency rebookings when travel plans go awry.
Call center services used by the travel industry include:
- Managing bookings, especially for trips with complex travel arrangements.
- Emergency lines to rebook missed or canceled flights.
- Reaching out to past customers to offer special discounts to save money on vacations.
Use Call Center Services to Maximize Your Company’s Success
Running a business is satisfying but never easy. Call centers can help your company focus on what matters most to success: valuing people. At Confie, we put our people and culture above all else. Get in touch with us today to learn more or give us a call at (714) 252-2500.
