A call center software that integrates with the customer’s request makes the workflow processes easy for your support team.
Inbound call management deals with the processes and systems used by businesses and organizations to handle calls initiated by their clients.
If your company houses an inbound call center, you’ll definitely need efficient call management strategies. This is necessary to handle and track calls, collect meaningful data, and route calls to the right department.
Allow us to share with you some of the most efficient inbound calling management strategies that can help you with your call center operations.
How does inbound call management work?
Inbound calling is when another entity initiates contact with your business phone calls. Your team may receive inbound calls that have different issues unless the call goes straight to the specific department.
A smooth workflow for call management should be implemented among your customer service or sales team. If you are operating on a larger scale, you can opt to house or outsource for larger enterprises.
But whether you own a small, medium, or large company, you have to determine how your team can implement best practices for your inbound call management.
With the right strategies, you can ace your work and complete every call in a highly efficient manner.
5 best practices for inbound call management
If you haven’t planned out what inbound call management strategies to apply in your call center company, you can use these five ways we’ve prepared for you in managing inbound calls.
Use omnichannel support
Phone calls are just one of many communication channels that customers are using to reach out to companies. Digital advances offer users live chat, chatbots, messaging applications, and emailing now.
If your business uses these communication channels, it’s best to integrate all of them to allow you to view all of your customer interactions across all of your channels.
Not only can they interact with your customers and callers faster and easier, but your support team can also personalize their responses better. To add this to your call management strategy, you can start using omnichannel software to make the integration.
Create a call deflection strategy
You can’t control how many inbound calls your teams may receive. But you can control which department these calls can get routed to. With a deflection strategy, you ensure that your agents’ expertise is used to the best of their ability.
Routing or deflecting calls to the right departments or people takes off a lot of waiting time for customers. It also offers self-service options for them to find information at their own pace.
In a fast-paced business, it’s best to be as efficient as you can with your agents’ time and let them focus on the high-value expertise that they possess.
Outsource your needs
Deciding to outsource your inbound contact center needs can give you a lot of benefits. Outsourcing gives you a lower cost on resources, staffing, and other functions.
If your company has international customers, then your clients would want to get 24/7 support availability. An outsourced call center offers you better coverage in international time zones.
Make data accessible
One of the best forms of call management is to make your customer data easily accessible. This includes their shopping behavior, preferences on pricing, what products and services they usually get, and many more.
With updated and accurate customer data, your employees can contextualize the customer’s experience. They would know what the customer has previously bought from your shop and have a record of their past communications.
With these data ready, agents can resolve their concerns more quickly and enable them to identify opportunities to even upsell.
Use customer service software
If you’re running any type of call center company, customer service software is a must-have. A call center software that integrates with the customer’s request makes the workflow processes easy for your support team.
When agents receive inbound calls from customers, some software allows them to automatically see the whole history of transactions of customers to your brand.
With this in mind, the agent can strategize better for call management, address the user better, and thank the customer for choosing their business for the longest time.
Handling inbound calls
Handling inbound calls will depend on several factors—and can vary with many unpredictable circumstances.
You’ll never exactly know why a client is calling—it could be about troubleshooting, problems with defective items, billing or refund, or about another purchase.
The line between how many calls an agent should take, and how many calls they resolve in difficult circumstances will likely be blurry.
But that’s why you have these inbound call management strategies; for you to find a healthy balance between the two sides. When something goes out of hand, you’ll be prepared too.
At the end of the day, these best practices and strategies have the ultimate goal: to put customer experience at the forefront of your business operations.
