F.A.Q's
What's the difference between call centers and contact centers?
A call center traditionally only handles voice calls. Once your call center handles phone calls from customers and communications on other contact channels (messaging, email, live-chat, social media, etc), it’s no longer just a call center; it’s a contact center.
Nowadays, most organizations have adapted to consumer communication trends and adopted an omni-channel approach to customer interactions. However, the industry hasn’t quite shaken off the call center label. That explains why the two terms are often used interchangeably
How do you handle inbound and outbound calls?
Handling both types of calls requires businesses to have a comprehensive call center strategy in place.
Where inbound calls are fundamental to call centers focused on support services, outbound calls are geared towards generating leads and sales. How both types of calls are handled can be the difference between a great customer experience and one that turns the customer off your business for good. Often, call center agents will be trained to handle both kinds of calls.
What are the advantages of inbound contact centers?
There are many benefits to setting up a call center for your small or medium-sized business. Below are three of the main advantages:
1. Facilitate better customer experiences
Call centers are customer-focused. They cater to answering customer service inquiries or proactively reaching out to customers to build relationships.
2. Improve productivity and efficiency:
A dedicated customer service team can increase how productively and efficiently your business runs overall. Call centers provide plenty of performance-enhancing features like call routing, call recording, and more, to more efficiently handle customer queries.
3. Manage higher call volumes:
As a small business, you’re constantly growing. As your call volume grows, there’ll come a point where your existing team can’t handle them all. This can result in calls going unanswered and customers getting frustrated.
1. Facilitate better customer experiences
Call centers are customer-focused. They cater to answering customer service inquiries or proactively reaching out to customers to build relationships.
2. Improve productivity and efficiency:
A dedicated customer service team can increase how productively and efficiently your business runs overall. Call centers provide plenty of performance-enhancing features like call routing, call recording, and more, to more efficiently handle customer queries.
3. Manage higher call volumes:
As a small business, you’re constantly growing. As your call volume grows, there’ll come a point where your existing team can’t handle them all. This can result in calls going unanswered and customers getting frustrated.
What’s the best choice for companies looking for a contact center solution?
A contact center solution should offer all of the essential call center features listed in the previous section, along with omnichannel capabilities to facilitate better customer interactions.
E|WM inbound contact center solution is one of the top inbound call centers software available for SMBs. The E|WM solution enables businesses to provide top-class customer service from a centralized, integrated platform. It offers plenty of features and tools to streamline and optimize customer support.
E|WM inbound contact center technology enables businesses to deliver a more robust customer experience through artificial intelligence, skills-based routing, and automated self-service options. Featuring supervisor tools and countless business tool integrations, RingCentral empowers small businesses to provide exceptional customer experience every time.
E|WM inbound contact center solution is one of the top inbound call centers software available for SMBs. The E|WM solution enables businesses to provide top-class customer service from a centralized, integrated platform. It offers plenty of features and tools to streamline and optimize customer support.
E|WM inbound contact center technology enables businesses to deliver a more robust customer experience through artificial intelligence, skills-based routing, and automated self-service options. Featuring supervisor tools and countless business tool integrations, RingCentral empowers small businesses to provide exceptional customer experience every time.
What Does a Virtual Assistant Do?
VAs have a wide range of skills and expertise. Their work can be divided into three broad categories:
• Administrative Support
• Marketing Support
• Systems Support
Many VAs specialize in providing administrative services. Just like a regular administrative assistant, they’re pros at administrative tasks like:
• Data entry
• Inbox management
• Answering phone calls
• Scheduling meetings
• General or marketing research
• Search engine optimization
• Social media management
• Content creation & many more.
• Administrative Support
• Marketing Support
• Systems Support
Many VAs specialize in providing administrative services. Just like a regular administrative assistant, they’re pros at administrative tasks like:
• Data entry
• Inbox management
• Answering phone calls
• Scheduling meetings
• General or marketing research
• Search engine optimization
• Social media management
• Content creation & many more.
How Much Do You Pay a Virtual Assistant?
Virtual assistant fees will depend on the following factors:
• the nature of the work
• the number of hours needed
• the virtual assistant’s skills, qualifications, and experience
Here are three common VA payment models:
• Hourly Rate
You can pay your virtual assistant an hourly rate for the services they provide. This is the most common payment model for VAs. This means that you only pay your VA once their work begins, and unused hours aren’t charged.
• Fixed Rate
You can also agree on a fixed price for specific projects or milestones. For example, you might pay a flat fee to have someone design your website or write 10 blog posts.
• Retainer Fee
If you need regular help from a VA, you can set up a retainer agreement. In this case, you would pay a monthly fee in exchange for a certain number of hours or tasks.
• the nature of the work
• the number of hours needed
• the virtual assistant’s skills, qualifications, and experience
Here are three common VA payment models:
• Hourly Rate
You can pay your virtual assistant an hourly rate for the services they provide. This is the most common payment model for VAs. This means that you only pay your VA once their work begins, and unused hours aren’t charged.
• Fixed Rate
You can also agree on a fixed price for specific projects or milestones. For example, you might pay a flat fee to have someone design your website or write 10 blog posts.
• Retainer Fee
If you need regular help from a VA, you can set up a retainer agreement. In this case, you would pay a monthly fee in exchange for a certain number of hours or tasks.