Can I outsource this effectively?

[weareacc]

Hi, we are a SME in need of some help with outbound appointment setting - it's slightly atypical though, as the appointments are to service a contract, ie, we are local service providers for a UK wide brand.
Clients are serviced yearly and details are passed to us when they are due an appointment - we currently use a "virtual receptionist" set up to fill three diaries (which costs around £500pm), but, consequently, we are missing out on opportunities to up/cross-sell at this point.
I'd additionally like help with inbound sales, as currently these calls go to the field guys and i'm not convinced this is the most effective solution (failed/missed calls etc).
As an extra, I'd like to throw in management of our existing client database with outbound calls and possibly some sort of email shot.

Is this essentially a basic telemarketing campaign that's relatively easy to outsource and, if so, does anyone have any experience with effectiveness/cost?

Probably a "how long is a piece of string" question, but there's no harm in trying to eradicate my noobness.

 

[billmccallum1957]

How many calls per day, inbound and outbound, do you envisage?

 

[weareacc]

Hi there.
Outbound between 10-20 - these can be harvested throughout the day and then done in a block of, say, 2 hours at the most suitable time of day.
Inbound depends on what promotions we are running and would probably be tied in to some sort of voucher run (groupon etc), so would be a similar number at around 10-15.
So obviously a part-time thing - I would guess putting together a months trial would be a good idea, if it's an option.
I've emailed a couple of freelancers but haven't had any response - I probably need to put together something more coherent but that assumes more knowledge than is present in my crowded brain.

 

[billmccallum1957]

How do you envisage upselling by an outsider? Will you need to provide product training to whoever does the work?

 

[weareacc]

We provide a service at home (oven cleaning) and the upselling will be to add extra items to that already covered by the contract ie hobs/hoods/microwaves or white goods. So, while there will need to be training it's largely a "common sense" sell which doesn't require technical knowledge.
The pricing structure will be new to any outsider of course (i'm sure we can simplify that if data/feedback is provided), but the bulk of the knowledge lost by outsourcing will be related to how we actually carry out our work (ie cleaning methods which some customers like to ask about).

 

[PaulBappoo]

A few thoughts:

I live in Vietnam, there are quite a few westerners around here who are semi-retired or even fully retired, who are smart, speak English and know UK culture - they dont need much money to live on. Maybe that sort of person based offshore could be useful to you.

Secondly, I am wondering what drives a person to want the additional services. Is it some sort of logical thing, like a dirty microwave causes bad food taste or a dirty hood eats more electricity, or is it an emotional thing, like people want their kitchens to look nice.

Finally, I am wondering about the process, e.g. do you call customers after the visit to see if they were satisfied with their service, at which point I wonder if that would be a good time to up/cross sell for another visit to do some other stuff. The obvious disadvantage is of course that it is another visit, not sure how much of a problem that is.

 

[weareacc]

Cheers Paul - you are right about needing to know UK culture to some extent, I think: oven cleaning was almost unheard of in the UK until around 8 years ago, in which time it's grown into a popular and sustainable business.
Regarding motivation, there is pressure from manufacturers (99% of oven manuals state a recommendation to have the oven cleaned professionally twice a year) as well as a "looking after your investment" pressure - the contract we service is for people who have invested in extra insurance for their appliance from the retailer, the clean is an added benfit to people who pay either monthly or at the time of purchase for premium comprehensive insurance.
This might apply to fridges/freezers/tumble dryers, dishwashers and ovens/ranges. Our core business is oven cleaning so if we get a request to clean a, for instance, dishwasher, it makes sense for us to offer to clean an oven while we are there - it's actually easier to justify an oven clean to someone who is having their dishwasher cleaned as i've personally no idea why someone would pay to have a dishwasher cleaned in the first place!
Thirdly, there is no opportunity for a follow-up call as the retailer organises this themselves to monitor our performance etc.

 

[billmccallum1957]

Personally, I would look at employing someone in-house, combining tasks.

Someone who takes care of diary setting, upselling, inbound & outbound, plus follow-up calls where needed.

 

[PaulBappoo]

I'm not quite sure I get it, you have a client database and you know the clients number before you visit them, so why can you not call them afterwards or in a further years time? Is that a contractual thing with the manufacturer?

In your OP you said

"I'd like to throw in management of our existing client database with outbound calls and possibly some sort of email shot."

Which suggests you can do more than only what the manufacturer tells you to do.

Anyway, whatever it is I think British expats would be an option for you. I met a woman a while back, she was selling financial services for a company based here that was targeting expats living here. She was articulate, intelligent and had great sales training and she is not alone, there are loads of them here. Best thing about it, their attrition is massive coz its a rubbish job, so there are probably plenty of those sorts of folks just waiting to be snapped up.

 

[weareacc]

Yeah, sorry for the ambiguity, the database management would be for our "paying customers" only (which accounts for about 35% of the database) - this was an extra that I thought could be easily tacked on to any outsourcing.
We would definitely prefer to employ in-house, but the simple fact is there isn't anyone who can do it - all our employees are field staff (as am I) and I know first-hand how difficult it is to take calls/manage a diary AND look professional to a customer while you are doing a job for them.
Cutting down on one member of staff's workload to allow for this extra role costs more than the outlay for the virtual office, which is why we are structured in this way. As it stands, every employee is a "direct earner" for the company.
I'd love to cut down myself and take on the role but I am truly unable to do this sort of work effectively, due to a "brain condition"
Regarding the expats - how would I go about finding a source? It's not something I've considered but could be what we need.

 

[PaulBappoo]

I can probably help, I know quite a few people here, so if you like I can make some tentative enquiries and see what it turns up. I'll drop you a pm so we can establish direct contact.

 

[Karllacey]

Okay, I have looked over the information very briefly as no disrespect to Paul this is a new thing and British people quite often would simply say "I cant be arsed to do my oven get someone else to do it, same as mowing lawns, washing windows etc the other difference is you are letting them inside.

Now that is out of the way, I will maybe give the OP some useful info.

Right you use the VR for your company and you are concerned about missing calls etc - furthermore and I dare say this, people do not like dealing with an automated process - they want to talk to someone - and probably the older you are the worse you will be at just wanting to speak to a human rather than a machine.

The fix??? I am sure that you can kill off that ereceptionist and get a customer services individual on a retainer to record all info you need and communicate all info to the relevant person. For £500 a month a lot of freelance people will do just fine and give the human touch. You could even be specific and have them measure your marketing campaigns etc i.e. how did you here about us and so on...

Secondly, and this is more business specific - what routes to market do you have here? i know that you are looking at telesales/telemarketing/marketing whatever it might be - but who are you targeting? and is there a specific area...

Also in additional, are we talking Commercial cleaning as well?

What accreditations do you have in place...

Right I am going to stop now..because I have done this so many times my head is starting to go off on one...

Good luck!

 

[DC Outsourcing]

To the OP this is something that I am sure we can help with. Feel free to drop me an email at chris.carr (at) dcoutsourcing (dot) com or check our website www (dot) dcoutsourcing (dot) com

Apologies for the brackets etc but I do not have 30 posts yet to include links

Many thanks

 

[telemax]

I don't have enough time to do do this for you right now, but contact me via private message and I may be able to give you some pointers.

Jonathan