Think Smart: Five Steps to “Insourcing” Your Call Center
can exceed $10,000 in equipment
costs alone. In addition to hardware
and configuration, you have to figure
in the cost of ongoing maintenance.
Fortunately, the introduction of
next generation cloud-based
telecommunication standards, such
as WebRTC, has eliminated this cost
entirely. Selecting a cloud-based call
center, which allows you to answer calls
using the phones and computers you
already have, allows you to completely
avoid the high cost of infrastructure.
Use the Staff You Already Have
Think Smart:
Five Steps to “Insourcing”
Your Call Center
By Philip Murphy
It was not long ago that self-storage
companies had limited options when it
came to answering inbound calls. They
could try to juggle the calls internally,
overburdening staff and missing calls
or they could outsource to third-party
call centers. This usually does not work
the way owners envisioned and there is
still much left to be desired. Third-party
call centers do not understand your
properties and your business in the
way that your managers do. In addition,
they are rarely local, can only answer
basic questions and are not able to be
as flexible as you wish they could be.
Today’s new technologies, such as
cloud-based software and Internetbased phones, help lower barriers
to entry and provide self-storage
operators a more feasible third
choice: insourcing. Bringing your
calls back in-house opens you up
to new business opportunities.
You are likely to increase revenue,
decrease expenses and enhance both
customer and employee satisfaction.
These five steps will help you
save money when you “insource”
your own call center.
Avoid the High Cost of
Phone Infrastructure
When opening your own call center,
the expense of infrastructure can be
significant. Even a small call center
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Outsourcing calls can leave
your customers with incorrect
information. Then customers receive
incorrect directions or inaccurate
information about your current
special, their trust is impacted.
There is a distinct selling advantage
when local expertise and a personal
touch are woven into a relationship,
even if it starts and ends with the
phone. There is also a keen ability to
get rent that is past due because of
their first-hand knowledge of tenants.
One of the latest innovations in call
center technology is the ability to
instantly identify callers and route
them to the best person to answer the
call. Within every company, no matter
how big or small, there are employees
who do a better job with leads and
others who are better with collections.
Skill-based routing can automatically
route sales calls to your company’s
best sales representatives or identify
callers that are in late payment status
and send them to your collections
specialist, even if that specialist
is located at a different facility.
Putting your employees’ individual
strengths to work increases staff pride,
customer satisfaction and revenue.
Who are your top sales stars? Your
best customer service reps? Highlight
those unique attributes and use
this technology to maximize it.
Integrate Your Call Center
with Management Software
Just as important as getting the call to
the right person is ensuring that key
information is quickly accessible. The
more information your agent or remote
manager has when answering calls,
the more likely they are to close the
SBOA Magazine - Fall 2015
lead or provide top-notch customer
service. The latest call center solutions
integrate seamlessly with leading
management software packages,
so your remote manager can see
lead and customer information, live
inventory and pricing, specials and
location details immediately--without
shuffling papers or logging into
different systems. Some of the more
advanced platforms can even allow
you to take payments, follow up with
leads and customers or perform other
account updates that are automatically
pushed to the appropriate locations.
Determine Your Hours
Leads usually do not call in the
middle of th H