If you’re looking for a career with relatively low barriers to entry, work-life balance, and plenty of opportunity to grow, a customer service role in a call center might be worth an application.
We’ve all interacted with a call center at some point, but do we really know what a call representative daily responsibilities are? In this article, we’ve highlighted a call center agent’s daily functions and responsibilities, along with what you should consider if you think a role in phone-based customer service might be right for you.
What is a call center?
A call center is a functional team within the service department that fields incoming and outgoing customer phone calls. They’re operated by representatives who manage each call and keep track of open cases and transactions.
To keep their teams organized, team leads use certain management software to distribute inquiries and interact with customers all over the world.
In customer service, call centers can be proactive (outbound) or reactive (inbound). This means that they can either reach out to customers with service offers, or they can offer traditional support and respond to incoming calls. Many companies now offer proactive customer services to create stronger relationships with customers and capitalize on timely opportunities to upsell and cross-sell.
Additionally, call centers can be owned by the parent business or hired as a third-party provider. Depending on the organization’s needs. Both options provide pros and cons that influence the success of the customer service department.
Work-from-home call centers
Work-from-home, or remote, call centers are quickly being adopted by businesses across the world. These call centers use software that distributes calls to agents who are working in various locations. Instead of all the agents being positioned in one central office, remote call centers employ reps from all over which created a more diverse customer service team.
The benefit of working in a remote phone service role is that you can work from the comfort of your home. The company will send you all the tools you’ll need to do your job effectively, including a headset, a microphone, and even a computer. After that, you can take the company’s online courses and training to prepare yourself for future customer interactions.
Companies benefit from this setup as it makes it easier for them to provide customer service across multiple time zones. Since the customer service team is working from various locations, businesses with remote call centers can provide coverage during off-hours without having to put employees on different shifts. This makes employee scheduling significantly easier for companies that provide 24/7 customer support.