Starting a call center

I can see that you are interested in starting up a call center. I am actually working in a call center which is a start up center - have satrted from scratch. We are on the process of looking out for clients in the states to fill up our seats. there's a lot of things that is to be done yet , however little by little we are on our way. We are now training about 60 agents and 10 are already in production. Its a bit rough to start but thats how it is.

it's not that easy setting up call center, first think you should know is that you have at least a company that would secure you a contract to serve since the problems of call centers not taking off is they don't have enough contracts for their employees to receive and you won't have any earnings to be able to pay for the salaries. i was once offered to buy an existing medical transcription company but i hesitated since hearing from workers that sometimes they get delayed salaries because of late offshore payment or no project. am not discouraging you to start but you should also be prepared of unexpected events. to be honest, that's what i also like to do here.

Im interested and wish to be a part of the pool but i dont have enough knowledge regarding it. Yeah, the money is really great on that business. And also, you could provide employment to your fellow men. Hope you could realize your dream on this and be as competetive as the competitors do.

I am also interested in starting a call center business here in manila. If you like maybe we can exchange infos and probably work together on this. You can email me at xtedax@yahoo.com. :)

I am only a user of call centres, not been involved in setting one up. However to be succesful you need a number of different criteria. 1/ Know your market - if the call centre is only for taking local calls then that should not be a problem, remember however that even for the same country there can be differences in language interpretation and culture. 2/ If the call centre is for international calls, then staff should be able to understand the language fluently. The problems really arise when call centre staff can only speak the language as a second language. 3/ Call centre staff have to have knowledge of what the customer is talking about, and also an understanding of the geography of the country concerned. Recently an insurance call centre was switched back from India to U.K because call centre staff had no idea what an 'immersion heater' was, but on the other hand I recently read about a train being delayed and one passanger telephoned the rail help desk (which was in India) and told exactly what why the train was delayed, when the staff on the train did not know the reason. Remember you have to put yourself as a customer to understand why some call centres do not do well. It is sometimes necessary for call centre staff to visit the countries concerned so thay can see and understand what is required of them. I hope you are able to set up a suitable call centre.

I'm working in a call center and 1st of all you have to consider your target market, technology, budget, and people. Target market, you have to specify if you'll do the outbound/inbound calls and where do they call and on what purpose or business like is it selling, survey, etc. things like that. How 'bout if you'll engage in delivery service like jollibee and mcdonalds. Technology, you will engage in some third parties to setup your IT related things like telecommunication, LAN, WAN, internet, servers, computers. VoIPs, etc. Budget, one 4U server cost more or less 100K, computer set for about 30K, internet (T1 lines) I heard its paid in $dollars/month and more... People, you must have contacts to give you leads where your call center agents can produce sales like phone nos. in some states in US and also you must hired a competent team leaders, QAs and agents, ITs, etc. to survive.. There are lot of things to consider you have to do some survey first before you engage and find some business partners to survive because most of the call centers are dependent to their business partners. :) I hope I make a help out of that.

you need to contact the usa or uk or other countryfor business ,they will want to see the infrastructure you have or can provide,have good financial capacity to pay the employees without depending on their cheques for payment,as their payment could be delayed,

I worked in a Call Centre once, and have to admit it was a very unhappy working experience. We were all packed in together like hens in a battery farm, with bright lights above our desks that gave me headachcs, and you sould not even leave your desk to go to the bathroom without having to get "permission" from the Superviser. There are not so many Call Centres here in the UK now, - most of them have moved to other countries where the rates are cheaper, and they can pay their staff a lot less, but if you do set one up, please remember to treat your workers with respect. If you are nice to them, they will sound more cheerful, and happy on the phones, and do better work for you! Good Luck!