Modern American employees and job seekers alike have more options than ever before for their work arrangement. Some office employees are choosing to work remotely, most often in the privacy and convenience of their residence. These employees may have stay at home call center representative jobs or customer service jobs, and or even inbound sales call jobs or dispatcher positions. These remote employees may have a dedicated home office that has a working phone, a PC connected to the Internet, files, a printer, and anything else needed for the job. And some job seekers may have trouble going to an office every day for one reason or another, so these positions such as stay at home call center representative jobs are quite convenient for them. For some job seekers, stay at home call center representative jobs and the like are their only real option for work, so these opportunities may come as a relief for them. Such work with flexible hours is a great choice for someone who has an odd sleep schedule or many other commitments, or example.
The Role of the Phone
Many of these remote jobs involve live chat and/or using a telephone to speak with customers and clients, general consumers, and business partners. It should be noted that while e-mail, live video chat, and the Internet in general are all quite powerful communication tools, the telephone has not been made obsolete. This 19th century invention is still critical for the sales funnel of nearly any business, and many consumers naturally crave speaking to a live person and hearing their voice and all its nuances. A recent consumer survey showed that phone calls are the most popular channel for communicating with a company, with 61% of respondents naming it has a preferred method. Email was a close second, at 60%, and live chat third at 57% (a respondent could choose more than one). The idea of a telephone is nearly 140 years old, but it can still compete with the Internet.
The subject of how a sales rep or customer service rep does his/her job is an entire discussion on its own. It can be simply said that these employees must use both professional sales skills and good people skills alike to build a good rapport with a consumer and entice them to make a purchase. The employee on the phone should be courteous, friendly, and listen carefully, as well as use good sales techniques to make a good sale. Doing this may bring on new customers, and maintain current ones. In fact, current and loyal customers are the most valuable, since they reliably make multiple purchases, so employees will work hard to keep them happy. This includes good phone service quality. The numbers show that if a business boosts customer retention rates by just 5%, this may increase profits by as much as 25-95%, and much of that may happen due to improved phone service quality.
Why might phone service go bad? A major problem may be if the employee is trying to work in a noisy and distracted work environment, as is often the case. These employees may have trouble hearing a customer or client’s voice over the phone, and vice versa. This may frustrate both parties and cause the customer to hang up if they have to keep asking “what did you say?” or the like. What is more, noisy work environments with constant chatter and phone conversations will stress and distract an employee with the constant noise. When employees are stressed and distracted, they may make more workplace errors and may accidentally have a bad attitude with customers over the phone, which may spell disaster. One solution is to simply work elsewhere.
Remote Work
An employee, independent contractor, or job seeker may work stay at home call center representative jobs or similar positions for many reasons. Employees will enjoy a quiet and controlled environment to maximize phone call quality, and they can use commute time for more work. Job seekers such as single parents or those with no viable transportation may work from home at their convenience, meaning that phone based jobs are great option for stay at home moms, complete with flexible hours.