Salida Call Center Shutdown Puts 147 Out of Work

Almost 150 workers soon will join the ranks of the unemployed after a call center announced it would close June 1.

Stellar Relay operates the state-funded relay center, which helps the deaf, hard of hearing and speech-impaired communicate over the phone.

It has filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act with the California Employment Development Department saying it will close and lay off its 147 Salida workers.

The impending closure isn't surprising.

In February, the state awarded a new contract for the relay service to another vendor. And last month, a Stellar Relay spokeswoman said the call center would close if her company could not find new business opportunities by June.

These layoffs won't help Stanislaus County's unemployment rate, which was 19.2 percent in March, the most recent month for which statistics are available.

But the call center workers have skills that employers want, said Jeff Rowe, director of the Alliance Worknet, which is part of the Stanislaus Economic Development and Workforce Alliance.

Free Guide for Call Center Telemarketing

call center tips for effective telemarketing
Finding a job in a decision center is better than you actually would feel. Nowa positions experience such a top turnover that it makes it straightforward for someone armed with a tiny knowledge to get into one. Once you get that job, most agents will be ready to stay for life if they choose to. Because I said, turnover caters to be high so a decision center agent who sticks around generally gets promoted to call center supervisor or manager quicker than in most industries. Here also are three rapid guidelines for finding a great decision center job.

It is recommended that people visit and contact several providers before creating the final decision. The charge for call center outsourcing, decision center management, decision center software and other call center services differ according to the suppliers. It's very advisble to clearly understand the conditions and constraints of the agreements.

One of the most important aspects of a decision center is training and presentation. Such decision center management services provide help during getting the most suitable practices for such training, including studies of positioning, organizational aspects, technology issues, tool spread, individuals difficulties, and a process approach.

One of the most important aspects of a decision center is training and presentation. Such decision center management services provide help during getting the most suitable practices for such training, including studies of positioning, organizational aspects, technology issues, tool spread, individuals difficulties, and a process approach.

Call Center Furniture Beyond the 'Bullpen'

When managers think about call center furniture they tend to think first in terms of the cubicles that the agents sit at when taking calls, also known as the "bullpen."

While the bullpen is the largest and arguably most critical component in any call center furniture "ecosystem," it certainly is not the only one - there are also supervisor stations, training rooms, break rooms, reception areas and executive offices to consider as well. Typically most companies coordinate the design of these areas with the design of the main call center floor.

When a company establishes a new call center, managers tend to think of the size of the bullpen first (in addition to any growth considerations). This, in turn, often drives the decision as to which building or facility will be leased. Beyond that there is the design of the bullpen itself: How many work stations and which configuration is going to work best?

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• Telemarketing services
• Inbound Call Centre Services
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• Non Voice Calls Center services
• Lead Generation Services
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• Chat Support Services
• Online customer support
• Remote Receptionist
• Help Desk Support

4 Steps To Produce Good Results from Call Center Agents

call center motivating atmosphere call center agents
The atmosphere of call centers is directly proportionate to the productivity level of employees. Ignore this, and you can see the falling of your enterprise in front of your eyes. To keep the levels of adrenaline levels high and morale boosting, motivating your call center agents is mandatory.

The high level of positivity and motivation in call centre environment can bring an increase in productivity levels and customer focus. The agents work vigorously in more satisfied working ambiance because that means more happy workers which eventually lead to efficient working and results. The circle of work gets more streamlined and focused.

So, to increase the motivational level across the processes of your call centres and immune your organization against headaches of call centres such as attrition and retention, following steps are recommended:

1) Understanding the Reasons: As a manager, try to delve deeper into the problem. Being a supervisor in a contact center is not a sea side walk or bed of roses. Managing an assortment of various talents, different IQs and behaviors is tough. For instance, some of your agents can be overwhelmingly happy upon receiving compliments from clients and all teary eyes after some words with a harsh client. You cannot decide who would be your next caller but you can be an attentive and encouraging boss.

2) Understanding the Nature: Everyone has different capabilities, different nature and potentials. Understanding the core strength of your team can be of great help for your company.

3) Boosting Bonuses: Some kind of incentives on the basis of weekly or monthly performance can done wonder for your organization. This scheme can help you to induce the feeling of healthy competition among the team members. You can also give bonuses to members who work beyond the office hours without complaining.

4) Recognizing and Appreciation: Try to be in touch with your call centre team employees and develop bond with them. Talking to them nicely or a small 'hello' with their names can bring miraculous results for you. Generate a positive feedback for your team or occasionally drop some words of appreciation in their mailbox, results would surely come in.

In conclusion, motivating agents is the only way with you can bring results and money on board. The above mentioned points won't cost you penny but will sure guarantee maximized ROI not only for you but your clients as well.

Call Centers Doing Their Part To Make Every Day Earth Day


Contact centers could be the key enabler in corporations' efforts to reduce the environmental impact of business, according to the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI), now in its 25th year.

No doubt, green is red hot. Unfortunately, all the noise that individuals and businesses are making about their half-hearted efforts to be environmentally friendly is its own form of pollution. Going green seems to be more about "look at me" than "look what we need to do." True, some individuals and corporations do a lot in the way of conserving resources and energy, and those efforts are deserving of some recognition; but the truth is, all the measures that people and businesses are now taking - or, in many cases, merely say they are taking - to reduce their carbon footprint are the sort of measures that we should have been taking (and have been advised to take by environmental experts) for decades.

Experts agree that it's time to move beyond the politics and PR of environmentalism, and get down to what can and needs to be done. As a contact center professional, you may be thinking that a green initiative should be led by C-level execs. Or perhaps you are thinking that since the contact center doesn't pump out pollution or consume energy like manufacturing plants do, going green doesn't really pertain to your area of the business. But going green is everybody's responsibility, and there are myriad things a contact center can do in that regard.

Call Center is to Open by Bosch Group in RP

GERMAN technology firm Bosch Group has invested 500,000 euros in the Philippines to put up a call center that will centralize help desk services for its Asia Pacific units, a spokesperson said in a press briefing on Tuesday.

The automotive and industrial electronics firm formed a new subsidiary--Robert Bosch Communication Center, Inc.--to run an information technology (IT) help desk starting January and should have as much as 200 seats by yearend.

The call center in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City will provide computer and network troubleshooting to some 30,000 Bosch associates in the region.

Leading Factors Why Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Projects Fail

It can be said with confidence, we have found no one unique aspect is abundant enough to significantly increase the probability of a very successful CRM implementation; to achieve a solid return on investment; companies must do a thorough job on numerous fronts. The difference between victory and failure of a CRM system project is not divine intervention, but preferably a consequence of the way a corporation approaches the effort. The key to success is placed in the understanding and ability you and your implementation team brings to the project. If you know what genuine issues you are trying to solve, what potential mistakes you can make and how to avoid them, what technology can and cannot do to help you, you are much more likely to be a success.

A CRM implementation's disappointment to achieve a few goals may constitute an overall failure in some people's estimations, when as a whole, the implementation works as planned. The lesson here is clear: When establishing the objectives of a Customer Relationship Management package, companies need to be practical with a phased approach. Companies also need to order their Customer Relationship Management goals so that the crucial features indeed get completed.

Another important feature by far is when the new Contact Management Software system lacking a customer-focused Customer Relationship Management system strategy. Pick up almost any business, sales, or technical publication today and it is easy to see that there is a Customer Relationship Management system mad dash the purchase these systems. And as well there should be. In practically each and every industry, companies who are focusing on optimizing their sales process are recognizing the significant advantages of doing so. They are outselling their competitors by 60% or more, they are reducing their selling cycle time by as much as half, there sales methods are changing into more customer oriented processes, there sales teams are working more successfully across inter-enterprise and intra-enterprise boundaries, and they are performing all this at a dramatically lower cost.

In the modern business conditions, business managers when making plans about the direction of their company, have a lot more demands because of the hi-tech world we live in. The goal for making new investments in their firm is to hold on to that edge they have over the competition. As a result, some decisions may be rushed into which, possibly, may become poor decisions. That's concisely what may happen when speeding to put a new CRM system in place. So how do you prevent the wrong decision from being made? It's easy; ask your customer what "they" need in your new CRM system before you purchase.

Up front, a glaring disconnect for many organizations is a tendency to over-focus on "what and how" they want to sell. To get the new CRM system perfect, they really need to obtain a closer understanding of "what, why and how" their customers need to work with them, and even more important, how they what to buy from them.

Develop a customer-centric mindset: "The company's focus must be to have a far better understanding of the gap connecting their customer's/prospect's current state of how they do business with us and their targeted future state of how they want to do business with us."

The real reality of the situation is the customer is paying for the new Web-based Contact Management Software system, so the understandable end point is; develop the new CRM system to match the customer's requests.

Everybody Got a Hungry Heart

India has lately become known for its high tech, call center, Bollywood movie and car industries.  It draws the likes of Lindsay Lohan and used to draw the Beatles to its shores.  If there is some sort of thing that requires brain power, it has been outsourced to India.  Only a tiny fraction of the Indian population can have the opportunities that come form working in these well-paying jobs.  The rest of the millions toil away in poverty, often unable to feed themselves on a regular basis.  Because of not being able to feed themselves, they will never have the opportunity to seek out jobs that India is now famous.  In fact, they will likely suffer another generation of stunted growth and development.

My graduate work at Cornell University was on the right to food, so this topic is of special interest to me.  So, what prompted me to write this blog note that one of the largest English-language newspapers in India, the Hindustan Times is running a series on hunger in India called the “Hunger Project“.  The aim is to use the investigative resources of the paper to highlight what is fast becoming a hidden problem especially in the elite and rarefied English language world that the media occupy.  There are major problems with the articles so far on attempting the shock the reader with specific cases of severe malnourishment.  But, it goes so much deeper than that when one-half of all children in India have some form of micronutrient deficiency stemming not from diet choices made in the country, but instead from a lack of access to safe and nutritious food.  This lack of access to food is, according to General Comment 14 of the United Nations is a human rights violation.  If you want to learn more of hunger worldwide, visit IFPRI or Grain, both non-governmental organizations doing great work around the right to food and its complex politics.