How to Hire Fully Managed Telecallers for Your Sales and Support Operations: An Outsourcing Guide

Are you struggling to find qualified leads?

Have your customers given you unsatisfactory ratings?

The above are just two questions and I know you have more than that in your head. Why?

Running a business takes a lot. As you have to focus on everything including core and non-core tasks which is not easy.

Non-core tasks? Yes!

What are those?

Suppose you are a mattress company and manufacturing super quality mattresses is your speciality. But there’s more to it, right?

You need a team to find potential customers, answer their questions, and maybe even schedule deliveries. These are all essential tasks, but they’re not directly related to making the mattress itself.

That’s where telecallers come in. They handle those non-core tasks that free you to focus on what you do best.

What is Telecaller?

A telecaller is a company representative who contacts customers by phone. They can be employed directly by the company (in-house) or outsource from a call center company.

These professionals answer calls from existing customers. They handle inquiries about products or services, resolve issues like wrong deliveries or returns, and manage customer relationships to maintain satisfaction.

Moreover, these telecallers initiate calls to existing and potential customers. Their goal is to generate leads, promote products and services, and ultimately make sales. They may also inform clients about new offers or product launches.

How to hire a telecaller for managing your sales and support?

Hiring a telecaller to manage your sales and support can be a strategic move. By attracting qualified candidates through job portals, placement consulting, college campuses, classified newspaper advertisements in newspapers, social media advertising, and employee references, you’ll get a pool of resumes.

Now you have to select the most suitable telecallers for your business. To help you with the process, I’ve given you the steps for hiring a telecaller, which you can consider.

Define your needs

The very first thing about hiring a telecaller is that you have to define your business requirements and needs. Clearly outline the requirements and responsibilities that you want to hand over to the telecaller. 

For example, what kind of calls will they be making? Sales calls, customer service management calls, or promotional calls. 

Once you have a list of your needs, make a list of essential skills such as communication skills, active listening, and persuasiveness. Now you’re ready to start the hiring process.

Test the patience of candidate

You may feel awkward when I mention the word patience testing. However, it is a fact. As the candidates enter the office premises, the receptionist asks them to give their resumes, which they pass to HR. The wait is usually long, and most of the candidates want to finish the interview ASAP. However, an interviewer does not want to do so. Because you have to see how calm or focused they are under pressure.

For example, when I and other candidates entered the premises, we waited patiently for more than an hour before HR called us for the first round. The company also makes the candidates hold back after completing their turn, which is part of assessing our patience and attitude. 

Interviewing the candidates with self-introduction

As the candidates come for an interview for the telecaller’s post, your human resources department team should start with the self-introduction round to better understand the candidates and determine their suitability. A self-introduction round is also called a screening round, where you filter a few candidates from the list of resumes. It involves filtering the candidates based on their communication skills, spontaneity, and the answers they give to you.

For example, tell me something about yourself is a common question HR asks the candidates, where each candidate introduces themselves with their name, place of origin, educational qualification, and work experience (if any).

An experienced candidate would tell them about the number of organizations they have worked in previously, while a fresher would say that it would be their first job. In some cases, the first round will also involve questions like their interests, hobbies, etc. Once a candidate says their hobby is watching TV or singing, you can ask what they watch on TV or which type of song they sang.

Take written test of candidates

Conducting a written test will help you check the skills and understand the candidate better. The written test comprises basic English with multiple-choice questions that test the candidate’s basic understanding of your company’s products or services. Clearing the test will make the candidate eligible and shortlisted for further rounds. 

Conduct group discussion (GD)

Some companies take group discussion rounds as it allows the interviewers to analyze the candidates on different parameters like their confidence level, compatibility with the team, communication skills, leadership qualities, and analytical and logical skills. Furthermore, they test the candidate’s initiative to convey their point without interrupting the other candidates. 

Ability to provide a suitable solution within a limited time

You can give specific scenarios to the candidates to measure their ability to provide a proper solution to the customers within a stipulated time. This is done to check how employees handle customer queries. 

For example, you can ask a scenario-based question of the candidate and must listen to the customer’s lengthy complaint and provide a helpful answer within the average handling time (AHT). This quick response can help you reduce call center costs in the long run. 

Script comprehension and mock calls

Present an incomplete call script with blanks and ask them to fill in the blanks with appropriate responses based on the scenario. Also, you can ask them to make calls to test their communication skills and convincing power, which helps you select the right candidate for the telecaller’s job.

Conducting an operational manager’s round

Conduct an ops manager’s interview with candidates to ensure smooth operations of your company’s procedures. Knowing candidate roles in their previous organization will enable you to select the right candidate. In this round, you can also ask routine and technical questions from the candidates. Below are examples of the questions that an ops manager asks the candidates.

• Can you brief us about your profile?
• What roles did you play in your previous organization?
• What are the average sales you make in an organization?
• Have you ever chatted with a customer support executive on an e-commerce website?
• Do you know about b2b customer service?
• How long can you work for our organization?

While asking such questions, the operation manager observes the candidates and their body language and fills out the form that a company provides them about the candidate with a report on whether the candidate got selected or not.

Selection you candidate

After completing all rounds, HR calls the selected candidates to discuss the salary package, the shift timings, and the transport facility for the employees. Furthermore, HR also informs them about their joining date and asks them to get their credentials, like their address proof, ID proof, educational documents, pay slips, bank statements, and experience letters from their previous companies (if any).

Start induction of selected candidates

It is a formality that a company does for all the selected candidates. For example, the HR department in a call-center company gives the joining form to the selected candidates to fill in their details, which comprise their names, family and educational background, emergency contact numbers, and personal and professional references for verification purposes to work in a call center.

Do background verification

Audit the background of the candidates who are joining to check whether they have made a valid declaration or might have criminal records to ensure that the company’s reputation remains intact and does not get tarnished. You can also verify the CIBIL score to ensure lenders do not come to the workplace to create a scene. 

For example, when a candidate gives the contact number of their friend, a designated person in another company, the verification team contacts them to inquire about their character and background. I came across a call center outsourcing company in Bangalore where the induction between the inductor and the onboarding candidates has been interactive. The candidates asked whether we would get terminated if we were in litigation. The lady said, no, but your joining date will get adjourned till you clear the case.

Issue appointment letter

The onboarding employees get offer letters after clearing all the recruitment steps. The appointment letter contains the terms and conditions, the salary package and probation period, confirmation of employment, and termination of services. 

Bonus tip [Outsource the telecallers]

Hiring a telecaller, preparing test scripts, conducting multiple interview rounds, going through a heap of CVs, and finding a suitable candidate, you’ll get telecallers and improve your business sales. But going through these steps is tedious, puts an extra burden on your shoulders, and most importantly, all these steps demand time. 

If you’re not a hiring agency, then going through these steps instead of focusing on your core business activities will impact your business.

So what’s the solution? Well, instead of doing these things, you can simply hire telecallers from an outsourcing company. Companies like AM2PM Support have a good track record of providing call support to businesses. They have more than a decade of experience delivering exceptional 24-7 customer service through their telecallers. They also have proficient telecallers who can handle your customer queries and make sales calls for your business, leaving your customers happy and satisfied. 🙂

Hire the right telecaller and improve your business sales

Hiring a telecaller to handle sales and 24-7 customer service calls can significantly boost your sales and improve customer satisfaction. However, taking interviews and managing the hiring process can be time-consuming and take you away from your core business.

To help with telecallers hiring, companies like AM2PM Support offer outsourcing of telecaller or can take the necessary steps to hire a telecaller for your sales and support operations. 

Increase your sales and improve customer satisfaction with a dedicated telecaller from AM2PM Support. Let us streamline your operations and boost your productivity. 
Get a free consultation today!