The Christmas season is one of the most important dates for many businesses. This is reflected in the recruitment of new staff members for sales and customer service roles.
Human Resources Managers have in front of them a couple of challenging months in order to get the numbers right:
- How many new employees do we need?
- When they should start?
- Who is going to train them?
- What timetable should they do?
- Are we overstaffed?
- Are they productive?
To get it right, it is paramount to have a close relationship with the marketing and sales departments. Understanding shopping trends and buyer patterns eases the decision-making process during the recruitment process.
Global Shopping trends can be summarised in two:
- Christmas Shopping rush is a reality that not everyone enjoys
- Online shopping will increase
So, before starting the recruitment process it is important to learn where are your customers going to buy from you this Christmas?
Sales Phone Line
Supporting your customers to shop from the commodity of their houses impact directly on your employees’ productivity and reduces the number of employees required. It also helps the customer to manage the Christmas Shopping Rush.
A centralised Call Centre can answer phone calls from different parts of the country. This reduces the number of employees required in physical stores and helps with stocking purposes. Shipment can be done directly to your customers’ door from your warehouse.
Call Centre? It is a good idea!
If the idea of a call centre team is appealing, it is a strategy that definitely your business should try. You can outsource your customer support to a call centre according to your needs: 9 am to 5 pm, 24/7, only for the Christmas Season or forever!
Recruitment for your in-house call centre
If you have already an in-house call centre, you should consider if you have the resources to accommodate new employees. If the answer is “NO”, think about call centre overflow services. Call Centre offers the possibility to divert your phone calls if all your in-house employees are busy. The outsourced call centre only takes over when an increase in the number of calls occurs. This reduces your overheads, recruitment cost and it gets better: you only pay for what you get!
Online Sales
Online shopping is more attractive every year and it boosts during the Christmas Season. Shopping from desktop and mobile devices have multiple benefits for everyone (parents with kids definitely benefit from this!).
Online Sales have so big success in the customer mindset for three main reasons: it is less time consuming, allow the customer to compare products & prices quickly and it is delivered to their home.
As Human Resources you can definitely see benefits for your company for online shopping. These benefits increase when you outsource the online customer sale support:
- Less administrative headache-no need to set up the new employees on your Human Resources system, no recruitment process,
- Pay for what you get – online shopping reduces stocking hours and outsourcing the online sales customer support to a call centre you can have a team 24/7 answering inquiries by the fraction of the cost
- Increase productivity – employees can answer multiple enquiries at once
- Easier for the Christmas Period
Recruitment doesn’t need to be so challenging for Christmas. If your business can sell products over the phone or online, then outsourcing can be the solution for you:
- How many new employees do you need? You don’t need to recruit for phone and online enquiries. But you will be getting a FULL team of customer care representatives. Avail of overflow services and/or shared services – you pay only for enquiries answered.
- When should they start? As soon as you want. You can start your Christmas campaign right now: set up a shared service contract where you are charged by call and when the number of enquiries increases, then switch to a dedicated team. Better impossible.
- Who is going to train them? Basic training is done by the Call Center. You train the trainer about your policies and processes. Less time consuming for your team.
- What timetable should they do? You can avail of 24/7 cover. You can choose and change as it is appropriate for your business. If sales are busier during the morning have a dedicated team during office hours and price per minute after 5 pm, for example.
- Are we overstaffed? You pay for what you get. You can choose between different business models. If you are unsure of how busy you will be, then opt for a shared team and you will pay by the minute talked. You cannot be overstaffed in that way.
- Are they productive? Sure! Call Center allows employees to multitask and answer enquiries quickly. Productivity is managed by the call centre, so it is easier for you.
Are you using a call centre at the moment? Do you have any questions? Send us an e-mail: info@aremaconnect.com
