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Sep 23, 2019 Melissa Gilbertson

Why At-Home Agents Perfectly Complement Your Customer Service

A customer service representative

The gig economy is booming, allowing companies to hit workforce targets in a market where skill shortages are a huge concern. Did you know that homesourcing can be the perfect complement to your company’s current outsourced customer service program?

In fact, some innovative outsourced call centers, such as Advantage Communications, are making the most of stay-at-home agents to enhance the world-class customer service they are providing on behalf of their clients.

But what actually are stay-at-home agents, how can they complement your existing outsourced customer service program and what is Advantage Communications doing to make the most of this important workforce? Let’s answer those questions in this blog!

Stay-at-home agents explained

Flexible work is the future. Not only does it greatly benefit your company by giving you access to a highly flexible and talented workforce, but it also gives workers the lifestyle they seek - the ability to choose their own hours, work from home and many other benefits.

Stay-at-home agents are based anywhere across the world and work an on-demand schedule. By actively choosing which companies they want to work with, these workers are highly passionate about delivering high-quality customer service on behalf of your brand - in fact, they are probably even customers of your company themselves.

Stay-at-home agents can be sourced directly by your company, but they are best used to complement the existing outsourced customer service strategy that your company has developed with a call center that specializes in the customer experience (CX).

Stay-at-home agents work under the same principles as the nearshore call center that they work with, as well as using the same cloud-based technologies to ensure they have access to the information that makes your brand’s customer service so unique.

How can at-home agents complement your existing outsourced customer service program?

There are a huge number of benefits that your organization will realize from using stay-at-home agents to complement your call center’s customer service strategy. Here are three key benefits:

1 - The ability to easily handle fluctuating staffing needs

A team of on-demand and flexible at-home customer service agents will give your company the resources needed to easily handle periods of high-call volume, no matter how late you realize you need to scale up.

These independent contractors can log on to a cloud-based network for a few hours when call volume is expected to be high. By booking these workers in small 30-minute increments, they can then remain on-call to handle overflow calls until call volume goes back down to a normal level - allowing you to then scale back down quickly.

2 - Agents who are truly passionate about your brand

Just like all independent contractors, stay-at-home agents have the power to choose which jobs they decline and accept. The result? The at-home agents who choose to work for your company will be highly passionate about your brand.

In fact, it’s likely that these agents are even customers of the products and services that your company provides. This means they’ll act as brand advocates for your business when speaking to customers, making the customer experience unforgettable.

3 - Round-the-clock customer care

Stay-at-home agents are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days of the year, meaning you can provide round-the-clock support for your customers no matter what time zone they are based in.

With at-home call center agents based all over the world, you can ensure your customers’ needs are cared for at any time of the day.

Other benefits include:

  • Access to agents with an extensive background of work experience.
  • Highly satisfied customer service agents.
  • Cut down on your company’s carbon footprint.
  • Increased flexibility when it comes to scheduling your customer service agent’s workloads.

Advantage Communications is here to help

At-home agents are the perfect complement to an outsourced call center’s in-house agents, and that’s why Advantage Communications has launched a brand new offering - The Home Advantage.

The Home Advantage leverages a virtual network of 150,000 customer service representatives who work from home. Through the use of a range of innovative cloud-based technologies that empower them to provide a superior customer experience, at-home agents will provide world-class customer service on behalf of your company.

By making use of The Home Advantage, your company will be able to schedule at-home agents, which are based anywhere in the world with no geographical limitations, in 30-minute increments.

Not only that, but as an opt-in or opt-out service, The Home Advantage comes at no additional cost to your existing Advantage Communication’s contact center plan.

Are you looking for more information about the benefits of at-home customer service agents, or simply want to know how The Home Advantage can complement your existing outsourced customer service program? Contact us today or download our Home Advantage ebook below.

The Home Advantage

Published by Melissa Gilbertson September 23, 2019
Melissa Gilbertson