For retail and e-commerce brands, the busy holiday season is fast approaching. Many companies depend on temporary staff to handle the influx of seasonal customers, often using the same approach in their call centers — with mixed results. It’s the same basic playbook: Either place “help wanted” ads for seasonal workers or call a temp agency, where you pay a hefty finder’s fee for inexperienced agents, train them on the easiest line of business, and then cross your fingers and hope they not only show up for training but stay for the entire busy season.
Let’s face it — working with a temp agency for seasonal support presents a whole set of problems you would rather avoid:
- Inexperienced agents
- Low attendance
- High attrition
- Poor brand alignment
I’m here to tell you there is a better way.
This fall, there’s no need to show up at work every day wondering how short-staffed you’ll be as inbound calls and complaints stack up in the queue and turnover skyrockets, leaving your customers frustrated and questioning their loyalty to your brand.
Business process outsourcers (BPOs) like ClearSource understand and embrace the ebb and flow in contact volume, because our model is built to address it specifically. With a good mix of clients and a commitment to agility and scalability, an experienced BPO provider is able to ramp programs up (and down) because we anticipate, rather than react to, the annual retail cycle.
We can support you because we have experienced agents on hand with a wide range of skills who require less training than temporary staff and can deliver far higher customer satisfaction than inexperienced temps. Savvy companies — even those with in-house contact centers — often leverage a BPO for seasonal support.
There are several advantages of working with ClearSource instead of a temp agency:
- We pay for attrition, not our clients
- Our retail partners avoid hiring costs and temp agency fees
- We offer experienced retail agents, trained in all communication channels
- Our agents are fully invested because they know they have a future at ClearSource
I’ve seen firsthand how our approach pays off, and I’ve also fielded many emergency calls from others who tried the temp approach and failed. Our agents are dedicated to only one client team at a time, not shared across several programs as is typical with big-box BPO solutions. ClearSource operates as a true extension of our clients’ teams and often earns long-term contracts after supporting brands with a single seasonal campaign.
Now is the time to explore partnership opportunities for seasonal support, because smart BPOs like ClearSource plan months in advance to ensure we are prepared to support our clients. Imagine heading into this busy season with the support of a BPO that has expertise in AI technology, operations, and workforce planning. We collaborate with brands to design the best approach too. Our agents can be cross-trained on voice and chat to support the channel of highest priority to your customers.
Whether you seek support to augment one line of business, like general inquiries, or need a more comprehensive approach, ClearSource will craft a custom solution tailored to your needs, freeing up your in-house staff to focus on what matters most — reducing the costs associated with product returns.
So instead of circling Black Friday and Cyber Monday on the calendar with a sense of dread, this holiday season you can get out a blue pen and circle both with the confidence that your customers will enjoy the exceptional experience they deserve.
