As a professional Inbound Call Center it is important for TeleDirect to communicate the differences between ourselves and other call centers, especially telemarketing organizations.
ISO 27001 Secure Facility
We always encourage visitors at our ISO 27001 secure facility. TeleDirect is the only outsourced call center in the USA to have achieved ISO 27001. This security certification puts our data and facility security far beyond anything PCI compliance or HIIPA compliance brings. This is extremely important since secure data collection is a necessity during pledge drives.
Inbound Customer Service Orientated Culture
When TeleDirect decided 7 years ago to stop outbound dialing it was a key cultural decision for our Company. The hiring requirements, attitude and emotional stimulus for a telemarketing organization are completely different from an inbound customer service center. TeleDirect purposely does not do Outbound Fundraising because we don't hire the type of people that are typically successful in telemarketing.
Fluctuating Inbound Call Volume Staffing Expertise
Maintaining an outstanding answer rate is one of the most important and challenging tasks of an inbound call center. PBS & NPR drive extremely high call volume in an erratic pattern often with calls packed together within a tight time span. Supporting this type of call volume is no simple task and can not be handled like other call center business. TeleDirect has 20 years experience with staffing for these types of call fluctuations. Any call center that attempts to handle this type of volume with their existing staff or a small hiring will fail and membership revenue will be lost. TeleDirect has a specialized and dedicated hiring program for PBS and NPR. TeleDirect hires 60 to 100 new employees every pledge drive. This is a significant investment, but mandatory for providing the level of service necessary for helping PBS and NPR meet their revenue goals year after year.
PBS Pledge Drive Specific Training Program and Tools
TeleDirect hires specifically for pledge drives. This March, for instance TeleDirect will hire 100 employees and put them through our proprietary 4 day long Pledge School. Each employee will have graduated from this program and taken test pledges before receiving a live donation call.
Web Technology Specifically Developed for Inbound Donation Calls
Each of our Stations receives a unique account number/phone number that protects incorrect pledge allocation by automatically 'popping' the Stations custom script, which is tied directly to that Station's database.
Leveraging a Blended Call Center versus Hiring Hourly Agents
Many unprofessional call centers attempting to service the erratic call volume television and radio drives produce, offer dedicated operators at an hourly rate. Using this model, when call volume is low you will be paying for Agents you don't need and when volume is high you will miss donations because you have agreed to pay for too few Agents as they are expensive. TeleDirect cross trains all our Agents so each station gets to leverage up to 147 Operators if volume warrants and you only pay for our service when we are actively taking pledges.
Cost Only 4% of Donations Instead of a Much Larger Percentage
Many fundraising organizations charge a percentage of the money they collect. None of them charge only 4%, which is what TeleDirect typically costs a PBS Station.TeleDirect would like to invite you to visit our secure facility in Sacramento, California so you can fully appreciate the environment of an excellent customer service organization. You will be surprised by our comfortable, friendly and spacious environment. Also, TeleDirect is happy to provide a webinar for your staff where we will review our pledge specific systems which enable us to provide the live reporting, live script changes, ticket management, training and staffing that help make your drives successful.
Please contact Sarah Fennema at 800-776-1081 or sfennema@teledirect.com if you would like to visit our facility or view a webinar.