You can find boilerplate business plan templates and information almost anywhere. Fit Small Business is a The perfect guide to help you get started With the basics. To keep things short and sweet, I’m going to focus on the specific business plan elements you should focus on when starting a call center.
Step 1 – Identify your service model.
First, find out what type of call center you are interested in. There are four main options to choose from, including inbound, outbound, hybrid, and omnichannel.
Inbound call centers
Inbound call centers work well for customer support, appointment scheduling, reservations, billing services, and order processing. Your staff will only answer incoming calls without worrying about outbound.
In addition to general customer service, inbound call centers are also great for after-hours answering services that occur outside of normal business hours.
Outbound call centers
These are most commonly used for sales and telemarketing.
But they can also work well for market research surveys, political campaigns, debt collection, appointment reminders, and follow-up surveys.
Hybrid call centers
Offering a mix of inbound and outbound is called a hybrid call center.
It’s a more difficult place to start because there’s a lot more to think about, but they open the door to a number of income opportunities. For example, you can run an outbound campaign whenever call volume is low and automatically switch to inbound when you get a heavy influx of incoming calls.
Most call center solutions offer features for both but some cater specifically to hybrid setups.
Color CentralFor example, a helper offers a “call blending” feature that allows staff to answer incoming calls and make outbound calls.
See: Check us out. An in-depth review of RingCentral To know more about it.
Omni-channel call centers
Talking to people on the phone is a channel. But there are dozens of others. Omni-channel call centers handle it all, including live chat, text, social media, email, and more.
It works best for large brands that provide extensive customer support, and is typically used for technical and general support.
Like a hybrid approach, omnichannel is a difficult place to start. There are a lot of moving parts and you will need more expensive software to streamline the operation. Also, most businesses that require it handle it in-house due to its complexity.
Step 2 – Choose your workspace setup.
Next, decide how you want to configure and deploy your call center. You can run it in a traditional office, as a remote company, or a combination of both.
Oh Traditional environment Facilitates training, management and collaboration. However, it’s more expensive, doesn’t offer flexibility to your employees, and limits who you can hire. You’ll need to pay for rent, electricity, additional insurance, other utilities, cleaning services, trash removal, and dozens of other expenses.
Remote call centers Getting started is very easy and very cheap. This is how I run all of my businesses and I can’t recommend it enough.
I save thousands of dollars every month and my team appreciates that they come to work from home. Because your costs are lower and your employees are happier, the path to profitability is much shorter. Also, you can hire anyone in the world.
There are times I wish we could meet in person, but the benefits of remote work far outweigh the drawbacks.
If you insist on having an office at all, consider this. A hybrid approach. You may require a certain number of in-person days per week, require certain employees to come into the office, or make it optional.
Step 3 – Identify your software and hardware requirements.
Next, think about the type of software you are going to use. Cloud-based VoIP call center software is the way to go. No need to consider on-premise or any other type of phone system.
The cloud makes it easy to scale operations, deploy new agents, and keep costs down as you grow.
See: See The best call center software To see which one is right for you.
For this to work, you’ll need a high-speed internet connection. If your team is working from home, you may want to consider paying to upgrade their Internet services to ensure clear call quality no matter where they work.
Depending on your model, you may also need Collaboration software With business requirements, e.g Accounting software, Payroll softwareand Project Management Software.
In addition to the software, you may also need:
- Computers, monitors, and laptops.
- Desk phones.
- VoIP headset.
- A VoIP router.
- switches.
- Network cables.
- Surge protectors.
- Notebook and pen.
- Office chairs, keyboards and mice
If your agents are working from home, you might want to think about a one-time stipend or a work-from-home bonus that allows them to buy things they need to do their jobs.
Step 4 – Plan your staffing strategy.
Recruitment strategy is a separate topic entirely and too much to cover here. But this is an incredibly important aspect of a call center business plan so I didn’t want to leave it out. You should have a staffing plan for your initial start-up and a flexible plan for the next 6-12 months.
To do this, make sure you can easily answer the following questions:
- How many employees will you need on the first day?
- Do you want to hire a lot of people at the same time?
- Are you going to start small and grow from there?
- Where will you find new employees?
- What will your recruitment process look like?
- What qualifications are you looking for?
- Who will conduct your interviews?
You’ll also need to consider how you’re going to train new call center employees and how you’ll manage scheduling, time off, and day-to-day operations.
It’s not enough to say “I need 7 agents.” You must know who is going to do what, how you will approach them, who will hire them, how you will keep them, and the whole Recruitment process will appear.
Step 5 – Develop a financial framework.
The financial element of a call center business plan is where most people fall flat. As with any new business, it’s important to understand the numbers and validate that you’ll actually make money before moving forward.
It’s easy to rush through this but I encourage you to take the time to get it right. Look things up, write it all down, and make a spreadsheet to help you.
To make things easier, we’ll break it down into three parts.
Start-up costs
Getting started is often the only thing new business owners do. That’s a big part of it, but it’s just the first step.
First you should understand how much you need to get off the ground. While it’s easy to plug the numbers together, it’s just as easy to forget important elements and overestimate the initial cost.
Be sure to consider:
- Call Center Software.
- Usage costs.
- equipment
- License or permit.
- Insurance
- Business formation costs.
- Rent and utilities (if in person).
- Employment and employee training costs.
- Other types of software.
- Hardware
- labor
Many of these items also incur ongoing costs. Before moving forward, you should understand your day-one costs, month-to-month costs, and your runway if you earn $0 per month.
Revenue model
The next step is to figure out how you are going to make money. There are many different ways to do this and it is likely to change many times.
Rather than just randomly picking one, I encourage you to think about what it will take with each model to cover your operating costs. From there, you can decide which is the best place to start.
Here are some common call center revenue models to consider:
- per minute – Charging clients based on actual talk time.
- per hour per agent – Clients pay a fixed hourly rate per agent.
- per interaction – Clients pay a fixed fee for different types of calls.
- Commission – Clients pay a percentage of closed deals.
- Hybrid – A combination of the above.
For each, find out what you’ll have to charge to break even in different scenarios. You can also start thinking about what it would look like to add new pricing models, increase those rates over time, or use other tactics to increase your margins.
Forecasting and Interval Analysis
The last step is to make sure you have enough runway to reach your break-even point. This requires predicting and analyzing your numbers in even more scenarios to ensure you can survive the long haul.
It also means preparing for agent layoffs, raises, bonuses, commissions, and any other expenses you haven’t already accounted for.
You should also keep in mind that your expenses will increase over time. You might start with three agents, but if you plan to reach six by the third quarter, your salary, benefits and software costs will double.
It’s important to factor this into your predictions so you’re not blindsided later. I recommend estimating on the conservative side to give yourself a buffer.
See: Learn. How to Analyze an Interval step by step
Step 6 — Establish operating procedures.
How will your call center work on a day-to-day basis? You don’t have to completely nail it from scratch, but it’s important to iron out the basics and understand that these are things you’ll be working on regularly.
Don’t forget to think about:
- Are you planning to work 24/7 or not?
- Will you have full-time employees or contractors?
- How many managers or supervisors will you need?
- How are you going to train the employees?
- Script templates or intake forms for your clients to fill out.
- SOPs and documents.
- Quality control and monitoring.
- Data protection and privacy policies.
- Call the escalation protocol.
- Regulatory compliance.
Some of these things should be figured out on day one, such as security, privacy, and regulatory compliance.
Others, such as documentation, quality control, and business hours may decrease as your needs change. You’ll find out a lot as you go so it’s important to be flexible and implement your team’s feedback.
Step 7 – Create a go-to-market strategy
The last step in your call center business plan is figuring out how you’re going to get your first clients. Despite popular saying, they won’t magically appear.
You’ll need to think about who your audience is, how you’ll reach them, and how you’ll prove your value to them even if there’s no real evidence you know what you’re doing.
The more clarity you can get about who you help and why, the easier it will be.
For example, say you’re an inbound call center that focuses on after-hours calls to doctors, dentists, and private medical practices. Maybe you’re an outbound omni-channel call center focused on helping politicians collect donations.
Knowing this makes your market strategy easier. As you grow, you can zoom out and target new audiences.
Oh Go to the Market Strategy Template. A great place to start.