Putting people on phones for your business is a necessary part of supporting clients and keeping in contact with potential new colleagues, but it's not as simple as keeping up numbers. Certain call representative skills such as polite tone, proper hold time management or even basic manners are not a guarantee, and you'll need to test your potential representatives before agreeing to service. That doesn't mean you're in for an unending shortage of talent, but it does mean that you'll need to keep a few factors in mind when choosing a call center services provider.

Review The Training Program

Like any profession, call centers are subject to losing talent for a variety of reasons. Call center jobs tend to be at entry level for many positions, meaning that you may have a lot of short-term talent looking for the next job, students on temporary schedules or other attrition concerns. If you're attracted to a call center by its current service, you need to know that the service can be replicated.

A training program is necessary to keep a stable level of service, as filtering out only the best call agents can severely limit the pool of agents with high potential. If you're impressed by current service, ask to review the call center's training program to see if some of the traits you like are part of the program.

Are employees being trained in tone? Does the call center use a strict script that seems robotic and difficult to memorize, or a general template that gets the point across politely? Be sure to answer these questions by walking through the training process yourself and gauging the attitudes of potential call center agents as well as call center veterans.

Foreign Language Support Is About More Than Just Customers

Native language matters as well, and it's more than speaking the host nation's language. The charm of a foreign speaker can go far if trained properly, so you'll want to make sure that any foreign workers or recently naturalized US citizens are being helped with their English while being supported for their native tongue. Even if you're not looking for a specific language for multi-lingual support, there's no telling when a foreign language client may appear.

Everything can be used as a resource, and keeping a foreign language representative happy and well-adjusted to the foreign climate can be rewarded exponentially. If your call center has a staff of foreign or naturalized, foreign-speaking agents, ask about their current experiences in the country and what could make them more comfortable and productive.

Although you aren't their direct employer, knowing that their client is concerned for their well-being--even if it's just to wring out better performance--can motivate a worker to enjoy their job and bring better service to incoming callers. Avoid the attitude of expecting the job to just "get done" and supercharge your foreign language support with anything from employee luncheons to potluck cooking events with multicultural foods on a few of your inspections.

Contact a call center service like A-1 Message Center to discuss available services such as technical support, billing, foreign language support and employee motivation.