What is your usual process for ongoing training for TSRs on new programs/campaigns?
What are your quality assurance policies and procedures.
How often do you formally monitor TSRs?
What are your policy and procedures for client access to monitoring.
What is the incremental cost for program adjustments and changes?
How quickly can you make desired changes to a report format?
What is the incremental cost for report adjustments?
How much lead time do you require to test a scripting change?
How much lead time do you require to test a completely different script?
Is scripting on-line or on paper? Do you accommodate both?
What is your normal policy and procedure when the client receives a customer complaint about a telemarketing call from the vendor site?
Tele Resources, Inc. investigates all complaints. When investigating, we find the matching record along with its complete call history, including all dialing, all agents who have called the record, the final coded disposition, and the activities that occurred on the call. The record is pulled from the system and if available a recording of the call is listened to in order to ensure proper agent action had been taken. Tele Resources, Inc. takes complaints very seriously, and we discuss the events of the call with our clients, quality assurance teams, supervisors involved, and the dialing agent involved.
Does your company have any issues that would prevent calls to DNC customers with an “existing business relationship” (EBR) exemption?
No, we also use the CCH Telemarketing Law Guide and all of its periodic updates to ensure we have a legal reference on-hand for all of our EBR clients.
Can your system accommodate this exemption (and similar type exemptions) while applying a different standard for other clients, or is your system designed so that one calling standard/rule must apply to all programs called?
Yes, Tele Resources, Inc. realizes that each of our clients is different and we model all proceedings around program specifics rather than a standard call model.
What are your efforts toward ensuring full compliance with state and federal telemarketing legislation?
We have a compliance manager whose job is to follow and implement all changes pertaining to DNC and Federal legislation. We are subscribers to several legal sources for updates on new telemarketing regulations, including the CCH Telemarketing Law Guide, and PossibleNow's DNCSolutions. Our compliance manager also monitors daily the new updates to Federal Regulations via the FTC, FCC, DMA, and ATA websites. We are also subscribers to daily updates about current and pending legislation occurring in the telemarketing industry.
State compliance is met by registering with individual state Do Not Call policies whose matches supersede the National Do Not Call Registration. Existing business relationship regulations allow us to remain compliant with state regulations. We also subscribe to several state Do Not Call lists and receive updated lists from them.
How do you ensure that you're up to date and compliant with all legislative activity and action taken on the state and federal level?
Tele Resources, Inc. subscribes to the Telemarketing Law Guide written by CCH. We receive periodic updates from CCH regarding changes and amendments. We also subscribe to several state DNC lists and updates and ensure those states with regulations superseding Federal regulations are met. We are also subscribers to the DMA and the ATA and our compliance manager visits those websites daily to ensure we check for proper updates.
With caller ID and the tape message requirement, are you able to "customize" the name and number for the client selectively, by program and calling campaign? Please explain how this is done.
Tele Resources, Inc. uses an SER Encore system with the ability to play 200 different recorded messages. Each calling campaign is programmed with its own specific message. We can record each message based upon client specifics and attach that message to campaigns only dialed for that client.
Please describe, in detail, your process for new hire training, and providing enhancement training. Who is responsible for developing and actually doing these trainings?
New hires are first put through orientation that explains company policies and procedures along with our DNC policies and procedures. Once they complete DNC training they take a test that they must pass before beginning program specific training.
Tele Resources, Inc. encourages any and all training materials and recommendations made by clients. This helps us ensure the highest quality program compliance and success. Program materials are used as well as sales success strategies to train and prepare each agent for phone sales success.
Classroom instruction and on-line production time are integrated so the student is able to immediately apply the skills learned in the classroom and receives feedback based upon “real-world” observations.
Once the training session is completed each agent takes a project specific exam. Each exam consists of project specific questions, project specific goal, project specific guidelines, scripting questions, rebuttal questions, and reviews DNC material. Each agent must pass the test before going on-line.
Once each agent is ready to go on-line they are placed into an “incubator” for their initial dial experience. Each program has its own incubator and incubator coach. The incubator trainer to TSR ratio is typically 5/1 or less. Once they are in the incubator they remain there until they have demonstrated program compliance ability and understanding. Incubator sessions include focus groups and extra one-on-one time with incubator coaches.
What is your usual process for ongoing training for TSRs on new programs/campaigns?
Tele Resources, Inc. also subscribes to the philosophy that a constant “thread of training” is needed to keep each of our agents working at their highest level of ability. For this reason each of our agents receives constant up-training sessions from trainers, coach trainers, and project supervisors. By providing up-training each of our agents skills are honed, helping them meet program goals.
What are your quality assurance policies and procedures.
Monitoring is conducted at least once every 24 hours for each TSR. Feedback regarding observed calls is provided to the agent's project supervisor and coach trainer within twenty minutes of the monitor. The coach trainer then coaches the agent accordingly. A personal plan for development and specific actions taken during this one-on-one counseling are recorded. Supervisor teams, as well as individual TSRs’ progress are then measured and used to apply feedback to help improve quality and performance.
What are your monitoring capabilities, including the ability for shadow monitoring, number of times each TSR is monitored and by whom.
We can simultaneously monitor voice and data. TSRs are monitored at least once every 24 hours by quality assurance personnel assigned to the program. Coaches also monitor their TSRs.
How often do you formally monitor TSRs?
At least once every 24 hours. New agents are monitored more frequently by both coach trainers and by quality assurance staff to help ensure they are beginning their phone career correctly.
What are your policy and procedures for client access to monitoring.
Clients can choose to silently monitor agents using TRI host monitoring sessions or they can choose to shadow monitor unassisted and unannounced.
Please describe your IS capability, including number of full-time and part-time staff, their location, and experience in reporting capabilities.
Tele Resources, Inc. has 6 full-time client dedicated programmers with resources available 24 hours a day. All IS and IT capabilities are handled In-House. All out report generating and fulfillment programs have been developed and designed in-house; however, we can also implement most package software if needed.
What is the incremental cost for program adjustments and changes?
Tele Resources, Inc., does not charge for program changes or adjustments.
Most clients require daily summary, weekly summary, monthly summary and campaign summary reporting. Does Tele Resources, Inc., have the ability to provide these reports in a timely manner?
All of our reports are built “in house” according to client specifications. We are able to report in a manner and style our clients prefer, and customize each of our specification to fit their data specific requirements.
How quickly can you make desired changes to a report format?
Depending on the complexity of the change, 24 hours or less is our typical turn around time.
What procedures do you have in place to reconcile orders and ensure against duplication of orders generated by TSRs and transmitted for fulfillment?
We index each phone number with a unique indexing number. No two matching phone numbers are kept in a database, and we can also index each number by address. In addition, we can also index by address. We also run with mirrored protection to ensure list quality.
What is the incremental cost for report adjustments?
Tele Resources, Inc. does not charge clients for report adjustments.
How much lead time do you require to test a new program? Please describe steps required to test a new program.
Depending on the size of the test, we would need 10-23 work days.
How much lead time do you require to test a scripting change?
Depending the the change, 24 hours or less.
How much lead time do you require to test a completely different script?
Depending on the change 24-48 hours or less.
Is scripting on-line or on paper? Do you accommodate both?
We accommodate both.
What sets your company apart from other telemarketing companies, that would give you a "competitive edge"?
Our dedication to our clients return on investment has always set us apart from other call centers. We have a strong devotion to what our clients are getting in return for their investment. This focus on client satisfaction has lead to many long term client relationships and in return is the reason for much of our success. We focus not only on the goals that we achieve, but also on the quality of those achievements and what they mean to our client. Quality work and quality presentations result in a stronger more successful customer base for our clients, and in return they become long term customers for us. This is the very nature of the work we do and it is the very heart of our operation.
Our low attrition rate is the result of an organization working with employees who are dedicated not only to this industry, but also to the company that they work. We retain many of our best agents, and our clients begin to know them by name. This is a direct result of a caring organization with sales agents who are outstanding in their field and get recognition for the services.
One factor that makes Tele Resources, Inc. more competitive in the call center market is our goal to be a customer oriented call center. Each of our programs has the same basic function, and that is the retention of customers. Getting customers to reinvest in a product they know takes a certain type of agent. We do choose not to jeopardize this factor by taking programs that are not customer oriented. Our agents have the ability to interact with people over the phone and convince costumers of the value of a product. From the first day and employee steps into Tele Resources, Inc., they are trained not to “get a sale,” but rather, “assist people in buying.” People don't want to be sold, but the do like to buy. Our agents realize this and are trained to respond to this fact. The people we talk to end up with a positive feeling about our agents and the products they are buying. We facilitate in not only getting a renewal to meet our goal but also keeping a customer loyal to a product. Our clients return to us because their customers keep returning to them.
