Purpose of a Consultation Call
The main goal of a consultation call is to evaluate your contact center’s needs and identify opportunities for improvement. Whether you’re managing an in-house team or outsourcing services, the call helps uncover gaps in performance, technology, staffing, or customer experience. Consultants or solution providers typically ask detailed questions about your existing systems, call volumes, agent performance, customer feedback, and service level expectations. In turn, they offer insights, recommend tools, or suggest process improvements based on your business objectives.What Happens During a Consultation Call?
Here are some standard components of a typical consultation call:- Business Overview: You’ll provide context about your business, industry, customer base, and the current state of your contact center operations.
- Pain Point Discovery: The consultant will explore issues you’re experiencing, like high abandonment rates, poor CSAT scores, long wait times, or agent attrition.
- Technology Assessment: The conversation often includes a review of your current contact center platform, whether it's on-premise, cloud-based, or hybrid, and whether it includes key features such as IVR, call routing, omnichannel support, or workforce management.
- Process Review: The consultant may ask how your agents are trained, how quality is monitored, and what metrics you use to measure success.
- Goals and Priorities: You’ll be encouraged to outline your short-term and long-term goals, such as reducing costs, improving CX, or scaling operations.
- Solution Discussion: Based on the discussion, the consultant may propose potential solutions, which could range from software recommendations and automation strategies to training and quality calibration practices.
Why Businesses Schedule Consultation Calls
To Make Informed Decisions Choosing a contact center solution or strategy without a clear understanding of your needs can lead to wasted resources. A consultation call helps clarify what will genuinely benefit your operations. To Benchmark Performance Many businesses want to know how their contact center stacks up against industry standards. A consultant can provide comparisons and best practices. To Plan for Growth or Change Whether you’re expanding, downsizing, or switching to a remote or hybrid model, a consultation call can help you plan the transition smoothly. To Identify Efficiency Opportunities Experienced consultants can spot inefficiencies in your workflows, staffing, or technology setup that may not be obvious internally.What to Prepare Before a Consultation Call
To get the most value from the session, it’s helpful to come prepared with:- Recent performance metrics (e.g., ASA, CSAT, FCR, agent occupancy)
- An overview of your current tools and platforms
- Known customer experience or operational challenges
- Business goals and growth plans
- Questions about features, pricing, or integration
Benefits of a Consultation Call
- Tailored Recommendations: Instead of receiving generic advice, you get customized guidance that fits your team’s needs.
- Expert Insights: You’ll gain access to industry knowledge and solution frameworks that may not be available in-house.
- Faster Decision-Making: A consultation helps speed up your evaluation and implementation timeline by clarifying options early.
- Stronger Strategy Alignment: The discussion ensures your contact center strategy aligns with broader business goals like revenue growth, customer loyalty, or digital transformation.