I would like to decrease some of our non-revenue generating calls to the call centre by implementing a local number where long distance charges apply, instead of a toll free number.

Does anyone know the statistics on the likelihood of someone to call a local number?

Please help. thanks

Karen

Karen,

I would suggest

That given the current economic climate such a move would
not be taken well by your customers. Cynics may say it's
another way of corporate extracting money from customers and
just seen as you creating another revenue stream.

If it's a customer care role taking it to long distance rates are
likely to alienate that client base as well as charging also implies
you don't value them enough to make it easy to talk to you.

Is there another wayto service these calls? Self service, IVR etc..

Or have you done a demands and needs analysis to see if there are
failure demands that are driving call volumes up?

In short, personally I think swopping to a higher billing rate,
especially in the current climate is not a wise commercial decision.

They'll just go elsewhere..



Regards

DaveA

Karen,

I totally agree with Dave A - I think this could be a bad move to make in the current ecomonic climate. I am not sure what industry you are in but it is likely that you have competition - this move could provide yet another reason to for your customers to switch suppliers.

As Dave has said, before taking such an action, it is worth the investment in finding out what is causing these "non-revenue generating" calls and seeing how they can be eliminated. Could they be eliminated by proactively contacting people before they call, perhaps by text or email? Could you provide more self service via voice or web if the calls are simple or informational? Do you have inherent internal process, service or product problems that are causing people to call? It's well worth understanding why people call.....

Hope this helps,
Dave

While I don't have anything new to add I did want to say I agree with the above two posters. you should view every customer contact as a requirement of business in generating revenue.