Local Not Always Better
We love buying our fruits and vegetables from the local Farmer’s Market rather than a supermarket chain. We also like to visit our local bakery and family owned restaurants (Yes, everything we do revolves around food). However, when it comes to choosing a Call Center, it may be best to choose one with more than just a local presence.
We answer after-hours calls for a municipal water department in a western state that is several time zones removed from our main office. Last year during a major water main break, we answered thousands of calls from concerned citizens that were out of water. During that process, some callers realized that we were not located in their city, but were in fact several thousand miles away. Eventually a letter to the editor of the local paper asked why the municipality had not used a local Call Center (If you were without a bathroom for 2 days you would be asking questions too!). It gave us a great opportunity to explain some of the benefits of a geographically diverse Call Center.
It may surprise some to learn that while many of our agents are located in South Carolina, we have another call center in New Mexico, as well as remote operators located in several other states across the nation. We are a national company using American operators who have been professionally trained to serve our customers in 42 states. While we cannot have a “local” presence in every region, we do offer a diverse team of agents. This allows us the flexibility to offer our clients in coastal or even mountainous areas continuous and uninterrupted service that is unaffected by any severe weather events.
When our mountain customers have excessive snow, we have mild temperatures and partly cloudy skies (welcome to every Christmas in the south). And when our coastal customers are dealing with hurricane conditions, we are ready to take their calls while watching the Weather Channel like everyone else. If, by chance, we experience some freakish weather event near our home office, like tornadoes or a zombie apocalypse, we have our remote agents and our New Mexico location to take the calls. Even though we may not be local, we will always be “right there” with our customers when needed.
