Introduction:

I run an ecommerce website. Some people don't like to order online. I
would like to offer an option whereby they could call an 800 number
and place their order. They would pay using a credit card. The order
typically consists of a single item, and we have only a few types of
items in stock. In other words, the transactions are simple.

I would like the telephone operator to utilize my web site when taking
the order; the operator would purchase the item for the caller through
the website using the caller's credit card.

As my business is web-based, I don't forsee a lot of calls.

Operators need only answer during business hours (9-5). My business is
based in Seattle, WA USA

My Questions:

(1) Rather than hire a person full time to answer the telephone, are
there services that provide an operator that could handle the above
duties?
(2) How much do these services charge?
(3) Can I pay per transaction? This would obviously be good if my call
rate is very low.

Thanks for the help.

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Request for Question Clarification by easterangel-ga on 21 Dec 2002 08:16 PST

Hi! I have found the answer for number 1 but 2 amd 3 will be
difficult. It seems such pricing will be dependent on different
estimations of individual companies when it comes to the amount of
work necessary to carry out the task. Would a list of such services
plus contact info be enough to be onsidered as a legitimate answer?
Just let me know. :)

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Request for Question Clarification by lot-ga on 21 Dec 2002 12:16 PST

Hello ecomercer-ga
An alternative option if you were to consider it, is to use a voice
activated or keypad operated telephone order system linked to your
existing merchant account, - possible as your product range is small
and managable. This way, no third party has access to your customers
sensitive credit card details and you can take orders 24/7 as with
online web orders. There is a set up charge, monthly rental and normal
transaction charges. If this is interesting I can research specifics,
if you detail how large your product range is.
regards
lot-ga

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Clarification of Question by ecomercer-ga on 21 Dec 2002 15:39 PST

Thanks for all the comments thus far.

Yes, I would like an answer to each of my 3 questions. 

=======================

bobthedispatcher-ga, 
Thanks for your time.
I don't want to pay someone, even an affordable homemaker, by the
hour. At least not until I know more about my volume. This is not the
focus of my business, and I really hope that most people don't utilize
the phone-in option.

Let's say I do only 5 transactions a day (95%+ of my transactions will
be online). I am guessing that I would like to pay between $1 and $2
per transaction (maybe this is an impossible price). That is between
$150 and $300 per month (if I were open 7 days a week). For a company
that specializes in such things, perhaps this is a modest, but
reasonable fee. But this is hardly a livable salary for someone.

lot-ga, 
I think that an automated computer voice system would be great, thanks
for the idea. I will post another question that asks exactly this, and
you can answer it. My question, as with this question, would revolve
around affordability, price.

Hello:

I think you have received reasonable answers to your questions so far.
I am writing to you because I have myself researched on the topic. You
can always outsource your calls to the call centers where hired people
will answers calls from your customers. This is known as telemarketing
and the service is "inbound calls.” Nowadays there are hundreds of
hundreds of call centers based in the United States that specialize in
the telemarketing sector. Some of them are:

http://www.dialamerica.com

http://www.answerconnect.com

http://www.telemarketing.com

http://www.inspire4.com

http://www.phoneforce.com

http://www.strategicdatabase.com

http://ameridial.com

http://www.telemkting.com

But beware! Just because there is lot of call centers in the country,
you should be careful as the telemarketing frauds have increased too.
Before consulting any of the companies you should check out a useful
article on outsourcing your telephone calls. Please read the article
at:

How to choose a telemarketing firm?

http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/marketplace/buyers_guides/marketing.html?b=telemarketing_guide

Come to the cost now. Because of the large numbers of call centers the
costs of hiring is not that high. It is very affordable. Unfortunately
there is none or rare statistics available on this issue and most
marketing research firms do not cover these. You will have to visit
individual company websites in order to get a price quote. They can
differ widely. The main cost of setting up an outsourcing campaign
remains the start up costs levied by different companies. These can
vary between $0 to $2000 for an average call center. This may include
training, script writing etc. The answer to your third question is
YES. Most companies will allow you to pay per transaction and most of
them have customized packages to do so. I assume from the discussion
on this matter by different members that you want a low cost solution.
Most call centers will cater to customers who get more calls therefore
most call centers are reluctant to customized a package for a  small
start up business. The best bet is to call the call centers and ask
them of any other centers that specialize in such cases. I was always
able to find such centers on reference by the companies. THEY ARE
USUALLY HELPFUL IF YOU TELL THEM THAT YOU WILL NOT GET THAT MUCH
CALLS. But that doesn't mean that large telemarketing firms will not
customize a package for you.

I think in order to compare telemarketing rates and quotes there are
two good websites that you should visit before making a decision. They
are:

http://www.buyerzone.com

http://www.telemarketingquote.com

You should also check out the US Census Bureau Call Center statistics
State by State at:
http://www.census.gov/epcd/susb/1998/us/US56142.HTM

Useful Terms:

'Call Centers'
'Telemarketing centers'
'Telephone outsourcing'

Hope you will find the information useful. Please clarify if you have
any further questions. I will be obliged to answer. Thank You.

Sincerely,
leader-ga

Answer to #1 is yes, as you have found out.

Having used such services, and actualy help create one, years ago, I
can tell you that therer are many different services out there, both
localy and national (or even international) with various specialties,
capabilities, and rates.

Checking your local telephone directory for "Telephone answering
service" would be a start, as many also handle this sort of need.
There are also national services, as it really can be operated from
almost anywhere, with a phone line.

An important note: No matter how much you tell them, they are not
experts on your business, so it is a good idea to have detailed -
easiltr refered to notes available. One idea might be to add details
to each items description (it could be done to ONLY be visible to the
operator's terminals, not customers) to make it very easy for them,
since they will be using people that may handle hundreds of different
businesses in a day!

Rates of course may vary, but usualy are somewhat based on time,
keystrokes, orders or some other measurement (or combination)

One other possibility for you would be find one or more people
interested in part or full time work from home, such as homemakers
with children, that like the ability to do both at the same time, I
know several  that do that at the moment, it is a growing home
inddustry, and just requires a phone and computer