Configuring Your Call Center

The following procedure describes how to set up the call center functionality in Oracle CRM On Demand Marketing.

To configure the call center

1. Set up user profiles and appropriate roles for telemarketing agents.

   For more information on setting up roles and user profiles, see Configuring My Setup Options.

2. Assign login credentials to each agent.

   Call center permissions can be added to existing roles, or if users can access only the call center functionality, you can define a new role.

3. Develop an initial strategy for the types of responses directed to telemarketing for followup and prequalification.

   For example, is telemarketing responsible for contacting all leads captured at trade shows?

4. Define or refine the definitions of prospect status and communicate them clearly to the team. For example, when is a prospect qualified? Do you know the meaning of the disqualification reasons?

5. Set up the telemarketing queues according to the criteria most applicable to your situation, for example, territory, product line, subject matter, and so on.

   You might want to set up a queue for each telemarketing agent so that leads are not delivered to a pool from which agents then select. Also, you might want to have telemarketing agents assigned to specific sales territories, for which you can build a queue for each territory and assign leads by geographic location. For more information on setting up queues, see Configuring Queues.

6. Define the queue assignment rule conditions for each telemarketing queue.

   For more information on setting up queues, see Configuring Queues.

7. If you decide to import contacts to assign to telemarketing agents for cold-calling or followup, develop a list of the required attributes so that imported contacts are assigned to the correct queues.

8. Create generic and campaign-specific call scripts.

9. Inform telemarketing agents when to begin expecting leads.

Guidelines for Managing Leads

This topic provides guidelines for managing leads. Consider the following:

• Assign leads to only one queue. Ensure that you do not send responses simultaneously to telemarketing and sales, which might result in multiple representatives from your company contacting prospects. However, there might be legitimate cases where you want to send prospects both to a call center queue and also to Oracle CRM On Demand.

• Assign more than one agent to a telemarketing queue. This action prevents the delay of leads if one agent is out of the office.

• Define a generic call script for leads not associated with a subject-specific campaign and who are referred to telemarketing. For example, you might want to build a generic call script if your telemarketing agents are responsible for following up with inquiries submitted on the corporate Web site. This can help when defining telemarketing queue assignment rules and conditions.

• Create your campaign call scripts as you configure your campaign. If you wait until registrations come in, it can cause telemarketing to delay following up leads promptly.

• Configure a contact-import test to ensure responses flow to the correct queues.

• Brief telemarketing personnel fully on the subject matter before a campaign is launched. Ensure that followup expectations are clear.