Jobs Flow Back to the U.S. as Demand Grows for U.S.-Based Call Center Operations and Highly Qualified Sales Leads
SANTA CLARITA, Calif., March 18, 2009 — Business is booming at California-based Link It Software. But that explosive growth has been fueled not by its Windows(R) and web-based software applications, but by its business-to-business call center.
“We backed into running our own call center because we’d learned – the hard way – that it was hands-down the best way for us to gather B-to-B sales leads,” says Wayne McFarland, CEO of Link It Software. “We tried direct mail, pay-per-click, trade shows, TV commercials, and outside telemarketing. Nothing really worked until we brought our telemarketing operation back to the United States to Milbank, South Dakota.”
“That was the key,” McFarland said. “We’d found – as many companies have found – that you simply can’t effectively outsource customer interaction overseas. In a perfect world it might not matter, but here in the real world, the language and cultural barriers are quite difficult to overcome.”
“Also, we found that offshore call centers focused on the process instead of results,” McFarland continues. “You know, they made this many calls, they browbeat this many people into saying send them stuff. They didn’t care that their leads consisted entirely of people who only said yes to get off the phone. They just counted up the calls and the bodies, and said they were done.”
Because Link It’s call center operations began as an in-house marketing arm, its approach is very different. “To develop qualified leads, you have to be a marketing partner,” McFarland said. “The first few days of a calling campaign is crucial – you need that immediate feedback in order to make adjustments. We work with our partners every day until they say ‘yes, the leads you’re giving us are solid.’”
“All this wasn’t developed overnight,” McFarland laughed. “We’re smart but not that smart. We made every mistake possible on our way to developing this unique system for ourselves that focused on lead quality. Then we started offering our U.S.-based call center services to our clients and strategic partners, and our system worked for them, too.”
It worked well enough that Link It is now opening three new call centers in the South Dakota towns of Arlington, Eureka, and Watertown.
The economic meltdown dramatically affected Link It’s call center operations – in a positive way. “Everyone needs qualified sales leads, now more than ever, and they can’t afford to make the same mistakes we did,” McFarland said. “We’ve done all the stuff that doesn’t work. And now we have something that works.”
In a press release issued earlier this week South Dakota governor Mike Rounds said, “We are delighted to see Link It Software increase its presence in South Dakota. When a proven, corporate citizen can bring businesses and jobs into the state – in spite of difficult economic times – we couldn’t be happier. This announcement is another example of how IT companies and smaller communities can collaborate and strike a deal that is mutually beneficial.”
McFarland is excited about the opportunities he sees for growth in South Dakota. “We set out to locate in small towns,” he said. “The culture there is different than you find in bigger cities – the people are friendly, yet technologically savvy – it’s a perfect fit for our call centers, which utilize technology and the whole virtualized office, but are still very much a person-to-person business.”
Link It’s call centers deal exclusively with business-to-business customers. The call center announces products, develops qualified leads, and handles inbound customer service calls.
For more information, contact:
Wayne D. McFarland, CEO
Link It Software Corporation
(818) 574-3970 Ext. 103
http://www.linkitcallcenter.com
http://www.linkitsoftware.com
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