call centre business plan pdf

Call Center Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Call Center Business Plan

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their call centers. On this page, we will first give you some background information with regards to the importance of business planning. We will then go through a call center business plan template step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

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What Is a Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your call center as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategy for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan

If you’re looking to start a call center, or grow your existing call center, you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your call center in order to improve your chances of success. Your business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Sources of Funding for Call Centers

With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a call center are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans and angel investors. With regards to bank loans, banks will want to review your plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to confirm that your financials are reasonable, but they will also want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business. Personal savings and bank loans are the most common funding paths for call centers.

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How to write a business plan for a call center agency.

If you want to start a call center or expand your current one, you need a business plan. Below we detail what should be included in each section of your own plan:

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of call center you are operating and the status. For example, are you a startup, do you have a call center that you would like to grow, or are you operating call centers in multiple markets?

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan. For example, give a brief overview of the telemarketing industry. Discuss the type of call center you are operating. Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers. Provide a snapshot of your marketing plan. Identify the key members of your team. And offer an overview of your financial plan.  

Company Overview

In your company overview, you will detail the type of call center you are operating.

For example, you might operate one of the following types of call centers:

• Inbound Call Center : this type of call center focuses on answering inbound phone calls usually from new and existing consumers.
• Outbound Call Center: this type of call center specializes in calling customers and consumers on a company’s behalf and are responsible for selling a product/service and expanding a company’s reach in their phone calls.
• Automated Call Centers: this type of call center has a computer-based system that is interactive and allows the callers to handle some of the responsibilities of directing their call.

In addition to explaining the type of call center you will operate, the Company Overview section of your business plan needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to question such as:

• When and why did you start the business?
• What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include the number of customers served, number of positive reviews, reaching X amount of clients served, etc.
• Your legal structure. Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry analysis, you need to provide an overview of the telemarketing industry.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating.

Secondly, market research can improve your strategy, particularly if your research identifies market trends.

The third reason for market research is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting this market research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section:

• How big is the industry (in dollars)?
• Is the market declining or increasing?
• Who are the key competitors in the market?
• Who are the key suppliers in the market?
• What trends are affecting the industry?
• What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
• What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential market for your call center? You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: telemarketing companies, large organizations, charities, and help desks/customer support teams.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of call center you operate. Clearly, charities would respond to different marketing promotions than help desks, for example.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, include a discussion of the ages, genders, locations and income levels of the customers you seek to serve.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can understand and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.

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Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other call centers.

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from that aren’t direct competitors. This includes in-house customer support departments and online support websites. You need to mention such competition as well.

With regards to direct competition, you want to describe the other call centers with which you compete. Most likely, your direct competitors will be call centers located very close to your location.

For each such competitor, provide an overview of their businesses and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as:

• What types of customers do they serve?
• What type of call center are they?
• What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
• What are they good at?
• What are their weaknesses?

With regards to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And don’t be afraid to ask your competitors’ customers what they like most and least about them.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

• Will you provide shorter call times and higher call volume?
• Will you provide call center services that your competitors don’t offer?
• Will you provide better customer service?
• Will you offer better pricing?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.  

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a call center agency, your marketing plan should include the following:

Product : In the product section, you should reiterate the type of call center company that you documented in your Company Analysis. Then, detail the specific products you will be offering. For example, in addition to a call center, will you provide call forwarding, market research, lead generation, and any other services?

Price : Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your marketing plan, you are presenting the call center services you offer and their prices.

Place : Place refers to the location of your call center company. Document your location and mention how the location will impact your success. For example, is your call center located in a busy retail district, a business district, a standalone office, etc. Discuss how your location might be the ideal location for your customers.

Promotions : The final part of your call center marketing plan is the promotions section. Here you will document how you will drive customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

• Advertising in local papers and magazines
• Reaching out to websites
• Social media marketing
• Local radio advertising

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your call center, including answering inbound calls, making outbound calls, finding solutions to customers’ issues, track statistics of your call length and volume, and expand the reach of your client.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to land your Xth client, or when you hope to reach $X in revenue. It could also be when you expect to expand your call center to a new city.

Management Team

To demonstrate your call center’ ability to succeed, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company.

Ideally you and/or your team members have direct experience in managing call centers. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act like mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in managing a call center or successfully running a sales or customer support team .  

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statements.

Income Statement : an income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenues and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you take on one new client at a time or multiple new clients ? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets : Balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. While balance sheets can include much information, try to simplify them to the key items you need to know about. For instance, if you spend $50,000 on building out your call center, this will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a bank writes you a check for $50,000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement : Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and make sure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt.

In developing your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a call center:

• Cost of computer software.
• Cost of equipment and supplies
• Payroll or salaries paid to staff
• Business insurance
• Taxes and permits
• Legal expenses

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your office location lease or invoices of client projects you are working on.  

Putting together a business plan for your call center is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will really understand the call center industry, your competition, and your customers. You will have developed a marketing plan and will really understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful call center.  

Call Center Agency Business Plan FAQs

What is the easiest way to complete my call center business plan.

Growthink's Ultimate Business Plan Template allows you to quickly and easily complete your business plan.

How Do You Start a Call Center?

Starting a call center is easy with these 14 steps:

• Choose the Name for Your Call Center Agency
• Create Your Call Center Business Plan
• Choose the Legal Structure for Your Call Center Agency
• Secure Startup Funding for Your Call Center (If Needed)
• Secure a Location for Your Business
• Register Your Call Center Agency with the IRS
• Open a Business Bank Account
• Get a Business Credit Card
• Get the Required Business Licenses and Permits
• Get Business Insurance for Your Call Center
• Buy or Lease the Right Call Center Equipment
• Develop Your Call Center Agency Marketing Materials
• Purchase and Setup the Software Needed to Run Your Call Center
• Open for Business

Learn more about how to start your own call center agency .

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Call Center Business Plan Template

APR.13, 2018

Do you want to start call center business?

Are you thinking of opening a call center ? There is no doubt this is a great business venture with immense potential. In the recent years, the telemarketing industry has been experiencing a steady growth of between 6.5% and 8% per annum. The quest for organizations to improve their customer service in order to outshine their competitors has compelled many firms to outsource their telemarketing to experts. This is a cost effective approach compared to investing in an in-house call center. To succeed, a number of issues have to be taken care of but you can be assured to recover your capital within the first three years.

Executive Summary

2.1 the business.

The call center will be registered under the name ListeningU, and will be situated in downtown Brentwood, Los Angeles- California. The call center will be owned and managed by Adam Bruno who is an expert customer service professional.

2.2 Management Team

Adam Bruno is a Customer Service professional who has worked in the customer care industry for more than a decade. Before planning how to create a call center , Adam worked for many top business companies across the United States and is an accomplished customer service expert.

2.3 Customer Focus

ListeningU intends to offer clients a one stop, modern and fully equipped call center with the latest telemarketing technologies to serve the Los Angeles business community.

2.4 Business Target

ListeningU intends to offer both inbound and outbound call center business strategy services to a wide range of clientele keen on outsourcing their call center services.

Company Summary

3.1 company owner.

Adam Bruno is a customer care professional who has worked with renowned U.S brands that include JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and Citigroup. In the course of his career, he ascended to the position of a Customer Service Manager and took the lead role in structuring call center operations and overseeing all management related aspects.

3.2 Aim of Starting the Business

After having been in the career for long, Adams noticed that companies were spending a lot of time and resources to manage in-house call centers. In order to help businesses focus on their core operations, Bruno found it necessary to start a call center business to handle telemarketing services on behalf of clients.

3.3 How the Business will be Started

As a customer service expert, Adams understands what he needs to start the call center. To set his idea into motion, he has worked closely with business set-up experts to develop a financial roadmap for the call center. The following is financial data for ListeningU Call Center.

Services for Customers

ListeningU Call Center is focused on offering professional telemarketing services to different types of clients. When planning how to open a call center , the business is focused on offering the following services.

• Offer customer service that includes handling inquiries on behalf of clients
• Carry out Market research and surveys for clients
• Provide first-level help desk support
• Assist in business development by helping clients with lead generation, database management, debt collection and message services.

Marketing Analysis for Call Center Business

For ListeningU Call Center to meet its market obligations, a detailed market analysis was carried out to help the business establish itself in the industry and adequately serve the needs of clients.

This call center business plan explains the strategy the business will rely on to attain its goals. Given the rising demand for corporate call center services, there is a great opportunity for ListeningU to meet its market objectives.

5.1 Market Segmentation

Given the increasing popularity of the call center industry, ListeningU understands the value of coming up with sustainable marketing strategies to acquire a larger market share. Being the second largest city in the United States, Los Angeles is a business hub with many corporates looking for quality call center services to support their business operations. Based on market findings, the call center intends to target the following potential customers.

5.1.1 Corporate Organizations

Corporate organizations rely on an infrastructure that allows seamless communication to achieve various business objectives. For this reason, every corporate entity needs a robust and flexible call center service that has the capability to accommodate business needs. With high costs associated with setting up, running and maintaining call centers, businesses now prefer to outsource their needs to professional call center companies.

The corporate sphere is large and ListeningU Call Center intends to target companies in various sectors such as banking, manufacturing, telecommunication and information technology among others. Organizations have to keep communicating with their clients, suppliers, business partners and other industry stakeholders. The call center business model will focus on reaching out directly to various corporate entities.

5.1.2 Advertising and Marketing Agencies

One of the main services offered by ListeningU is marketing and lead generation. Call centers play a major role in advertising and brand awareness which attracts marketing agencies intending to roll out advertising campaigns for various products and services. Thanks to investing in sophisticated and cutting edge technologies, the call center has invested in the appropriate infrastructure to support large scale advertising.

5.1.3 Political Parties

Political parties have been identified as a potential customer group to reach out to in this call center business plan sample . Political parties often conduct fundraising and campaigns which need a professional call center facility to handle all communication aspects on behalf of a client. Political parties always run elaborate campaigns in order to create awareness and outshine their competitors. For this reason, ListeningU Call Center stands a great chance to benefit from political parties.

5.1.4 Religious Organizations

With many religious organizations operating in Los Angeles, the demand for call centers is high as religious establishments are always in need to call centers to support various organization functions. Just like political parties, religious organizations engage in numerous fundraising and campaigns.

5.2 Business Target

ListeningU Call Center is getting into a highly competitive environment considering there are numerous call centers in Los Angeles. However, this call center business plan template outlines the plan the business intends to use to acquire clients and propel business growth. It is costly to set up a fully functioning call center, but adequate strategies have been formulated to help the business fully recover its initial capital. After finalizing how to build a call center business and rolling out operations, the call center expects to recoup its initial investment in three years based on a projected 15-20% annual sales growth.

5.3 Product Pricing

While strategizing on how to start a call center business , Adam Bruno together with the assistance of experts has come up with a competitive pricing structure tailored for different services. At the beginning, the call center intends to offer various incentives to attract clients.

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When planning how to start a call center , you need to come up with a great business development strategy . Adam Bruno has engaged experts to formulate a call center strategy that will be instrumental to steer business growth. The following is ListeningU Call Center sales strategy.

6.1 Competitive Analysis

ListeningU has deployed the latest telemarketing technologies to boost efficiency and seamlessly handle multiple clients without compromising quality. After completing the procedures of how to build a call center , the business anticipates high competition considering there are numerous similar establishments in Brentwood.

6.2 Sales Strategy

For ListeningU to achieve its intended targets and create a call center which is popular with clients, the following sales strategy will be implemented.

• Hire professional marketing agencies to help advertise the call center and teach out to corporate clients
• Organize an official opening party and welcome top industry stakeholders to create awareness about the business
• Do cold calling and email various potential customers to advertise call center services
• Advertise on digital media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
• Use local media channels such as Television and newspapers to advertise the business

6.3 Sales Forecast

ListeningU Call Center has put in place various sales strategies in order to meet its targets. The following is a forecast of sales for the business.

Personnel Plan

ListeningU provides diverse services in order to boost the company’s income. When starting a call center business , it is vital to focus on having a good personnel team to handle business operations.

7.1 Personnel Plan

The call center is owned by Adam Bruno who will be the overall center manager for the business. The call center intends to hire the following staff to enable the business carry out its operations.

• Call Center Manager
• Operations Manager
• Two Marketing Executives
• Five Customer Service Representatives
• Successful candidates will undergo intensive training to understand procedures and expectations.

7.2 Average Staff Salaries

ListeningU Call Center plans to pay its staff the following salaries in the first three years of operations.

Financial Plan

ListeningU Call Center has formulated a financial plan that will steer the path to business success. To start call center business , Adam will use his personal savings and funds from two investors. A loan will be sought to help raise startup capital for the business. Crucial financial information for the call center has been shown below.

8.1 Important Assumptions

Financial forecast for ListeningU Call Center will be based on the following assumptions.

8.2 Brake-even Analysis

ListeningU Brake-even Analysis is indicated in the graph below.

8.3 Projected Profit and Loss

Profit and Loss information for ListeningU calculated on a monthly and annual basis is shown below.

8.3.1 Monthly Profit

8.3.2 Yearly Profit

8.3.3 Monthly Gross Margin

8.3.4 Yearly Gross Margin

Below is the profit and Loss Analysis for ListeningU Call Center.

8.4 Projected Cash Flow

The diagram below is a summary of subtotal cash spent, subtotal cash from operations, subtotal cash spent on operations, subtotal cash received and pro forma cash flow.

8.5 Projected Balance Sheet

The following is a Projected Balance Sheet for ListeningU Call Center that shows capital, assets, long term assets, liabilities and current liabilities.

8.6 Business Ratios

ListeningU Call Center Business Ratios, Ratio Analysis and Business Net Worth are shown below.

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Call Center Business Plan

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Vashon Solicitation Services

Executive summary executive summary is a brief introduction to your business plan. it describes your business, the problem that it solves, your target market, and financial highlights.">.

Introduction It is the mission of Vashon Solicitation Services to provide clients with top quality call center services 24 hours-a-day. A service that provides our clients with the greatest chance of communicating with their end customers. We do B2B and B2C services including both inbound and outbound calls. We have a dedicated and well trained cadre of customer support specialists who are able to consistently provide excellent services delivered in a timely and cost-effective manner.

Whatever a client’s customer relations goals are: quantifying sales leads, taking orders, responding to ad inquiries, market research, or general information requests, VSS has the people with the expertise to professionally service those needs.

The Company VSS will be a limited liability partnership registered in the state of Delaware for tax purposes. Its founder is Mr. Martin Gibbs, a former telemarketing head with Medfone, Inc. Mr. Gibbs has brought together a highly respected group of telemarketing and customer relations specialists who have a total of 35 years of combined experience with this industry.

The company has a limited number of private investors and does not plan to go public. The company has its main offices in Gig Harbor, Washington. The facilities include office spaces, conference rooms, and a phone center. The company expects to begin offering services in June of Year 1.

The Services Vashon offers a wide range of call center service including both inbound and outbound calls. We provide bilingual services in both english and spanish. The most common needs that we can fulfill are:

• Generate sales leads
• Set appointments
• Market research
• Surveys (including statistical analysis and political surveys)
• First level help desk
• Database or mailing list information
• Business development
• Point-of-sale product promotion
• Seminar and conference invitations

VSS is not a telemarketing company, we do not create the marketing campaigns for our clients. Experience has shown that many companies desire to create their own marketing campaign since they already have marketing personnel with extensive contact and experience in the industry.

The Market The telemarketing industry is a growing industry with most companies having an annual growth between 6.5% and 8%. This is due to businesses that are becoming increasingly aware of the need for market information and the desire to reduce customer turnover rates in a hard hit economy. A significant trend in this industry is the growing number of clients who wish to outsource telemarketing functions to client companies instead of developing such infrastructure in-house. This makes for an excellent opportunity for VSS. However, long-term analysis of growth rates in this industry show a cyclical pattern and VSS does not expect this high growth rate to continue.

VSS plans to enter into two market segments. First, we will work in the medical services industry since they have a high need to maintain contact with their patients at all times. We will also be working as a first level help desk for a number of small high-tech companies, and be taking on short-term projects such as surveys from small clients.

Financial Considerations Start-up assets required are shown in the tables accompanying the Start-up Summary topic. This includes expenses and the cash needed to support operations until revenues reach an acceptable level. Most of the company’s liabilities will come from outside private investors and management investment, however, we have obtained current borrowing from Bank of America Commercial Investments, the principal to be paid off in two years. A long-term loan through Charter Bank of Tillamook will be paid off in ten years. We also have a line of credit from Viking Bank that we can draw upon if need be.

The company expects to reach profitability in year two and does not anticipate any serious cash flow problems. We conservatively believe that during the first three years that about three ongoing contracts per month will guarantee a break-even point.

1.1 Keys to Success

Vashon’s keys to long-term survivability and profitability are:

• Create long-term contracts that demand constant monitoring or on-call services.
• Keeping close contact with clients and establishing a well functioning long-term relationship with them to generate repeat business and obtain a top notch reputation.
• Establish a comprehensive service experience for our clients that includes consultation, progress reports and post-program feedback.

1.2 Mission

It is the mission of VSS to provide our clients with top quality call center services 24 hours-a-day that provide the greatest chance of communicating with end customers. We do B2B and B2C services including both inbound and outbound calls. We have a dedicated and well trained cadre of customer support specialists who are able to consistently provide excellent services delivered in a timely and cost-effective manner.

Whatever a client’s customer relations goals are: quantifying sales leads, taking orders, responding to ad inquiries, market research, or general information requests, VSS has the people with the expertise to professionally service your needs.

1.3 Objectives

The three year goals for Vashon Solicitation Services LLC (VSS) are:

• Achieve break-even by year two.
• Establish long-term contracts with at least four clients.
• Establish minimum 95% customer satisfaction rate to form long-term relationships with our clients and create word of mouth marketing.

Company Summary company overview ) is an overview of the most important points about your company—your history, management team, location, mission statement and legal structure.">

VSS will be a limited liability partnership registered in the state of Delaware for tax purposes. Its founder is Mr. Martin Gibbs, a former telemarketing head with Medfone, Inc. Mr. Gibbs has brought together a highly respected group of telemarketing and customer relations specialists who have a total of 35 years of combined experience with this industry.

The company has a limited number of private investors and does not plan to go public. The company has its main offices in Gig Harbor, Washington. The facilities include office spaces, conference rooms, and a phone center. The company expects to begin offering its services in June of Year 1.

The company’s main clients will be companies that require high amounts of communication between themselves and their clients. This includes medical services, and companies that wish to outsource first-level help desk support. By focusing on institutions such as these that have special needs, we believe we will be able to better serve our clients and produce a superior service that is more effective that other call center firms.

2.1 Start-up Summary

Start-up assets required are shown in the tables below. This includes expenses and the cash needed to support operations until revenues reach an acceptable level. Most of the company’s liabilities will come from outside private investors and management investment, however, we have obtained current borrowing from Bank of America Commercial Investments, the principal to be paid off in two years. A long-term loan through Charter Bank of Tillamook will be paid off in ten years.We also have a line of credit from Viking Bank that we can draw upon if need be.

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2.2 Company Ownership

The company will have a number of outside private investors who will own 27% of the company’s shares. The rest will be owned by the senior management including Mr. Martin Gibbs, (25%), Ms. Mary Stuart (20%), Mr. Henry Hannover, (20%), and Mr. Nicholas Caput (8%). All other financing will come from loans.

Vashon offers a wide range of call center service including both inbound and outbound calls. We provide bilingual services in both english and spanish. The most common needs for call centers are:

• Database or mailing list information

VSS is not a telemarketing company we do not create the marketing campaigns for our clients. Experience has shown that many companies desire to create their own marketing campaign since they already have marketing personnel with extensive contact and experience in the industry. However, the costs of carrying out such a telemarketing campaign can be prohibitive and often the firm does not wish to develop the infrastructure to do so. This requires developing different skills and core competencies that divert management and resources from their primary duties. This is where VSS comes in. We either connect a prospective client with a telemarketing company (we have arrangements and contacts with three such consulting firms) or once such a campaign is designed we implement it for our clients. We work closely with our clients in the creation of the campaign’s goals, scope, length, and costs so has to create as close a fit between the client needs and our capabilities.

Market Analysis Summary how to do a market analysis for your business plan.">

The telemarketing industry is a growing industry with most companies having an annual growth between 6.5% and 8%. This is due to businesses that are becoming increasingly aware of the need for market information and the desire to reduce customer turnover rates in a hard hit economy. A significant trend in this industry is the growing number of clients who wish to outsource telemarketing functions to client companies instead of developing such infrastructure in-house. This makes for an excellent opportunity for VSS. However, long-term analysis of growth rates in this industry show a cyclical pattern and VSS does not expect this high growth rate to continue.

The telemarketing industry is quite fragmented with companies that vary greatly in size, scope, services offered, and market share. Many companies are general advertising agencies that offer telemarketing services along with a wide range of other consulting services. In addition, many companies, still not realizing the potential advantages of outsourcing, choose to develop their own telemarketing services.

VSS plans to enter into two market segments. First, we will work in the medical services industry since they have a high need to maintain contact with their patients at all times. We also will be working as a first level help desk for a number of small high-tech companies. Mr. Gibbs and Ms. Stuart have already signed contracts with Evergreen Medical and Sno-net, Inc. to serve in these capacities. We will also be taking on short-term projects, such as surveys, from small clients.

4.1 Market Segmentation

Virtually every company, both large and small require some form of telemarketing at some point. Often it is a survey to determine customer satisfaction or awareness. Sometimes it is effectively communicating an upcoming event such as a conference.

Other companies wish to know if telemarketing is a feasible method of sales generation. One of the new uses for call centers is in first level help desk services. About 75-80% of all technical problems faced by end customers can be solved by non-technical customer service representatives who are familiar with a computer or technical system and who have a scripted set of procedures to solve most common occuring problems. This is where an outsourced call center can save a client a large amount of money and allow a reduction in personnel needed on call 24 hours-a-day.

VSS plans to enter into two market segments. First, we will work in the medical services industry since they have a high need to maintain contact with their patients at all times. We also will be working as a first level help desk for a number of small high-tech companies.

Mr. Gibbs and Ms. Stuart have already signed contracts with Evergreen Medical and Sno-net, Inc. to serve in these capacities. Our customer service representatives are already in the process of receiving hands-on training from these two companies to meet their needs. We will also be taking on short-term projects such as surveys from small clients.

Once we have established a good working relationship with these initial clients, we will leverage our reputation and profitability into new contacts and contracts with other local companies. Our ultimate goal is to service the entire west coast region and become the company with a dominant market share.

The market analysis table and graph which follows shows the number of businesses within the state of Washington. This will be our initial geographical focus for the first four to five years of our company’s existance. Later, as we expand to a west coast scope, our future business plans will include all of our potential clients in this area.

4.2 Service Business Analysis

The telemarketing industry is a growing industry with most companies having an annual growth between 6.5% and 8%. This is due to businesses that are becoming increasingly aware of the need for market information and the desire to reduce customer turnover rates in a hard hit economy. However, long-term analysis of growth rates in this industry show a cyclical pattern and VSS does not expect this high growth rate to continue.

The telemarketing industry is quite fragmented with companies that vary greatly in size, scope, services offered, and market share. Many companies are general advertising agencies that offer telemarketing services along with a wide range of other consulting services. In addition, many companies, not realizing the potential advantages of outsourcing, choose to develop their own telemarketing services.

VSS believes that the greatest threat at the moment is in new entrants to the market who perceive an opportunity in a “high” growth industry. The most likely entrants will be pre-existing advertising agencies wishing to horizontally integrate and enter new sub-markets.

The one major disadvantage to new entrants is that all firms engaged in contracting to telemarketing agencies face significant switching costs when bringing on a new partner. Furthermore, VSS understands that in this industry there is a significant learning curve that creates declining “unit” costs as a firm gains more cumulative experience in the field itself and with long-term clients specifically. Finally there are significant start-up costs associated with creating a call center.

Rivalry among different call center agencies is quite intense. The telemarketing industry as a whole is mature with long-term moderate growth. Most of the largest agencies are mutually dependent when it comes to jockeying for position and market share. The fact that there are so many diverse and seemingly “generic” or general telemarketing agencies makes this a cutthroat industry.

4.2.1 Competition and Buying Patterns

Competition Competition includes all potential call centers and telemarketing agencies across the country. In addition we have indirect competition from organizations that handle all their telemarketing in-house. Practically speaking, this means we have the greatest threat from the largest telemarketing agencies such as Crouch & Weasley, Berman Telemarketing, and other big, nationwide call center companies that hold significant market share. The call center industry is highly fragmented, with a large number of small companies that mainly cater to small firms and a few large companies that seek the largest contracts from companies such as Sprint, GM, etc. This makes competition within the industry very intense. Through our focused strategy of serving niche markets such as help desk services, we intend to avoid such a debilitating environment and avoid its drawbacks such as price wars, and etc.

Buying patterns and needs Companies usually enter into contracts with call center firms based on their reputation of professionalism and effective campaigns in the past. This reputation is difficult to obtain by new firms unless its personnel bring it with them from previous companies such as ours. Price and scope are also important reasons for accepting contracts, especially if the company is small.

Strategy and Implementation Summary

Vashon Solicitation Services’ business strategy is to enter into a focused approach to its services rather than being everything to its clients. Our company does not intend to be a telemarketing consultation firm, nor will it ever become so. We are a call center firm that simply implements telemarketing campaigns or help desk functions for its clients. These services are where we can offer a higher standard of quality to our clients. This will allow us to charge a higher profit margin for these differentiated and more focused services.

5.1 Marketing Strategy

Vashon has already concluded two contracts with local companies requiring 24 hour call center services. These will provide us with initial revenue and the chance to build our reputation. Our company intends to use testimonials from such clients to build further contracts. We have begun to establish our presence using various marketing methods such as flyers, cold calls, B2B contacts, and we will be attending conventions and other events as well.

5.2 Sales Strategy

Vashon’s management will be focusing on leveraging its employee’s established reputations and contacts in the telemarketing industry to generate contracts. Both Mr. Gibbs and Mr. Hannover have been in the industry for many years and experience shows that many of their existing clients will still wish to work with them despite having to establish a new contract with VSS. We also understand that we may need to lower costs in our first couple of years in order to attract new customers and close deals.

In addition to our first contracts with Evergreen Medical and Sno-net, Inc. Mr. Hannover has been actively seeking to acquire a large contract with National Conventions & Events over the past seven months. This company is the largest event organizing firm on the West coast and has been seeking a call center firm for a customer survey project to be launched in the near future. VSS believes that its chances for acquiring this contract are excellent.

5.2.1 Sales Forecast

Sales are based on the various contract projects we anticipate acquiring in the various market segments. Revenues are based on average costs per project/contract based on estimated time and complexity of contract plus and undisclosed profit margin. The company does not have any significant direct costs of sales.

We anticipate that our most attractive target markets, medical services and help desk clients will provide us with significant early revenue. As time goes on, and we acquire more customers, the percentage of short-term and other projects will increase.

Management Summary management summary will include information about who's on your team and why they're the right people for the job, as well as your future hiring plans.">

The company will have four officers including our president, Mr. Martin Gibbs. Our head of operations will be Mr. Nicholas Caput, plus 12 customer service representatives. Finances and general admin will be handled by Ms. Stuart.

The company plans to hire additional service representatives, and administrative personnel as we begin to get large numbers of contracts.

6.1 Personnel

Vashon’s management brings to the company strong capabilities in contract negotiation, project management, telemarketing, and a unique combination of skills drawn from other businesses.

Key Personnel

Mr. Martin Gibbs is a graduate of the University of Missouri where he obtained his business degree degree in 1971. Since then, Mr. Gibbs has had extensive experience in marketing, telemarketing, and project management. This includes experience in budgeting, project oversight, etc. In 1996 he obtained a graduate degree in marketing from University of Washington. Mr. Gibbs spent the last four years as the telemarketing department head with Medfone, Inc.

Mr. Nicholas Caput graduated from Arizona State University with a bachelors degree in marketing in 1975. From 1978-1988 Mr. Caput worked for Nelson Marketing Consultants. In 1989 he went to work for Anderson Consulting in their marketing division, where he worked as a project manager.

Financial Plan investor-ready personnel plan .">

Our financial plan anticipates two years of negative profits as we gain sales volume. We have budgeted enough investment to cover these losses and have an additional credit line available if sales do not match predictions.

7.1 Important Assumptions

We are assuming approximately 75% sales on credit and average interest rates of 10%. These are considered to be conservative in case our predictions are erroneous.

7.2 Break-even Analysis

Our break-even analysis is based on the assumptions that our gross margin is approximately 100%. In other words, we will have insignificant direct cost of sales. Since each contract will be of different scope, length, and complexity, it is difficult to assign and average per unit revenue figure. However, it is conservatively believed that during the first three years, average profitability per month per segment will be moderate. This is because we will be dealing with smaller companies at first that have smaller contracts. We expect that about three ongoing contracts per month will guarantee a break-even point.

7.3 Projected Profit and Loss

The following table itemizes our revenues and associated costs. We expect to be paying higher costs in marketing and advertising than other companies as we attempt to build sales volume. As shown in the table in the Appendix, we expect monthly profits to begin in December 2003.

7.4 Projected Cash Flow

The following is our cash flow chart and diagram. We do not expect to have any short-term cash flow problems even though we will be operating at a loss for the first nine months. Our short-term loan will be repaid in two equal payments in 2004-2005. Our long-term loan will be paid off in ten years.

7.5 Projected Balance Sheet

The following table shows the projected balance sheet for VSS.

7.6 Business Ratios

We have included industry standard ratios from the telemarketing solicitation services industry to compare with ours. These ratios are as closely matched to our industry as management could find, however there are some significant differences, especially in sales growth, financing ratios, long-term asset investments and net worth. However, our projections indicate a healthy company that will be able to obtain and retain long-term profitability.

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Call Center Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Call Center Business Plan

You’ve come to the right place to create your Call Center business plan.

We have helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans and many have used them to start or grow their Call Center businesses.

Below is a template to help you create each section of your Call Center business plan.

Executive Summary

Business overview.

TalkCentral is a new inbound call center located in San Antonio, Texas. Our call center will provide customer service and help desk support for customers of tech, software, and telecommunications companies. We can provide customers support through phone call or text and will always help customers with the utmost patience, compassion, and respect. Clients who work with us will experience a significant improvement in customer satisfaction and retention.

TalkCentral is founded by Dave Harper. Dave was previously a senior manager at one of the leading telecommunications companies in the country. However, his company had a horrible reputation for untimely and unhelpful customer service. Therefore, he was inspired to create a call center that would improve the support experience for customers of similar companies.

Product Offering

TalkCentral will provide customer support for the customers of our clients. Since we will work with clients in the tech, software, and telecommunications industries, we will primarily help their customers with billing services, questions regarding products and services, and technical issues. Customers can call or text our service lines for support. They will quickly be matched with an appropriate agent by answering the prompts from our automated system.

Customer Focus

TalkCentral will primarily serve tech, software, and telecommunications companies that are in need of a good customer support team. Though TalkCentral is located in San Antonio, we will assist any companies in these industries that are located in the United States.

Management Team

TalkCentral is founded by Dave Harper. Dave was previously a senior manager at one of the leading telecommunications companies in the country. Unfortunately, his company had a horrible reputation for untimely and unhelpful customer service. He found that the customer service team was inadequately trained and had a high turnover rate. This led to low customer satisfaction and retention scores. Since the company was slow to resolve these issues, Dave was inspired to create an inbound call center that would help provide quality customer support to similar companies.

Success Factors

TalkCentral is primed for success by offering the following competitive advantages:

• TalkCentral will provide quality customer service for a more affordable price than clients would pay hiring their own customer service team.
• The company will offer high-quality customer service that increases customer retention.
• TalkCentral has a management team with extensive experience running a multi-billion dollar telecommunications company.

Financial Highlights

TalkCentral is currently seeking $700,000 to launch. The funding will be dedicated to the office build out, equipment and supplies, overhead, marketing expenses, and working capital. The breakout of the funding is below:

• Office design/build: $250,000
• Equipment, technology, and supplies: $100,000
• Three months of overhead (rent, utilities, salaries): $200,000
• Marketing expenses: $100,000
• Working capital: $50,000

The following graph below outlines the pro forma financial projections for TalkCentral.

Company Overview

Who is talkcentral.

  When our clients’ customers call our number, their call will be answered quickly and efficiently. Customers can call in for questions regarding billing, services, or products as well as get answers and help to technical problems they are experiencing. We will have an easy phone system that will guide them to the perfect agent who can help them.

While working as a senior manager, Dave was inspired to create a call center that would provide quality customer support for tech, software, and telecommunications companies. He conducted a market analysis and surveyed his previous employer’s customers to see if there was demand for these services. The results from the analysis and survey were overwhelmingly positive, which inspired Dave to immediately start planning his new business.

TalkCentral’s History

After conducting his market analysis and survey, Dave Harper incorporated TalkCentral as an S-Corporation on May 1st, 2023. Since incorporation, Dave has achieved the following milestones for TalkCentral:

• Developed the company’s name, logo and website
• Finished the list of services the company will provide
• Determined equipment and inventory requirements
• Found a potential office location

TalkCentral’s Services

TalkCentral will primarily offer customer service and help desk support for customers of tech, software, and telecommunications companies. Customers can either call or text our support lines and will be guided to an appropriate agent to help them with their problem. We expect most customers will call to discuss billing or technical problems they are experiencing.

Industry Analysis

Revenue for the inbound call centers is expected to grow over the next five years. This growth is due to the increasing demand for quality customer support teams and the need to outsource these services. Poor customer support results in low customer retention. However, hiring and training a quality customer support team is expensive so many companies outsource these services to call centers to save money. Therefore, there is significant demand for these services and that demand is not expected to slow down anytime soon.

According to Research And Markets, the global call center outsourcing market was valued at $249 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 8.93% until 2027. This is significant growth for any industry and shows just how much companies will continue to depend on these services. Therefore, this is a great time to launch a new inbound call center as we are sure to be successful and profitable.

Customer Analysis

Demographic profile of target market, customer segmentation.

TalkCentral will primarily target the following customer profiles:

• Tech companies
• Software companies
• Telecommunications companies

Competitive Analysis

Direct and indirect competitors.

TalkCentral will face competition from other companies with similar business profiles. A description of each competitor company is below.

Fusion Support Services

Fusion Support Services has been a popular business process outsourcing company in San Antonio for 20 years. They offer numerous services for local companies, including inbound customer service, human resources, and marketing. Since they can offer a whole package of services, they have created several long-lasting relationships with medium and large sized businesses in the area. However, Fusion Support Services does not specialize in inbound customer support. Therefore, companies looking for professionals in this field will prefer our services.

Texas Tech Support

Texas Tech Support is an inbound call center that specifically helps tech companies with customer service and tech support services. Tech companies are usually more invested in the development of their products than providing customer support, so they need a partner company that can provide these services to their customers. Texas Tech provides a fully trained staff of professionals that can help customers with basic questions regarding billing, products, or technical difficulties. Every call is answered with compassion, patience, and incredible expertise that helps improve customer satisfaction and retention.

Genesis Support Services

Genesis Support Services is a highly fast-paced call center environment located in the heart of San Antonio. They offer a wide variety of outsourced inbound call center services and cater to numerous industries and businesses located in the San Antonio area. They have been in the business for 30 years and are often the first call center businesses think of when they need customer service support. However, their reputation has suffered in recent years, which gives TalkCentral an advantage as we enter the market.

Competitive Advantage

TalkCentral will be able to offer the following advantages over the competition:

• Management : Our management team has extensive experience leading and managing telecommunications companies and providing customer support services.
• Affordability : We will provide quality services at a more affordable rate than the competition.
• Quality Service : TalkCentral is committed to providing quality customer service and support. We guarantee our services will help improve customer satisfaction and retention.

Marketing Plan

Brand & value proposition.

TalkCentral will offer the unique value proposition to its clientele:

• High-quality customer support and help desk services
• Affordable rate
• Highly trained staff
• Guarantee of improved customer retention

Promotions Strategy

The promotions strategy for TalkCentral is as follows:

Website/SEO Marketing

TalkCentral will design an efficient and appealing website to attract clients. The website will be well organized, informative, and list the services that we provide. We will also invest in SEO so that we will appear at the top of search engine results when clients are searching for call centers to partner with.

Social Media

The company will have several social media accounts and invest in ads on all social media platforms. The company will also use targeted marketing to appeal to our target demographics.

Targeted Cold Calls

TalkCentral will initially invest significant time and energy into contacting potential clients via telephone. In order to improve the effectiveness of this phase of the marketing strategy, a highly-focused call list will be used, targeting startups and small businesses. As this is a very time-consuming process, it will primarily be used during the startup phase to build an initial client base.

Advertisement

Advertisements in print publications like newspapers, magazines, etc., are an excellent way for businesses to connect with their audience. TalkCentral will advertise its services in popular magazines and news dailies. Obtaining relevant placements in industry magazines and journals will also help in increasing brand visibility.

The pricing of TalkCentral will be moderate and on par with competitors so clients feel they receive value when hiring our services.

Operations Plan

TalkCentral will utilize the following operations plan. Operation Functions:

• Dave Harper will be the President of TalkCentral and will oversee the general operations of the company. To launch, he will need to hire the following staff:
• An Administrative Assistant to help with administrative functions.
• An Accountant who will manage all client invoicing, billing, and payables.
• A Human Resources Manager who will oversee all employee hiring, onboarding, payroll, retention, and benefits programs.
• A Marketing Manager to oversee all the marketing and promotional campaigns.
• Training Managers who will train the customer support staff.
• 50 customer support staff to provide our customer support and help desk services.

Milestones:

TalkCentral will have the following milestones complete in the next six months:

• 6/1/202X – Finalize lease agreement for office space
• 7/1/202X – Office build out
• 8/1/202X – Hire and train essential staff
• 9/1/202X – Begin marketing campaign
• 10/1/202X – Launch TalkCentral
• 11/1/202X – Reach break even

As a former senior manager, Dave has extensive experience in the management and operations aspects of running a large, successful business. He will hire several staff to help him manage the administrative, marketing, accounting, and customer service functions of the company.

Financial Plan

Key revenue & costs.

The key revenues for TalkCentral will come from charging our clients for our services.

The major cost drivers will include salaries, overhead, equipment purchasing and maintenance, and marketing expenses.

Funding Requirements and Use of Funds

Key assumptions.

The following outlines the key assumptions required in order to achieve the revenue and cost numbers in the financials and pay off the startup business loan.

• Number of clients:
• Annual lease: $100,000

Financial Projections

Income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement, call center business plan faqs, what is a call center business plan.

A call center business plan is a plan to start and/or grow your call center business. Among other things, it outlines your business concept, identifies your target customers, presents your marketing plan and details your financial projections.

You can easily complete your Call Center business plan using our Call Center Business Plan Template here .

What are the Main Types of Call Center Businesses? 

There are a number of different kinds of call center businesses , some examples include: Inbound Call Center, Outbound Call Center, and Automated Call Centers.

How Do You Get Funding for Your Call Center Business Plan?

Call Center businesses are often funded through small business loans. Personal savings, credit card financing and angel investors are also popular forms of funding.

What are the Steps To Start a Call Center Business?

Starting a call center business can be an exciting endeavor. Having a clear roadmap of the steps to start a business will help you stay focused on your goals and get started faster.

1. Develop A Call Center Business Plan - The first step in starting a business is to create a detailed call center business plan that outlines all aspects of the venture. This should include potential market size and target customers, the services or products you will offer, pricing strategies and a detailed financial forecast. 

2. Choose Your Legal Structure - It's important to select an appropriate legal entity for your call center business. This could be a limited liability company (LLC), corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship. Each type has its own benefits and drawbacks so it’s important to do research and choose wisely so that your call center business is in compliance with local laws.

3. Register Your Call Center Business - Once you have chosen a legal structure, the next step is to register your call center business with the government or state where you’re operating from. This includes obtaining licenses and permits as required by federal, state, and local laws.

4. Identify Financing Options - It’s likely that you’ll need some capital to start your call center business, so take some time to identify what financing options are available such as bank loans, investor funding, grants, or crowdfunding platforms.

5. Choose a Location - Whether you plan on operating out of a physical location or not, you should always have an idea of where you’ll be based should it become necessary in the future as well as what kind of space would be suitable for your operations.

6. Hire Employees - There are several ways to find qualified employees including job boards like LinkedIn or Indeed as well as hiring agencies if needed – depending on what type of employees you need it might also be more effective to reach out directly through networking events.

7. Acquire Necessary Call Center Equipment & Supplies - In order to start your call center business, you'll need to purchase all of the necessary equipment and supplies to run a successful operation.

8. Market & Promote Your Business - Once you have all the necessary pieces in place, it’s time to start promoting and marketing your call center business. This includes creating a website, utilizing social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter, and having an effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. You should also consider traditional marketing techniques such as radio or print advertising. 

Learn more about how to start a successful call center business:

• How to Start a Call Center

How to write a business plan for a call center?

Creating a business plan for a call center is an essential process for any entrepreneur. It serves as a roadmap that outlines the necessary steps to be taken to start or grow the business, the resources required, and the anticipated financial outcomes. It should be crafted with method and confidence.

This guide is designed to provide you with the tools and knowledge necessary for creating a call center business plan, covering why it is so important both when starting up and running an established business, what should be included in your plan, how it should be structured, what tools should be used to save time and avoid errors, and other helpful tips.

We have a lot to cover, so let's get to it!

In this guide:

Why write a business plan for a call center?

• What information is needed to create a business plan for a call center?
• What goes in the financial forecast for a call center?
• What goes in the written part of a call center business plan?
• What tool can I use to write my call center business plan?

Being clear on the scope and goals of the document will make it easier to understand its structure and content. So before diving into the actual content of the plan, let's have a quick look at the main reasons why you would want to write a call center business plan in the first place.

To have a clear roadmap to grow the business

Small businesses rarely experience a constant and predictable environment. Economic cycles go up and down, while the business landscape is mutating constantly with new regulations, technologies, competitors, and consumer behaviours emerging when we least expect it.

In this dynamic context, it's essential to have a clear roadmap for your call center. Otherwise, you are navigating in the dark which is dangerous given that - as a business owner - your capital is at risk.

That's why crafting a well-thought-out business plan is crucial to ensure the long-term success and sustainability of your venture.

To create an effective business plan, you'll need to take a step-by-step approach. First, you'll have to assess your current position (if you're already in business), and then identify where you'd like your call center to be in the next three to five years.

Once you have a clear destination for your call center, you'll focus on three key areas:

• Resources: you'll determine the human, equipment, and capital resources needed to reach your goals successfully.
• Speed: you'll establish the optimal pace at which your business needs to grow if it is to meet its objectives within the desired timeframe.
• Risks: you'll identify and address potential risks you might encounter along the way.

By going through this process regularly, you'll be able to make informed decisions about resource allocation, paving the way for the long-term success of your business.

To anticipate future cash flows

Regularly comparing your actual financial performance to the projections in the financial forecast of your call center's business plan gives you the ability to monitor your business's financial health and make necessary adjustments as needed.

This practice allows you to detect potential financial issues, such as unexpected cash shortfalls before they escalate into major problems. Giving you time to find additional financing or put in place corrective measures.

Additionally, it helps you identify growth opportunities, like excess cash flow that could be allocated to launch new products and services or expand into new markets.

Staying on track with these regular comparisons enables you to make well-informed decisions about the amount of financing your business might require, or the excess cash flow you can expect to generate from your main business activities.

To secure financing

Whether you are a startup or an existing business, writing a detailed call center business plan is essential when seeking financing from banks or investors.

This makes sense given what we've just seen: financiers want to ensure you have a clear roadmap and visibility on your future cash flows.

Banks will use the information included in the plan to assess your borrowing capacity (how much debt your business can support) and your ability to repay the loan before deciding whether they will extend credit to your business and on what terms.

Similarly, investors will review your plan carefully to assess if their investment can generate an attractive return on investment.

To do so, they will be looking for evidence that your call center has the potential for healthy growth, profitability, and cash flow generation over time.

Now that you understand why it is important to create a business plan for a call center, let's take a look at what information is needed to create one.

Information needed to create a business plan for a call center

You need the right data in order to project sales, investments and costs accurately in the financial forecast of your call center business plan.

Below, we'll cover three key pieces of information you should gather before drafting your business plan.

Carrying out market research for a call center

Carrying out market research before writing a business plan for a call center is essential to ensure that the financial projections are accurate and realistic.

Market research helps you gain insight into your target customer base, competitors, pricing strategies and other key factors which can have an impact on the commercial success of your business.

In particular, it is useful in forecasting revenue as it provides valuable data regarding potential customers’ spending habits and preferences.

You may discover that customers may prefer to communicate via text message rather than phone call. Additionally, market research could reveal that customers might prefer to use online chatbots for customer service inquiries.

This information can then be used to create more accurate financial projections which will help investors make informed decisions about investing in your call center.

Developing the sales and marketing plan for a call center

As you embark on creating your call center business plan, it is crucial to budget sales and marketing expenses beforehand.

A well-defined sales and marketing plan should include precise projections of the actions required to acquire and retain customers. It will also outline the necessary workforce to execute these initiatives and the budget required for promotions, advertising, and other marketing efforts.

This approach ensures that the appropriate amount of resources is allocated to these activities, aligning with the sales and growth objectives outlined in your business plan.

The staffing and capital expenditure requirements of a call center

Whether you are starting or expanding a call center, it is important to have a clear plan for recruitment and capital expenditures (investment in equipment and real estate) in order to ensure the success of the business.

Both the recruitment and investment plans need to be coherent with the timing and level of growth planned in your forecast, and require appropriate funding.

Staffing costs for a call center might include salaries for customer service representatives, supervisors, and managers, as well as costs for employee benefits such as health insurance and paid time off. Equipment costs might include the cost of computers, headsets, phone systems, and any necessary software.

In order to create a realistic financial forecast, you will also need to consider the other operating expenses associated with running the business on a day-to-day basis (insurance, bookkeeping, etc.). 

Once you have all the necessary information to create a business plan for your call center, it is time to start creating your financial forecast.

What goes into your call center's financial forecast?

The objective of the financial forecast of your call center's business plan is to show the growth, profitability, funding requirements, and cash generation potential of your business over the next 3 to 5 years.

The four key outputs of a financial forecast for a call center are:

• The profit and loss (P&L) statement ,
• The projected balance sheet ,
• The cash flow forecast ,
• And the sources and uses table .

Let's look at each of these in a bit more detail.

The projected P&L statement

The projected P&L statement for a call center shows how much revenue and profit your business is expected to make in the future.

A healthy call center's P&L statement should show:

• Sales growing at (minimum) or above (better) inflation
• Stable (minimum) or expanding (better) profit margins
• A healthy level of net profitability

This will of course depend on the stage of your business: numbers for a startup will look different than for an established call center.

The forecasted balance sheet of your call center

The projected balance sheet of your call center will enable the reader of your business plan to assess the overall financial health of your business.

It shows three elements: assets, liabilities and equity:

• Assets: are productive resources owned by the business, such as equipment, cash, and accounts receivable (money owed by clients).
• Liabilities: are debts owed to creditors, lenders, and other entities, such as accounts payable (money owed to suppliers).
• Equity: includes the sums invested by the shareholders or business owners and the profits and losses accumulated by the business to date (which are called retained earnings). It is a proxy for the value of the owner's stake in the business.

Analysing your call center projected balance sheet provides an understanding of your call center's working capital structure, investment and financing policies.

In particular, the readers of your plan can compare the level of financial debt on the balance sheet to the equity value to measure the level of financial risk (equity doesn't need to be reimbursed, while financial debt must be repaid, making it riskier).

They can also use your balance sheet to assess your call center's liquidity and solvency:

• A liquidity analysis: focuses on whether or not your business has sufficient cash and short-term assets to cover its liabilities due in the next 12 months.
• A solvency analysis: takes and longer view to assess whether or not your business has the capacity to repay its debts over the medium-term.

The projected cash flow statement

A cash flow forecast for a call center shows how much cash the business is projected to generate or consume.

The cash flow statement is divided into 3 main areas:

• The operating cash flow shows how much cash is generated or consumed by the operations (running the business)
• The investing cash flow shows how much cash is being invested in capital expenditure (equipment, real estate, etc.)
• The financing cash flow shows how much cash is raised or distributed to investors and lenders

Looking at the cash flow forecast helps you to ensure that your business has enough cash to keep running, and can help you anticipate potential cash shortfalls.

It is also a best practice to include a monthly cash flow statement in the appendices of your call center business plan so that the readers can view the impact of seasonality on your business cash position and generation.

The initial financing plan

The sources and uses table or initial financing plan is a key component of your business plan when starting a call center.

It shows where the capital needed to set up the business will come from (sources) and how it will be spent (uses).

This table helps size the investment required to set up the call center, and understand how risks will be distributed between the business owners, and the financiers.

The sources and uses table also highlights what the starting cash position will be. This is key for startups as the business needs to have sufficient funding to sustain operations until the break-even point is reached.

Now that you have a clear understanding of what will go into the financial forecast of your call center business plan, let's have a look at the written part of the plan.

The written part of a call center business plan

The written part of a call center business plan plays a key role: it lays out the plan of action you intend to execute to seize the commercial opportunity you've identified on the market and provides the context needed for the reader to decide if they believe your plan to be achievable and your financial forecast to be realistic.

The written part of a call center business plan is composed of 7 main sections:

• The executive summary
• The presentation of the company
• The products and services
• The market analysis
• The strategy
• The operations
• The financial plan

Let's go through the content of each section in more detail!

1. The executive summary

The executive summary, the first section of your call center's business plan, serves as an inviting snapshot of your entire plan, leaving readers eager to know more about your business.

To compose an effective executive summary, start with a concise introduction of your business, covering its name, concept, location, history, and unique aspects. Share insights about the services or products you intend to offer and your target customer base.

Subsequently, provide an overview of your call center's addressable market, highlighting current trends and potential growth opportunities.

Then, present a summary of critical financial figures, such as projected revenues, profits, and cash flows.

You should then include a summary of your key financial figures such as projected revenues, profits, and cash flows.

Lastly, address any funding needs in the "ask" section of your executive summary.

2. The presentation of the company

As you build your call center business plan, the second section deserves attention as it delves into the structure and ownership, location, and management team of your company.

In the structure and ownership part, you'll provide valuable insights into the legal structure of the business, the identities of the owners, and their respective investments and ownership stakes. This level of transparency is vital, particularly if you're seeking financing, as it clarifies which legal entity will receive the funds and who holds the reins of the business.

Moving to the location part, you'll offer a comprehensive view of the company's premises and articulate why this specific location is strategic for the business, emphasizing factors like catchment area, accessibility, and nearby amenities.

When describing the location of your call center, you may want to emphasize its accessibility and potential for growth. You could mention that it is in a well-connected region, with access to major highways, airports, and other forms of public transportation. You might also emphasize that the area has a potential for growth, with a steady influx of businesses and a growing population. Additionally, you could highlight how the area is attractive to potential employees, with a variety of recreational activities and amenities nearby.

Lastly, you should introduce your esteemed management team. Provide a thorough explanation of each member's role, background, and extensive experience.

It's equally important to highlight any past successes the management team has achieved and underscore the duration they've been working together. This information will instil trust in potential lenders or investors, showcasing the strength and expertise of your leadership team and their ability to deliver the business plan.

3. The products and services section

The products and services section of your call center business plan should include a detailed description of what your company sells to its customers. 

For example, your call center may offer customer service support, technical assistance, and appointment scheduling services to its customers. Customer service support could include help with orders, returns, home delivery, and general inquiries. Technical assistance could include assistance with troubleshooting, installation, and connecting devices. Appointment scheduling could include setting up appointments for product demonstrations, customer service visits, and technical support visits. All of these services help customers get the most out of their products and make their lives easier.

The reader will want to understand what makes your call center unique from other businesses in this competitive market.

When drafting this section, you should be precise about the categories of products or services you sell, the clients you are targeting and the channels that you are targeting them through. 

4. The market analysis

When presenting your market analysis in your call center business plan, you should detail the customers' demographics and segmentation, target market, competition, barriers to entry, and any regulations that may apply.

The goal of this section is to help the reader understand how big and attractive your market is, and demonstrate that you have a solid understanding of the industry.

You should start with the demographics and segmentation subsection, which gives an overview of the addressable market for your call center, the main trends in the marketplace, and introduces the different customer segments and their preferences in terms of purchasing habits and budgets.

The target market section should follow and zoom on the customer segments your call center is targeting, and explain how your products and services meet the specific needs of these customers.

For example, your target market might include young professionals. This group of people likely needs help with a variety of financial or tech products and are likely to look for customer service. They are also willing to spend money on products or services that make their lives easier.

Then comes the competition subsection, where you should introduce your main competitors and explain what differentiates you from them.

Finally, you should finish your market analysis by giving an overview of the main regulations applicable to your call center.

5. The strategy section

When crafting the strategy section of your business plan for your call center, it's important to cover several key aspects, including your competitive edge, pricing strategy, sales & marketing plan, milestones, and risks and mitigants.

In the competitive edge subsection, clearly explain what sets your company apart from competitors. This is particularly critical if you're a startup, as you'll be trying to establish your presence in the marketplace among entrenched players.

The pricing strategy subsection should demonstrate how you aim to maintain profitability while offering competitive prices to your customers.

For the sales & marketing plan, outline how you plan to reach and acquire new customers, as well as retain existing ones through loyalty programs or special offers.

In the milestones subsection, detail what your company has achieved thus far and outline your primary objectives for the coming years by including specific dates for expected progress. This ensures everyone involved has clear expectations.

Lastly, in the risks and mitigants subsection, list the main risks that could potentially impact the execution of your plan. Explain the measures you've taken to minimize these risks. This is vital for investors or lenders to feel confident in supporting your venture - try to proactively address any objection they might have.

Your call center could face the risk of downtime due to technical difficulties. Systems, software, and hardware could malfunction, leading to decreased productivity and customer satisfaction. Your call center may also face the risk of poor customer service. If agents are not properly trained, they could potentially provide incorrect information or be unable to answer customer inquiries. This could lead to customer dissatisfaction and complaints.

6. The operations section

The operations of your call center must be presented in detail in your business plan.

The first thing you should cover in this section is your staffing team, the main roles, and the overall recruitment plan to support the growth expected in your business plan. You should also outline the qualifications and experience necessary to fulfil each role, and how you intend to recruit (using job boards, referrals, or headhunters).

You should then state the operating hours of your call center - so that the reader can check the adequacy of your staffing levels - and any plans for varying opening times during peak season. Additionally, the plan should include details on how you will handle customer queries outside of normal operating hours.

The next part of this section should focus on the key assets and IP required to operate your business. If you depend on any licenses or trademarks, physical structures (equipment or property) or lease agreements, these should all go in there.

You could have key assets such as a high-quality phone system and a good customer relationship management (CRM) system. These may allow the call center to provide a more efficient customer service experience. Additionally, the call center might have intellectual property such as a unique customer service script or a specialized training program. These could give the call center a competitive edge in the market.

Finally, you should include a list of suppliers that you plan to work with and a breakdown of their services and main commercial terms (price, payment terms, contract duration, etc.). Investors are always keen to know if there is a particular reason why you have chosen to work with a specific supplier (higher-quality products or past relationships for example).

7. The presentation of the financial plan

The financial plan section is where we will present the financial forecast we talked about earlier in this guide.

Now that you have a clear idea of what goes in your call center business plan, let's look at the solutions you can use to draft yours.

What tool should I use to write my call center's business plan?

In this section, we will be reviewing the two main solutions for creating a call center business plan:

• Using specialized online business plan software,
• Outsourcing the plan to the business plan writer.

Using an online business plan software for your call center's business plan

The modern and most efficient way to write a call center business plan is to use business plan software .

There are several advantages to using specialized software:

• You can easily create your financial forecast by letting the software take care of the financial calculations for you without errors
• You are guided through the writing process by detailed instructions and examples for each part of the plan
• You can access a library of dozens of complete business plan samples and templates for inspiration
• You get a professional business plan, formatted and ready to be sent to your bank or investors
• You can easily track your actual financial performance against your financial forecast
• You can create scenarios to stress test your forecast's main assumptions
• You can easily update your forecast as time goes by to maintain visibility on future cash flows
• You have a friendly support team on standby to assist you when you are stuck

If you're interested in using this type of solution, you can try The Business Plan Shop for free by signing up here .

Hiring a business plan writer to write your call center's business plan

Outsourcing your call center business plan to a business plan writer can also be a viable option.

Business plan writers are experienced in writing business plans and adept at creating financial forecasts without errors. Furthermore, hiring a consultant can save you time and allow you to focus on the day-to-day operations of your business.

However, hiring business plan writers is expensive as you are paying for the software used by the consultant, plus their time, and their profit margin of course.

From experience, you need to budget at least £1.5k ($2.0k) excluding tax for a complete business plan, more if you need to make changes after the initial version (which happens frequently after the initial meetings with lenders or investors).

You also need to be careful when seeking investment. Investors want their money to be used to grow the business, not spent on consulting fees. Therefore, the amount you spend on business plan writing services (and other consulting services such as legal services) needs to be negligible relative to the amount raised.

The other drawback is that you usually don't own the business plan itself: you just get the output, while the actual document is saved in the consultant's business plan software - which makes it difficult to maintain the document up to date without hiring the consultant on a retainer.

For these reasons, outsourcing the call center business plan to a business plan writer should be considered carefully, weighing both the advantages and disadvantages of hiring outside help.

Ultimately, it may be the right decision for some businesses, while others may find it beneficial to write their business plan using online software.

Why not create your call center's business plan using Word or Excel?

Using Microsoft Excel and Word (or their Google, Apple, or open-source equivalents) to write a call center business plan is a terrible idea.

For starters, creating an accurate and error-free financial forecast on Excel (or any spreadsheet) is very technical and requires both a strong grasp of accounting principles and solid skills in financial modelling.

As a result, it is unlikely anyone will trust your numbers unless - like us at The Business Plan Shop - you hold a degree in finance and accounting and have significant financial modelling experience in your past.

The second reason is that it is inefficient. Building forecasts on spreadsheets was the only option in the 1990s and early 2000s, nowadays technology has advanced and software can do it much faster and much more accurately.

And with the rise of AI, software is also becoming smarter at helping us detect mistakes in our forecasts and helping us analyse the numbers to make better decisions.

Also, using software makes it easy to compare actuals vs. forecasts and maintain our forecasts up to date to maintain visibility on future cash flows - as we discussed earlier in this guide - whereas this is a pain to do with a spreadsheet.

That's for the forecast, but what about the written part of my call center business plan?

This part is less error-prone, but here also software brings tremendous gains in productivity:

• Word processors don't include instructions and examples for each part of your business plan
• Word processors don't update your numbers automatically when they change in your forecast
• Word processors don't handle the formatting for you

Overall, while Word or Excel may be viable options for creating a call center business plan for some entrepreneurs, it is by far not the best or most efficient solution.

• Using business plan software is a modern and cost-effective way of writing and maintaining business plans.
• A business plan is not a one-shot exercise as maintaining it current is the only way to keep visibility on your future cash flows.
• A business plan has 2 main parts: a financial forecast outlining the funding requirements of your call center and the expected growth, profits and cash flows for the next 3 to 5 years; and a written part which gives the reader the information needed to decide if they believe the forecast is achievable.

We hope that this in-depth guide met your expectations and that you now have a clear understanding of how to write your call center business plan. Do not hesitate to contact our friendly team if you have questions additional questions we haven't addressed here.

Also on The Business Plan Shop

• How to write a business plan to secure a bank loan?
• Key steps to write a business plan?
• Top mistakes to avoid in your business plan

Do you know entrepreneurs interested in starting or growing a call center? Share this article with them!

Founder & CEO at The Business Plan Shop Ltd

Guillaume Le Brouster is a seasoned entrepreneur and financier.

Guillaume has been an entrepreneur for more than a decade and has first-hand experience of starting, running, and growing a successful business.

Prior to being a business owner, Guillaume worked in investment banking and private equity, where he spent most of his time creating complex financial forecasts, writing business plans, and analysing financial statements to make financing and investment decisions.

Guillaume holds a Master's Degree in Finance from ESCP Business School and a Bachelor of Science in Business & Management from Paris Dauphine University.

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Top 10 Call Center Business Plan Templates with Examples and Samples (Editable Word Doc, Excel and PDF Included)

Samradni Pradhan

In the current business environment, effective communication is essential for success. Call centers are a key component of this and are often called the "heartbeat" of customer service. They are the first point of contact between businesses and customers, providing a seamless experience with efficiency, compassion, and responsiveness. Not only do call centers address customer queries and concerns, but they also have a significant impact on customer loyalty and satisfaction. Consequently, they have become an essential industry asset, guaranteeing that every customer interaction is positive and memorable.

But the path to a successful call center operation doesn’t come naturally. It requires careful planning, clear goals, and a clear plan to navigate the ever-changing business environment. That’s where a well-thought-out business plan comes in. A business plan is a strategic roadmap that outlines your call center’s vision, purpose, and objectives. It provides a systematic approach to allocating resources, training employees, integrating technology, and measuring performance. In short, a well-executed business plan is a roadmap that turns your call center into a success and keeps it at the forefront of excellence in today’s competitive market.

The best call center business plan templates will be the main topic of this article for you and your company.

Best Call center Business Plan Templates

Table Of Contents

• Executive Summary
• Company Overview
• Industry Analysis
• Customer Analysis
• Competitor Analysis
• SWOT Analysis
• PORTER’s Framework
• Operational Plan
• Financial Plan

These templates have been specifically designed for a call center business plan. This blog will cover the top 10 pages in the complete deck. After downloading, you will get the 52-page Doc, PDF, and XLS files.

1. Executive Summary

The Executive Summary is the cornerstone of your call center business plan. It encapsulates the essence of your plan in a concise manner. This section is crucial for attracting investors as it provides a snapshot of your business's potential for success. It highlights key information, such as your unique value proposition, market opportunity, and financial projections. A compelling Executive Summary can pique investors' interest and encourage them to delve deeper into your plan.

In our Executive Summary section, you will get templates for

1.1 The Quick Pitch: Make a great first impression on potential investors and partners by delivering a compelling and concise introduction highlighting your company's unique features and value propositions.

1.2 The Entity: Visualize your business architecture and unique brand in a way that will attract investors and partners to uncover the real story behind your business.

Download this business plan

Looking for an Inbound Call Center Business Plan Template in an editable PowerPoint Format? Click here to explore it.

Download this presentation

2. Company Overview

This section is intended to provide a foundation for investors to understand the organization. By conveying a clear vision of the company's purpose, atmosphere, and objectives, potential investors may be more likely to invest in the company. It is an opportunity for the company to demonstrate its commitment and enthusiasm, which may be a decisive factor in attracting investors who share the same values and vision as the company.

In our Company Overview section, you will get templates for

2.1 Vision and Mission: Make a mission statement and a vision that will guide your call center business into the future.

2.2 Company Goals and Objectives: Consider what you want from your inbound call center business and develop a plan that inspires and sets you up for success.

2.3 Start-up Expenses: Provides an overview of the financial resources required for critical operations, including the establishment of infrastructure, the acquisition of equipment, the recruitment of personnel, the acquisition of licenses or authorizations, and any other initial costs.

2.4 Market Gap and Solution: Unlock the potential of the call center industry and show off your unique business brand, making your brand stand out from the crowd.

2.5 Services Offered: Explore a vast array of premium inbound call center services. Demonstrate your full range of creative and design talents.

2.6 Key Success Factors: Dig into the fundamentals that define your BPO call center business plan, setting you up for success in terms of design and aesthetics.

Looking for more amazing options for a Call Center Business Plan in a PowerPoint Format that will help you give an impressive presentation? Explore this content-ready resource now!

3. Industry Analysis

Investors want to see that your business operates in a viable and growing industry. The Industry Analysis provides data on market size, trends, and growth potential. It demonstrates to investors that your business is well-positioned in a sector with promising opportunities, making it an attractive investment.

In our Industry Analysis section, you will get templates for

3.1 Market Analysis: Explore the call center industry in all its glory, uncover the hidden gems, and find the industry pioneers that will change your business forever.

3.2 Market Trends: Stay one step ahead of the competition by staying on top of the call center trends to keep your customers’ attention.

3.3 Major Challenges: Challenge the industry head-on and develop innovative solutions to keep your call center business growing and thriving.

3.4 Growth Drivers: Create a strategic plan and determine the drivers to propel your brand’s growth and success in the years ahead.

3.5 Geographical Analysis: By tailoring your approach to the different regions of your target market, you can ensure consistent growth that resonates with regional preferences and fulfills local requirements.

4. Customer Analysis

One of the most important things investors want to know about your business is that you know who your customers are. On this page, you’ll want to demonstrate that you know what your customers want, what they’re looking for, what they enjoy, and what kind of person they are. Investors want to see that you know your market and have developed strategies to attract and retain customers. If you can demonstrate that you know your customers, it’ll assure them there’s a demand for your call center services.

In our Customer Analysis section, we offer comprehensive templates for:

4.1 Target Market: Get a bird's eye view of which customer or business areas your call center services are good at to get an accurate and quantifiable market view.

4.2 Buyer Persona: Build an in-depth profile of your ideal customer, from their age and gender to their preferences and behavior, so you can tailor your services to meet their specific needs with skill.

4.3 Market Sizing: Find out how big the call center market is, figure out how much market share your brand can take, and give an idea of what opportunities are out there for you.

5. Competitor Analysis

Investors like businesses that are well-informed about their competition and are familiar with call center care growth trends. You will learn about your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses through a Competitor Analysis, which will help investors assess your competitive advantage. You can attract investors to see your business potential by differentiating from competitors.

6. SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis is an essential tool for self-assessment. SWOT Analysis assists investors in understanding the internal strengths and weaknesses of your telemarketing center business, and it’s external opportunities and threats. On this page, you will learn how to identify and mitigate the risks of your business while capitalizing on its strengths. Risk-averse investors will find your business more appealing.

7. Porter's Framework

Porter's Framework analyzes the competition in your sector. Investors want to see how your technical call center business ranks and can withstand competitive pressure. Demonstrating your competitive tactics and market position can attract investors seeking businesses with a robust market presence and long-term competitive edge.

8. Marketing Plan

Investors want assurance that you have a well-thought-out strategy to attract and retain customers. The Marketing Plan outlines your approach to reaching and engaging clients. It's an opportunity to showcase your brand-building and customer acquisition strategies, which can appeal to investors looking for businesses with solid marketing foundations.

In our Marketing Plan section, we provide templates for:

8.1 Marketing Strategies: This includes the marketing channels, strategies, and campaigns you'll use to get and keep customers, as well as the amount of money you'll be spending on marketing.

8.2 Pricing Strategies: It covers pricing models, discounting, bundling, and competitive positioning strategies, all designed to maximize profitability and align with the company’s overall business objectives.

8.3 Customer Support Funnel: It usually has information about the customer service center team, the tech tools they use, how long it takes them to respond, and what steps they take to resolve issues. It's all about ensuring quick and effective customer support center service and resolution.

9. Operational Plan

Investors want to make sure your helpdesk center business is doing well. On the "Operational Plan" page, you'll want to give them an overview of your business's day-to-day operations, like who's working, what's happening, and how things are running. A good plan helps investors believe that your business will grow well.

In our Operational Plan section, we provide templates for:

9.1 Business Model: This text outlines how a business plans to generate revenue while providing value to its customers.

9.3 Milestones: Enhance the growth and success of your call center empire by highlighting your most significant accomplishments and turning points in your business history.

10. Financial Plan

The Financial Plan is critical for investors, providing insights into your financial projections. It includes revenue forecasts, expense breakdowns, and profitability estimates. Investors use this section to evaluate the potential return on their investment. A well-structured financial plan can attract investors seeking financial growth and stability opportunities.

In our Financial Plan section, we provide templates for:

10.1 Financial Assumptions: Transform your business objectives into a strategic plan that will improve your call center business's bottom line with the help of professional services.

10.2 Revenue Model and Sales Forecast: Determine how to monetize your call center business and strategize how it can expand.

10.3 Break-Down Analysis: Find out what is holding your business back from turning a profit, which is the first step to profitability.

10.4 Profit and Loss Statement: Gain a clear understanding of the financial potential of your call center business, including the amount of revenue that can be generated, the amount of expenses that can be incurred, and the anticipated revenue.

10.5 Cash Flow Statement: Keep track of how much money you expect to make from your call center business to make sure it's running smoothly.

10.6 Balance Sheet Statement: Get a complete view of how much your business generates in revenue, how much you’ll owe, and how much your business is worth. This way, you’ll be able to manage your finances as transparently as possible.

10.7 Scenario Analysis: Consider scenarios to see how varying conditions and risks could impact the financial health of your business.

10.8 DCF Valuation: A discounted cash flow analysis can determine your business's current value in the call center industry.

We have so much more to offer!

We hope this blog has given you an idea of the excellent content you can get from this business plan, but this is just the start. Download our business plan, and you will get 52 pages of content. Starting a call center business can be challenging regarding effective calling services. But this PDF is the one-stop solution to all your problems. Get started now!

You can subscribe to our monthly, semi-annual, and annual plans here .

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How to Setup a Call Centre from Scratch – The Checklist

Here are some key considerations to keep in mind when opening a brand new contact centre.

1. Calculate the number of employees needed

Identify the core purpose of your contact centre.

The first thing you should do is identify the reason why you are opening a new contact centre, specifically focusing on your purpose and objectives. It can also help to look at what channels your customers are using and where you need to be to align with their needs.

If you are planning to move from existing premises, opening up a new contact centre can also be an opportunity to reconsider your business strategy. For example, reassessing any offshore or outsourcing contracts.

Don’t just guess how many employees you’ll need to accommodate

You also need to determine how big your contact centre needs to be for your business to be successful. Once you have a firm gauge on size, you can then base all of your technology, recruitment and office space needs around this.

Guessing at how many employees you will need could leave you stuck in an office that is 50 seats short, or paying out for space you don’t need – both of these scenarios could cost you heavily in the long run.

Read the Workforce Management Reference Guide, to find out everything you need about Workforce Management and Resource Planning. 

Use all the information you have to calculate how many employees you’ll need

The question of how many staff you will need will come down to individual needs – and should be based on predictions and forecasting.

If you are running a contract-based service, your contract should outline expected call volumes and duration and you can work around this. You should also factor in the other channels that you might need. For example, will your business need to handle webchat as well as phone calls?

Even if you aren’t 100% sure on the details, you should sit down with your team and work out some approximate forecasts you all agree on. These can then be used as a collective point of reference for decision-making later on.

If you really aren’t sure where to start, it can help to employ the services of an experienced consultant who has helped start up a number of contact centres.

Use an Erlang Calculator

An “Erlang” Calculator can help you to calculate numbers of agents needed for a given number of calls. You put in a service level target (such as 90% of calls answered in 20 seconds), the call duration and the number of calls, and it will work out the staff number needed.

There are 2 call centre calculators on the Call Centre Helper website:

We have an Online Version. We also have an Excel-based Erlang Calculator .

Factor in space for your future growth plans to succeed

It is also useful at this stage to look at how much space you might need in the near future to accommodate your plans for business growth.

Even though homeworking is a viable business strategy for managing additional contracts, it isn’t for everyone.

If you have no prior experience of managing homeworking agents, try to avoid choosing office premises that will physically limit your ability to grow and manage new opportunities in-house.

For example, if you decide that you will open your contact centre with 300 full-time employees, it is a good idea to build in space for 350 seats as a margin for expansion.

Read this article to find out how Gousto Contact Centre managed to scale up their contact centre .

2. Decide where your contact centre should be located

Consider; is homeworking right for us.

Over a quarter of contact centres have now allowed some, if not all, advisors to work from their homes, with a further 6.6% currently doing so in a pilot scheme.

This chart comes from our report: What Contact Centres Are Doing Right Now (2019 Edition)

There are a number of benefits to having a contact centre of remote workers, including increasing your recruitment pool, lowering business costs and having greater flexibility, in terms of resource planning.

Many contact centres, however, are tentative to make this step, as homeworking is largely dependent on moving to the cloud – a step that may contact centres are afraid to make.

This is for many reasons, including:

• Perceived data security risks
• Reliance on a third-party cloud supplier
•  Relinquishing customized on premise solution

However, if your starting a contact centre from scratch, these concerns will likely be outweighed by the benefits, especially when we consider the business continuity benefits homeworking brings, in light of the recent coronavirus outbreak.

To ensure business continuity, make sure your read the following article, before starting a contact centre from scratch: Preparing for the Unexpected: How to Create a Business Continuity Plan

Don’t just focus on shortening the commute for the management team

You need to think about a variety of factors when deciding on the location of your new contact centre.

The prime focus should extend beyond shortening the commute for the core management team. In fact, this should be the last item on the list.

Think about the skills you are trying to attract

A good starting point is to think about the skills you are trying to attract into your business.

For example, if you need multilingual employees, situating your contact centre near an airport or big city can help you gain access to the skills you need. Whereas if you are putting on a local service for a specific area, you should consider employing people in that area who will already have an understanding of the local culture.

Close proximity to headquarters can help embed a strong brand identity

Your business may also benefit from setting up the new contact centre in close proximity to company headquarters.

This can help agents feel more aligned with the brand and the wider business, as well as create opportunities to take agents off the phones and into nearby factories, warehouses or marketing departments.

Make sure it is easy for your employees to get to work

Another key consideration is to look at how your employees will get to work and how accessible your contact centre is by car and public transport.

• Is there a bus stop or train station nearby?
• Do the bus and train timetables schedules align with your shift patterns?

Even if your contact centre is offering amazing employment opportunities in the local area, you will struggle to hire people if they can’t travel easily to work each day.

Watch out for parking spaces

Contact centres can normally be spotted by the number of cars parked on the street and on verges near the offices.

Make sure you select a site with ample parking!

For more information on attracting the best talent, read our article 12 Ways to Become a Contact Centre Employer of Choice

Do your research to make the most of your budget

It is also important to think about your budget when choosing a location for your contact centre.

The size and quality of office premises varies considerably across the country, so it is worth doing your research to find out where you can get the most for your money – without compromising on talent and accessibility.

In recent research we discovered that 80% contact centre managers believed their budget was a major concern to running their dream contact centre. Make sure that you avoid this pitfall and secure budget for your contact centre. 

3. Choose technology that matches your business needs

Focus your technology choices around the information you need to capture.

A generic list of contact centre technologies won’t really help you make an informed decision about what your new operation will need.

Instead, use an outside-in approach to help you make informed technology choices that are relevant to your business goals.

Here are a handful of questions to take into consideration:

• What channels are my customers using?
• What knowledge do I need and where will it be stored?
• Do I need a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to build a case for my individual customers?
• Will I need to offer a segmented service? If so, how will I route my calls?

Once you have decided what you need, you should also consider how all of your systems are going to work together – and how they will form the user interface.

That aside, here is a list of core technologies we believe every new contact centre should have (as of March 2020):

• Agent Desktop
• ACD/ Call Routing
• Predictive Dialler
• Cloud Solutions
• Workforce Management and Workforce Optimisation
• Call Recording
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems
• Call Centre Software

The ‘nice to haves’

Here is a list of additional contact centre technologies that can enhance the performance of your contact centre and improve the customer experience:

• Customer Surveys
• Knowledge Management
• Multilingual Customer Support
• Performance Management
• Quality Monitoring

For a list of technology suppliers, see the Call Centre Helper Directory

You don’t have to decide which headsets to use straight away

Headsets may be the first piece of technology that springs to mind when starting up a contact centre.

However, the exact make and model of your headsets is a decision that can be left until the later stages of the planning process. It can even be left until the very end, if you plan to trial several products in the first few weeks of opening your operation.

The only decision you will need to plan for in advance is whether you want to use headsets with standard desk phones or computer-based telephony.

For more information about choosing headsets, read our article An Introduction to… Contact Centre Headsets

Map the customer journey and evaluate your processes

You should also set aside time to plan your customer journey and think about how your processes are going to work.

It is far better to spot a time-consuming glitch in the planning stages than when you have 200 agents taking live calls! In this article we explain the 5 Steps to Creating a Customer Journey Map , and also read this article to find out the Mistakes You Need to Avoid .

Use Google Translate and stay professional while you gauge multilingual demand

If you aren’t sure how many multilingual enquiries you will receive, one resourceful way to prepare for this, without undermining your professionalism, is to use Google Translate.

You can then have “We’re having this conversation using Google Translate”, and “Would you prefer to have this conversation in English?” professionally translated.

Your team can then do their best to handle these enquiries, without losing business, while you gain a sense of demand.

For more information on Multilingual Customer Support: Here’s What You Need to Know.

4. Set aside adequate time and resources

Rolling out a contact centre usually takes around 6 months.

Rolling out a contact centre operation usually takes around 6 months.

It is possible to roll out a contact centre in 3 months (at a push). However, this isn’t the best situation to be in as it puts everyone under a lot of pressure.

However, these are only realistic time frames if the business processes have been properly developed and the operation’s responsibilities have been mapped.

It can take up to 2 years for a contact centre to be set up from start to finish – as it is not unusual for the planning stage to take 18 months, followed by a 6-month rolling-out period.

But it can be done in less than a week….

In a disaster recovery situation, if our business continuity plans become obsolete, there may be a need to speed up your plans to start a contact centre from scratch.

To do this, however, there isn’t time to properly customize an on-premise solution. Instead, you will need to move to the cloud and take the guidance of an expert cloud provider.

During the coronavirus outbreak, we have seen NICE offer a special “work-from-home in 48 hours or less” programme…

During the coronavirus outbreak, we have seen NICE offer a special “work-from-home in 48 hours or less” programme – and other vendors like RingCentral, Serenova and Sytel launch similar initiatives.

The trouble is that these offers are for existing contact centres, who have long-standing processes and procedures in place.

You will need to design these processes for advisors to follow and test support systems thoroughly, even if you can get the basic cloud technology in place within a couple of days.

But, in special circumstances, a reputable cloud vendor will help you get there quicker.

You will need at least one person managing the project on a full-time basis

Setting up a new contact centre isn’t a sideline project.

You will need to take at least one person out of their existing role to manage the project on a full-time basis. They will also need access to a team to bring the project to fruition within a realistic timeframe.

Having proper processes and management in place is key to success.

Case Study – Vauxhall’s new contact centre in Luton

Vauxhall’s new 350-seat contact centre in Luton took 18 months to complete from start to finish.

2 project leaders worked full time to bring the operation to fruition. 10–15 additional people were also involved in the project at any one time, including employees from Finance and Human Resources (HR).

“There were 1,000 lines of activity to be managed across the project,  D on’t underestimate it! Plan more, plan harder, plan sooner. Even with 18 months set aside, the project put a lot of pressure on everyone involved.” -Jon Savage, Manager of Transformation and Strategy at Vauxhall.

Timing will also depend on the size of the contact centre

The time it takes to complete your new contact centre will also depend on the sheer size of the operation you are trying to build.

This has more to do with the volume of work that needs to be completed rather than any increase in complexity.

For example, the difference between a 50-seat operation and a 500-seat operation is that a further 450 people will need to be hired and trained. You will also require an additional 450 desks and phones to be installed, and so on.

A multichannel contact centre may also take slightly longer

You need to consider the number of channels you need to install and build in extra time accordingly.

It is far less time consuming to open a basic phone contact centre compared with one that can handle social media, webchat and email.

You will also have to factor in any extra training your agents might need to properly handle these additional channels.

Build in “buffer time” for delays and unexpected issues

With such a large project in hand, it is highly unlikely that everything will go to plan.

To help overcome this, schedule in some “buffer time” during the rolling-out period for the inevitable delays and unknowns.

5. Hiring and training ahead of the grand opening

You need to think outside the box to hire and train agents without an office.

If you are running to a tight schedule, it is likely that you will be hiring and training your new recruits before your new contact centre building is ready to use.

If this is the case, you will need to think outside the box to find a venue where these events can be held.

• Do you have a head office nearby with a spare conference room?
• Could you hire a room at a local hotel or college?
• Do you have a local Job Centre Plus? They often have some space local businesses can use.

Interview off-site until everything is completely finished

Even if the building is safe to use but isn’t quite finished, it is a good idea to interview and train your agents at a different location.

You want to make a great first impression – especially if you are fighting for the best talent in your area – and ushering your interviewees through uncarpeted corridors probably won’t cut it.

For more information about recruitment, read some of our articles:

• 5 Traits to Look for in Your Next Call Centre Employee
• How Do I… Tune Up the Recruitment Process?
• How Do I… Recruit the Best Agents?
• The 4 Skills You Can’t Teach – But Call Centre Staff Need

6. Building a good culture in your new contact centre

You need a strong management team to support and motivate everyone.

Starting a contact centre from scratch doesn’t stop once the phone lines are working!

Maintaining and building a good company culture takes commitment from the top down. This is why it is important you have the right team leaders and managers in place who are involved in mentoring, motivating and supporting your agents.

To get buy-in from the management team and ensure they work well together, you need to get them involved in the new contact centre as soon as possible.

For more information on creating a great management team, read the following articles:

• 5 Mistakes Every Team Leader Should Avoid
• 10 Tips for Preparing Agents for Team Leadership
• How to Be a Leader in the Contact Centre
• 8 ‘Soft Skills’ Training Exercises
• 10 Ways to Improve Your Team Meetings

Base early performance targets on outcomes such as sales figures

To ensure that your new contact centre is meeting its purpose and that you are achieving your goals, your early performance targets should be outcome-based.

For example, based on the numbers of sales, or appointments made.

Customer-focused metrics can help with agent buy-in

You should also put a number of customer-focused metrics in place to get your team involved in meeting your performance targets.

If your agents are directly focused on the customer, they will understand how their role feeds into the bigger picture. This will help to create a sense of purpose and buy-in amongst your front-line employees.

Good facilities will help make your contact centre a great place to work

Providing good facilities for your employees is also important for driving a positive company culture.

It can help to think of your new contact centre as a university or college campus, needing a variety of amenities to support your community of workers.

Basic considerations include on-site vending machines and cash machines, a well-stocked canteen, and a fun break-out room filled with pool tables, TVs and comfy sofas.

If you have a bit more budget to play with, why not upgrade your canteen into a restaurant, or install an on-site gym?

You can also read up on the latest Call Centre Helper site visits to see the tried-and-tested strategies other contact centres are using.

For more ideas on making your contact centre a great place to work, see the following articles:

• 12 Fun Ideas for Your Break-Out Room
• 15 Ways to Bring in the Feel-Good Factor
• 5 Simple Ways to Improve Your Agents’ Day
• The Best Ways to Pay Call Centre Staff

A phased transition can help everything settle before you go fully live

If you are moving an old contact centre across to a new contact centre, a phased transition can help address any “teething problems” before you go fully live.

Your transition phase could last for up to 3 months, as you gradually pass all contacts from your old premises to your new premises. This has the added advantage of the old contact centre being part of “the backup plan” in the event that something goes wrong on the new site.

You can take a similar approach with a brand new operation by bringing in new starters in waves, or starting up one channel at a time over the course of an introductory period.

Don’t make compromises that will harm the customer experience

It is important that you don’t compromise on anything that will ultimately harm the customer experience – from your canteen food choices right through to rushing the wrong people through the recruitment process.

Letting anything slip will send a clear message that your customer experience doesn’t matter – and this is not the message you want resonating through your brand new operation.

Requirements checklist

You will probably need to create a project plan and a checklist to set everything up. We have complied two very useful checklists to help you with this.

• How to Set up a Call Centre
• How to Write a Call Centre Business Plan

With thanks to:

• Martin Jukes at Mpathy Plus
• Jon Savage, Manager of Transformation and Strategy at Vauxhall
• The team at the MOO Print Limited contact centre

Published On: 24th Jul 2013 - Last modified: 16th Nov 2023 Read more about - Customer Service Strategy , Coronavirus , Homeworking , Jabra , Martin Jukes , Noble Systems , Recruitment , Setup

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Headsets are essential for all internet user

Hi, I’m inspired by how you have made it seem possible to pursue this venture. Your steps or check list is just what I needed because I have all the necessity to start but just didn’t know where to start. I have all the expertise to run a call centre and at this point in time I need all the help I can get.

This has made my day and I have an idea where to begin now.

Many thanks T. Madlala

Thank you very much for the information, it really helped a great deal. Is it better or advisable to use routers to set up?

i need information on how to get a process to start a call centre ?

i need information on how to get a process to start a call centre

This is far too high level and not helpful. Any agent working on a call center floor cold come up with this list.

This is exactly what i needed 2 know…tnx

Its better to put up in the Philippines. It will save you a lot.

I will start managing a call center soon but having problem with quoting clients

can someone advice?

Appreciates

That’s great , getting alot what i wanted – Thanks

Hello , everything I understand, but one thing I don’t understand when you have the call centre set up and everything, right. How do you get the contract, where do you look how to start that off ?

Pls somebody advice me one that, thank you.

Hello , everything I understand, but I don’t understand when you have the call centre set up and everything, right. How do you get the contract, where do you look how to start that off ?

Pls somebody advice me too

This is a great article- has all the critical project essentials well defined

How To Create a Call Center Business Proposal + Template

When starting a call center business, one of the most important aspects is creating a call center proposal. This document will outline the services your call center offers and how it can help solve the needs of another business. 

Ensure your call center proposal is well-written and convincing to stand out from the competition and win over potential clients. Read on to discover how to create a call center business proposal and why.

Purpose of a Call Center Proposal

A business proposal helps you establish a new business relationship with a first-time client. It should provide an overview of your call center business, your services, how you plan to solve the client’s problem, and pricing information. The proposal should be tailored to the specific client and their needs.

Elements of a Winning Call Center Business Proposal

To create a winning call center proposal, certain elements must be included.

Problem Statement

To show that you understand the client’s needs, you must first identify the problem they are facing. This shows them that you understand what they need. For example, if the client is a small business struggling to keep up with customer demand, you would identify this as a problem.

Proposed Solution

After you have identified the problem, you must then propose a solution. This is where you outline the services your call center can provide to help solve the client’s problem. Be specific and include details on what services you will offer and how they will benefit the client.

For example, if the client is struggling to keep up with customer demand, you would propose your call center services as a solution. You would explain how your call center would be able to take on some of the customer call volume and help relieve the burden on the client’s staff.

Pricing Information

After you have proposed a solution, include pricing information. You need to show the client how much it will cost them to use your call center services. It is critical to be transparent and upfront with pricing information so that the client knows what to expect.

For example, if the client is looking for a call center to take on customer call volume, you would include pricing information for your call center services. You would explain how much it would cost per call, hour, or month.

Putting It Together

Once you have all of the above elements, it’s time to put your proposal together. Make sure it is well-written and free of errors. For example, you may want to use a call center proposal template to help you get started. A template is a great way to follow guidelines, especially the first time. Once you write several proposals, the process becomes easier.

A template helps you streamline the process. If you don’t have time to create a proposal from scratch, consider using a call center proposal template.

A call center business proposal is essential to winning over new clients. By including the key elements outlined above, you can create a proposal that will convince potential clients to use your call center business.

Call Center Business Plan Template

Download this Call Center Business Plan Template Design in Word, Google Docs, Apple Pages Format. Easily Editable, Printable, Downloadable.

If you want to reach your target market easily, putting up a call center business may be the right thing for you. But starting this business can be a tough one, especially if you still don’t have any idea how to run this kind of business. Learn how to start your own call center business with our professionally-made Call Center Business Plan Template. You'll have the option to either use its suggestive content as is or modify its to fit your specifics. Provide a top-quality service to your prospective clients when you start utilizing this Call Center Business Plan Template right now!

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