October 2, 2006 — Tristar Products Inc., marketer of the Jack Lalanne juicing products, experienced 15 percent to 20 percent call blockage with its previous call center.

It’s latest direct response call center, LiveOps, improved call pick-up and uses a call routing and reporting system that gives customers real-time information to adjust scripts and offers.

“The ability to change quickly makes a big difference,” said Kishore Mirchandani , also known as Keith Mirchandani, CEO of Tristar, Fairfield, NJ. “The percent of callers getting a busy signal is next to none, which is what you want if you’re paying $50,000 for a Saturday morning spot on Lifetime Network.”

A proprietary scripting system allows LiveOps account managers to change customers’ scripts without making a programming request. Customers can create two different offers and LiveOps can AB test by routing 50 percent of calls to each offer.

“It allows customers to test ideas about scripts or offers and verify which produces more revenue,” said Lloyd Tabb CTO of LiveOps, Palo Alto, CA. “It takes away the guess work.”

The company records every minute of call time, so customers can listen to recordings of calls that didn’t convert, to see what isn’t working.

“The longer you use them, they are able to give you the best operators for your program,” Mr. Mirchandani said. This is because results-based routing and detailed reporting allows tracks which agents are achieving the best conversions.

LiveOps currently services 3 Infomercial Monitoring Services’ top infomercials: Bare Escentuals' bareMinerals, Beachbody's Slim in 6 and Provida Life Science's Body Makeover.

It’s not just clients who are happy. Annual turnover among fully certified agents is less than 7 percent. “Fifty-two percent of our agents are work-from-home mothers,” said Mr. Tabb , LiveOp’s chief technical officer. It’s a highly educated group; over 80 percent of agents are college-educated.

Former teacher and Chicago mom Kim Conner loved the idea of working from home, especially since the only investment required was a computer and a dedicated telephone line.

She applied online, and after a background check and training, Ms. Conner now earns between $10 and $25 an hour, depending on call volume and sales incentives.

With three children under the age of five, Ms. Conner works 15-20 hours week as one of their 7,000 home-based call-center agents. The ability to sign up for shifts in 30 minute increments allows her to fit work around kids’ schedules instead of the other way around.

“It means I never miss my kids’ first step or first word,” said Ms. Conner.
Delray Beach, FL, agent Betti Adams, mother of two, began working for LiveOps three years ago. Four months with the company, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She continued working throughout her chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

“I was answering a call about the Revo Hot Air Brush and the caller asked me if I used it,” Ms. Adams said. “There I was, completely bald from the chemo. I just said, ‘Well, I don’t use it right now – but I have.’”