A framework for balanced service and cross-selling by using queuing science

Contact centers are complex call centers to handle large volume of inbound, outbound or both types of calls depending on the business purpose. Call centers assume the role of the primary contact medium for many companies from a wide range of industries with their customers or clients. Despite of being seen traditionally as adding cost to the companies' bottom lines, call centers are now viewed by many companies to turn a service request into an opportunity to sell additional products and services. This sales attempt is called cross-selling. The opportunity to generate profit from an existing customer-base is a key factor for a successful call center. This paper introduces a framework for balancing cross-selling and service activities in a call center setting from a queuing science point of view. The main goal of this study is to introduce a framework to maximize a call center's performance without degrading the service quality. Our framework is based on the usage of real-time queue characteristics, customer profile information and server-skill set information from a cross-sell point of view.