3 Critical customer service outsourcing questions answered

Wednesday, April 2, 2014


Customer service outsourcing is crucial in the success of a brand. The task of finding and collaborating with a call center that can deliver excellent customer care can be daunting, but it can also lead your business to greater heights once done right. Before you start outsourcing to an offshore partner, here are answers to three of the most vital outsourcing questions that you need to know.

How important is the call center to your brand?

As your call center has direct and frequent contact with your customers, your offshore partner can define the impression you set on your customer base. The call center has leverage in gathering and providing valuable insight about customer experiences to your business. The information the call center collects may range from consumer trends, effectiveness of your marketing campaigns, social media activities, down to the essential customer-derived suggestions in improving the vision of the company.

Your knowledge about the preferences of your customers and product performance can guide you in molding your business according to the demands of the market. This information must be collected, organized, and analyzed by the call center and shared regularly with you. The more direct and frequent the reports are, the faster you can make changes in delivering excellent customer experience.

How can you choose the right call center to partner with?

You should begin by diligently researching about your prospective offshore partners. Pay closer attention to the track records of your potential service vendor. There must be a clear understanding of how each call center delivers campaigns and partnerships with other clients. Feel free to ask the company representatives, such as account managers, to explain the call center's strengths and weaknesses. More importantly, find out if your business goals match with those of your offshore partner.

Paying an actual visit to the call center can also help a lot in your decision making process. This will enable you to observe how strong the level of commitment the call center gives to its clients. In these early stages, you must foresee if an effective communication can be established between you and the call center later on. Ask the account managers about their procedures in collecting customer information and forwarding it to the client.

What can you do to make sure that the call center performs effectively?

You need to take responsibility in managing the call center by setting clear goals and expectations partnered with key points for performance evaluation. Communicating with your offshore partner must not be done only when there is a concern. You must also participate in the agent recruitment process and take a hands-on approach during new hire training. If you neglect your managerial role, you also deny your right to supervise the quality of services provided by the call center.

You also have the responsibility to provide account managers marketing information that may be useful in improving their customer service schemes. Effective collaboration is vital in making sure that the customer care that your brand representatives provide is dynamic and adaptive.

Customer service outsourcing is an investment that involves a lot of risks. Knowing these basic yet essential pieces of information can lead to better outsourcing decisions executed by your business. A brand that is wise and critical when selecting outsourcing measures is guaranteed with customer-driven success in the long run.

Open Access BPO is an outsourcing firm in the Philippines that can be your best partner in delivering quality customer care to your clients. We make sure that our partners reach their goals in establishing excellent connection with their market. Know more about our company by visiting our website and Google+ page.