Customer Service Outsourcing – Risk and Reward

Posted on | February 4, 2010 | No Comments

Outsourcing for customer service is one of the ways in which businesses can cut capital costs, increase efficiency, and can provide a degree of flexibility in the size and functionality of their customer service team. However, unlike other “peripheral” business functions which might be more easily outsourced, such as programming, web development, bookkeeping, or administrative functions, outsourcing your call center carries risk, because contractors will speak directly to your customers. For a business that intends to be customer-focused, this means that certain cautions should be taken when outsourcing for customer service.

When looking at outsourcing providers, top consideration should be given to the reputation and the depth of skilled resources that the provider has. There are many independent or small companies that provide call center work, but it is usually best to go with a large provider who has hundreds or even thousands of contractors affiliated. This gives you more options to screen and filter for certain skills such as language and other competency requirements. You should be able to build your own customer communications team by selecting from a large pool of resources, and be able to review the test and competency scores for each individual contractor.

Another key criteria in outsource customer service is to establish a firm means of monitoring workers after the contract is established. Different firms do this in different ways. For example, many call centers in India have employees trained to maximize call efficiency by having the shortest possible calls, but your objectives may place an emphasis on longer calls to maximize customer satisfaction. These preferences must be agreed at the start of a contract so that call center representatives are speaking with your customers the way that you want them to, instead of the way they may have dealt with other clients.

If you are outsourcing customer service overseas, you may also find cultural differences and language differences. Many call center professionals speak very good English, but you may find that some terms endemic to your business are not well understood. This can happen with common words… for example, the word “revert” has been known to have a slightly different meaning in India than it may to a customer in the U.S., so exploring the way certain items will be discussed can help. You can provide the outsource customer service team with a glossary of terms and common questions that relate to your business to avoid unexpected confusion.

For more advice on outsourcing for customer service, and recommendations for good outsourcing providers, see this site: Customer Service Outsourcing or go to this web page: http://www.squidoo.com/customer-service-outsourcing-companies

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