Customer service is considered one of the most crucial tools an entrepreneur uses to retain existing customers and acquire new ones. Hence, business owners often emphasize improving their customer support services to make sure all their customers’ grievances are heard out and issues are resolved on time. Multiple surveys on consumer psyche and behaviour state that around 70% of customers tend to make repeat purchases when they get satisfied with the products and the apt customer support services of the brands. Therefore, companies, especially the ones which have global customers living in diverse time zones, are required to make their customer service team/s available 24×7, so that no customers get unattended. Besides, companies which do not practice cross-border trade also need to offer round-the-clock customer support services these days. This is because the constantly-changing work culture, lifestyle and priorities of people all over the world have created the need for 24-hours customer support services. For example, one facing a problem in tracking his/her order from a food delivery app in the middle of the night will expect the customer support of the app to resolve the issue quickly. If not solved on time, the customer might order through a different app the next time, as there are multiple options out there. Hence, a company, no matter which industry it operates in, must constantly enhance its customer service to make sure it doesn’t lose a customer and its competitor doesn’t gain one.
Positive relations with customers, who are the primary revenue generators, always help companies to strengthen their brands and gain a competitive advantage over the other players in the industry. However, hiring, training and maintaining in-house customer support teams often turn out to be expensive. Hence, many companies, to thrive in today’s competitive business environment, prefer to outsource customer services to reputed call centres or BPO(Business Process Outsourcing) companies, which are equipped with teams of skilled, experienced and multilingual customer service executives, which work on rotating shifts to make sure all customers are attended. Large BPO companies these days stay updated on all the new-age customer service practices and are outfitted with cutting-edge technology. As call centres charge a fixed price throughout the contract period, there is no scope for the operation cost to vary over time, which happens in the case of in-house teams, where the employees need to be offered yearly increments, leaves, performance-based extra bonuses etc. Also, the skilled personnel of BPO companies often ensure a notable improvement in customer service quality. However, the massive popularity of customer service outsourcing has resulted in mushrooming of call centres in different parts of the world, especially in those where labor is comparatively cheap. Hence, it often gets difficult for an outsourcer to pick, from the plethora of options, the right outsourcing company, that will help it to grow exponentially.
Below are a few do’s and don’ts that will help business owners, looking to outsource customer services, to choose the BPO companies that will best suit their companies’ requirements and business goals.
| S. No. | Do’s | Don’t |
|---|---|---|
| 1. |
Choose an outsourcing partner that has a similar corporate culture. This is because, eventually, it is the customer care executives and the work culture they follow, that drive success. Hence, the outsourcer needs to get an idea about its prospective outsourcing partner’s employee engagement scores, agent tenure, employee retainment practice etc. |
Don’t pick a BPO company merely based on cost. Where good customer service ensures growth, bad customer service ensures decline. Hence, quality of work needs to be prioritized over cost, sometimes. The way cheaper doesn’t always mean worse, expensive doesn’t necessarily mean better. Hence, before outsourcing, the outsourcer must scrutinize the call centre’s services and understand the output quality it is capable of ensuring. |
| 2. |
Conduct thorough research to decide on the outsourcing location that will best suit your brand. |
Don’t partner with a BPO company that doesn’t have accurate Business Continuity Planning(BCP), which involves defining the risks, which include natural disasters like fire, flood, or weather-related events and cyber-attacks, that can affect the company’s operations. Hence, it is considered an important part of an organization’s risk management strategy. |
| 3. |
Consider investing in training your outsourced team to make sure it easily adapts to your company’s standard operating procedure. |
Don’t leave everything to the outsourcing company. At the end of the day, a company knows the best about its requirements and business goals. Hence, a company must effectively communicate with the outsourced team and also measure results at regular intervals to make sure the outsourced team is performing well and initiating growth. Also, training sessions with the outsourced teams can be organized to ensure optimum efficiency. |
| 4. |
Partner with an outsourcing company that has a good market reputation, in terms of efficiency level and clientele. |
Don’t go for an outsourcing company that is not equipped with the latest technologies and experienced workforce, which ensure a high level of efficiency and also allow the outsourcer to easily track work progress. |
