5 Things you need to look for in an Outsourced Customer Service Provider
Customer Service can make or break the reputation of your brand in the long term. It is an essential part of post-sales brand building in the world of sales. It is at this point that your customer is vulnerable when he is seeking help from your brand. This is where a strong relationship can be developed by the brand with its customer.
Weak customer service will destroy the faith the customer has on the brand. So you must introduce good post-sales care to your customer. And that is exactly what a good outsourced customer service provider is expected to do.
As a business when you are looking to get outsourced customer service providers on board to strengthen your brand equity, you should keep in mind a few key points that will help you achieve it.
Let us have a look at some points that you need to look for in an outsourced customer service provider.
Flexibility
It is important for the service provider who will be outsourced, to provide flexibility in delivering his services. There might be times when you might have exhausted your resources at your end in order to achieve a certain growth percentage. And you might need a helping hand, which will help you maintain a steady growth rate, you can then outsource services at a predetermined scale.
Another spectrum of this could be that you want to scale back in order to maintain a steady production and supply ratio. The service provider should be able to adjust with the change without compromising on the quality of the services. You must check the scalability and flexibility of the service provider before you decide to hire one.
Services
First, you must check what services are provided by the Outsourced Customer Service Provider. You might not require all the services provided by the company you are looking at. You don't need to always outsource the entire call center, you can outsource either all or some specified services. For example, you may have an in-house call center in place, and you need a helping hand to get post-call surveys to collect information and feedback, this is where your service provider can help you. You may need just web chat or phone services, which can be delivered by the outsourced service provider. The outsourced customer service provider should be able to give your tailor-made services which suit your business needs.
Cost
Cost is an essential part of the business decision to hire an outsourced customer service provider. You should get different quotes from different vendors before zero in on one. This will help you in getting a competitive cost from the market and in comparing the service offerings from each possible vendor. Make a note of the exact details of your requirements like the services that would be needed, the duration for which you would be hiring, provide for any changes in requirements in the future, etc.
Technology
Investing in an in-house call center with the best-in-line technology can be very expensive for a business setup. It is advisable to outsource that same service from a customer provider instead. Always check with the service provider if they have the best technology available in the market for such services. If a service provider has the best technology then they will come at a premium rate, but it will still be a good bargain for your business. Going for a cheaper service provider might look beneficial at the time but it will do very little for the brand in the long run.
Brand reputation
Since an outsourced customer service provider will be essential support whose job is to provide quality services towards the customer and return with qualitative feedback for the business. A strong partner will be of great help in increasing your brand equity. A weaker partner will struggle to provide good quality and may also prove to be costly towards the brand. Make sure that the customer service provider that you hire, can maintain a high standard of services that they provide, especially when it is an outward-facing process like calling. If high quality is maintained, most people will not be able to understand that they are interacting with a person who is not an in-house staff, hence it saves the company from getting a bad reputation. However, if there is poor quality in the service then there will be disconnect between the customer and the brand causing a dispute.
Now that we have seen the key points that are to be taken into consideration when you are looking to hire an outsourced customer service provider, 31west will help you making an informed decision. Make sure to maintain absolute clarity when discussing the terms and conditions of services that you require.