The Do’s and Don’ts of Hiring a Customer Service Outsourcing Provider

If your business has never relied on customer service outsourcing, you might be wondering what to look for when evaluating different providers. Knowing what separates an outstanding contact center from the others may not always be clear during your initial search. Moreover, it’s easy to fall into the trap of selecting the first outsourcing provider on your radar because analyzing many options can be overwhelming, especially when you have other core work responsibilities.

Whether you’ve just begun looking for customer service outsourcing for the first time or you’re deeper into the process, these do’s and don’ts will help guide you:

Do:

Keep an Open Mind

Some business leaders are hesitant to hire a customer service outsourcing partner for fear of losing control. Keep an open mind and understand the right contact center will act as an extension of your brand instead of a completely separate entity. Remember outsourcing to true professionals mean your customers will be treated professionally.

Create a Detailed RFP

Get the answers you need to make an educated decision by asking the right questions to prospective providers. Your RFP (Request for Proposal) should instruct prospective providers to detail their approaches to implementation, training, recruiting and quality assurance. They should also show examples of past work similar to your vertical or the type of customer support needed.

Inquire About a Quality Track Record

The contact center should have measures in place to assure quality interactions with your customers. Ask about Net Promoter and CSAT Scores – metrics that paint a better picture of a contact center’s overall success. First-Call Resolution is another quality assurance metric you should inquire about, in addition to training processes and protocols.

Visit the Contact Center

You need to get an up-close look to make sure the customer service contact center, as well as the management team, is a good fit for your business’s needs. This is where location can really make or break a deal. Having a contact center half-way across the world means you’re spending a lot of time and money just to make an in-person visit. Consider a nearshore contact center to reduce travel cost and time while getting the quality results needed.

Don’t:

Always Chase the Lowest Price

It can be tempting to save money and go with the lowest bid when hiring a customer service outsourcing provider for the first time. However, quality should never be sacrificed for the sake of price, especially since the loss of customers due to poor customer service could impact your company’s bottom line in the long run. Only go with the cheapest option if the provider checks all the other boxes.

Sign a Contract Without Researching

Read testimonials and case studies about your customer service outsourcing prospects. See how long they’ve been in business and find out if they’re an industry leader or just following the pack. A reliable provider will be happy to give references and examples of past success.

Go with a Monolingual Contact Center

Selecting a partner with multilingual capabilities provides your business with flexibility and enables you to be positioned to expand language support capabilities as your business changes.  Agents should speak a minimum of two languages. In most cases, one of those languages should be English. Ask which languages that site can support and how the agents’ language skills are tested during the hiring process. Listen to call recordings to hear if agents speak confidently and clearly.

Take a One-Size-Fits-All Approach

It’s important to find the right-sized outsourcing provider. You need a provider with enough agents to promptly take care of customers. On the other hand, a contact center shouldn’t be so big that flexibility and adaptability seem impossible. The correct size ensures you will get the proper management focus throughout all levels of the partnership and your business will be treated with the priority needed to be successful.

There’s a lot to consider when hiring a customer service outsourcing provider for the first time, but making the right choice can generate great results for your current and future customers. Now that you’re armed with the do’s and don’ts, contact Callzilla to learn how we provide customer service outsourcing through live chat, social monitoring, email support, phone services and more. Our quality-first mentality delivers support that creates an improved customer service experience.