Customer support outsourcing is a source of a good deal of contention among support people for a number of reasons. There is of course the economic protest that comes from outsourcing this sort of thing overseas, and I’m not about to touch on that one, because my political views (which are simple and don’t have nationalism in their purview anyhow) aren’t important.
The bigger problems with customer support outsourcing are quality control, trust and the ability to choose a reputable provider, and the like. Unfortunately, this is unavoidable in many cases, because it’s cost effective, allows for greater resources to be available to provide high-yield workloads, and eliminates the need to train and babysit the support department. So, unless you have the time and patience to design this department yourself, and train them, you’re most likely going to have to outsource.
So, let’s look at four key components to look for in choosing your service providers to outsource to. These aren’t all there is to consider, but they’re definitely the most important things to focus upon. Take these to heart, please.
#1 – Cultural Compatibility
Ok, as I said, I’m not going to get political about this, because even if I were a politically-minded person, that’s philosophical tripe. However, there is something to be said for choosing people who natively speak your language, and who have an understanding of your culture and that of your customers.
Other parts of the world will have different mindsets for how customers think, and what is and isn’t an expression of good attitudes and congeniality. Differences of culture are good, and they make the world a richer place, but when it comes to customer service and support, it’s actually something to be cautious of.
#2 – Solid Grasp of Your Service
You need a service that understands your industry as well as people from within your company do, and who can train their agents equally well in it. Support and service can only be rendered solidly by a service and support department that really understands the business type, and the demographics to him it is being rendered.
So, be sure that they either have the facilities to train their staff to be experts in your field, or that they have experience working with similar companies beforehand, or they’re just not going to cut the mustard.
#3 – Companies with Multi Channel Support
Multi channel support is big, and it adds a lot of convenience and speed. So, you’ll want to try to choose companies that use some additional support like help desks, social media platforms or other concepts. It helps, because they’re convenient.
#4 – Reputation by Proxy
You’ll want to look at the other companies a support service works with, and research what people are saying about the quality of the customer service and support of these companies. You can learn a lot about the skill of a service provider this way, and research on the internet is pretty simple given how forthcoming of opinions people on the internet are.
So, customer support outsourcing may be unavoidable at times, and if you must, then there are some clear guidelines for picking the right people to handle it.
