What to consider when outsourcing call centre services in the UK
In today’s always-online, always-connected world, consumer service has become more important than ever before. Your customers expect to have multiple options when contacting you, 85% of customers expect a conversation to move seamlessly across channels, and call response times are a key element in that. According to research from Chilipiper, five minutes is the ideal timeframe for responding to a sales or customer service call, though the shorter the wait, the better. If you’re not able to offer customer support or sales support over the phone, you could outsource it to a specialist call centre provider. Below, we’ve put together some of the things that you should consider when finding the right advisors for your needs.
Determine their service offering
Before you consider offloading your call centre services to a third party, it’s important to get to grips with what the providers you’re considering actually offer. Some call centre vendors will specialise in outbound calls, ideal if you’re looking to cold-call potential customers, whilst others deal with inbound calls, handling customer complaints, answering questions, and helping to fulfil orders over the phone. Speak to your vendor about what it is you’re actually looking for, how many calls you anticipate, and how you’ll train and motivate your remote teams to find out whether it’s something within their scope. Determine a quote for the work.
Do your research
Perhaps one of the most important things you can do when finding a call centre provider is to create a shortlist. Use reviews online to rank companies in order of preference, and then ask for recommendations from their current clients. Asking people you already know about who they have used for outsourcing can give you peace of mind, and they could introduce you to a firm you haven’t heard about. Once you’ve whittled down your choices, speak with their current clients and ask them how their relationship is working. If you know the provider has a proven track record in your niche, you’ll have confidence in their abilities going forward.
Decide between shared or dedicated agents
Depending on the size of your business, you might want to consider whether you’re happy with shared agents – whether customer service staff will handle calls from your clients as well as calls from other company’s clients – or a dedicated agent, which will be responsible for your business alone. The benefit of a dedicated team is that they’ll be assigned to your account and can give your company the time and resources it needs, though you’ll naturally pay more for this. If you have more general needs, such as basic customer support, then shared agents will prove more cost-effective. A semi-dedicated model is also offered by some firms, so it’s worth reviewing your options and weighing up the pros and cons of each.
Make security a priority
One of the biggest risks when outsourcing customer service is security and data protection, and having faith that nothing will be compromised. Choose a vendor that works in the cloud, as it’s not only faster and cheaper to implement a new call centre service online, but it’s much more secure, too. Speak to your chosen provider about their security protocols, as well as their policies on disaster recovery, data loss, and downtime so you’re in the know. An added benefit of using the cloud is that, should you decide to transition from one provider to another, you’ll find it much easier to do so when everything’s hosted on a virtual system.
Integrating with your business
As we’ve already touched upon, customers now expect an omnichannel approach to sales and customer service, and when outsourcing call centre services, you’ll need to bear this in mind. Speak to the firm about integration strategies and approaches, and consider investing in new customer relationship management (CRM) software to unite with your new provider and share information as and when required. Communication is so important when you are outsourcing services, so be transparent, accept that there’ll be some kinks in the road, and set aside some time to iron those out before you move forward. Getting the relationship right from day one will make life easier as your business develops and responsibilities are set.
Know whether they can scale
Perhaps you’re looking to outsource your customer service responsibilities because you’re growing your business at an unprecedented rate. If so, talk to providers about the possibility of scaling. Will they be able to grow their team if you suddenly need to deal with thousands of customer enquiries every day? How long would it take for them to deploy an additional customer service representative? Could you pay so your calls are prioritised over other client’s calls? The more you know, the more confidence you’ll have as you grow your firm.
Be prepared for some compromises
Though handing over the responsibility of call centre solutions to a third-party frees up your time, improves customer service response times and reduces headaches and admin at your business, there are drawbacks to outsourcing. The biggest is that you’ll lose some control over your customer service function, and will have to place great trust in your provider. It can be hard to closely supervise or monitor an external team, so regular briefing and training are key. Something else to bear in mind is that the call centre may not necessarily understand your industry or business; enquiries will therefore need to be general and straightforward to make it work, or you’ll need to provide the necessary resources to facilitate their success.
Precision FM offers a range of call centre services for businesses in virtually every niche, with dedicated customer service representatives based right here in the UK. Integrated systems offer total efficiency, whilst dedicated account management means seamless support. Call us on 0116 366 6508 today to find out more about outsourcing call centre services to us.
