ACC White Paper

Choosing a Customer Service Provider

Businesses that engage outsource service providers typically face challenges in maintaining their brand image because the third party may provide an inconsistent or unpredictable message to your current and future customers.

By following a few simple guidelines and selecting a qualified outsourced call center provider, a company can ensure it maintains its brand image, and as a result, improve revenue and profits.

Though they may have once handled all or most of customer service in-house, most companies have found that the right outsourced service providers can provide more consistent staffing, scale, and cost-effective infrastructures than they can or care to develop and maintain themselves.

The challenge is selecting an outsource service provider, such as American Customer Care, that treats your company's brand and message as its own.

The outsource services provider must integrate with the client's culture, operations, and marketing strategy to deliver a consistent brand message to the end customer.

Customer loyalty is closely tied to brand experience with each customer interaction.

At the center of every business is the customer. Servicing and retaining that customer is of the utmost importance if a business is to become or remain successful.

The customer doesn't know -- and often may not care - if the service is being provided directly by the company or by an outsourcer, as long as the reason for their call is resolved.

They will associate any customer service experience -- good or bad -- with your company.

If the experience with a particular brand is bad, the customer is likely to leave for a multitude of competitors waiting in the wings.

If the brand experience is consistently good, the less likely the customer is to leave, even in the instance that a rival competitor can offer a better price.

In fact, the customer is proportionately likely to buy more products or services from his or her current provider. Therefore, the outsourcing deal must similarly focus on quality of contact, customer satisfaction, and issue resolution rather than on a lowest cost per call model.

In recent years, we've seen leading companies focus less on cost per transaction with their customers and more on quality which leads to brand loyalty.

The resulting connection with the customer is felt not only in a reduced churn rate, but more so in increased revenues as customers are more receptive to the bundled cross-sell of new, high value (and often high margin) products and services.

Providing excellence with every customer interaction is essential to retention, opportunities for increased revenue growth, and a catalyst that often separates brand market winners from market losers.

Choosing the Right Call Center

Many outsource call center providers don't have the right combination of industry experienced employees, technologies to manage, track, report or analyze meaningful data, and industry best practices and data security compliance and procedures.

Or, worse, the outsourcer may view the relationship with the client in terms of a contract rather than a true business partnership.

Companies should focus on third party call centers who can deliver focused industry knowledge and consistent support services across all service cycles of the client's business.

Seek a partner that knows your industry, knows your services, can align in culture of your brand, and bring best practices and customer care experience that deliver greater efficiencies.

Find a provider appropriately experienced in B2C, B2B, and back office support to not only meet minimum contractual metrics, but contribute towards your immediate business goals right out of the gate.

Organizations should also closely examine the recruitment, hiring, and training practices that the vendor uses to attract, prepare, and retain its employees. The development of its leadership, focused industry expertise, and the strategies it deploys to ensure best practices and compliance across all areas of the customer care and service lifecycle are critical components of a successful outsource vendor.

Telecommunications technology has changed more in the last decade than it has in the previous century.

CRM, IVR, VoIP, and VPN are just a few of the terms that were virtually unheard of a decade ago yet are commonplace today. And the rate of change won't slow anytime soon as mobile devices have begun to saturate the landscape, so the outsource provider's training program has to be ongoing and vigorous to keep employees current on the product or service offerings and technology, as well as the benefits of these technologies and services for end customers.

Companies should seek a vendor that will be a business and brand partner, not merely an outsourced contractual vendor.

The business and brand partner should have resources and technologies available to complement what your organization has in-house. This minimizes integration issues between technologies as well as helps to maintain the consistency of the brand image. An experienced industry focused partner can then overlay best practices, applications or technology that further add efficiencies or improve customer satisfaction and service delivery.

Finally, look for an outsource partner that is flexible, agile, and proactive toward your business goals and has a collaborative corporate culture.

By Chris Rutsch

American Customer Care

The voice of your brand.

 

American Customer Care's main business focus is providing out-sourced customer contact services to those companies looking to reach new customers as well as communicate and solidify their relationship with existing customers.

We are committed to providing your customers with the highest quality service at the most competitive price possible, allowing you to focus on managing your business rather than managing your vendor.