Every company that uses outsourcing to manage or augment their customer service expects the BPO to treat their customer by their standards. Companies invest heavily in establishing quality assurance standards, deciding on Key Performance Indicators (KPI) benchmarks, and building custom reports and dashboards all designed to measure agent’s performance and the customer experience against expectations. While metrics such as Average Time to Answer, NPS, Service Level, among others certainly tell a story. They do not tell the complete story.
The key to a successful BPO/client partnership is a mutually dependent relationship based on constant communication and collaboration. This involves fully integrating each organization into a success model with clear ideas of what success looks like, what it costs, and how it is rewarded. Customer expectations are understood, quantified and measured with the expectation of exceeding them. Achieving expectations is exceeding the metrics.
A partner is NOT just a provider of services. A true partner is fully invested in the success of the brand. A true partner helps establish standards and constantly works to improve processes and results designed to provide an improved ROI and customer experience. A true partner is not only a brand ambassador, but is also a brand protector who works tirelessly to create a true extension of the brand within the BPO environment.
Summary
- Evaluate pre-contract how the BPO and client can work together in a symbiotic success model.
- Visit the BPO site to ensure there is a cultural and performance management cohesiveness.
- Provide support for the BPO in management, QA and training. Set reasonable goals, but constantly push them and reevaluate them.
- PARTNER, don’t point fingers. Work together to recognize challenges and opportunities, and solve them together.
- Recognize excellence and duplicate it.
- Recognize challenges and challenge the team to work together to solve them.
Here at The Office Gurus we understand (better than most) that the decision to outsource is fraught with risk. Unlike traditional Call Center Outsourcers who have only been in the business of providing 3rd party support and have never actually placed their brand in the hands of another company – we have! We have walked in your shoes! TOG is its own best proxy when it comes to creating brand ambassadors and protectors in a nearshore call center environment. Our parent company has over thirty years of experience outsourcing services and production. In fact, our parent company went through the same decision making process back in 2005 when it decided to consider outsourcing many of its customer care functions. Because of this process, we have firsthand knowledge of the angst involved in giving up control over any key customer facing function when sending calls, email, or chat to another company. Through our own learnings, we have become experts at consultatively creating TRUE PARTNERSHIPS with our clients to ensure our GURUS become a seamless extension of our clients’ culture, mission, and vision.
