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Should It Stay or Should It Go

by Lafayette Moran, Director of Business Development, Transparent BPO - September 18, 2013

Should It Stay or Should It Go
  by Lafayette Moran

Have you thought about wanting to outsource your call center business to a reliable supplier for one of the following reasons?

1. The process you want to outsource is not your core business

2. You or your company are not experts at the process you wish to outsource

3. The process is essential, but performing it in-house is too costly

4. Your geographic location does not allow you to scale with enough employees/staff

The above reasons are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to why companies outsource their internal processes. Most sourcing managers or people in general who want to outsource begin the search for a reliable supplier and then start asking themselves some of these questions:

1. Will I be able to trust this company

2. Is it too expensive

3. Will there be comprehension issues/will they understand our customers

4. Will the supplier provide insight as to how they run their business

5. Will I be able to communicate daily with the supplier’s middle or senior management

6. Will the supplier understand and be able to meet our technology requirements

7. How will I get there to train these employees/staff

8. Is this company compliant with regulations that apply to my business

You are not alone, these are very common obstacles and concerns that all businesses face when they are seeking to outsource any part of their business, not just call center services. The same obstacles are faced with information technology companies, accounting, web design, data entry, and many other job types or processes. At some point you have to make a decision to keep the process in house or take a leap of faith and outsource, simply put, “should it stay or should it go?”

Now don’t get me wrong, this is not a decision that should be taken lightly and some think their business is not built to be outsourced. Many times a middle level manager at a company will be tasked with outsourcing a process and will immediately go to the internet and search for “call center”. The search normally returns some pretty big named companies and the manager gets excited and begins the process. They pick up the phone and call and ask to speak to someone that can help them outsource their process. The operator on the other end immediately sends them to a business development person or a sales representative.

There is nothing wrong with this approach, but if you are a small to mid-size company attempting to outsource you may hear one of these questions:

1. How many seats are you outsourcing

2. How many hours per week will you want to pay for

3. How many reps are you looking for

4. How many calls per day, week, month

5. How many documents do you need to have scanned

6. Do you require call recordings

7. What is your budget

All of these are good questions, but there is something missing. It’s rare that you will hear someone ask you about your client base, what your core business is, what your company values, or what your overall goal is. I’m not saying this doesn’t happen, but you probably have to get through some other filters before you make it to this point. The reason typically lies with the fact that a lot of large third party vendor companies have requirements for what type of jobs they will take and the majority of the time these requirements revolve around seats, hours, and revenue. Can you blame them…they’re in business to make money, right?

At the end of the day you want to choose a supplier that matches your culture, offers competitive pricing, can implement your IT requirements, provides quality, offer support to your internal team, maintains your brand and, can be an extension of your company. You don’t want a vendor who is just going to do your work for you, but someone who is going to speak up when there’s a better way to achieve your goal, or offer feedback on processes that may improve your customer experience or business process. In short, your supplier should be a SYSTEM, Saves You Some Time Energy and Money. Of course there may be hiccups along the way, but there is the right supplier out there for all sizes and types of businesses. It’s really up to you to do your due diligence to make sure you pick the right one for you and your company. During your process make sure you are asking the right questions, but more importantly listen to the questions they ask you because it will tell the story of who they are as a supplier.

If you are a small business you may want to work with a small supplier, if you are a mid-sized business you may want to work with a small or mid-sized provider. Does size really matter? Think about it, who wants to be a little fish in a big pond? Make sure you pick a supplier that will give you the time and attention that you need to be successful.

There are some smaller suppliers that offer the same or better service, technology, and delivery as larger suppliers but just don’t have the brand name recognition. There is a sporting goods company named “Under Armour” who started as a T-shirt company and look at them today, they are one of the top sporting apparel companies in the US, but no one would know them if a school hadn’t taken a chance on them and sourced their uniforms to them. The good thing about smaller boutique type suppliers is that they may be easier to work with and here are some of the reasons:

1. Are eager to please

2. Want to make a good name for their company in the industry

3. Are able to make changes faster than some larger suppliers

4. Senior management is involved on the ground floor to ensure client satisfaction and proper execution

5. Creative or aggressive pricing

6. Flexibility in staffing, shifts and agent profiles

7. Shorter implementation time periods

8. Transparency into how your business will be run

9. Open to learning your business and becoming a partner not just a vendor

10. Gives and is open to receiving feedback to improve key performance indicators

11. Ability to test and use new technology

12. Dedicated client management

13. Lower supervisor to rep ratios

14. Personalized service

At the end of the day there is a right size and right fit for every business but you have to do what is right for you and your business. You have to ask yourself “should it stay or should it go?”

If you like this article and are interested in learning more about working with a call center provider that works with you, please call Lafayette Moran, Director of Business Development at Transparent BPO at 1-800-276-5140 extension 3005 or email him at lmoran@transparentbpo.com. You can also learn more about Transparent BPO by visiting them on the web at www.transparentbpo.com.



 
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