Customer service has always been in high demand because customer service is the key to building a loyal customer base. This is because customer service is the key to build a loyal customer base. With the rise of consumerism, customers expect 24/7 customer services. Without a trustworthy, efficient, and effective customer service, any venture stands the risk of losing its trust with its customers.
Outsourcing myths have been propagated for years in many forms and variants. And if you notice, myths don’t just apply to the call center industry but other fields like retail, e-commerce, and healthcare too. The reality is that outsourcing is just like any tactical business activity. This means that the company goals will be to maximize profits, minimize investments, and have an effective communication path. You must outsource your call center responsibilities to one of the top outsource customer support companies who are transparent with their services, whether it’s telemarketing or data analyzing; an honest firm makes for a good partner who can lead you to business success.
Once you look at outsourced call centers through an objective lens, you can dispel some of the common outsourcing myths and debunk them as well. This will lead to trusting them, helping your business minimize extra costs, and keep your customers loyal as well. Additionally, it will enhance the ROI of your customer care experience and marketing efforts.
When is the Right Time for you to Consider Outsourcing Customer Services?
You can consider investing in outsourcing customer service when the magnitude of customer inquiries becomes overwhelming. Since catering to the demanding needs of the customers would be one of the top priorities of a company, you would want to approach it by leveraging the financial and human resources to the fullest and saving costs. Hence, outsourcing work to a third party can be considered.
However, there are many companies who deny that customer service outsourcing companies have any significant benefits. This belief is either because of a lack of knowledge or because of a bad experience with certain substandard service providers. And such experiences can easily give rise to unfounded statements and myths with growing competency in the business world, it is not wise to believe outdated myths and ruin the chances to enhance the success rate of your business.
Truths Exposed
The following are the outsourcing myths regarding customer service outsourcing companies, which need to be addressed with authentic truths-
1. Myth- Outsourcing Customer Service is a Costly Affair
You would assume that outsourcing services are an expensive affair. In-house employees might seem like a cost-saving investment for the long run. But the truth of the matter is that the expenditure incurred in maintaining an in-house team is far more than outsourcing to customer service outsourcing companies.
With an in-house setup, training, electricity, workspace maintenance, technology maintenance, quality assurance, and data security, in-house services can prove to be very expensive. Add to this the fact that your internal team is tied to a 9-5 schedule, whereas outsourcing customer support companies work 24×7 for the same amount of money or maybe lesser!
2. Myth- Company’s Brand Identity will be Lost
You may have heard of instances where companies who experienced a dilution of brand identity as a result of outsourcing their call center services. The reason? Lack of synergy. This mostly happens when the call service centers try to fit your company into their approach model. But this is not always the case
You don’t face these if you choose your partners carefully. Your partner must have the immaculate quality of molding themselves and tailoring their services to better fit your company vision and culture. They would first understand your company culture and then blend in their approach in a harmonious manner, such that your brand identity remains intact.
3. Myth- only the inhouse Customer Service Team is Enough
You might be satisfied with the company’s in-house customer service team. They might be effectively managing and enriching the relationship with your customers, hence successfully increasing the customer base; but this doesn’t mean everything is well.
A successful business means growth in the number of customers. More customers translate to more inquiries. There will be a time when the in-house team will not be enough. A common mistake that most businesses do in this case, is to involve staff from other departments to handle customer support. Not only does this affect productivity, but sub-par customer service can quickly backfire and affect brand reputation. Customer service outsourcing companies can help you deal with these sudden spikes more efficiently and without incurring too many costs.
4. Myth- Quality of the Customer Service Outsourcing Company would be Poor
You might feel that since there is a substantial amount of cost-saving involved, the quality of the customer service might be compromised, leading to a loss of customers. This is not true in the case of an authentic customer service company.
The best customer service outsourcing companies value transparency and customer satisfaction. They would provide you with unlimited control over their agents through their effective collaborative processes. Their customer care specialists would add value to your brand since they would have gone through rigorous training to imbibe your brand culture.
The myth that the quality of your customer support service will reduce because its outsourced is not true because it’s not like the whole operation is going away, or that you never have to touch it again. The reality is that you will have to cooperate with the vendor on the customer care process, analyze customer care reports, set benchmark core metrics, monitor the calls made to customer calls, and optimize the customer support machine as well.
5. Myth- Loss of Control Over the Employees of the Service Outsourcing Company
The myth that you will lose control over customer support outsourcing services is quite rampant. You could be concerned about risking the loss of your brand identity and customer satisfaction because of the loss of control over the customer service employees. In reality, when you bring the right customer service outsourcing companies on board, you will have control and discipline as if it were your staff.
You will have a say in the way processes are set, the methodology of the brand, product, training culture, call/email, and live chat frequency, staffing of the customer care team, and so on.
Innovative technologies and advanced cross-platform business tools have made it easier than ever to achieve real-time monitoring of the outsource customer support companies.
6. Myth- Language Disparities
There could be chances of hiring customer support outsourcing services, whose agents have accents that are unreliable and confusing, thereby leading to the loss of customers. This was the case say, a decade or more ago when there weren’t many countries who had the right talent and attitude to take up customer support and training curriculum was relatively in its infancy. Times have changed.
By outsourcing customer service to offshore companies in developing countries such as India, the Philippines, and so on businesses can now get access to excellent talent. These countries are a goldmine for talented, trainable, and well-educated graduates who are great at speaking English, and multiple other languages in an accent-free, neutral manner.
7. Myth- All the Customer Service Providers are just like any other, hence it is Better to Hire the Cheapest
Outsourcing is like an electronics product. With a cheap one, you can probably get away for the time being. But in the long run, it could potentially short circuit the entire house. Similarly, the core values of a company make it unique from the others. If you hire cheap companies, you would miss out on the provider’s core values.
To avoid this, it’s always advisable for you to seek and understand whether the core values of your company and that of the customer service outsourcing company, coincides. Your investment must bring value to your company hence, it shouldn’t always be about the cost incurred.
Conclusion
You could efficiently leverage tactical and strategic practices from experts in the industry, while still maintaining a command over your customer base.
Outsourcing is a business strategy that should be aimed to increase efficiency, lower costs, maintain transparency, align the core standards, assess and outline the work expectations. If you invest in it by putting the required amount of effort, it would make the company gain great returns and would prove to become an asset in the long run. Expert Callers are amongst the top customer service outsourcing companies, who ensure that your customers are not ignored and their complaints are resolved as quickly as possible. Your customer loses trust in your company when their inquiry goes unnoticed and unresolved. We help you satisfy your customers by resolving all their queries so that you don’t lose any existing or potential customers. Reach out to us today for a quote.
