Learn how call centre outsourcing can improve the quality of your customer service.
Do you find that the customer service your business offers is lacking? Are you experiencing call overflow at your centre that is leaving your agents stressed and ineffective? If so, you may find that outsourcing your customer service calls to a third-party firm is the answer to your troubles.
You may be wondering, “Why bother paying an outside firm to handle customer service when we can do the job ourselves in-house?” While it’s true that integrated customer support teams are essential for businesses, outside customer support centres offer a multitude of advantages that can increase the quality of your customer service.
Customized Solutions Your Customers Will Love
Third party customer service firms include trained, knowledgeable agents that are well versed in customer data management, meaning that they are able to extract and apply their knowledge of their customers’ details to create unique solutions. This can include specialized knowledge of:
- Cost-benefit analysis: weighing the risks of strategies against the potential rewards.
- Incentivizing: nudging your customers into taking actions that will benefit both themselves and your business.
- Interpersonal support: carefully managing unhappy customers and leveraging their problems into positive experiences.
Experts in Communication
These firms typically will have utilized a variety of tools to interface with clients, including basic landline communications and mobile support. In this age of technology and innovation, social media has also become a powerful tool for business/client interactions!
A professional multi-channel response centre will understand this and will have developed strategies for effective customer support across all channels. The more ways you can reach your customers, the more effectively you’ll be able to address their needs. To this end, it is essential to offer 24/7 support in both official languages in order to address the needs of all of your potential customers.
Dedicated customer service firms particularly shine in their specialized handling of client issues – they have developed protocols and strategies for handling client needs quickly and effectively. Not to say that your own customer service team isn’t effective, but customer service centres have the developed structure and experience that can deliver a service beyond your average business. Having trained agents who have expertise in careful handling of customer issues and communication will help ensure your customers’ satisfaction with the service you provide.
The Right Team for You
While outsourcing your customer service can offer numerous advantages to your business, selecting the right service provider for your needs is essential in managing your customer’s expectations.
Properly screening your outsourced service is critical – some firms cause more problems than they solve!
When selecting the right response centre for your overflow needs, consider companies with a proven track record of high customer satisfaction completion rates. A modern response centre should have the right technology to seamlessly integrate channels and make use of customer data. Fluency in both official languages and 24/7 availability will help ensure that you meet as many of your customer needs as possible, while flexible and personalized customer solutions can add that human touch to your customer service experience.
Better Customer Loyalty
How your agents treat your customers is critical for the well-being of your business. According to a study performed by Accenture on global consumer trends, in 2013, 62 percent of consumers switched providers due to being unsatisfied with their customer service agent experience, which was an increase of 4 percent from the previous year. Needless to say, positive customer-agent interactions are critical.
Having qualified agents is important for more than just communication. Creating a sense of loyalty with the clients is an essential part of making sure that they stay with your organization throughout whatever problems they are trying to solve. Customers want to be assured that they are being heard and that the agents working with them are invested in their situation. When customers are confident in this, they’ll be sure to continue their business with you time and time again.
By outsourcing your customer service calls to a specialized, call center service, you are doing more than adding more members to your team. You are contracting with a highly trained team of agents that have experience handling the specific needs of their clients and know how to generate and keep their loyalty. While the selection process of such firms is an important step, a qualified customer service centre will have the tools to meet the needs of your clients and keep them with you for life.
