Home > Columns > CRM Columns

How to Outsource Your Customer Support in 2021

Contributed by: Aziz Nicleson

Outsourcing customer support goes beyond dealing with long queues of queries, answering telephone calls, and responding to emails. It is more about sustaining the image of the company for the continuous flow of business. Most businesses outsource due to vast growth.

As the business grows, the need to train workers on customer service increases, just like is the need to hire. Business owners lack time to do internal training due to the overflow of business. The company opts to hire a third-party provider who uses their workers to handle customer queries. 

Understand the kind of service you need

Most businesses recorded high business growth after Covid because the economy began to grow faster than anticipated. Customer flow returned to normal and in some businesses, they received an overflow of business. The employees present could no longer handle the huge flows of customers making calls, placing orders online, and those physically visiting the business. The need for outsourcing services was real more than before.

CS experts for a leading assignment help suggest that before you outsource for customer support, scan your business environment and understand what kind of help you need from a third party. To effectively determine what kind of service you need, check your front office and weigh the level of overwhelming they are at. 

If there is a large volume of walk-in customers, it might be affecting the customer on telephone, email, and social media. You might decide to outsource a company to handle social media communication, emails, chats, voice calls, and video calls.

Get a company that will cover your area of need

Customers use multiple channels to communicate and a company should make it possible for customers to use any type of channel they feel comfortable using. Some customers might use various social media channels, others might want to do voice calls, short message texting, chats, emails, or even video calls.

After outsourcing, your customers should seamlessly use the same channels they have been used to. If the third-party company changes communication channels, the company will lose business. Before outsourcing, the manager should be sure the third-party company will cover all the channels. 

This will ensure there is no interruption of communication between customers and the business. Some other types of businesses maintain 24/7 communication with their customers and the outsourced company should provide services the same way. 

Compare your budget against the quotations

If you are certain about a specific company that you can directly outsource, there will be no harm to your business. The situation is different if you are engaging an outsourcing company for the first time. You might want to get quotations from between three to five companies to help you make a better decision. 

Before you request quotations, prepare your budget and set the maximum limit which your business cannot exceed. After receiving the quotations, compare them against your budget but there will be more details to check. You might not outsource to the company with the least quotation if they don’t meet all your needs. If they do, go ahead and outsource. 

Check your data security

Outsourcing will help offset pressure on your workers from the customer side but you cannot compromise data security. Your company has already invested heavily in security and the third-party company you are bringing on board must take care of your data security. Create a secure way to connect with them but let the company also prove it has invested in data security too. 

The company must have the right capacity

Outsourcing companies are different and some have grown to become top outsourcing companies. Others are in the startup phase, while others are in the growth phase. A younger company might have all the communication channels you are looking for but lack enough human resources. 

If your company is handling large volumes of clients, the outsourcing company must have the capacity to handle all the work you will entrust them with. It is very important you first confirm if the company can handle such a volume. 

Take charge of training

Each brand has a unique language it uses to communicate with its customers. The company you are outsourcing might have all customer handling experience but they might not know your brand language. You must take control of your brand and do the training just to be sure your companies will not notice a difference in service quality. Keep a consistent track record and hold meetings regularly to ensure your brand is taken care of. 

Conclusion

Business growth can be exponential at some point to a level when the need to outsource arises. During that time, the business should first scan its work environment and determine why it needs to outsource and the services to outsource. The third-party company must have the capacity to provide all communication channels its customers use and have the right human resource capacity. To maintain brand integrity, the company should handle the training and plan follow-up meetings often. 

Author Bio:  

Aziz Nicleson is a journalist and with four years experience working with write my essay UK and London magazine “Shop&buy.” He is a professional mini-tennis player and has written some novels, with the best one being “His heart.”