Managing Call Center Outsourcing

Whether your business’ outsourced call center is located down the street or across the country, you need to manage it properly in order for it to be cost-effective. Experts at FlatworldSolutions.com agree: “Proper management is very crucial to the successful completion of an offshore outsourcing project, and if managed well, you can be sure to see a marked improvement in your productivity.”

Keeping your call center on-task and compliant with your company’s values takes more than implementing the right call center software or having a weekly conversation; especially when your center is located offshore. This task will be a lot more effective if you set quality standards at the beginning of the relationship, enlist the help of an on-site project manager, and maintain regular communication and quality assessments.

Set Quality Standards

It’s hard to manage a group of employees from hundreds or thousands of miles away. To take care of the day-to-day tasks of reporting and assessment, delegate an in-house project manager for your call center.

Your project manager can train your call center representatives according to your business’s needs and goals, and be responsible for augmenting that training following quality assessments.

• Determine what goals and priorities you want your call center to pursue. For example: do you want a low cost per call, or an emphasis on upselling?
• Establish quantifiable standards to which you can hold your vendor. Assess at a regular frequency how well your call center holds to those standards.
• Your in-house project manager can be tapped to make any changes in the training in order to improve metrics and ensure your call center is following the guidelines that you’ve set for them.

Manage from a Distance

No matter where your call center reps are located, they’re your employees and you need to manage them. Your on-side project manager can be put in charge of the reporting and management, while you deal with monthly reports and overall trends.

• Establish site visits whenever possible to assess your call center’s management style and its compliance with your needs.
• Call the center as a customer to find out whether your reps are staying on-script and within customer service guidelines.
• Use web-conferencing and other relationship management tools to regularly meet with your call center managers; maintaining a constant presence, even from a distance, can help you stay in the loop and in charge of the management team.

Follow Through on Assessment

Be sure your quality standards are being met by your call center vendor, and hold them accountable for any aberrations.  Your in-house project manager and regular video conferences can help you stay informed about call metrics, training, and manager effectiveness.

• Compare the productivity, costs, and quality of your outsourced call center’s processes as compared to your previous in-house performance. You want to be sure that the cost and hassle of outsourcing your calls is worth it.
• Make sure the management style of your call center is representing your business according to your standards.  Poor representation can cause you to lose customers and sales.

“Over 60% of customer service managers select customer satisfaction as the key metric for determining the success of their support organization. Secondary priorities include first call resolution, average handle time, and wait time.”  – Ovum Customer Service Experience Whitepaper

When it comes to call centers and customer service, you can’t simply outsource your calls and assume it will all be done right. You need to constantly monitor the performance of your reps and managers in order to be sure they are representing your company, treating your customers, and pursuing metric goals the way that you want them to.

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