By now I’m sure everyone has heard about the horrendous winter we are going to have... The benefit of hindsight is a wonderful thing, as long as you take the time to put into practice whatever it is that you wish you had done in the first place. Which, let’s face it, not many of us get round to do doing. But when it comes to our businesses, the weather seems to have become the equivalent of a giant yellow Post-It ‘note to self’ that we stick on our desks and then promptly forget when the daffodils come out. “Due to severe weather conditions we are currently experiencing high call volumes and apologise for any delay in dealing with your call”. Sound familiar? Substitute ‘public transport strikes’, ‘floods’, ‘ill-health’ or ‘power outage’ for the word weather and you start to realise that we accept sudden disruption as just one of those things that our customers will tolerate and our business’s cash flow will somehow cope with. For businesses with contact centres, any sort of disruption, be it of internal or external origins, usually results in fewer agents available to handle calls or your team trying to manage huge spikes in call volumes. Whether these spikes are caused by customers checking their service availability, delivery schedule or calling back to find out why they still haven’t had a response, it soon becomes a self-perpetuating maelstrom of queues, apologies, disgruntled customers and stressed out agents. But there are well established options for keeping businesses open, staff working, customers happy and avoiding the huge cost to business when disaster strikes. Aside from the obvious solution of equipping staff to be able to work from home, albeit with the attendant costs of laptops, broadband and security issues, UK business has a tendency to forget that it has one of the most buoyant, technologically advanced outsourced contact centre industries in the world at its disposal. So, we have come up with some tried and tested tips for choosing the right outsourcer to see you through the next UK Transport Chaos/Super-Strength Virus/Deep Freeze Britain (or whatever headline the tabloids choose to run with). Heres the first one - watch out for more soon (youll thank us come December...): ***TIP 1*** Choose an outsourcer with a wide range of industry experience This may seem to be contradictory but outsourced contact centres are no longer just about high volume, low value, media response; they are about creating relationships and becoming an extension of your business. Agents have become experts not only in specific industries but also in the myriad of channels that customers now choose to use. The technology used in those contact centres is flexible enough to allow a bureau based agent to handle a call for a financial services client quickly followed by a web chat request for assistance from a housing association tenant and then manage a call-out to a facilities management mobile contractor. Agent desktops are designed to be intuitive, time-saving and user-friendly so this means business processes, FAQs and even integration with back office systems can be easily managed by these experts in customer contact, without the need for in-depth knowledge of your technology. Questions to ask a potential supplier: • Who do you work with who has similar requirements to my business? • Who have you worked with for the longest period of time? • What types of calls do your agents enjoy handling? Winter planning - top tip #2 Not that were pessimists or anything, but it would be nice this year not to be on the receiving end of pleas for help from businesses of all shapes and sizes whose offices are suddenly eerily empty come the first flurries of snow. And even if were about to get the warmest winter on record - well, were thinking breeding ground for germs, flu outbreaks and a bumper season for the companies who sell those slightly sinister surgical face masks. If it isnt the snow that puts a stop to business as normal then its going to be this years version of bird flu, fuelled by our over-excitable British press. But like I say, were really not pessimists... Which is why we have come up with this short series of easy tips for finding an outsourcer - sooner rather than later, we might add - who can support you through good times and bad, with your booming Christmas orders, customer service lines and when it has to be business as usual even when you have your feet up watching The Queens Speech. Our previous post extolled the virtues of those outsourcers who havent chosen to focus on one particular industry but rather have a wide range of experience across diverse sectors and requirements. They tend to be the ones who can design a service to fit around your business needs based on their experience of doing it before, even if you see yourself as a niche player. And theyll be flexible enough to change as your requirements do, because successful businesses are always evolving. And theyll be able to do it all quickly and efficiently. This time, were looking again at speed because, despite all your good intentions, deep down we know that business continuity planning probably isnt a top priority and so you wont make that call for help until theres, oh, maybe 6 inches of snow on the ground... ***TIP 2*** Choose a provider who can implement a solution with the minimum of delay An argument often used for dismissing outsourcing as an option is “we wouldn’t be able to get a service set up fast enough”. And, yes, if the service provider can do it very quickly, then you probably should worry about how reliable and thorough it is going to be. Of course, you may have a product recall to deal with and the press release is due out tomorrow, in which case speed is of the essence. A good bureau service will be able to quickly set up a simple facility for you to ensure all callers receive a response from a real person, giving you breathing space to manage how the business responds. But for customer service and campaign response, whether thats as an on-going outsourced partnership or if youre creating a mothballed facility ready to go at the flick of a switch, the key phrase is ‘with the minimum of delay’, which doesnt mean a rush job. Look for a service provider with defined account set-up and management processes; one which encourages partnership working from day one and expects to include a member of your team in the project management; a provider who won’t need to install new software either at their end or yours to facilitate the service; and, crucially, look for an outsourcer with a pool of long-serving, well-trained and motivated agents who will become part of your team for the long term. Questions to ask • What is your typical project roll-out schedule for a service similar to mine? • What information and expertise do you need from my business to set up our service? • How long will agents be trained on my account or what training have they received already which will be used for my service? Business continuity planning top tip#3 If you’re considering outsourcing for the first time it might be natural to worry “we’d lose control of our business”. Years ago, outsourcing did involve a great deal of trust. You briefed the agents, you handed over any databases needed and then you crossed everything and hoped it all went according to plan. Today it is very different. With the technology your outsourcing partner will be using, you can, if you so choose, give them access to all the back office systems you are using so updates are immediate and real-time information on stock, service history and current issues is available. And it should work both ways; if your outsource partner can access real-time information from your business, then you should be able to see how well they are working for you. So.... ***TIP 3*** Choose an outsourcer willing to provide real-time access to your service statistics If the information you want on inbound call volumes, specific call recordings or the success of a particular advert is available but “Sue in Customer Services will get that to you on a spreadsheet first thing tomorrow..” you may want to re-think your choice of outsourcer. Because all that information is basic stuff and should be available to you at the drop of a hat and, ideally, via online access. The best online access is the sort that delivers all that simple day-to-day reporting you need as soon as the boss asks for it or when you spot a campaign isnt producing the results you expected. So, were talking immediacy and simplicity. Forget the all-singing, all-dancing reporting packages that need days of training to understand because youll find the 2 or 3 standard reports that provide the information you need and then never, ever delve deeper into what your Gold package can actually do. And most outsourcers’ customer service deparcaftments will thank those customers who want this sort of access to the simple stuff as it frees up their time to manage the more complex requests that theyve actually been trained to handle. Perhaps, most importantly, if its your first foray into outsourcing then real-time online access means you get to see exactly what your outsource partner is doing for you; calls handled, outbound calls made, call durations, call types received, speed of answer and all the other standard call centre statistics that, after a few months you won’t be so interested in as you will now trust your provider. Questions to ask • What reports will I get as standard on a daily, weekly and monthly basis? • How do I access my call recordings if I need to check some details? • What will your online access allow me to do for myself? Creating an outsourced partnership - top tip #4 The concept of outsourcing has been around for decades and you can choose to outsource almost any part of your business and, indeed, a fair proportion of your domestic tasks too. Outsourcers are experts in their field and this is especially true for contact centre outsourcers. The majority will have invested not inconsiderable sums in their buildings, agents, training programmes and technology with the sole purpose of providing a range of services to the wider business community. Armed with a clear idea of the support you need, an open mind to take on board new ideas and with the right questions to ask of your shortlist of providers, any business can create the sort of superior customer service that is a differentiator and will help guarantee the loyalty of their customers. So, heres our final tip in our short but, we hope, helpful series to help you as you dip your toe into outsourcing waters: ***TIP 4*** Location, location, location – choose an outsourcer with more than one contact centre ‘Local’ is best for lots of things; food, taxi drivers, the pub. But when it comes to an outsourced contact centre, especially one you may need to use for business continuity purposes, a local provider is probably not the best option. Unless, that is, they are part of a network of contact centres in geographically diverse locations. If the snow or flu outbreak or public transport strike has disrupted your own operations, chances are your friendly outsourcer round the corner is also suffering. By selecting a provider with more than one site – not just agreements in place to overflow calls to other standalone operations – where all of those sites use the same technology, then both you and your outsourcer’s business and customer service continuity capabilities are virtually guaranteed. Similarly, if your latest product launch or new exclusive line has proven to be so popular that predicted call volumes have gone through the roof, then you need to be sure your outsourcer has the available resource and capacity to rapidly scale-up the service they provide for you at their prime location or can route calls to other locations with a well-trained and suitably equipped pool of agents ready to step into the fray. Questions to ask • Can I have a copy of your business continuity plan? • How do you manage unpredicted call volumes coming into the call centre? • Do you prioritise calls and what happens to calls that might get into a queue?
Posted on: Wed, 20 Nov 2013 10:09:18 +0000
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