Careful observations
Industry expert and Careline Non-executive Director, Mike Havard, answers your questions...
- Can outsourcing make my business better?
- What matters most - efficiency or service?
- Does taking care of my customers really deliver business value?
- Can an outsourcer really capture my brand?
- What should I consider before I outsource?
Can outsourcing make my business better?
Absolutely. Smart companies know outsourcing provides access to expertise, technologies and processes they don’t possess, along with economies of scale that will save them time and money.
And they know outsourcing offers flexible resource to deal with expected and unexpected events - seasonal fluctuations, exceptional business growth or periodic campaigns - while they themselves keep their infrastructures lean and focused around the core competencies that bring success in their own markets.
But let’s not pretend outsourcing is easy. More than 30% of outsourcing relationships fail. Your challenge is to find a partner you can trust; one with expertise, experience and capability to deliver excellent service with ultimate efficiency. And an uncompromising commitment to your business success that’s reflected in creative deals and value based pricing.
At Careline everything is focused on delivering powerful business results to clients through trust-based engagements, creative contracts, value focused deals and rigorous governance.
Contact us to find out how Careline can boost your business performance.
What matters most - efficiency or service?
If you think one matters more than the other you’re already in trouble.
As your customers’ service expectations rise you need to find a way of meeting them that makes sense for your business. That means achieving the perfect balance between service quality and business efficiency.
The way I like to look at this is to help organisations understand the required balance between quality, cost and risk to deliver value to their business. This is never static, nor are they mutually exclusive - there is always a balance to be struck. In turn this helps you select the right partner, agree the right contract and commercial structure and manage the relationship most effectively. If managing a service operation to drive advocacy is your core aim (quality) why drive mindlessly for cost reduction? If flexibility of resources is your aim (risk management) then accept that there may need to be a compromise on the quality and skills of certain individuals at certain times.
It’s easy to provide excellent service if cost isn’t an issue. And it’s easy to cut costs if you’re happy to compromise service. Your challenge is meet your customer’s expectations at a cost that relates directly to the value of each customer segment your business serves, simultaneously meeting customer needs and maintaining your profit margin.
That means understanding who your customers are; both their preferences and their potential. It means making the best possible use of multiple channels to deliver choice to the customer and economy to you. And it means focusing on first time resolution to avoid customer frustration and the high cost of repeat calls.
And, of course, it means using quality service to boost customer retention; to encourage additional purchase and the advocacy to friends and family that secures business growth.
Careline, specialist in sales and service across multiple channels, has built long term relationships with its clients by delivering economy and revenue growth in tandem. It challenges its clients - at the beginning of every engagement - to measure the value of its contribution by the three things that matter most: improved customer satisfaction, reduced cost to serve and enhanced sales revenue. For public sector clients, where sales revenue is an irrelevance, other broad, value based measures can apply.
Contact us to find out how we can balance efficiency and service for you.
Does taking care of my customers really deliver business value?
No question.
Today’s consumers have choices and, if they don’t like the service they get from you, they’ll walk. Serve them well, however, and they’ll come back for more. The trick is to understand exactly what your customers value; to identify the contact centre interactions that have the best impact on customer behaviour - the ones that encourage a sale, boost satisfaction or prevent disaffection - and to replicate them at scale.
It’s a tough science, but not an impossible one. Careline is working with some of its most advanced clients to identify a clear link between the customer experience it delivers, how the customer responds and the business value that generates. I believe it’s the way forward for our industry.
Contact us to find out how Careline can help you influence customer behaviour.
Can an outsourcer really capture my brand?
It’s a fair question.
In increasingly commoditised industries it’s not just the quality of customer service that sets you apart, but the resonance it has with your brand.
It’s natural to think no one can care for your customers or represent your company better than you can, but it’s not necessarily the case. Getting it right for customers, however, is a responsibility you and your outsourcing partner must share.
Take time to make sure your partner understands your brand values and service ethos and examine their plans to embed them in their operation through agent training and coaching, processes, environment and technology. Take time, too, to visit their operations and undertake joint call quality evaluations that measure, not just adherence to process, but resonance with your brand.
Careline’s agents are highly trained in service and sales and encouraged to think of themselves as your employees first and Careline’s second. Their performance is judged by quality measures set by you; measures that reinforce the conversational behaviours that reflect your brand. And they work in dedicated, branded, client environments, often alongside clients’ own employees. You are encouraged, by the way, to think of Careline’s offices as your offices, drop in any time or work onsite, as many clients currently do.
Contact us to find out how Careline can enhance your brand.
What should I consider before I outsource?
Here are three sound steps to follow...
Be sure about what you’re outsourcing and why: Take time to define the processes your outsourcing partner will manage on your behalf - if you don’t understand them thoroughly, they certainly won’t. At the outset of every project we work with clients to help define the scope of the work and the interdependencies that will impact our ability to manage it well.
Be clear about the business objectives you’re hoping to achieve - and measure your partner’s success by their achievement: At the start of every client engagement we set targets that match our clients’ commercial objectives - and hold ourselves accountable for meeting them.
Build engagements based on trust - but underpin them with sound contracts and robust governance. Most outsourcing relationships fail because contracts are vague or ill-defined, because lines of communication and responsibility are unclear or, most frequently, because the targets and rewards for performance are misaligned with the real aims of the organisation. Careline contracts to meet your business objectives, report results rather than numbers and make sure that, at every level of your organisation, you have direct access to named individuals responsible for delivering your solution - from strategic direction to day-to-day operations.
Contact us to find out how we can secure your outsourcing success.
