The BPO industry has been in a growing phase for over a decade now. Newer accomplishments in the field of technology have allowed the call center industry to offer better services and uncompromised efficiency in terms of customer communications. However, even though the developments in the field of technology have been widespread, not every BPO company adapts every technology and every efficient operation. A lot of startup call centers for the inbound process are still far away from implementing sophisticated BPO technologies, failing to provide the required push your brand needs to improve customer satisfaction.
So, to make sure that you don’t make the mistake of hiring the wrong or unsuitable BPO company, take a read below. Read on!
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Know Your Business Needs
Your decision to hire the most suitable call center will depend a lot on the kind of business you run and your requirement. Simply put, the services in the portfolio depend largely on your business sector. For example, the services of a healthcare institute are never the same as an eCommerce.
Now, before you make up your mind, it is important to discuss with your board members about the business goals in sight. Setting realistic goals before hiring a BPO company will clarify shortlisting from the multiple available options.
You may want to excel in outbound sales over multiple channels, generate customer reviews and leads from surveys, or even outsource an inbound customer support channel. Not every BPO company excels in every service, some of them are experts at specific offerings, and that’s what you need to catch.
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Your Budget is Important
Be it outsourcing to a call center for inbound processes or outbound sales and marketing, your budget can be the decisive factor behind choosing the BPO company. You may be a startup or an established brand, your capacity or allocate funds for outsourcing may differ.
Also, you have to ensure that you don’t overdo or underdo the number of agents you need. For example, if your customer support process would suffice call volume for 20 agents, hiring 15 agents will hamper the quality.
On the other hand, hiring 25 agents would mean you are utilizing your resources to the full capacity, resulting in losses in the finances. One way to do this correctly is to hire a BPO company that can set up a team of 20 communication agents and offers the flexibility to upscale or downscale as and when required.
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Business Location
BPO companies can be both on-shore as well as off-shore. And while there are differences in the quality of services they offer, the choice of either can be fruitful. However, if your startup business is based in the US, outsourcing to a United States call center can be an expensive affair, challenging your budget and capital investment.
However, on the other hand, outsourcing the same operation to an off-shore call center for inbound processes can be more lucrative in terms of capital investment. But while being more financially attractive, off-shoring cannot always replicate on-shoring due to cultural differences.
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Time Flexibility
One of the most critical advantages of outsourcing to a BPO company is the flexibility in terms of service timing. A call center for inbound processes, especially patient management for healthcare, or customer support for eCommerce, should have the capacity to offer round-the-clock services.
Irrespective of whether you are a startup business or a well-established brand, your customers are always your priority. So, giving them the option of calling in support at their preferred time can go a long way to boosting customer experience.
Another reason why you might need a 24×7 call center for the inbound process is if you offer international communications. Differences in time zone between your business base and target location trigger the need to offer support as per the timing of the latter.
There is one simple solution to outsourcing your business operations to a global BPO company. A lot of established BPO companies have their existence in multiple locations across the globe. Such BPO companies can operate from a strategic location based on your target country to minimize cost and maximize efficiency.
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Market Experience
It is very important to ensure that the BPO company that you are outsourcing to has good experience in the sector. You can verify this by checking their case studies, client testimonials, employee feedback, etc. Moreover, you can also get in touch with their past clientele and know more about the collaboration results or if the company managed to fulfill the promised targets.
Summary
Hiring a call center for the inbound process is not the end of the job for you, there are many prerequisites that you need to take care of. Shortlisting a BPO company should be a researched affair, based on unbiased decision-making and backed by data.
After all, outsourcing to a BPO company is an expensive affair. You don’t want to invest that kind of capital into the wrong call center services provider. So, before you get down to hiring the best call center for the inbound process, keep these considerations in mind. Your customer satisfaction is in the hands of the BPO you outsource to. So, make sure you get it right!
