In many sectors, competition continues to intensify. Companies must then redouble their efforts to better satisfy their existing customers and acquire new ones.
To achieve this, customer relationships are absolutely crucial. They must be of high quality. Whether it involves inbound calls, technical support, telemarketing, or conducting surveys, this task requires significant material and physical resources, and above all, expertise that cannot be improvised.
That’s whyoutsourcing your call center can be particularly wise, provided you make the right choice among a plethora of service providers.
Several aspects must be considered before finalizing with a service provider. Which ones? The answer is in the rest of this article.
Here’s how to choose your call center effectively with 10 tips
1- Check the financial stability
Although recent crises have undoubtedly strengthened the profession, it is always wise to verify the financial solidity before signing with a provider.
How can you access the financial documents of your potential providers? It’s quite simple:
For public limited companies (SA) and private limited companies (SARL): you can consult societe.com or Infogreffe.fr to obtain their financial statements. You can also obtain their K-bis certificates, mortgage statements, and pledge information.
For listed companies: the easiest way is to visit their websites, where they publish all financial information. You can also visit the AMF (Autorité des Marchés Financiers) website and consult the legal announcements bulletin.
If you are not familiar with corporate finance, we recommend seeking assistance from your accountant, for example. At the same time, it is crucial to ensure that the provider has solid experience in managing calls and inbound call services. An experienced team in customer relations and marketing will be a major asset for your company.
2- Evaluate the human capital
How skilled is the provider's team? Inquire about the training of the telemarketers. Not all call centers are equal in this regard; some prioritize training as it is seen as a crucial component for the success of the mission. Others, on the other hand, skimp on training to cut costs.
The level of professionalism of the staff has a significant impact on the quality of interactions. While some may operate with a lack of precise knowledge on the topic at hand, others have a thorough mastery of their subject and therefore demonstrate a compelling conviction in client relations. Ensure that the call center staff is comfortable in your field; this is a true guarantee of success for your company.
Ensure that the provider also has an effective communication system and a high-performance telephony management software to optimize call management and your company’s marketing strategy.
3- Evaluate the provider's technical infrastructure and resilience
The call center must also offer a reliable, secure, and high-performance IT infrastructure.
In the event of an incident, how does the provider ensure the continuity of its information system and call management?
Some points to consider:
- Where and how are the provider’s servers and call center software hosted?
- Is its system redundant to ensure continuity of customer service?
- How does it protect its data and ensure the security of calls?
- What measures are in place to counter potential cyber-attacks and maintain service quality for client companies?
4- Scalability of the technical infrastructure
How does the call center address your potential evolving needs in telecommunication?
If your operations require rapid scaling, are they capable of keeping up with this growth and managing your company’s inbound calls effectively?
For example: If your projects are international, can they accommodate you with bilingual profiles? English speakers? German speakers? … and agents equipped to meet your specific customer service needs?
What about the scalability of their technical platform (software solutions, servers, fiber optic connections, etc.) to ensure effective call management and support your company's growth?
5- Check its references
You can certainly ask the provider for their references, such as those related to customer service, or you can search for them yourself.
A small investigation will reveal their achievements as well as, most likely, some feedback and performance indicators in telephonic service.
This information is not always easy to find; some clients prefer to keep their call management outsourcing discreet. However, with a bit of perseverance, you will eventually uncover the sought-after information about the client companies and agencies that have benefited from their call center services.
6- Ensure the alignment between their area of expertise and your specific needs
After clearly defining your needs and expectations (your objectives) and formalizing them in a document related to telecommunication.
Ensure that the provider has sufficient experience, equipped agents, and human skills to support you in your project.
Gather information on their areas of sales expertise. Where are their strengths: lead generation? Technical support? … And their outbound call management tools. Check the alignment between these strengths and your specific needs.
Check the profiles of their staff on LinkedIn, their expertise, and experience.
7- Do their reports allow you to be proactive?
Are they capable of providing you with reliable and detailed reports on demand? The goal is to be able to quickly assess the initial results of the campaign, analyze reasons for rejection (for example), and adjust your approach swiftly.
Examples of KPIs for lead generation campaigns:
- The number of calls and other interactions (email, social media, etc.)
- The number of successful and well-argued calls
- The number of leads identified
- The number of rejections and the reasons for rejections (very important information as it helps you optimize your script and handle objections.)
8- The software solution
Which software solution does he use?
Check the capabilities of his software solution to meet your most specific needs in phone communication.
Some are multichannel, allowing the management of outbound and inbound calls, as well as the convergence of calls with various communication channels such as social media, emails, SMS, etc. This equips agents for better call handling and seamless communication with customers.
9- Price
Understanding pricing in the call center industry is much more complex than one might think. It is far from being a smooth and straightforward process...
Some call centers offer very low prices compared to their counterparts. It’s easy to fall for the allure of these enticing offers... Be cautious, as a low price often hides poor service quality, especially when it comes to call management and customer relations.
10- Quality monitoring
How does the provider measure the quality of its services? Does it have a quality control unit? This is an independent team responsible for analyzing recorded calls, exchanged emails, and all other interactions on social media.
Last but not least, one final (eleventh) commandment that is very important: the quality of your specifications document:
The choice of the right call center will largely depend on the quality of your specifications document and the level of detail in the requirements you have outlined for phone communication!
Clarify your expectations and objectives before diving headfirst into finding a customer service provider. What exactly do you want: a call center specializing in lead generation, nurturing, sales, technical support, etc.?
This is an essential step, without which you risk making a misstep by choosing a provider disconnected from your actual needs, lacking a precise understanding of the market you’re targeting. Therefore, create a specifications document as detailed as possible with short, medium, and long-term objectives, as well as the types of services you require. Don’t skip this step when working with an agency!
I know that choosing a call center for call management can be very complex. Here is a practical checklist summarizing the key criteria to consider:
- Define your customer relationship needs precisely.
- Choose a financially stable provider for service management.
- Verify their human capital.
- A bit of due diligence? Check their references. Talk to their clients.
- Generally, if a provider is financially solid, their infrastructure is likely robust as well. However, still verify: capacity for scaling, scalability, and resilience of their technical communication infrastructure.
- What about transparency? Is the provider capable of providing you with clear reports?
- Verify the alignment between their areas of expertise and your specific needs.
- Continuity plan and resilience of their technical infrastructure.
- The software solution.
- Price.
- Evaluate their approach to quality monitoring.
Finally, outsourcing your customer relationship and entrusting it to a provider must be carefully prepared, and its success depends on your choice of call center. It will influence your customer relationships. The right provider will enable you to generate better leads, have motivated salespeople who sell more and faster, and deliver quality customer support, thereby increasing customer satisfaction and encouraging them to order more products and services from you.
The various checkpoints discussed in this article will help you find the call center best suited to your needs for optimal CRM in your agency.