A Win-Win Situation: Managing a Healthy, Happy Outsourced Relationship

Important points to consider when managing a successful relationship with your third-party contact centre provider.

While outsourcing services to third-party providers can be an excellent way to step up your game in the contact centre, managing an outsourced relationship can be a difficult animal to wrangle. And outsourced relationships means that another party will be contributing valuable skill, experience and time to helping your company achieve its goals. But what is the best way to develop a functional third-party relationship where everyone is a winner?

Here are some key pointers for managing an outsourced relationship in the contact centre.

Choosing the Best Provider

When it comes to choosing the best third-party provider for your needs, there are three main questions to ask:

1. What are the costs?

When considering the costs of a provider, keep in mind that more often than not, you get what you pay for. While you should never go broke outsourcing your customer service, the most affordable providers may also be the least qualified.

2. How high is the quality of their work?

In order to determine the quality of their work, look into your provider’s specialties. What unique qualities can they offer that their competitors might be lacking? Are they multilingual? Are they available on weekends? What about holidays, often a time of increased overflow in contact centres? Are they technologically up-to-date with your contact centre’s multichannel needs? Do they have management services that might come in handy?

3. What will your experience of working with them be like?

This factor can make or break your decision. As great as their services might be, if working with a provider is a nightmare, you’re most likely not going to be interested, even if their costs are comparatively low. Likewise, if a provider is able to deliver an excellent experience to not only your customers, but also to your contact centre, it could very well be worth investing in a long-term relationship.

Simple, Transactional Relationship or Long-Term Partnership?

When it comes to outsourced relationships, they tend to fall within a spectrum from a simple, transactional relationship with minimal commitments to a more long-term partnership. Both types of relationships have their pros and cons. As a contact centre, your job is to determine which relationship works best for your needs.

• Simple and Transactional: While this type of minimal involvement with your outsourced provider certainly offers its share of benefits, it’s wise to consider the negatives as well. A simple relationship involved in little no long-term arrangements keeps your dependence on outside parties to a minimum and can keep overhead costs low. At the same time, this type of relationship only goes so far when it comes to improving the quality of your services. A provider with a touch-and-go relationship with your contact centre may not get to know your centre’s specific needs, practices and values as well as one you are more involved with.
• Long-Term Partnership: A more long-term partnership with a provider might mean higher overhead costs, but it often also results in a provider that really knows and understands your needs as a client. This is a partnership that may be able to help you develop as a company, to offer a wider breadth of services catered to your needs and who will ultimately value their relationship with you as much as you value your relationship with them.

Healthy Negotiating Practices

Once you’ve decided on the right third-party provider for your customer service needs, it’s time to lay out the details of the relationship. One common misconception about outsourced relationships is that clients outsource their work primarily to reduce overhead costs. To the contrary, Outsource Magazine reports that most clients today outsource to add value to their capabilities. While costs will always be a concern when it comes to outsourcing work, focusing myopically on costs can lead to eventual problems in the relationship when one party conceals its primary concerns in hopes of snagging the best deal.

Instead, practice more transparency and communication during the initial building and negotiating phase. As you evaluate your needs for a third-party, communicate these needs frequently and openly with your prospective provider. This can lead to a more constructive process in which trust is built between both parties, risk is kept to a minimum, and ultimately, a better deal can be reached.

Managing a healthy outsourced relationship means learning about your prospective provider beforehand. Once you’ve found one or a couple of options for your needs, decide on how involved of a relationship you’re looking for. Finally, communicate your needs and goals with your provider for a healthy, honest, mutually beneficial relationship.

For more information on how to effectively manage an outsourced relationship, download our free white paper.