Factors to consider when outsourcing your call center: Part 2 In a previous article, we discussed important factors to consider when outsourcing your call center, including assessing the cost of outsourcing, your current customer service and the performance of the prospective call center. In this article, we will address additional factors to consider, such as the representatives’ experience, the company’s range of services and the representatives’ capabilities. Experience — Most of all, you want an experienced company, dedicated to building knowledge of your products. Since their employees will be representing your company in client-facing situations, they should demonstrate strong knowledge of your company’s products. If you are considering outsourcing customer service to an inbound call center, look at their the ability to develop product knowledge in previous instances with companies. Seek out a call center that has demonstrated success representing a range of companies across different sectors. Call center management should have exceptional listening and communication skills, as should the representatives themselves. Range of Services — Ideally, you want a company that offers a full range of inbound call center services, from customer acquisition to technical support and customer service. The more services an inbound call center offers your customers, the more confident they will be in choosing and staying with your business. In addition, by outsourcing customer service solutions to expert professionals, you have more time to handle the other aspects of your business. Capabilities — Representatives’ capabilities are also important. For example, the ability to speak another language is a huge plus. Assess the needs of your customers. Consider at-home agencies, which recruit agents from a diversity of locales, seeking to match specific customer need with representatives from relevant demographics. If some of your customers speak Spanish as a first language, you will want a company whose agents are multilingual. Online chat is another useful function for many customers. If you are interested in learning more about the benefits of an inbound call center, contact ViaSource Solutions. We are a U.S.-based inbound call center with experienced customer service professionals; we also offer near shore solutions.