Customer Service Training Simulation: Outsourcing Customer Service

Customer Service Training Simulation: Outsourcing Customer Service

In the new economy of the 21st Century, the customer is king. Not only is today’s market jammed with competition, but the customer also has an increasing array of options to choose from when accessing goods and services of all types. Today, it is not enough to simply offer a great product and a good price. In order for your business to maintain or increase market share and attain your production goals, the key is to deliver a level of outstanding customer service that combines real value with a positive, satisfying experience. Our Customer Service Skills seminar covers everything you need to know to present your accounts with the outstanding customer service they expect today.

Outsourcing Customer Service

Ensure the service your customers deserve by checking out these customer service options.

Q: I am writing a business plan for an e-commerce site. I will start out working with companies that drop-ship. I need to keep my day job while the business grows, but I still want to provide excellent customer service. Could you give me a source to research the outsourcing of customer calls?

A: Outsourcing customer service is a very common and successful strategy, used by companies of all sizes. Small, one-person shops use it for the same reason you want to, because there are simply not enough hours in the day for one person to do it all. Large shops use it to allow them to focus on their core competency, save money and gain access to a first-class, high-quality customer service operation that would otherwise take millions of dollars to set up.

You are right to consider customer service at the very beginning. The Web is a big place, and you have a lot of competition. Customer service is the only way a lot of e-tailers can differentiate themselves.

Not all customer interactions need to take place over the phone, however. In fact, phone calls are the most expensive type of customer interaction there is. Obviously, there is a need to provide that option, but the first line of attack is to provide "self-help" customer service on your Web site in the form of FAQs. If customers can find the answer to their questions on their own, that has saved you the expense of one interaction.

The next line of attack is e-mail response. Some customers prefer this method of contact; just make sure you respond promptly to their queries. Other methods of communicating with customers may include fax-back systems, online chat, automated callback and lastly, just good old-fashioned phone calls. Some people still just want to pick up the phone and hear a human voice.

Next Step
Figure out the best CRM strategies for your e-business with The CRM Handbook: A Business Guide to Customer Relationship Management by Jill Dyche.

Regardless of what methods you use to allow customers to contact you, it's important that each method receive the same attention and prompt response. Furthermore, integration is essential—so that when a customer calls you on the phone, you can look up the record in your database and see at a glance that they e-mailed you last week and conducted an online chat with you a month ago. The company you choose to do your customer service should be able to tie together each response mechanism into a unified system, so customers can have access to the same information, regardless of how they contact the call center.

EDS' Customer Relationship Management division is an example of a full-service customer service outsourcing provider. Although they service mostly midsized to large companies, it's still worth a look at their service just to see an example of what is, in my opinion, an excellent CRM operation that can provide their clients with everything they could possibly need.

Some companies, such as vCustomer, have their call centers in places like India, where highly trained workers staff the call center from an overseas location. This obviously means less expensive labor and competitive rates for you. An interesting point is that the Indian staff are often trained to speak with American accents, so your customers won't be able to tell the difference, regardless of whether that phone call actually terminates in the Bronx or Bombay.

A domestic customer service outsourcer to check out is Sento, whose service is also well-suited to small businesses. If you want to start out with an in-house approach, it's best to use a modular system that you won't outgrow too soon, like WorldTrak.

One last piece of advice—don't think of customer service as a cost center; if used correctly, it can be a useful and valuable tool for managing your customer relationships and getting the most value out of each one.

By Dan Blacharski

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