Selecting an outsourcing call center services provider is not an easy task. You need to avoid selecting your outsourcing partner entirely based on the cost because your call center should not be seen as a cost center but a value center. Every time you talk with a customer is an opportunity to improve your business.

For this reason, it is crucial to take your time and evaluate call center services providers carefully. How? By researching and analyzing every aspect that involves and affects this process in your company. A call center service must add value to your company by improving performance, simplifying processes, and reducing costs, not the other way around. 

Let's analyze the aspects that you should consider before selecting a call center outsourcing company, so you can have a successful business partnership. Take a moment to take notes and gather information on these six essential aspects:

What to Evaluate Before Selecting a Call Center Services Provider

1. Company Culture Affinity

2. Information Security Standards

3. Workforce Experience & Selection Process

4. Work Environment

5. Cultural Alignment with The United States

6. Training Model

? Jump to the Checklist ? 

1. Company Culture Affinity

Remember that an outsourced call center is an extension of your operation. This team will serve your customers and should be considered part of your business strategy. Therefore, you need to find an outsourced call center provider that can align with your company culture and vision to reach your short-term goals and contribute to your long-term objectives.

Read about their mission, vision, and values if they have them visible online, if not, you can ask to include them in your Request For Proposal (RFP) and ask further questions about it to see if it is compatible with your company. For example, you can consider their expansion plans or know their priorities. Don't take it for granted because you can identify if a company is focused on their employee experience, quality, recruitment, or resource optimization.

Also, if you have the opportunity, visit their facilities to see and talk with their people to know their culture firsthand.

2. Information Security Standards

Your call center outsourcing team will access your customers’ information, procedures, and systems. You need to make sure to partner with a company that can ensure this information is secure.

Fortunately, there are certifications and industry standards you can refer to and see if an outsourcing servicing company complies with security information best practices.

Some certifications you can look to are SOC for Service Organizations relevant to security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy. ISO 27701 or ISO 20000, which are International Standards for private information and service management systems, respectively, and PCI DSS Compliance for call centers that manage credit card information.

You can also ask about their internal procedures and measures to prevent information leakage and fraud.

3. Workforce Experience & Selection Process

For your contact center, you might require specific skill sets and abilities according to the process or service they will provide. You need to corroborate with your call center service partner if they can provide you with the call center agents you need with the characteristics and requirements you request.

You can ask them about their current workforce's demographics, characteristics, and experience. Interview some of their current employees and their human resources department to know about their recruitment and selection process, including the type of tests they apply and the basic requirements they look for in a job candidate.

Another essential aspect to consider is if they will allow you to define the call center profile and if they would let you select the leadership of your team (managers or supervisors).

And don't forget to look into the experience of their executive team and the personnel that will be in charge of the call center operation.

4. Work Environment

Keep in mind that the work environment affects not only performance but also customer satisfaction and attrition cost. As you understand its importance and take actions within your company to improve employee engagement and satisfaction, remember that an outsourced call center will be an extension of it. Therefore, this outsourcing team should be happy and engaged as well.

Find an outsourcing partner that treats their employees the same way you treat yours (or even better), providing a competitive salary and benefits, a comfortable environment, the right tools for their job, and activities to promote healthy relationships with their coworkers.

It would be ideal if their culture and environment are compatible with yours and if they let you implement your company culture there with activities, incentives, and training.

5. Cultural Alignment with The United States

Look for call center outsourcing companies that will provide you with a call center workforce with excellent English skills and that is culturally aligned with U.S. customers. It is important that your agents communicate clearly with your customer and properly understand their concerns and situation. The lack of empathy and capability to understand and express U.S. language nuances can damage customer service call centers.

Onshore and nearshore call center solutions can provide cultural alignment to your outsourcing operation. You can look for providers in the U.S. or proximate to the country like Mexico; its neighbor to the south. These services can cost more than an offshore solution but can prevent customer experience issues in the long run.

6. Training Model

Training is key if you want your outsourcing call center team to perform as well or better than your contact center team. Each provider uses different types of training models, find out which ones are. Will they use their standard training? Will you provide a training plan & structure? Will they let you train the first generation? Or will you teach the trainer to give the courses as you usually do in your company?

And the same with continuous training. Would you be able to keep training your team once the operation starts? Would they provide KPIs reports to identify areas of opportunity to attack with training? Do they have training programs to improve agents’ performance like computer skills, leadership, and communication?

Now you have more clues that will help you make a better decision when selecting an outsourcing call center partner. You can consider all these important elements in your selection process by including them in an RFP or creating a bulleted list with questions to ask your vendors regarding these topics, so you don't miss any relevant information for your decision.

We hope you find this useful in your outsourcing journey!