Outsourcing is a pretty difficult subject – both for a firm as well as for the customer. For some reason, despite having been around for quite some time now, outsourcing is still viewed upon as a necessary evil by the firm and by the customer as something that is leading to the erosion of his/ her relationship with the firm. Is it really so bad? Well, we don’t need to look into the macro picture because we only want to deal with one issue right now – customer relations and outsourcing.
A recent survey found that an American consumer doesn’t mind dealing with a rude or even condescending customer service agent from the homeland. But s/he definitely doesn’t like one that speaks with a foreign accent. The survey conducted for NetReflector, a provider of customer feedback applications, showed that respondents were not so put off by agent rudeness or even by unnecessary wait time. What they couldn’t stand was the accented English. That makes one think if the problem really is the accent or something deeper, more foreboding.
The problem could lie in the fact that the outsourced rep may not be equipped to solve the customer’s problem. That’s not to say the rep is not qualified for the job, it’s just that s/he doesn’t understand the customer’s problem and hence cannot help the customer. Result – customer dissatisfaction. So how do you solve this simple yet pertinent issue? One thing is to better plan your outsourcing operations right from scratch. It isn’t enough to save money by operating out of a cheaper country. You have to make your reps competent enough to deal with clients.
If your firm has not yet begun outsourcing work, you must do a soul-search and check if you really need to outsource. Is there an absolute need for it and will the firm gain from it are questions that need to be answered.

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