Knowing you have to outsource a skill to allow your business to scale is very different from actually doing it when the time comes. You may realize that fully letting go of these necessary skills is more difficult than you previously thought. This is a normal reaction. After all, what business owner wouldn’t worry about handing essential tasks and information to a different company? Choosing the wrong people for the job is a likelihood business owners have to consider, which makes the task of selecting just the right customer support services company ever more important.
Outsourcing to the Philippines
When observing trends in outsourcing, there is a clear trend of more and more businesses taking their needs to the Philippines. Taking your servicing requirements to the opposite corner of the globe might seem like more effort than it’s worth, but there’s a reason why this emerging market is an excellent option. This country has an increasingly globalized and ever-growing workforce with individuals who relate quite well to western life without adjusting to a cultural or language barrier.
Here are the things you need to keep track of when choosing the right Philippines outsourcing company for your business.
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How Well the Team Relates to Your Corporate Culture
Successfully outsourcing any of your processes or services needs to be done as seamlessly as possible. Apart from the technical skills aspect, one of the other factors that will determine your success in working with an outsourcing company is ensuring culture fit. An outsourced team’s expertise makes up only half the package; they need to be able to assimilate well with your company’s values and working culture as well.
Context and culture play a huge role in this. While you can find talent that is just as excellent in reputable outsource companies from countries like India, engaging personnel from the Philippines is ideal since they understand western cultures well. They speak English at the native level, and the Philippines’ education system was heavily influenced by Americans’ presence in the country in the early 1900s. This makes transitioning into your corporate culture much faster, easier, and more effective.
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Specialization
It might be tempting to partner with an outsourcing company that offers a wide range of services across industries since it shows off its credibility and versatility, but the better option is one that specializes in servicing a particular industry. For example, some call centers in the Philippines focus on servicing tech startups only while others provide to another niche. Check whether they can scale from smaller businesses to the biggest names in the industry to get a better idea of where their services can apply to your company.
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Full-Service Provider
When looking for a business processing outsourcing company, keep an eye out for the term “omnichannel.” This indicates that they will not provide only back-office support and customer care like other BPOs do. Look for a company that can handle your entire process and keeps track of Key Performance Indicators (KPI).
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Human Resources
Before you settle on an outsourcing company for your needs, be sure their human resources won’t be charging you extra for the recruitment. Outsourcing companies are meant to provide you with trained professionals who have specialized skills to perform your required services. Reputable BPOs will take care of the sourcing and hiring process for you to ensure that the right candidates join your team. This should come at no extra cost no matter how many candidates you need, whether you need replacements or additional hires.
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Phone Confidence
The concept of outsourcing may generally put customers off, but this doesn’t make welcome calls any less engaging for them as it has shown to increase leads. However, ensure that the staff your outsourcing company deploys can receive calls without any noticeable accent on the other end of the line, which is another good reason for choosing the Philippines for native English speakers. This can increase your adoption rates significantly.
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Customer Satisfaction Management
Ideal offshore teams don’t just follow instructions. They should also anticipate your business’ needs and study how customers use your services, and use that information to offer upsells and other conversions. Your outsourced team should also integrate with your email management system to create helpdesk tickets that will serve your customers better.
Apart from being proficient in email, your outsourced staff should have the ability to increase your adoption rates through chats with your customers. Having tech-savvy personnel will reduce the need for further training apart from your unique systems. Fortunately, the Philippines already has a computer literate workforce to guarantee better handling and anticipation of your customers’ needs.
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Customization
Since you’re the one moving your offices offshore, a quality BPO service provider should provide resources to make the integration easier. They should be able to use your existing knowledge base and provide onboarding procedures for you. It’s also important for them to know how to implement processes that will guarantee zero inconveniences and interruptions to your current customers. BPOs should adjust to any unique issues that arise in your service delivery and handle them accordingly.
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Morale
Before choosing to onboard offshore staff, take a peek at what the head office’s culture is like. If they don’t have a mission, vision, and values that guide their company culture, then it’s best to think twice before hiring them to deliver your services. Keep an eye out for extremely demanding conditions with very little relief as employees will likely disregard tasks and projects or do the bare minimum. Practicing breaks from time to time, such as regular pizza days or alternating early Fridays off, will make a huge difference.
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A Designated Point Person
While there is a need to oversee your outsourced employees, it’s unrealistic to manage everybody directly. Having a manager or a designated point person can liaise with you regarding the team’s status and ensure output is being met according to the client’s specifications. BPOs should be able to deploy a qualified manager to handle the team’s overall operation.
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Guarantee
An outsourcing company that promises to provide staff who can perform up to standard should be willing to guarantee quality performance at all times. Suppose one of your outsourced staff has been having difficulty producing the output required for some time now. Your outsourcing partner should be able to intervene or replace them at no additional cost.
Conclusion
BPOs or outbound call centers are excellent solutions to processes that you wish to outsource as you scale your business. These offshore outsourcing services can guarantee excellent specialized services for a reasonable cost and highly qualified staff. By choosing the Philippines for your outsourcing needs, you can be sure that you’re hiring staff from a tech-savvy, English-speaking, and customer-friendly workforce that is still growing.
CrewBloom provides top-tier services by disrupting outsourcing and connecting professionals with affordable sales and support roles. For a qualified sales appointment company to deliver your outsourcing needs, work with us to hire a CrewBloomer today!
