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Surprise! For Healthy Personal and Business Relationships, Some of the Same Rules Apply
Building any healthy long-term relationship—whether personal or business—requires commitment on both sides. That’s especially true for a relationship as important as when you partner with a business process outsourcing company (BPO) to outsource some or all of your customer experience (CX) operation.
This is a mission-critical business relationship. It involves hundreds or thousands of customer service employees, personal customer data, compliance regulations, and your brand experience. It takes dedication and open communication from both sides to make this a strong relationship.
Good relationships are built on bonds of trust and shared values. Building those bonds with a BPO begins at the start of your buyer’s journey.
That journey usually commences by researching different BPOs online and narrowing your choices. Then you meet a few of them virtually or in-person to get to know them. Over time as your journey progresses, you learn more than just their capabilities. You sense whether or not you’re meeting with a prospective partner that’s committed to a strong, positive relationship.
After considerable due diligence you feel ready to choose a BPO. The two of you iron out the details in a contract that’s good for both of you, based on your shared interests and commitments. You’re feeling good about your chosen partner’s commitment to a relationship dedicated to your success.
This is a major investment in a relationship that has potential to deliver great results. And you have many reasons to be excited and hopeful, including:
- Turning over the expensive and time-consuming duties of managing your CX operation to an expert organization.
- Working with a qualified and well-trained staff.
- Access to the latest digital CX technology.
- The ability to invest the money and time saved in other important projects.
- Peace of mind that quality assurance, risk management, and compliance regulations are being followed.
Sometimes a BPO Relationship Can Go So Well That You Begin to Wonder, “Can Our BPO Be The One?”
Like all relationship questions, this one deserves an answer.
Is it as good as it seems? Use the seven signs below to be sure.
Sign 1: Right. On. Target.
The right BPO partner follows through on their word and their commitment to you.
The two of you agreed that specific key performance indicators (KPIs) would be reached at certain points over the term of the engagement.
Now, you’re ecstatic because they keep hitting deadlines for the important metrics you identified, such as average speed of answer, first-call resolution, and more.
Too good to be true? No, the data says you made a good choice. They do what they say they’re going to do and are proving they are a partner you can trust.
Sign 2: Setting a Comfortable Pace
You don’t want to rush things, but you don’t want your relationship to be stuck in the same place forever either.
That’s how it is with CX technology, too. You don’t want to get ahead of your company’s needs, but you can’t afford to watch your competitors adopt technology that gives them an advantage.
You know your BPO is the one for you when they keep you informed about the latest CX technology that can save you even more time and money, while hitting all the KPIs.
The digital transformation services your BPO offers address your specific needs to help you keep your promise to your customers.
You know you’ve found a real catch when your BPO is also an authorized outsourced service provider (OSP) for several leading digital CX solution providers. So, in addition to their experience in those technologies, they might be able to offer you a better deal on some parts of your CX tech stack.
You’re moving forward at just the right pace.
Sign 3: Always Listening
Both sides need to communicate to maintain a healthy relationship.
Your operations team boasts that your BPO is a great listener, and they have no problem communicating with each other. Here are a few examples:
- Texts, emails, and phone calls are returned promptly.
- Ask several people a question and they all have the same answer so you know everyone is aligned with the key objectives. When you connect, it’s not just about day-to-day matters. They always have time to discuss concerns you might have so they can work on them.
- Quarterly reviews are on the calendar and run like clockwork.
- Surveys are sent when input is needed on any aspect of the CX program to gain the insights needed to keep hitting all the KPIs.
- Your BPO’s executive team is involved so you never feel removed from the big picture in the relationship.
You went into the BPO due diligence process looking for a true partner, not just another vendor. It looks like you found one.
Sign 4: Never Makes You Wait
“I love waiting,” said no one ever.
Fortunately, your BPO partner never makes you wait.
The two of you set goals for how quickly they’d scale their staff to the number of agents required to support your program. They hit the three-month mark, the six-month mark, and the 12-month mark.
Even more gratifying, their agents are as qualified as they promised.
Sign 5: Stays Focused on What’s Real
The near-term and the long-term have a healthy balance of planning.
Your BPO has a good handle on where you should be in 90 days as well as in a year or two, and they have the solutions to reach those goals. But they maintain focus on the current environment as well and when your operations team needs their help, they commit to resolving the issues of the day.
You understand it’s a new relationship and there are bound to be some adjustments needed along the way. Your BPO partner works diligently with your operations team day-in and day-out to ensure that your program stays on track to hit all your KPIs.
They understand that you’re not ready to start a conversation about another CX program until you have a business case for it.
Since you both operate “in the present,” you can work through things that pop up knowing that your partner is totally committed to your success.
Sign 6: Responsible and Responsive
In a strong relationship, when you ask your partner a question you expect an honest answer.
When your partner is the BPO you chose to run your CX program, that answer might be critical to your business.
You don’t need an answer that leaves you wondering if they understood the question.
The fact that your BPO always responds fully and clearly to your questions makes your life a lot easier. And when they don’t know the answer at that exact moment and tell you they need some time to find the answer, you’re confident that you’ll hear from them soon, and you do.
Sign 7: They’re Focused on What Matters Most
Trust, open communication, and commitment are important aspects of any relationship.
When you outsource customer service, you’re looking for a partner that will focus on the things that matter most. Creating rewarding experiences for your customers while leveraging the latest CX technology for operational efficiency and offering you multiple choices in geographic support can help you reach your goals. Your BPO partner must create customer experiences that make your customers feel recognized and understood.
When customers contact your customer service, regardless of the channel they’re using, they want and expect everyone they encounter to know their name, to care about their issue, and to help them resolve it promptly.
When your BPO makes that happen, it opens a world of opportunities to improve:
- Customer satisfaction.
- Customer loyalty.
- Share of wallet.
- Word-of-mouth referrals.
It all starts when the CX your BPO delivers creates smiles for your customers.
Is Your BPO the One?
Now that you know the signs that your BPO is the one for you, how is your current BPO doing?
A relationship based on trust, with a commitment to your success, forms the foundation of a successful outsourced customer experience that delivers on your KPIs and improves your bottom line.
If you’re looking to outsource a CX program to a BPO, consider these seven signs to help determine which BPO is the one for you.
Experience the iQor Difference
iQor’s omnichannel support experience helps brands connect with customers on their terms. Our CX experts partner with brands to design intelligent channel optimization strategies to ensure they align with customer needs. From AI-powered agents to in-app messaging, iQor’s experience makes us a trusted partner in CX.
iQor is ideally suited to help brands create amazing customer experiences. iQor provides a comprehensive suite of full-service and self-service scalable offerings that are purpose-built to deliver enterprise-quality CX.
Our award-winning CX services include:
- A global presence with 40+ contact centers across 10 countries.
- A CX private cloud that maximizes performance and scales rapidly across multiple geographies on short notice.
- A partnership approach where we deploy agents and C-level executives to help maximize your ROI.
- The perfect blend of intelligent automation for scale and performance coupled with an irresistible culture comprised of people who love to delight your customers.
- Virtual and hybrid customer support options to connect with customers seamlessly, when and where they want.
- The ability to launch a customer support program quickly, even when you need thousands of agents ready to support your customers.
- A best-in-class workforce management team and supporting technology to create a centralized organization that can better serve your entire business.
iQor helps brands deliver the world’s most sought-after customer experiences. Interested in learning more about the iQor difference? If you’re ready to start a conversation with a customer experience expert, contact us to learn about how we can help you create more smiles.
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