In a business climate in which the "survival of
the fittest" principle is causing retailers that
were booming only last year to shrivel up and die like
the last dinosaurs left at a vanishing watering hole,
customer service has never been more important. In a
flattening economy, customers are choosier where and
when they spend their dollars, and the most important
criterion used to judge which company will eventually
be awarded the sale is the quality of customer
service. In the vast market economy that is the U.S.,
why would any reasonable consumer put up with lousy
service? Would that same customer return to a
hairdresser who gave him or her a crooked haircut? Why
would the same person once again buy from a company
with which he or she had a nightmarish, or even merely
ineffective, customer service experience? Yet bad
service is rampant, and many companies are beginning
to stand up and recognize they have a problem. The
solution, for many, is to put customer service into
the hands of professionals. Professional teleservices
agencies can make and take calls for you, answer
questions, process faxes and forms, respond to
customer service-related e-mail and even initiate chat
or whiteboarding sessions with your customers and
potential customers.
For those of our readers who have made the decision
to take on an outsource partner for telephone or
Web-based customer support, or for those companies
considering exploring the benefits of outsourcing,
Customer Inter@ction SolutionsTM presents its annual
compendium of the most important players in the world
of outsourced teleservices. Just as with clothing or
cars, one size does not fit all, so these companies
represent an array of shapes and sizes, from the small
to the very high volume. Many of them offer services
in other languages, and an increasing number now offer
Web-based services, as well. We're sure you'll
find exactly what you seek in these pages...and don't
forget to tell the agencies that we sent you. Happy
hunting!
CompUSA Call Center
Services
Clark Hausmann [email protected]
800-563-9699 www.compusa.com/call_center
A, B, F, E, D
Offering Contact Center Outsourcing, eCRM Solutions
and Consulting, CompUSA Call Center Services creates
innovative solutions specializing in Customer
Acquisition, Customer Retention and Enterprise
Support. We deliver quality customer support the way
customers prefer to interact. Call 1-800-563-9699 or
visit www.compusa.com/call_center.
CSC
Wendy Shooster-Leuchter [email protected]
800-537-8000 www.globalresponse.com
A, B, E
CSC is a full-service call center and fulfillment
company. Ranked among the top providers, the company
has served customers for over 25 years. Services
include inbound and outbound communications,
fulfillment and data management. CSC is Microsoft- and
Citrix-certified.
IVR, Inc. (Interactive
Voice Response)
888-633-3487 www.ivrinc.com
A, B, D
MarketLinc Call Centre
Solutions
888-858-7643 www.marketlinc.ca
A, B
Market USA
Michael Centrella [email protected]
800-658-8721 www.marketusa.com
A, B, C, E, F
Market USA is a full-service inbound and outbound
teleservice agency with 19 call centers in Canada and
the United States, employing more than 3,500
sales/service associates. Our industry focus includes
insurance, financial, direct response, product sales,
catalog, e-commerce and membership programs.
West Corp.
Mark Meudt [email protected]
800-841-9000 www.west.com
A, B, C, D, E, F
West, one of the nation's largest fully integrated
teleservices companies, provides customized inbound,
interactive, outbound and Internet services on an
outsourced basis. West's robust, integrated
solutions capabilities provide a continuous loop of
revenue and relationship-enhancing opportunities for
all stages of our clients' customers' life
cycle...acquisition, retention and growth.
Selecting
The Right Service Agency To Handle Your Customer Care
Needs
BY RON ABEL, TELERX
As the customer care marketplace changes at an
unprecedented pace, more and more companies are
outsourcing their customer care functions. Combine
ever-changing technology with a more knowledgeable and
demanding customer base, and it's easy to understand
this trend and its anticipated growth.
It has become clear that many companies are
unprepared to meet customer needs -- especially on the
Internet. A recent study1
found that 17 percent of 100 sites surveyed do not
offer e-mail capabilities. Of those that do, more than
half take longer than two business days to respond to
customers' inquiries. Another study2
showed that more than 46 percent of high-traffic sites
take longer than five days to respond to an e-mail
message, and many never respond at all. This is
interesting in light of forecasts that predict
customer contact via e-mail will grow to 50 percent by
the end of 2001.3
In addition, chat/VoIP, self-service and live-help
modules are on the way. The Internet and customer
relationship management (CRM) -- on which companies
are expected to spend $90 billion per year by 20034
-- will continue to encourage direct customer
intervention.
Despite all of these advancements, technology will
not replace the need for human interaction.
Relationships will remain key to business growth and
customer loyalty, and service will continue to make
the difference. Customers will demand multiple options
for contact, immediacy and ease. They'll be most
impressed by front-line personnel who have the skills,
training and attitude to provide the highest level of
service possible and interactions that are empathetic,
consultative and solution-driven.
All these issues help make the case for
outsourcing, which relieves organizations of the need
to develop and maintain all of these resources
in-house.
TYING THE KNOT
Partnering with a service agency is like a marriage --
picking the best partner is critical to the success of
the relationship. How do you go about selecting that
outsourcing company? Here are some tips to help you
identify the right mate.
Analyze your company's current situation. Outline
your corporate philosophy, company direction and
the role customer service and customer
relationship management play in your organization.
Assess where you are now and where you would like
to be in the future.
Investigate service agencies that are
recommended by your peers, companies that
outsource or trade organizations. Conduct
initial research that provides a feel for each
prospective partner's focus and core competency,
organizational structure, corporate culture and
ideals, operating methodology, customer service
philosophy, affinity for building one-to-one
relationships with customers and nurturing
long-term loyalty, professional team and ability
to add experience and industry expertise to your
program.
Issue a "Request for Proposals" (RFP).
The RFP is a valuable resource that, when written
properly to elicit consistent responses, helps
executives compare "apples to apples" in the
evaluation of potential partners. It also helps
reduce the number of vendors who warrant more
detailed investigation and consideration.
Be sure to establish a required format for
responses so the information you receive is
comparable. Ask targeted questions that yield
information on each agency's history, services,
organization and team, financial stability,
technology, CRM philosophy, hiring, training,
monitoring processes, quality control procedures,
reporting, fulfillment, start-up and ongoing operating
costs.
VISIT THE SERVICE AGENCY'S FACILITIES Conduct site visits. While you will learn a lot
about each vendor from responses to your RFP, site
visits are the most telling. By visiting a service
agency's corporate headquarters as well as the
location that will house your program, you'll be able
to get a feel for the cultural match. You'll also be
able to validate claims about resources and
technology.
Tour the facilities. Get a feel for the work
environment, the existing programs and the prevailing
work ethic. Meet with program supervisors and the
management team. Sit in on a training session. Monitor
calls. Listen to the way customer service
representatives communicate with customers. Do they
simply answer the question at hand, or do they offer
additional information, pose questions that generate
good data, cross-sell, upsell and build long-term
relationships?
Experience the technology firsthand. Is the
vendor equipped to handle customer contacts through
all of the multimedia channels available today? Does
the service agency offer the latest in CRM systems and
Internet technologies?
Secure a list of client references. Ask for
names of clients that have products and programs that
employ skill sets similar to those required by your
program. Contact these companies, and strive to get a
good understanding for their areas of satisfaction and
dissatisfaction with the service agency. Call the
clients' toll-free numbers to determine how customer
transactions are handled. Access their Web sites to
experience firsthand the Internet technologies that
are being employed.
After you have completed all of these steps and
discussed your specific needs with each remaining
contestant, select the service agency most suited to
your program and the one that is most likely to add
value to your organization. Then, tie the knot, and
spend the time and energy required to craft a
successful partnership. It will be well worth the
return when your program positively impacts your
customers as well as your company's bottom line.
Ron Abel is executive vice president at Telerx,
an agency that specializes in customer care. Telerx's
teams of trained customer service representatives help
companies interact with their customers via toll-free
numbers, e-mail, the Internet, mail and fax.