September 1998

Handling Multilingual Programs With A Teleservices Provider

BY KERRY ADLER, SITEL CORPORATION

As U.S. corporations expand into international markets, their need for global call center solutions has become more evident. Today's competitive market demands that companies adopt international - and nontraditional - approaches to reaching, servicing and selling to customers.

But communicating with these international customers, whether in their native lands or as immigrant populations, can be a challenging process. Language, custom and culture play key roles in the success of international teleservices and telesales programs.

There is no question that in-language teleservices and telesales programs are an effective means to target specific markets both globally and locally. The challenge in developing multilingual programs is to recognize that such programs require a different approach than those of a typical call center.

Communication, recruitment, training and call center operations are much more complicated with multilingual programs. It takes more than simply duplicating a company's domestic call center capabilities in a different language to get the job done right.

Communicating With An International Audience
Chinese, French, Spanish, Cantonese … the fact is, there are more than 6,500 spoken languages in the world, and 4,500 of these languages have more than 1,000 speakers each. There are also close to 200 recognized independent nations, which makes reaching potential customers in their native tongue and culture difficult. Language, culture, custom and buying patterns all come into play when determining the best way to communicate with an international audience.

Language can be the key to meaningful communication with potential customers, or it can be a barrier to such communication. Be sure the outsourced teleservices provider you choose recognizes the importance of the mother tongue - the language through which communication is most effective.

Cultural understanding also can make a big difference when it comes to satisfying international customer expectations, from knowing the proper way to greet the customer to how you deal with that customer if they are upset with a product you are supporting. It's the little things, such as etiquette and customs, that can make a big difference in providing effective international teleservices and telesales support.

When a company targets an international audience through telesales, it must recognize that culture plays an important role in buying decisions. Different cultural groups may have different buying patterns. For example, in Asian families, purchasing decisions often are made by the entire family unit. In some cultures, the head of the household may be responsible for purchases. Recognizing and respecting these differences can help a company understand the needs and concerns of its potential customers.

International means different things to different people in this day and age. An international customer may be one who lives in Japan, or one who immigrated to North America from Brazil. Generations change and adapt from one to the next. Customs, even in the homeland, may become more modern as a result of technology and other influences. Outsourced teleservices providers must recognize that as customers change, they must change, too.

Recruiting The Agents
So your company has decided to outsource and reach non-English speaking customers. And you have turned to an outsourced teleservices provider to get the job done. The first thing that outsourced provider must do is recruit the agents who will handle your teleservices and telesales events.

Recruiting qualified support and sales professionals can be a challenge at any level. But when you enter the international sector, the challenge intensifies. What type of agent do you use to reach third-generation immigrants? What if your target audience could speak any of five dialects? What do you do if the customer prefers to speak in another language?

The questions surrounding multilingual programs are endless. That's why SITEL engages in the "fingerprint approach" when it comes to recruiting. This approach helps companies establish a fingerprint of the type of individual they need on the other end of the phone, fax or computer to assist and sell to these nontraditional customers.

For example, if you're calling native Chinese immigrants, you want an agent with a lot of familiarity with language and dialects. You don't necessarily want a fourth-generation Chinese-American who learned the language secondhand through grandparents. You need an agent who intimately understands the customers he or she will be servicing.

In understanding these customers, language isn't the only issue. The cultural nuances and buying patterns described above also come into play when selecting the proper teleservices and telesales agents for a multilingual program. The more the company and the outsourced provider take into account the culture and customs of the group they are targeting, the more success they will have.

Once a company has established the fingerprint of the type of agents it wants, it's time to try to bring these people in the door. Whether a company is recruiting agents in North America to assist immigrants to this continent or a company is establishing a call center in an international location, there are many considerations that must be carefully thought out.

It is important to remember that each international community has its own method of communication. The traditional advertising model will not necessarily work on the international level. The key is to understand how the community works, then promote employment opportunities at the local level through community groups, community papers, clubs, family get-togethers … any place a company can find a good-will ambassador who will help communicate employment needs and benefits. Once a company develops a solid recruiting strategy - and provides its employees with a positive work environment - word of mouth becomes its best form of recruitment.

Training The Call Center Professionals
Just like with any call center program, the training for a multilingual program must begin with the basics: learning to deal effectively with customers, handle call volume, solve problems, answer questions and sell products. This basic training is conducted in-language with traditional training modules.

But with multilingual programs, the training process doesn't end there. With such programs, training must be extended to address issues that go beyond language needs, including dialect, culture and products.

Training and service need to reflect the expectations of a geographical set of individuals. And the agents need to be trained to handle any sort of situation that may come up with the international audience it is serving.

For example, even though list companies try their best, their lists are not always accurate. An agent who is making a telesales call to a person with the last name Wong may be calling a recent immigrant or a third-generation American who speaks only English. Training needs to prepare the agents to handle this reality. The outsourced provider that is training these individuals must constantly reassess the training process to ensure it reflects the changing needs of the international audience it is trying to reach.

Operating An In-Language Call Center
Too many companies wake up one day and say, "Yes, I want to do in-language teleservices and telesales." But that doesn't mean they should immediately start offering multilingual programs in 15 languages. We have found it is best to focus on programs language by language, building up expertise. To provide quality teleservices and telesales in the international sector, it's best to start slowly with one foreign language and grow from there in developing programs.

When operating a multilingual call center, wherever it is, there are many considerations that must be carefully thought out and managed, including market potential, staffing, competition, governmental and regulatory concerns, and infrastructure.

Quality in the call center is not an element that can be overlooked. It is essential to monitor quality in the call center throughout all hours of operation on every call center program. When programs are conducted in-language, the quality assurance staff must be able to adhere to the strict processes established in-language. Managing in-language call center quality can be a tricky process where a simple translation of procedures will not suffice.

Once a company addresses all of these concerns and begins handling multilingual programs, it needs to be sure it can meet the needs of the customers. Skills-based routing is very basic and necessary. It ensures the right agent is on the phone at the right time, speaking in the right language, without having to transfer the call. To make sure things run smoothly, be it through call routing or outgoing calls, the provider needs to make sure it has the necessary staffing in place to handle all of its teleservices and telesales events.

Accent is also a consideration for multilingual programs, and it's often a judgment call. Traditionally, servicing customers in-language required that the agent speak as close to the target markets' language as possible. However, as the world becomes more global, people have become more accepting of varying accents.

Conclusion
Teleservicing customers in a multilingual environment is not an easy task. In fact, it has taken SITEL several years to develop the right formula to make it work. And, even now, it requires constant re-evaluation and adjustment to reflect this ever-changing world.

The key is to develop multilingual programs and capabilities that take into account the culture, customs and progression of the target international audiences. A company wanting to provide multilingual programs needs to put itself in the shoes of the people it is trying to reach and take a look at how they would like to be marketed and serviced. The bottom line is a company will be more successful when it serves its customers in their language of choice. Only then will that company walk away a winner in the global market.

Kerry Adler is senior vice president for Global Business Development for SITEL Corporation. The Global Business Development group supports North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific Rim region by integrating sales and marketing functions for SITEL's global clients. Within this group, Mr. Adler serves as the sector chairman for SITEL Corporation Canada. SITEL Corporation is a leading provider of outsourced telephone-based customer service and sales programs on behalf of large corporations worldwide.