Emails, chat, social media messages…there are numerous options for a customer to reach out to you.

But nothing can replace the convenience and efficiency of calls. 

Still, over 90% of the customers get frustrated when trying to reach out to a business.

That’s a massive chunk of your business and customer loyalty getting lost. 

So, how to win back revenue, prospects, and reputation? 

In this article, we will weigh the advantages and disadvantages of call center services to understand if it can help the cause.

Advantages of outsourcing call center services

Painless & hassle-free setup

How often have you sidelined a project because you didn’t have enough energy and money to set it up?

Any important process requires an able team, which alone comes at a considerable cost. You need to find suitable talent and train them to derive the maximum value. 

And hiring in today’s competitive market is not a joke. Companies spend months searching for the right candidate and bearing the loss in the meantime.

With outsourcing, you get the team ready to work from day one. So, no more budget allocation for candidate sourcing, interviewing, and hiring. And the cherry on the cake is that you won’t even have to think about salaries, benefits, incentives, perks, and whatnot. 

Your only cost is to the call center based on the hours of service you use, making it highly cost-effective.

Scalable & flexible workforce

The most critical task in a manager’s work life is to hire good talent and fire the bad ones. And needless to say, these aren’t easy conversations.

When outsourcing your call services, you can take these important decisions without any hesitation and implement the changes the same day.

It makes growing your business easier and objectively effective. 

You can handle the peak hour call traffic smoothly without inconveniencing the customers. And even reduce the workforce to reduce the expenses further.

Trained experts

Customers can’t see your team’s facial expressions and body language when they call. They have to simply rely on the tone and the words used to answer their queries. 

Now, if your team isn’t trained to manage calls professionally, it can lead to sour relations or lost opportunities. 

When you outsource the call services, you get a bunch of trained experts who can handle an irate client and close the deal with the same efficiency. 

And when your customer concerns are resolved quickly and effectively, you can expect their complete loyalty and trust.

24/7 customer service

Bugs and issues are part and parcel of every product. But what shouldn’t be is poor customer service.

Your customers can need help at any time of the day (or night), and how you handle such critical situations decides the longevity of your relationship. 

Outsourcing makes sense if you have an international customer base as well. Additionally outsourcing to live chat companies can ensure 24/7 customer support to the fullest and cater to your Gen Z customers who prefer text over calls.

Hiring a single in-house agent to manage calls at an odd hour can seem unjust, but outsourcing solves this problem at an affordable cost.

Boosts team’s productivity

Since call plays a huge role in your customer service, you need a dedicated team to manage the customers effectively. 

This can often take up a significant amount of your team’s time, due to which other important tasks might take a backseat. 

Outsourcing call center services makes sense here to free time from your team’s calendar and let them focus on their core responsibilities. It will also get your more work done in less time and deliver better customer service to your clients. 

Advance with latest tools & trends

While you are waiting for the right time and resources to upscale your workspace and gears, your competitors are already done with the implementation.

Waiting for the right moment will make you lose the first mover’s advantage and can cost you some big customers.

That’s where outsourcing can help you. The outsourcing companies are equipped with the latest tools to serve their customers. You can outsource that if you don’t want to spend on the setup and technology.

That means you can leverage the latest technology and knowledge of the experts to crack the success code.

Assured business continuity 

Your in-house team isn’t a permanent part of your organization. They will eventually move out, and until you train the replacement, your work might suffer.

This volatility makes it necessary to have a business continuity plan for seamless functioning.

And since the managing entity is the outsourced company, your processes won’t be affected even if someone from their team leaves. When you outsource a call center service, you can rely on the workforce availability by the outsourced company as they can provide you backup even on an hour’s notice.

Multilingual support for customer happiness

Customers stick for longer if you go beyond the ordinary services and provide the ‘aha’ moment to them.

Imagine how your customer would feel if they could choose their native language to convey their concerns. It would avoid the unnecessary struggle, and the meaning won’t be lost in translation.

But you can’t go hiring people just because of the language they speak. That’s where outsourcing helps you hit a home run. 

You can request agents with multilingual capabilities without shelling out a considerable amount.

Reports for better analysis

Any customer service process is incomplete without the critical metrics to analyze and improve, especially for calls where you need to monitor every conversation to ensure that it meets the service standards.

Outsourcing call center services gives you this by default. You can listen to each call recording and measure agent performance against parameters like on-call time, average call handling time, and connectivity ratio. Along with this, you can even get feedback from your customers for honest information.

Disadvantages of outsourcing call center services

Security & confidentiality

Many businesses fear involving another organization in their processes can put company information at risk.

And it’s a valid concern if you aren’t researching your prospects properly.

To ensure that your sensitive business information isn’t misused, check the outsourced company’s privacy policy. Understand how they manage the client’s data securely.

Contractual obligation

Often outsourcing companies enter the business with a contract that states the scope of work and other terms. 

With the implementation of a legal contract, you can’t terminate the services before the term ends without any penalty. It restricts your freedom to let go of the company even if their services are substandard.

You can ask for a trial period before the commitment to avoid such stuck-up. Or you can even search for a business that provides call service outsourcing with pay-as-you-go plans.

And irrespective of which company you choose to go ahead with, research what their existing clients are saying about them through online reviews. Talk to them personally to understand the company’s processes and support.

Limited product knowledge

Before commencing the call outsourcing process for your customer service management, you will have to take a couple of training sessions to inform the outsourced company of your product and expectations.

Usually, this is a one-time activity and can be planned out thoroughly, but still, there will be things that the outsourced team might not fully understand. 

The lack of in-depth product knowledge can often reflect in the customer conversations, creating a poor impression on them.

Though there is nothing that can replace the product expertise of an in-house team, you can definitely plan the training of the outsourced team better to smoothen the wrinkles. You can even align an in-house team member with the outsourced company to guide them through initial training days.

Advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing call center services: The final verdict

Like any other business decision, outsourcing call center services has its own limitations and challenges. But it won’t take a specialist to figure out that the pros of outsourcing outweigh the cons every time.

And it’s only possible if you research and choose the right business to partner with. Don’t hurry the decision and shortlist the potential outsourcing companies based on their previous track record and what they promise for your business.

The hunt can seem daunting, so start with a credible option. You can try outsourcing the call center services of AM2PM Support. You can talk to the experts and figure out a business plan that is unique for you and targets to solve your problems. Its pay-as-you-go plan gives you the flexibility to try the services and make an informed decision.