{"id":1062,"date":"2023-02-13T22:32:32","date_gmt":"2023-02-13T22:32:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.confiebpo.com\/knowledge-center\/?p=1062"},"modified":"2023-09-05T20:26:40","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T20:26:40","slug":"ways-to-stay-connected-to-your-outsourced-call-center-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.confiebpo.com\/knowledge-center\/bpo-call-center\/ways-to-stay-connected-to-your-outsourced-call-center-team\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Ways to Stay Connected to Your Outsourced Call Center Team"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Congratulations! You\u2019ve made the decision to outsource your call center operations<\/a>. Now you need no longer even think about the customer service your company provides. Your inbound or outbound calling is in good hands. Isn\u2019t it? Just patiently sit back and wait for the product sales revenue and positive customer reviews to pour in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If only. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The truth is, you need to think of the call center operated by your business process outsourcing (BPO) partner as being as much a part of your company as your accounting unit, product development team, or whatever other in-house departments you tightly control. If you don\u2019t, you\u2019ll only know you\u2019ve got problems when your existing customers leave<\/a> or new sales plummet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why it\u2019s in your best interest to know that leadership at your BPO partner is invested in communicating and engaging effectively with the call center teams that serve your interests. In this article, we will cover how management\u202fconnects with their teams and inspires\u202fgreat work.\u202fBut let\u2019s start with a brief definition of what a BPO partner is and how a company of any size might benefit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Is a BPO Call Center Operation? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Business process outsourcing is the strategy of contracting a third-party partner for outside resources to provide talent or departments that are beyond the core strengths of organizations of all sizes and categories<\/a>. This might be inbound and\/or outbound sales, accounting, human resources, IT, or any other discipline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Call center operations are a leading service provided by such service providers to handle inbound or outbound phone calls \u2014 or both. Your company might benefit from call center nearshoring, also known as nearsourcing<\/a>. This is a practice by which the partner company is located offshore but not far from the client. This provides easier access, more fluency with personnel and makes a closer and better working relationship possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Good BPO Managers Stay Connected to Their Employees and Help Drive Success <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Delloite\u2019s 2022 Global Outsourcing Survey<\/a> reported strong growth in the use of third-party outsourcing because good leaders understand the shared value they provide. A good partner helps you maximize productivity, minimize costs and boost revenue! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that we\u2019ve got the basic understanding out of the way, let\u2019s look at three ways that the best BPO leaders and operations teams motivate performance and regularly engage with their (and your) teams. A good outsourcing partner\u2019s goal, after all, is to drive success for your business by aligning their employees with your brand and goals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. One-on-One Meetings or Group Sessions <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Do the agents in your inbound and outbound phone call centers operate remotely? If so, it wouldn\u2019t be a big surprise. That is, after all, the direction in which business is going these days. But even if they work in a bullpen dozens of feet from leadership, that\u2019s no guarantee that they meet regularly \u2014 or that management even knows a single agent by first name. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As mentioned, a nearshoring focus can result in a relationship strong in communication and collaboration \u2026 but that\u2019s not guaranteed. A good outsourcing partner<\/a> knows the importance of communication and that meeting regularly makes a difference in the ability to understand performance expectations that align with your (the client\u2019s) goals.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Management should meet one-on-one, at least by teleconference, regularly with the individuals on their teams. That\u2019s the only effective way for the agents to feel they\u2019re part of the team. It\u2019s how they\u2019ll best learn the goals and expectations set before them and get acknowledged for meeting or exceeding those performance goals (or get gently prodded forward). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most effective leadership uses quarterly or annual meetings or anniversary dates as an excuse to get the whole team together and address agents as a group, especially if regular one-on-one meetings aren\u2019t realistic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However it\u2019s done, your partner should know the importance of making its agents individually a part of the team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Multi-diverse<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

2. Motivate Call Center Teams with Rewards and Recognition <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This was mentioned in the last section, but we\u2019ll elaborate here. Some companies constantly use the stick rather than the carrot: Meet your personal performance goals or else… <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s technology makes setting and reviewing performance statistics for inbound calls and outbound calls easy. It can be stressful working 40 hours a week at a call center job in which the bosses can (and do) collect and analyze endless stats to measure the effectiveness of your call center operation<\/a> in real-time. Your partner knows how long each agent takes to pick up the phone and complete the call, how many result in a sale or satisfied inquiry, how the customers\u202frate the performance and endless other metrics. These metrics are important, but how managers motivate their teams to hit those numbers can be even more important. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If agents think management is just waiting for the metrics to hit a low point, after which they\u2019ll be immediately terminated, imagine what that does to their stress level and, therefore, their performance going forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now, turn that strategy around by putting more emphasis on what they do right and on the direction of their performance rather than the numbers alone. Yes, of course, there are times when BPO management must put the hammer down, but they should let their team know that the default attitude is one of encouragement, reward, and recognition. That should take the form of verbal praise, recognition, and material rewards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

BPO leadership<\/a> should put forth clearly defined terms and conditions as to how their agents can earn those cash or prize awards and provide regular encouragement as they progress. They\u2019ll have a happier, motivated workforce rather than a high-churn team constantly looking to leave. When you look for a productive BPO call center relationship, get a feel for how metrics are used to encourage, rather than punish, agents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Encourage Feedback (Even Anonymously) from Call Center Agents <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Communication is not a one-way street. You know that in your own dealings with clients or customers. If customers or potential buyers sit there silently or don\u2019t say a word over the phone while you\u2019re delivering your pitch and have no questions afterward, you haven\u2019t made a connection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the same with the communication process at your outsourcing partner\u2019s call center<\/a> operation. Managers can\u2019t have a pulse on how their team is feeling if they only occasionally conduct meetings with silent or intimidated agents. If they haven\u2019t been forewarned in any way, your BPO leadership will be clueless about team morale…until their agents start leaving and it is too late. Or until training costs become impossibly high because they must constantly onboard new agents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That can be avoided if their team feels safe and confident enough to ask the tough questions and bring up the issues that must be resolved to their leadership. But they\u2019re not going to do that in fear. They won\u2019t do it if the last person who complained lost their job. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A good outsourcing company will encourage open two-way communication without merely making that a catchphrase. Do tough questions get honestly answered? Do issues get resolved? Are employees actually encouraged to speak up? Do employees feel valued? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if your BPO partner leadership team thinks it has a good two-way street of communication, they should also have such tools for anonymity as old-school suggestion boxes or newer-tech digital surveys conducted by third parties. Then, management should be able to see if their anonymous comments align fairly well with the tone of communication received openly. A good outsourcing partner takes their employee\u2019s feedback seriously, so the working environment is one where agents can do their best work! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get the Best in a Call Center Partner <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At Confie BPO, our commitment is to be the best call center partner we can be. We understand that begins \u2013 and ends \u2013 with the culture we encourage at our call centers. Our people are our biggest strength. Call us at (800) 684-2BPO (2276)<\/a>. You can also send us an email at contact@ConfieBPO.com<\/a> or fill out a brief form online<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Congratulations! You\u2019ve made the decision to outsource your call center operations. Now you need no longer even think about the customer service your company provides. Your inbound or outbound calling is in good hands. Isn\u2019t it? Just patiently sit back and wait for the product sales revenue and positive customer reviews to pour in.  If […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bpo-call-center"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confiebpo.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confiebpo.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confiebpo.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confiebpo.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confiebpo.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1062"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.confiebpo.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1402,"href":"https:\/\/www.confiebpo.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1062\/revisions\/1402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confiebpo.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confiebpo.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confiebpo.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}