customer support

Call centers and support desks are an integral part of the customer service experience. Running them in-house, however, is an expensive exercise. According to Glassdoor, the average customer consultant in the United States earns $52,247 per year.

Running a small call center with just ten consultants may cost businesses over $43,500 a month in salaries alone. Add in benefits, office rental, and equipment, and the cost to the company climbs quickly.

Outsourced customer service centers such as SupportYourApp provide businesses with a cost-effective alternative. Smartly managing these services helps you maximize your savings. In this article, we’ll look at how to save money outsourcing your help desk.

Why Outsource at All?

Managers may be loath to entrust such a vital function to a third party, fearing a loss of control. With modern and high-value customer service management call center software, however, there is no reason for such fears. Support firms can provide their clients with access to all calls and messages from clients and their resolution records.

Firms save by:

Paying for productive time only: Managing consultants requires careful planning to maximize productivity. Even with the best plans, however, there are bound to lulls where you’re paying consultants for not doing anything. Handing this responsibility over to someone else means you only pay for what you use.
Not paying for training: When hiring a third-party provider, you hand over the responsibility for training the consultant. You don’t need to waste time or money on coaching agents.
Not paying a high technology bill: For a call center to function correctly, your consultants need good-quality equipment and the most up-to-date software. Partnering with a BPO provider shifts these costs away from your bottom line.
Gaining access to multi-lingual support: If your company is expanding into a foreign market, it makes sense to have consultants who can speak multiple languages. BPO providers draw their team members from all over the globe.

How to Save Money With Your Provider

To save money outsourcing, it’s essential to do your research ahead of time.

Understand What Your Internal Expenses Are

If you decided to set up your call center, how much would it cost? Consider:

Labor – both direct and indirect?
Installation and maintenance
Recruitment and training?
The space you require?
How you will manage the occupancy rates to ensure your consultants are as productive as possible.
Peak and off-peak periods

Most outsourced customer service companies charge per minute rates. Tally up the costs listed, and convert them to a per-minute rate. You can then make a direct comparison when you get the estimate from the company.

Consider Your Needs

A reputable company will interview you before providing an estimate. They need to understand more about your business to come up with your customized offer. Make things simpler for yourself by getting the following information ready:

What are the service level standards you require for answer time, abandonment rate, and call length?
What types of transactions will clients conduct? How many calls does your firm receive? When are peak periods for the calls?
What services would you like the company to provide? Which platforms will they monitor on your behalf?

Ask the Provider

Will their systems integrate with your company database and, where necessary, your e-commerce site?
How does the company bill you? Do they offer flat fees with minimum call volumes or charge per minute?
Whether you’ll be able to monitor calls from clients.
How they’ll handle product training for their consultants like Norstrat.

Final Notes

If you’re ready to save money outsourcing, it’s essential to partner with the correct outsourced customer service provider. Considering the points that we’ve listed here will help you prepare for your initial consultation with the company.