Outsourcing Customer Service to Latin America

Outsourcing Customer Service to Latin America

Outsourcing customer service is one of the most crucial parts of any business.  With today’s competitive business environment and more educated customers as well as the ease of finding information about products and companies, the key differentiation between one company and another is the customer experience and interaction with its clients. Whether it’s through voice, web chat, email or social media interaction, customer experience is the most important element in the success or failure of a company. This is why it is so important to have the best possible relationship with your customer experience outsource provider.

The management of your company and the outsourcing call center must be on the same wave length and become an extension of the business. Good customer service can often be the key to increased sales, customer satisfaction, customer retention and brand reputation.

On the other hand, poor customer service or for that matter even marginal or inconsistent customer service through all the different channels at the customer’s disposal often leads to unhappy customers, diminished brand reputation, loss of customers and poor sales. For these reasons alone, whenever a company decides to outsource their customer service, they need to partner with a provider that will make their company’s customers a top priority.

There are some basic guidelines when searching for a call center:
Credibility:
Credibility matters when a business is entrusting another business with an important task. For this reason, see how long the company has been in the outsourcing business.
Also ask for some client testimonials and recommendations as well as from industry experts.

Skills:
What is the English fluency of the call center’s existing agents?  Since bilingual services are so important for the U.S. market today, do the agents speak Spanish as well?  What is the accent level like?  Spanish accents are also different from country to country.  Try to pick a country that has a neutral accent.  Guatemala, in Central America, is known as a top location for neutral bilingual accents.

Customer service skills need agents that are customer centric by nature.  Some key characteristics are being humble, polite and great listeners.  Contact center reps who are outside of the box thinkers and can come up with creative solutions are always a benefit and the ability to create first call resolutions using all the skill sets above is of key importance to not only the customer experience but controlling the costs of the company.

Location:
Geographical Advantage: If the BPO or contact center is located in time zones that are 7-12 hours difference from the location of the company it is serving, then there is less opportunity to solve management concerns on the fly.  Most top level executives and management work during the day shift so there is a clear need to be located either in the U.S., Canada or for a cost saving and bilingual Spanish support, near shore in Latin America.

Due to the time zone similarity and lower price structure, Latin American and especially Central American call centers have become a popular destination for high level customer service.

Cultural Similarity – Customer service is all about dealing with people. Having a positive customer experience with people becomes much easier when both the customer and the agent are on the same wavelength.  If a customer is looking for items, for example, that just came out that is all the rage, the customer service rep should be on top of those trends and point the customer in the right direction.

Pricing: 
Last but definitely not least, pricing plays a key role in customer service.  There is a need to balance budget with a high a level of customer service and experience.  Many U.S. and Canadian companies are finding that Central America offers a great balance of a highly skilled bilingual workforce coupled with a more cost efficient pricing structure than their local outsource providers.

A Shameless Plug:
If you are looking for a higher quality contact center with a strong focus on the customer relationship, strong training principles and a highly interactive and dedicated management and staff located in Guatemala, Central America, look no further than GuateCall.

We are an American managed BPO and contact center that provides Superior Services.
We believe that every point of contact, from our employees, to our customers and their customers, is an opportunity to make a positive impact on people’s lives.  We work as a seamless extension of your team by integrating our services and management to work hand-in-hand with yours, at every point of contact.

-Our employees become your brand advocates
-Our management team looks for ways to benefit the customer
-Our environment is conducive to happy and lateral-thinking employees

 

This article was written by Perry Silber, COO of GuateCall. GuateCall is a Nearshore contact center provider of multi-channel bilingual services located In Guatemala, Central America. If you would like to learn more about GuateCall, please reach out to me at 713-474-2222 Ext 116 or by e-mail.

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