The Outsourcer as an Extension of Your Contact Center
Author: Roger Sumner
As you know, I like to share everyday experiences when I hear about friends or colleagues interacting with companies or organizations through the contact center. Typically there are lessons, both good and bad, that can be gleaned from each of these interactions. Here’s a recent example.
One of my colleagues – we’ll call him Peter to protect his identity – owns and operates a small business. He recently went online to eftps.org (electronic federal payment system) to make his final estimated quarterly payment for the 2007 tax year. Peter had completed this same transaction many times in the past without issue, but on this particular day he wanted to make the payment from a different bank account. Being a relatively savvy online bill payer and shopper, Peter thought the change would be a piece of cake. Much to his chagrin, he was wrong.
Central to this story is the fact that eftps.gov is outsourced, and therefore operated, managed and serviced by a private, non-government entity.
Peter wanted to use a self-service tool to make his desired changes, but the online options were poorly designed and he was left frustrated and unable to accomplish his goals. After wasting quite a bit of time attempting to resolve his own issues, Peter called the 1-800 number listed on the Web site. Things only went downhill from there.
The customer service agent sounded annoyed when she answered the phone and even went so far as to sigh in Peter’s ear. She did not give Peter the impression that she was listening to his needs, nor did she appear to be the least bit empathic. Instead of trying to help Peter resolve his problem, she quickly told him that the self-service tools on the Web site were adequate and Peter himself was the only obstacle. She went on to say that there was nothing she could do to help him, informed him that the IRS would most likely impose a penalty on him for the issue he was attempting to proactively correct, and finally (this is key) directed him to call the IRS. Because the Web site generically listed “customer service” and the agent had not identified herself upon answering the phone, Peter thought he was speaking with an IRS agent until that last statement.
Appalled, Peter hung up the phone, took a deep breath, and dialed the phone number for the IRS. He reached an extremely pleasant IRS agent who listened to his needs, assured him that the aforementioned penalty was a farce, and provided clear and concise instructions on how to proceed in order to resolve the issue. The IRS also set completely accurate expectations for what Peter should expect after the call. When I asked how he would rate his IRS experience, Peter told me that it was clearly “exceptional.”
The point here is not to slam the outsourcer. Rather, to remind contact centers it’s important to closely monitor the customer service, sales or collections activities of outsourcers or service providers because they really are an extension of your company or organization. As such, one might consider choosing an outsourcer that has tools you can use to monitor the agent’s interactions. These tools should include live remote monitoring, as well as access to a quality management system, to performance-related KPIs and possibly speech analytics. If your contact center is making tremendous strides in providing exceptional service, it would be a shame if your outsourcers are reflecting poorly on you.
