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Join
Craig Bailey for Seminar in
Malaysia
If you are considering
embarking on the journey to becoming customer centric, join Customer
Centricity president
Craig Bailey as he delivers a 2-day seminar entitled
Customer
Centricity - Leveraging the Voice of the Customer to Maximize Business
Results on 17-18 April, 2006, in
Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia. The seminar, organized in conjunction with Global Intelligence
Networks, will cover strategic and tactical approaches to becoming
customer centric.
Mention this
newsletter and receive a 30% registration discount.
Who Owns the Outsourcer Relationship?
by
Craig Bailey
This is the second
article in our series on maximizing outsourcer relationships. The
prior edition discussed the importance of partnering with your
outsourcer. We will now share pragmatic ways to do so.
A key question is: "Who owns the outsourcer relationship?" There is a
two-part answer:
-
The overall business sponsor who provides strategic
direction.
-
The person who provides day-to-day direction, even
oversight, of the outsourcer.
To
ensure that the overall relationship is productive and meeting business
goals, you will want to establish executive ownership that provides:
-
Clarity on how the outsourcer fits in with the
strategic direction of your firm,
-
Clear strategic direction and objectives for the
relationship,
-
Company updates to ensure that the outsourcer
(partner) is attuned to your business climate (challenges and
opportunities), key initiatives, new products, etc. and can prepare or
adapt accordingly, and
-
Sponsorship for addressing key issues or initiatives
that the partner recommends in order to improve the overall outcome of
the relationship (business objectives).
To
ensure day-to-day effectiveness of the relationship, you'll want to
establish a point person who serves as a single point of contact for the
outsourcer. This person would be responsible for answering questions and
resolving issues in a timely manner (with help, as appropriate), to keep
the partnership on track and moving forward.
Too often we have seen outsourced relationships fail because the customer
assumes that the outsourcer is simply a "black box." More specifically, an
assumption is made that the outsourcer doesn't need ongoing updates on
company direction, new products, etc., and the outsourcer can't possibly
add any value by letting us (the customer) know how we might improve the
relationship and business objectives. Additionally, if the customer
doesn't provide the outsourcer with a solid point of contact who is highly
responsive, then minor issues will tend to languish and turn into larger
issues later on. Any successful partnership depends on open, timely,
two-way communication. It is up to the people in the relationship – the
relationship owners – to ensure the right level of communication is
occurring, on both sides.
In the next few editions of this newsletter, we will cover:
·
Establishing and managing to policy
·
Creating realistic, aligned and measurable goals
·
Inclusion within the inner circle
In closing, if you'd like an objective perspective on how effectively you
are managing your outsourcer relationships, give us a call. We would be
happy to perform a situational assessment, providing you a read-out of
what is working well (to keep doing), opportunities for improvement and a
pragmatic road-map for closing the gap between where you are and where you
want to be.
View previous articles in this series.
Is Your Customer Service Human or Machine? Your
Customers Know
A recent Today Show covered the topic of the backlash against voice
prompts and endless menus to get to a live support person. One website,
www.gethuman.com, actually tracks wait times, secret phone numbers to
reach a human, or ways of by-passing the menu system to get to an agent.
The piece also discussed how some companies are specifically marketing
that you can readily reach a live person (e.g. Citibank).
Consumers: you might consider visiting
www.gethuman.com to obtain the (easy) ways to reach a human at the
various companies you do business with. And, providing input related to
the experiences you've had.
Product/Service providers: you might consider the fact that having a
machine performing as the "face of your company" without easy ways to
reach a human is serving to alienate your customers. Instead of thinking
"save costs" how about thinking "save customers." Once alienated,
customers will easily switch to another firm and will talk about the
less-than-pleasant experience they had with your firm. Oh, and watch for
the report that will be published by gethuman to rank how you stack up,
compared to others in your space, in delivering customer service. Good
luck!
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Contents
+ Who Owns the Outsourcer Relationship?
+ Is Your Customer Service Human or Machine?
Your Customers Know
+ Recommended Reading
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View previous newsletters
Article in CRM Today
Is there a Governor on your Telemarketing Program? by Craig Bailey has
been published in CRM Today magazine. Go ahead and check it out!
Recommended Reading
CRM Today
Magazine reports a new
Consumer Study released by Five9, Inc., a provider of on-demand
telemarketing, customer service, and call center solutions for customer
interaction management. The study, based on Five9, Inc.'s annual Call
Center Customer Care Benchmarking Study, has several key findings
highlighted in the CRM Today article, including the importance of
24 x 7 customer service, and the strong impact of good customer service on
future purchases.
About Customer Centricity, Inc.
We strengthen overall company performance through
better service delivery and management.
We boost efficiencies in front-line customer service and technical support
teams, order processing, fulfillment, field service, logistics and other
key operations functions.
In short, we align the resources of your organization to exceed your
customers' expectations in the most effective and efficient manner
possible.
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