Outsourcing

Building a Successful Relationship with your Outsourcing Partner

9 Aug, 2010

By: Aaron W. Taylor

Joining MyLife.com, Inc., (formerly Reunion.com) in December 2008 was an exciting new opportunity for me. I knew there would be some challenges and, after the first few weeks, I knew we had a great deal of work ahead of us.

There was no customer care culture, inadequate systems, no quality awareness, no training and coaching programs and amazingly, no visibility – let alone transparency – on any key metrics.

We were lost, unaware of what we were missing without standard customer care data or analysis around basic metrics like average speed to answer, average handle time, abandonment rate, agent productivity, retention rates, quality, etc.

We couldn’t track trends and we couldn’t improve our customer experience by basing change on data. Truth be told, we didn’t even have the technology to record calls. We really were along for the ride without a solid partner that was able to help us navigate, and our customers could tell.

We needed to make a change, and for the right reasons.

Looking to Outsource?
These days more and more companies are looking to outsource their customer care organizations for a variety of reasons, including lack of internal expertise, cost savings and the challenges that inherently come with running and managing an in-house operation. Far too often, the search is focused is on the wrong elements.

We are too quick to ask questions about price, scalability, systems/technology and process. These all are critical components of ‘the contract,' which are easily measurable and can be comprehensively documented. Unfortunately, we fail to ask three of the most important questions about ‘the relationship.'

These relationship components ultimately make the difference between a service provider and a true partner.

Something was missing...
Despite all the challenges within the call center, MyLife was experiencing a sustained period of amazing growth. This increase in customers led us to the realization that we needed to build a scalable customer care organization. An audit performed by IBM prior to my arrival revealed numerous areas for immediate customer care improvement.

Build vs. outsource was the big question and, ultimately, we were convinced we would find a company that would deliver what we needed. Internally, we asked ourselves:

  • Can this company provide cost savings?

  • Is this company operationally and financially solid?

  • Can this company grow with us?

  • Is this company located close to us, where we can be hands-on with agents and leadership?

  • Does this company understand membership organizations?

  • Will this company drive customer retention and provide quality service?

Prior to sending an RFP to a number of potential vendors, we were surprised that while we had asked some very important questions, something was missing.

Yes, we asked about price, quality, location and scalability – all the classics. After a few site visits with some potential outsourcers and receiving many of the same, scripted answers despite differences in culture, location, leadership, etc., we understood where we fell short.

At the foundation of our need was a necessity to partner with a results-driven, transparent, collaborative and culturally-aligned organization. Our RFP initially did not reflect this need.

What MyLife wanted and needed was an extension of our organization. That’s when we came up with the “Big Three:”

  1. Does the outsourcer have a culture that will embrace our culture?

  2. Is the outsourcer willing to develop a completely transparent relationship?

  3. Is the outsourcer committed to driving continuous process improvement even if it comes from outside their company?

1. Does your outsourcer have a culture that will embrace your culture?
MyLife started over. We reworked our search for a customer care partner keeping these three foundational questions at the core of our process. After many visits, we found a company with a presence in our own backyard. On our initial visit to Alta Resources, headquartered in Neenah, Wis., with locations in Brea, Calif., Kalamazoo, Mich., and Pasig City, Philippines, we saw and heard how an outsourcing partner could be absorbent to a client’s brand.

Entertainment client areas were branded like a theme park: consumer packaged goods client areas featured displays like a retail store and transportation client areas had model trains and route maps throughout their area. Alta embraced the brands it represented to the fullest, aligning agents and leadership with the core values of the organization they were partnering with.

This is what we were looking for!

Since our launch with Alta in 2009, our identity has taken root within their walls: our team area is branded, Alta representatives participate in Voice of the Customer meetings; they actively meet with our product and marketing teams; they even have formed a Culture Committee consisting of front-line reps and managers. The committee’s charter is to help drive home the values of both organizations. This committee has written our Customer Care Mission Statement and five guiding customer care principles that lead our work. The committee also actively plans team activities to help embed a customer-centric environment into the core fabric of our organization.

Their effort reflects the engagement, and our customers can tell.

2. Is your outsourcer willing to develop a completely transparent relationship?
Not only did we want visibility to the inner workings of the outsourced customer care organization, but we wanted to be in the driver’s seat with control of items including our telephony infrastructure, CRM, KPI reporting, training and quality awareness programs.

Throughout my career, I have seen many outsourced projects that have not reached their full potential in areas like customer retention, CSAT and other key metrics. While the program ‘gets the job done,' there are no ‘wow’ moments in the relationship. One major contributing factor to the lack of sizzle is an 'us vs. them' relationship between the client and outsourcer. Relationships are easily strained over issues like reporting, operational control, different views and values around things like quality and CSAT.

To avoid this strain, we built a collaborative environment with Alta. We invited a level of transparency that was unheard of in the call center industry, but one that now can serve as a model for building successful partnerships.

All KPI reports are generated at the MyLife headquarters. MyLife and Alta share responsibility of our quality awareness program, and members of the corporate customer care staff visit Alta’s contact center several days a week. Frontline representatives actively participate in internal product and marketing discussions. MyLife executives are invited and encouraged to participate in Alta's Six Sigma program. The list goes on.

This level of cooperation allows MyLife and Alta staff to work together as a team. It eliminates nasty surprises that stop progress. It allows for honest, direct and immediate feedback that ultimately benefits MyLife's customers. It also fosters an environment where both MyLife and Alta can quickly identify trends and make adjustments in a no-blame environment.

Not only do we both invite this level of interaction, but we both strongly believe that more engagement translates into better results.

3. Is your outsourcer committed to driving continuous process improvement even if it comes from outside their company?
‘One size fits all’ is not a realistic business offering for outsourcing partners. There are too many variables to account for based on the type of program, the engagement level of leadership and the needs of the customers.

Conversely, clients like MyLife rely on an outsourced partner’s ability to drive change and continuous process improvement within both organizations. I wanted a partner that was not only open to new ideas but one that also actively invited them in and that made a determined and sustained effort to improve processes from within.

We quickly realized that Alta is a different kind of organization that truly welcomed our feedback as a client. They implemented some of our ideas and best practices and even shared some with other clients. This sharing of knowledge, best practices and innovative ideas makes them much more than a service provider but rather a strategic differentiator for MyLife.

Alta has a disciplined and intense internal focus on Six Sigma to drive continuous improvement from within their organization. This rare combination and acceptance of change from internal and external sources has helped MyLife build a truly world-class Customer Care department.

All the Right Reasons...
By answering the “Big Three” before selecting an outsourced partner, MyLife is well positioned to continue its positive growth pattern. The future is bright for MyLife and for our customer care team. Our partnership with Alta has allowed us to build a world-class department that not only has helped us see month-over-month improvement of all of our key metrics, but has also turned our customer care team into a strategic asset.

By answering all of ‘the relationship’ questions, MyLife built a team that embraces our culture in a collaborative, customer-centric environment. We have full confidence in Alta to deliver results and we are equally passionate about the customer care organization that was chosen for all the right reasons.