How to Find the Best Support Outsourcing Provider for Your Brand

Your outsourced help desk support becomes a direct brand representative, so it makes sense to choose this partner very carefully. A poor choice here can damage your reputation significantly, so don’t be beguiled by the potential cost-savings, do a thorough review before signing up.

In this article, we look at how you can find the best brand partner for your brand.

Clearly Define Your Support Requirements

What is your primary goal in hiring outside support? Is it to bring in skills you desperately need, to reduce costs, to improve capacity, or to improve your brand image? It’s likely to be a combination but knowing which is most important helps you narrow your choices. It also gives you a benchmark to measure performance against.

Identify Potential Providers

You can reach out to industry contacts or reputable resources for company recommendations. However, you’ll want to supplement these with copious research. Do a preliminary review on the online reviews for each company to weed out unsuitable candidates.

Assess Their Expertise and Industry Experience

Now that you have a shortlist, evaluate the expertise of each candidate. Have they worked in your industry or sector before? If not, can they understand your unique needs? You should ask them for references from their clients or case studies to confirm their claims.

Check Reputation Through Third-Party Sources

Has the company won any awards? Do they have any certification that’s of interest to you? Are they a member of a professional body? Check their reputation online and with such organizations before signing on the dotted line.

Evaluate Their Technological Capabilities

What technology will the business use when communicating with your customers? Slow wireless capabilities, poor phone lines, and a badly designed CRM system can all reflect negatively on you. You must also ensure that they can integrate your systems seamlessly.

What is the Company Culture Like?

If your company culture focuses on a strong work ethic, you need to find a provider with a similar ideal. Check the company’s values and see how their consultants deal with other companies’ clients to make sure they’re a good fit. Also, assess their consultant’s cultural awareness if they’re from a different country to your own.

Create Clear Expectations

Set out the service level agreements so that there’s no chance of miscommunication. While they may negotiate these with you, having the quality standards, response, and resolution times in black and white reduces confusion later. If they can’t deliver the bare minimum, they’re not the right fit.

Conduct Due Diligence

Do your research into the financial stability of the company and consider a security check. You’ll need a company with a reasonably stable financial position if you want to build a long-term relationship.

Will they provide comparable security to your own? Are they going to comply with any applicable data safety regulations?

Make it Legal

You should engage an attorney to look over any contracts to protect your interests. You can also ask them to include review clauses that give you a way to adjust the contract as your needs change. The document should also clearly reflect what a breach means and how you’ll act.

Consider a Pilot Project

Handing over some of your support functions is a good way to see how the company delivers on its

Keep in Touch

Schedule regular meetings to review progress and deal with any issues that may arise. These will also help you keep your partner up to date with changes in your organization and customer expectations.

Conclusion

It may take a while to find the perfect fit for your brand. However, this is hopefully going to be a long-standing arrangement, so putting in the work upfront is worthwhile. By following the steps we outlined above, you’ll be able to find the right match.