Are you considering procuring a customer service solution? There is a lot to keep in mind when setting requirements prior to a procurement. At Responda Group, we have spent over 30 years delivering customer service to a wide variety of clients. We have compiled the key elements that can be beneficial to include in a procurement to achieve an efficient, flexible, and high-quality customer service solution.
- High level of service
It is of course important that the customer service provider has a good level of service and meets the end customer's expectations for good service. Consider what is important specifically for your end customers and invite suppliers to a dialogue to gain knowledge about what tools are available to ensure a good customer experience. - Flexible availability
Set demands for flexibility so that your availability can be increased or decreased as needed and on short notice, allowing you to change capacity and be available around the clock if necessary. - The advantage of economies of scale
Feel free to set minimum capacity requirements. A large supplier is more flexible than a small one. Being able to offer service from around a hundred telephone operators ensures delivery and allows you to maintain a high level of service around the clock. This also means you do not need to specify or order a certain level of capacity for a specific day or time of day. - Skills and experience
Becoming a good customer service representative requires the right profile, basic training, and ongoing further education. Request an account of what the recruitment process looks like, what training and skills development customer service representatives receive, and in what way quality is ensured over time. - Language proficiency
Do you have a need for more languages than Swedish, e.g., English or multiple Nordic languages? Ensure that the language proficiency is at a high level and that there is a plan for skills development so that quality is maintained over time. - Affiliation to a collective agreement
The supplier should be bound by a collective bargaining agreement so that employees receive reasonable wages and conditions that are standard for the industry. It is also beneficial if the supplier is a member of the industry association Kontakta, which works to promote professionalism and quality in the industry. - Working environment, health and wellness
All companies, as employers, have an obligation to take the measures necessary to prevent ill health or accidents in the workplace. During a procurement process, one should verify that these are being followed in a satisfactory manner. When procuring customer service, it is also relevant to look at how they work with the sound environment, ergonomic design of the workplace, routines for breaking up monotonous work, and so on. The same applies to how they work with health-preventive measures. These are parameters that have a direct impact on the quality of the customer service. - Guarantee of quality and safety
The supplier undertakes to be the primary point of contact for your customers. This contact is often crucial for your customer satisfaction. It is therefore important, already at the procurement stage, to verify that requirements regarding ethics and security align with those you have for your own organization. The supplier should describe how they work to maintain high quality. They should also have a code of conduct as a governing document for their organization that regulates shared business principles and ethical values. - Statistics
Consider what statistics are relevant for your business to know and clarify what the supplier can provide. Number of cases, call duration, and response times are a few examples of relevant metrics, but feel free to think bigger to capture important customer insights for your business as a whole. - Invite suppliers Checkout dialog
Customer service companies often work with a range of different clients across many industries and have experience, tips, and suggestions on how delivery can be quality-assured and forward-leaning. Take advantage of their experience and dare to ask questions. Also, ask for references from clients with similar assignments who can provide feedback on various dimensions of the assignment.