Customer service outsourcing – upselling capabilities prove more profitable
Customer service outsourcing – upselling capabilities prove more profitable
August 25, 2009
Just a few years back, most businesses viewed customer service outsourcing as a means to reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction. Those objectives are still relevant, but if we look at recent customer service outsourcing projects, it will become clear that new desirables such as upselling capabilities have been added to the list. The new additions, especially upselling capabilities, are mainly due to rising competition and the realization that revenue-generation potential exists in almost all customer service outsourcing projects.
Nowadays, more businesses are asking customer service outsourcing firms to provide upselling capabilities. While the basic objective of most businesses is to recover costs associated with customer service outsourcing, other businesses have gone one step ahead and are actually trying to make a profit from their customer service outsourcing projects. However, the success rate in the latter cases is relatively less as compared to that of the former. And that’s not all that difficult to understand because it’s apparent that when customer service outsourcing firms focus more on upselling, it starts affecting customer services in an adverse manner.
To ensure that upselling objectives do not adversely affect customer satisfaction, it would help if businesses choose the middle path. During the initial stages, a target of recovering 20% to 30% of the investment costs related to customer service outsourcing is deemed appropriate. Higher targets can be set later on when the customer service outsourcing firm starts feeling comfortable with the idea of maximizing returns from upselling. It is necessary that initiatives to increase upselling capabilities are requested and not forced upon the customer service outsourcing firm.
Customer service agents working for customer service outsourcing firms also need to be given the right training, especially if the full potential of upselling capabilities are to be unlocked. Only when customer service agents learn to work out that perfect balance of customer service and telemarketing, will they be able to do so. Achieving upselling targets without adversely affecting customer satisfaction, will then become a lot easier for the customer service outsourcing firm.