Top Reasons to Outsource Customer Service Phone Calls, Live Chat, and Emails to Freelancers

Ready to outsource customer service for your business?

No matter what type of business you have, if you have customers or clients, you need some level of customer service. If your business is growing, you likely know how important that customer service is to your continued success. All savvy business owners know that you must keep your customers happy. When your customers are happy, they return to buy from you again and again. Happy customers also refer new paying clients. And while happy customers are amazing, unhappy customers can wreak havoc on your bottom line. Unhappy customers (or even potential customers) can leave bad reviews and spread a message about your business that will ultimately cost you big bucks.

As you paint the future vision of your business, one of your main goals is likely to provide convenient and satisfying customer service to your consumers without breaking the bank. You want your customers to have the flexibility to contact you, and you want their concerns addressed and needs to be met. But the big dilemma is how to provide that level of customer service while keeping costs low. You could use your in-house staff, but they aren’t skilled enough. A full-time specialist might not be warranted and/or would be cost prohibitive.

When you weigh all the options, it may be best to outsource customer service to highly skilled online workers.

Should you outsource customer service?

Customer service is an important piece of any business. As I already explained, it can make or break a company – from the very large to the very small. Because competition is tougher than ever before, it is vital to make every single customer contact as positive and productive as you can.

If you want to improve your customer service and win the loyalty of every customer and client, you may want to outsource customer service to a skilled freelancer. By hiring a specialized customer service representative, you can take advantages of all of the many benefits that come with excellent customer service while keeping costs low.

Here are 10 reasons you should outsource customer service in your business.

Drastically Cut Costs

If your business is running a customer service department, you have higher costs than an outsourced solution. When you choose to outsource customer service, you are able to budget effectively and control the costs of your customer service rather than having it be fixed by salaries.

There is also no need to teach someone how to do the work. A customer service freelancer will already have the skills and experience needed.

Skilled Expertise

When you outsource customer service to someone who has experience in the field and a portfolio to back it up, you can give your business the competitive edge when it comes to keeping your customers happy. Customer service experts have the skills needed to resolve issues, take feedback, and keep customers coming back for more. These skills come from experience that your own personnel may not have.

Focus on your Core Business

When you outsource customer service, your customers will receive the help they need when they need it. All of this will happen without taking up your valuable time and energy. When your time is freed up, you can focus on the growth of your business and other income generating tasks without having to worry about unhappy clients or customers.

The Ability to Scale

One of the beauties of outsourcing is the ability to scale quickly. If your business is growing rapidly and you need to add extra people to customer service, you will be able to hire extra freelancers with the touch of a button. No more going through long and drawn out hiring processes. You will be able to ramp up quickly whenever you need to.

Ramp Down when Needed

Perhaps your business has seasonal highs and lows. When you choose to outsource customer service, you can easily scale down on either the number of freelancers you hire or the hours they work per week without having to worry about letting anyone go. Outsourcing is an excellent way to control headcount and adjust as needed without the hassle of hiring or firing.

Stay Ahead of the Competition

As a business owner, you know that the trends are always changing and evolving in every type of business. One of your core responsibilities is to stay on top of those trends. When you outsource customer service, you will have more time and energy to spend ensuring that you stay competitive in your market.

Higher Revenue

Outsourcing customer service can (and almost always will) allow you to generate a higher revenue in your business because your customers are happy. When you improve certain metrics (call resolution, handle time and overall customer satisfaction), your bottom line is often affected. Hiring skilled freelancers can help make this happen for you and your business and therefore increase your bottom line.

Experienced Freelancers Can Represent your Brand

When you outsource customer service to a highly skilled freelancer, they will be knowledgeable in many different industries and target markets. This means that they will be able to easily adapt to your brand and appeal to your ideal customer. Representing your brand well leads to repeat customers and rave reviews.

Access to Latest Technology

Experienced professional customer service freelancers likely know the top customer service trends and know the latest technology to use when it comes to answering and responding to phone calls, emails and live chat. An experienced professional will always know more than the casual worker because they are specialized. Accessing the latest technology in customer service is one more way to stay a step ahead of the competition.

Data Collection and Analysis

When you hire a freelancer who has experience in customer service, that person is going to know how to collect and analyze data with regards to measuring how happy your customers are. Metrics such as first time call resolution and resolution completion time are important to measuring how your customers are being kept happy. The freelancer will know which metrics to improve on and how to do just that. Data collection and analysis is an important (yet often overlooked) piece of the customer service puzzle. Without having data, it can be difficult to know where you need to improve.

Conclusion

We all know as business owners how important it is to keep our customers happy. Keeping them happy takes a dedicated customer service representative and system. Even with a small business, outsourcing your customer service to a specialized freelancer can save you money and even increase your revenue. Instead of trying to handle the customer service aspect of your business on your own, consider all of the benefits above and outsource it to an online professional. Give it a try and see all the benefits of happy customers.

Go through the items above and list down the ways that your business in particular could benefit from outsourcing. List down the specific tasks as well, and how many hours each one takes. You’ll quickly see how the hours pile up and how you end up juggling just to squeeze by – and losing focus and quality in the process.

Have you considered outsourcing your customer service yet? If you are ready, hop on over and get in touch with qualified customer service freelancers through FreeUp now.

Melissa Ricker is a nuclear engineer and a professional freelance writer specializing in career growth, technical writing and online entrepreneurship. She writes a blog, Engineered Motherhood, for working mothers who need help balancing career growth and time management.