February 11, 2003
8 Reasons U.S. Companies Should
Outsource in the U.S.
In recent years there has been a great deal of energy around
the value of offshore locations for contact center operations.
Perhaps it's time to pause a moment and take a look at the
flip side. During this time of economic, political
and social uncertainty across the globe, the natural advantages
of using domestic service providers may be more important than
ever. Let's look at some of the key reasons why maintaining a
domestic operation could be beneficial for you.
1. Baseball, hot dogs and apple pies. Domestic agents share
many of the same values and experiences of their U.S. callers.
This cultural acclimation forms a foundation of soft skills
that can be difficult to teach to agents in offshore operations.
What this means is that behaviors like building rapport,
understanding customer needs, solving problems, and intuitively
up-selling may be more natural for U.S. agents. Few would
dispute that these skills are becoming increasingly critical in
this competitive business.
2. When MapQuest isn't enough. It's easy to look up the address
of a designated real estate location, or read about the
amenities of a particular hotel property, but it's better when
local knowledge can be communicated to create a real picture in
the caller's mind. U.S. agents are far more likely to
have resident knowledge of a particular location than their
offshore counterparts.
3. Service is more than just a smile. Increasingly today service
is being leveraged as a key differentiator in all types of
businesses. Service can mean many things to many people - problem
solving, responsiveness, accuracy, empathy, communication skills
among others. Today, with 70% of all customer contact channeling
through the contact center, there is an imperative
for agents to build rapport and meet customer expectations
quickly, or customers will go elsewhere. Remember the ability to
speak English and wear a smile does not necessarily mean the
ability to deliver service excellence.
4. Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. President Bush in his State of the Union
Address said jobs are key to stimulating the U.S. economy.
Many towns and regions across the country rely heavily on
contact center employment as a foundation for their
local economic infrastructure. Local municipalities and state
governments often welcome and incent these public/private
partnerships to keep the jobs here at home.
5. Transparency. The popular practice of giving agents in other
countries fake resumes so they can "act" like Americans is
dishonest, plain and simple. Most consumers can see, and hear
right through this.
6. Political and economic stability. While some would argue that
the U.S. is in a holding pattern regarding politics and foreign
affairs, the bottom line is that the U.S. is still more stable
than many other countries around the world. This
means that business is more stable as well.
7. If labor and paradise are what you seek... the U.S., like many
of its offshore counterparts, does offer offers wide locational
variety when searching for an outsourcer. For example, agents
in the paradise of Hawaii generally have extensive customer
service experience already due to reliance upon the leisure
travel sector as one of the major employers in the state. Salt
Lake City has the unmatched beauty of the mountains and metro
Chicago offers the energy and accessibility of one of the world's
largest centers of commerce. It's all in the
U.S. you just have to decide what you want.
8. You get what you pay for. It's fairly well documented that
many companies who choose an offshore solution are doing so to
save money. Like the old saying goes, there's no such thing as
a free lunch, and when money becomes their single most critical
factor in making an offshore decision, sometimes you
really do get what you pay for.
Topical content supplied by: Matt Cooley, Partner - TC Kokua, LLC;
Max Tsai, President - TC Kokua, LLC; Doris Hannaford, Area Manager
Hawaii, Manpower International, Inc.; Kevin Johnson, President -
Hawaii Call Center Association
About TC Kokua, LLC
TC Kokua, LLC is a customer service company which provides inbound
and outbound contact services to companies nationwide. TC Kokua is
located in the Maui Research & Technology Park and serves
companies in many industries including, transportation,
biotechnology, real estate and wireless communications. Visit
our web site at www.tckokua.com
or call 808-875-6634.
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