Base your outsourcing decision on reputation, not cost alone

Putting your business first

You can’t put a price on reputation.

Your reputation is the barometer of the quality of the work you do, how others view you – as individuals and as businesses. A reputation cannot be bought, but earned by rote.

As Aristotle said: “quality is not an act – it’s a habit.” It’s a habit that should be at the heart of an outsourced provider’s service delivery and a client’s list of criteria. Engaging with a professional partner, and not necessarily the cheapest provider, has to pay dividends all round so good reputation should be at the top of any critique.

Join forces

The relationship between business and outsourced service provider should not be one of traditional supplier, but of a partnership – something that Moneypenny has taken time to hone its reputation to achieve. A collaborative understanding of each other’s needs and expectations based on trust. Moneypenny has been built on this premise; that our clients are also our partners and their needs are met as so. Stepping away from being a faceless supplier, to a progressive ally who knows its partners’ personalities.

Before we start handling any calls at all for our clients, large or small, we get to know them first – usually face to face for larger clients or through a structured welcome process over the telephone; enabling us to introduce ourselves and find out about our client’s business, their staff, their way of doing things, their call answering requirements, along with the idiosyncrasies of how they would like individual calls handled and the language they use.

Know what works

What works for a digital marketing agency won’t necessarily work for a manufacturer or a media production company. It’s very much about flipping the table to really get to grips with exactly what an individual client needs, then exceeding their expectations at every opportunity.

But it’s not just about starting off the relationship in the right way, it’s about remembering that every day is different. Communicating with clients to gather diary information and any necessary daily updates for us makes for a seamless link-up – ensuring the service stands up to scrutiny and delivers consistently at every touch point, every time. A strong relationship will stand you in good stead too should an issue arise that needs addressing.

So much of building that strong, lasting relationship hinges around delivering an excellent service of course, but also on soft skills such as expectation, understanding and communication. A recent International Business Report by Grant Thornton highlighted that these non-technical skills are the most important factors taken into account when outsourcing. It’s encouraging to see that attitudes are changing when it comes to what’s really important to the working relationship and that ‘understanding my business’ is at the forefront of minds when teaming up with an outsourced service provider.