When customers have a question or concern about a product, they want to answer their questions with an actual person instead of a robotic voice. Many businesses utilize call centers to field the massive outpouring of requests, questions, and other customer-based needs daily. In years past, these businesses would outsource their call center operations to foreign countries to help offset costs. However, these experiences would often put the customers ill-at-ease and lead to negative interactions.
For businesses looking to improve the quality of their call centers and customer interactions, changing how they approach building this essential piece of the customer experience is key. With a nearshore staffing service, companies have a unique opportunity to rebuild their call centers and transform them into a true benefit for their customers.
What Is Nearshore Staffing?
Often when you use an offshore call center, you’re getting a team from a foreign country in a completely different time zone to your customer base. These time and zone differences come with a language barrier — English is often their second or third language — and cultural differences that affect how they interact with callers.
These differences can often leave a bad impression on your customers, potentially leading them to go with another product or service. Nearshore call centers offer a viable and usually preferable alternative to an outsourced option.
Knowing what nearshore staffing entails for businesses looking to build a call center from the ground up can help them make a more informed decision about their investment. When you nearshore talent, you’re getting experienced staff that lives in the same time zone, speaks the same language, and has a similar cultural background.
What Are Some of the Benefits of Nearshore Call Centers?
Looking into call center outsourcing seems like it can be a difficult task for business owners; however, finding professional staffing solutions can help smooth out the process. A company like Remote Team Solutions can help you fill your call and contact center with highly skilled and cost-effective English-speaking staff. We’ll review some of the additional benefits of a nearshore call center for your business and customers.
Same Time Zone
For customers looking for assistance during normal business hours, offshore outsourcing call centers can potentially present unique logistical challenges. If these call centers don’t provide 24-hour support, their call center agents are only available during their normal business hours — in a completely different time zone. These time zone differences can make coordinating a call more trouble than it’s worth. Nearshore call centers eliminate this hurdle.
A critical component of nearshore staffing revolves around the call center being in the same time zone as your customers. The business hours align more seamlessly with your customers and help address their questions and needs on their time.
Similar Cultural Customs
One of the best things about our world is the wide range of cultures and customs that people have across the globe. It shows how diverse our life experiences are and can be an excellent learning tool to understand people different from your own. However, customers don’t want this cultural barrier when looking for IT support from an outsourced call center. It’s where a nearshore staff has a clear advantage.
Your nearshore call center staff comes from a neighboring country that shares similar customs, cultures, and ways of interacting with people. Without that cultural barrier, your nearshore staff can better address your customer’s issues and help improve their experience with your company.
Easier Communication and Coordination
Your call center represents an important part of your customer service and business process, so you want to be able to communicate with your team effectively. With an outsourced center, coordinating times to meet either in person or over a conference call often requires extensive planning and scheduling hoops to jump through. A nearshore staff makes it infinitely easier to schedule these check-ins because of the similar time zones and less strenuous travel requirements.
Improved Cost Savings
Implementing a call center in the United States can have unforeseen high operating costs that can stretch your budget more than you originally expected. In your quest to reduce costs, offshoring your call center might seem like an excellent idea, but it can come at the expense of your long-term customer satisfaction. A nearshore call center will have similar reduced operating costs but provide better infrastructure for your team and a better overall customer experience.
You Manage and Train the Staff
Every business wants its employees to handle things their way. They have best practices, how they wish interactions to go, and all the small details that help make them stand out. This goes for your call center as well. They act as the direct line of communication to get the help people need regarding your products and services — if this exchange goes poorly, you stand to lose a valued customer.
One of the biggest downsides to offshoring or outsourcing your call center comes in the form of how it gets managed on a daily basis. When a third party manages your team, you don’t have a say in how the team handles their tasks and interacts with customers, and it can be more difficult to address issues as they arise.
With a nearshore call center, you directly manage the team and ensure they receive the proper training. This will also help reduce the need for a specified script that makes each interaction feel forced and inauthentic for your callers.
Trust Remote Team Solutions With Building Your Nearshore Call Center
When you start looking to build out a nearshore call center, you want an experienced and award-winning team to help find the best talent for your venture. Remote Team Solutions has earned accolades for staffing businesses across the United States with a proven remote talent base to help fill out their organizations. We can also help you hire digital designers, legal assistants, and more to fulfill your organizational needs. Learn more about our staffing approach and start building your new call center today!