Building trust with your clients is crucial for any business, but especially for BPO providers who handle sensitive and complex tasks for their customers. Trust can enhance your reputation, retention, and referrals, as well as reduce conflicts and complaints. But how can you establish and maintain trust in a BPO environment? Here are some best practices to follow.
Communication is the foundation of trust. You need to communicate with your clients about their expectations, goals, progress, feedback, and issues. You also need to communicate with your team and ensure they have the right information, tools, and support to deliver quality work. Use multiple channels, such as email, phone, video, chat, and reports, to communicate effectively and transparently. Keep your clients updated on the status of their projects, milestones, and deadlines. Respond to their queries and concerns promptly and professionally. And don't forget to celebrate successes and acknowledge challenges together.
It's way beyond imperative to be transparent with the clients and share any bottlenecks that you may have while you are trying to meet your commitments. There are often times when the client over expects and we fail to clarify our challenges and over commit. It only results in not meeting the client expectations and loss of trust. I am not saying that you are incompetent but there are instances where the clients don't know what to expect. Share challenges, don't over commit, seek help, surprise the clients by exceeding their expectations but don't fall behind due to lack of transparency.
It's important to prioritize communication, especially with clients. We should always respond to queries promptly, even if the ask is small, and provide periodic updates to meet expectations. When responding, it's best to keep it concise and focused on the subject at hand - lengthy emails can be overwhelming and may not add value. It's also important to give updates and share feedback when necessary, without overloading with too much information. Knowing when, what, why, and where to communicate can make all the difference. Always remember the four "W"
We need to provide clear and demonstrable evidence that "we've got this". KPI's, metrics, etc from existing clients so the new client is confident that we will deliver on our promise to them and to their customers.
Trust is a two-way street. Client and provider need to jointly develop a robust governance structure which enables close collaboration and regular review of performance against SLA's and KPI's. The governance forum should include discussions around improvement initiatives that include joint participation and assignments for the betterment of the overall engagement. Finally be proactive about communicating issues or potential issues to the client before they become unwanted surprises later!
Act with honesty and openness, protect sensitive information, deliver excellent customer service, communicate clearly and concisely, adapt to change, go the extra mile, and foster collaboration.
Trust is built on performance. You need to deliver on your promises and meet or exceed your clients' expectations. This means you need to have a clear scope of work, a realistic timeline, a fair price, and a quality assurance process. You also need to have a contingency plan in case of emergencies or disruptions. If you encounter any problems or delays, inform your clients as soon as possible and offer solutions. Don't make excuses or blame others. And don't overpromise or underdeliver. Be honest and realistic about what you can and can't do.
I often say this to my peers " Under Commit and over deliver " instead of " Over commit and under deliver" . Right estimation and always try to challenge your own status quo will help process to perform better.
Deliver to your promises and commitments at all times , exceed them when possible, proactively raise roadblocks with action plans to overcome them and communicate regularly to avoid surprises. When commits are fulfilled regularly, trust becomes normal behaviour.
When it comes to Client communication is they key . The client should always be communicated regarding the status of application any planned outages expected ETA if the application is down . First time first is a strategy many customer service teams follow where it’s the best way to ensure the right help at the right time which helps build confidence n trust ..
According to me for any internal or external stakeholder, key is the trust between each other. And that can be build only when you are honest, transparent and deliver on promise. Under promise and over delivery is always a best option.
Prioritize on the value that a client derives by partnering with you. Some milestones to target: - Seamless transition - Client's values to be your values - Improvement to existing processes - Bring the expertise that you advertise
Trust is built on credibility. You need to show your clients that you have the expertise and value to handle their tasks and solve their problems. This means you need to have a strong portfolio, a professional website, a relevant certification, and a positive reputation. You also need to have a continuous learning and improvement culture, where you keep up with the latest trends, technologies, and best practices in your field. And don't be afraid to share your insights, suggestions, and feedback with your clients. Show them that you are not just a vendor, but a partner who cares about their success.
I have seen startup’s in BPO who have taken business away from large setups as they could show their HUNGER for business, DESIRE to excel within limited resources and give the customer TOP priority!! All things equal how your TREAT your customer is very important from the beginning … from sales to service !
Selling BPO services is a long sales cycle and is getting longer. The buy in from the client takes longer because more departments are involved. Production, Finance, Quality, IT... and then the department you are serving, customer service, marketing, editorial etc.... Then the board maybe involved in the strategic decision to outsource or not. The salesperson needs to be a force of proposition be able to navigate the company structure (including consultants) before the sale can be made. A large complex sale may take from 6 to 24 months to close. It begs the question of starting on a small project and then farming. But do the big BPO's have the time and patience for this type of selling?
Showing your expertise and value post contract signing is critical to ensuring a long term relationship. Investing skilled client service resources and leadership to manage the relationship will not only instill confidence that the BPO is committed to a stable and productive relationship, but that they have professionals dedicated to growing the partnership through proposing new solutions to solving customer experience issues and demonstrating capabilities that can extend into other parts of the clients business.
Have the right people with great attitude at work. They are your representatives to the client, also, importantly keep them engaged and facilitate to keep them abrest with the required skillset. Your people got to be passionate to deliver results and do not treat it like another task to finish.
The client connection is critical. Not just the BPO client, but the BPO CLIENT'S client. Making that connection so that the BPO team feels like they are performing a crucial function is huge. And they are performing a crucial function, so being able to do it while feeling a connection point to the end-client makes all the difference in the world, and actually helps them engage their WHY. That is a key to help the team become a trusted partner and not just a vendor. One of my old bosses taught me to never call our offshore partners vendors. We are partners, focused on one critical mission: customer satisfaction. That has stuck with me for 20 years.
Trust is built on respect. You need to respect your clients and their data, and treat them with courtesy, professionalism, and confidentiality. This means you need to have a clear contract, a secure system, a privacy policy, and a non-disclosure agreement. You also need to follow your clients' guidelines, standards, and preferences, and avoid any conflicts of interest or unethical practices. And don't forget to appreciate your clients and their feedback, and show them gratitude and recognition.
Put yourself in the shoes of the customer and don't just look at the process as a medium to make money but look at it with a business owner mindset. Everything will fall in place.
Trust is born when there is mutual respect in a relationship. As an extended arm of the customer, one should be able to take care of the customer, people and data like their own.Like the saying goes "I trust in god- rest bring data", data is the key component of building trust.
Implement robust data security measures to protect sensitive client information. Compliance with industry standards and regulations like GDPR is essential.
In the BPO industry, respecting our clients and safeguarding their data is paramount. We uphold the highest standards of data security, compliance, and confidentiality. Our commitment to ethical practices ensures that client trust is never compromised. We recognize that their data is their most valuable asset, and we treat it with the utmost care and respect, reinforcing our role as a reliable and trusted partner in their business journey.
In addition to valuing your clients and their data, how about we also value our people and respect their opinions. The age old method of Inculcating a culture of introducing a bottom up and a top down approach to flow of information and ideas. What people want most out of their jobs is to be able to contribute their ideas if they are valued and implemented or built upon.
Trust is built on feedback. You need to ask for feedback and testimonials from your clients, and use them to improve your service and showcase your results. This means you need to have a regular feedback mechanism, such as surveys, reviews, ratings, or interviews, where you ask your clients about their satisfaction, expectations, challenges, and suggestions. You also need to act on their feedback and implement changes or improvements where needed. And don't forget to ask for testimonials or referrals from your happy clients, and display them on your website, social media, or marketing materials.
consistent feedback and continuous improvement based on that feedback is key in any relationship. This helps build trust and in such an environment, feeedback and action planning to resolve issues become easier.
Since the business processes impacts the end customer satisfaction-both sides are on the same team for the end customer. So feedback should be two ways and take into account the partnership approach too.
Trust takes time to build. To achieve this, consistently keep up the commitments, communicate openly and honestly, Act with integrity, admit mistakes when they occur, and rectify them promptly. Show empathy by understanding their needs and concerns. Building rapport through active listening and personalized interactions can do wonders.
Encourage and act on client feedback. Use their insights to make improvements and demonstrate your commitment to their satisfaction.
We actively seek input from our clients to continuously improve our services and tailor them to their evolving needs. Their testimonials are a testament to our commitment to excellence and the strength of our partnerships. By inviting their feedback and sharing their success stories, we showcase the real-world impact of our services, building trust with prospective clients and reinforcing our dedication to delivering exceptional results.
OK, the deal is secured and as a BPO organization one is setting up the process. To do a thorough analysis of the process, (FMEA, the works...) is the next big leap that will instill trust in the Customer. The Customer understands that one is serious about the promises delivered during the pitch and it is actually taking shape. Being transparent with the Customer and letting them know about how this is a two way process - Input and Output quality - and how we will have to work as a team builds enormous trust. Next is to show them a realistic growth path of the relationship and actually demonstrating that in action - proof of the pudding. Living up to one's commitments goes a long way in building trust.
Building Trust requires 1. TIME - longer the relationship, stronger the relationship. in order for the relationship to be longer, it must have sustained the ups and downs, delivers on promise and added value. 2. Beyond people - while the relationship is between or among people, the outcome must be felt by the entire organization on both sides. 3. Tough Times - being true to the value and integrity, Specially, during challenging and tough times. 4. Progressive and growth mindset for both organizations
Celebrate your success as a TEAM with your clients, be humble, this is what will make a great leader. It's always easy to pass the blame for delays but difficult to own up as a team. Thank everyone for their contribution be it small or large !!
Ensure clients feel comfortable with your ability to respond to any nature or political incident. Fraud prevention practices. Process improvement/Innovation ideas.
Transparency It is important to have complete transparency with the client in terms of operational review metrics and challenges in achieving the same. This will help build trust with the client and also help in getting support from client with their experience and expertise.