Buyer's guide
Twelve questions to ask before you outsource customer support
A buyer-side checklist for evaluating any support partner — including us. Written to be used in a meeting, not skimmed.
7 min readAsansa Solutions
Most outsourcing conversations go wrong in the same place: the buyer evaluates the pitch instead of the operation. Pricing, headcount and a list of logos are easy to compare and tell you almost nothing about whether your customers will be looked after in month four.
The questions below are the ones that separate a support operation from a staffing arrangement. Ask them of every partner you speak to, and treat a vague answer as an answer.
About the people on your account
- Who exactly will work on my account, and do they work on anyone else's?
- What does the role profile look like, and who signs off on hires?
- Who supervises them day to day, and what is that person accountable for?
- What happens when someone leaves — how long does a replacement take to reach the same standard?
The answer to the second question matters more than it looks. If a partner cannot describe the role profile they recruit against, they are recruiting to a headcount number rather than to your work.
About training
- What does the training plan cover, who writes it, and who approves it?
- How long is training, and what does an agent have to demonstrate before taking a live conversation?
- How does training stay current when our policies or product change?
About quality
- What share of conversations is reviewed, and how is the sample chosen?
- Can I see the scoring rubric before we start, and can I change it?
- What happens with a poor score — who coaches, and how is the follow-up evidenced?
A quality programme you cannot see the rubric for is a quality programme you cannot hold anyone to. Ask for it in writing during evaluation, not after signature.
About performance and exit
- What happens in month three if an agreed KPI is missed two periods running?
- What notice do I need to give to scale down, or to stop?
The exit question is the most revealing one in the list. A partner confident in the operation will answer it plainly. A partner relying on switching costs will change the subject.
Using the answers
Write the answers down during the call and compare them side by side afterwards. The pattern that usually emerges is not that one partner is better across the board — it is that one partner answered in specifics and the others answered in adjectives.