Making the decision to outsource your call center is a difficult and daunting task, but you’ve decided it’s the right path for your company. So,now what? The decision to move ahead was only the beginning of your journey to find the perfect-fit inbound or outbound outsourced call center; now it’s time to search for the partner who will make this transition a raving success.
The best way to begin the process of selecting the right outsource call center partner for your organization is to create a detailed Request For Proposal (RFP) that potential partners can respond to. Getting the RFP right will drive your potential partners to provide thorough and detailed information in a consistent manner. This will ensure that the information you receive can be easily compared across vendors, which will enable you to objectively weed out the less suitable candidates in your quest to find the perfect call center partner.
What exactly does a detailed call center outsourcing RFP look like? We’ll show you! The following Request for Proposal guide is an overview of what should be included in your call center outsourcing RFP. Once you’ve reviewed this, visit our website to download the free call center outsourcing RFP template and begin building your own customized RFP right away.
What to include in your call center outsourcing RFP
The exact content of your call center outsourcing RFP should be tailored to the specifics of your business. With that said, here is an overview of the primary sections that every RFP should include.
- Instructions for Responding to the RFP
- An Introduction to Your Organization and Key Requirements
- Vendor Organizational Description
- Program Management
- Tracking and Systems
- Pricing and General
The first two sections of your RFP should be designed in a prescriptive manner. This is where you are introducing your organization to the vendors, expressing exactly what services you wish them to bid on providing, and laying out your expectations for the RFP process.
- Instructions for Responding to the RFP
Right at the beginning of your RFP, it is a good idea to include a section that provides an overview of the process you intend to use, important contacts, and a clear timeline including due dates. This will provide potential vendors with the information they need to enter the process and manage through any questions that arise along the way.
- An Introduction to Your Organization and Key Requirements
Next, you need to introduce both your organization and service requirements in great detail. This information is critical in order to get good information and reliable bids from your potential vendors. They will be relying on the information provided in this section to formulate their response, so what you put in will directly influence what you get back.
Be sure to include information about why you decided to move to an outsourced solution, your call center outsourcing objectives and service level expectations. Everything about what you expect them to do; the call types, call volume, training, quality, processes that you expect them to manage, and the associated key performance requirements needed. Using a mix of descriptive text and graphical representations of how the vendor fits into your overall process will help ensure clear understanding of the program scope.
The next several sections of your call center outsourcing RFP should be designed as a questionnaire. This provides potential call center outsourcing vendors with a framework for providing you information in a consistent, easily comparable manner. This is your opportunity to layout exactly what you want them to tell you.
- Vendor Organizational Description
Ask for a detailed description of the vendor’s organization. The idea here is to understand as much as possible about them as a potential partner –how they do business, their core philosophy and approach, locations, etc. Ask them to provide information on similar work that they have done, and how they manage the work including; standard procedures, project staffing plans, and training procedures.
- Program Management
Understanding each vendor’s method of program management will help you find a partner who is well aligned with your expectations. Items to consider here include oversight of workflow and quality, staffing, problem resolution, and change management.
- Tracking and Systems
The tracking and systems section is your opportunity to explore tracking capabilities, scripting, call monitoring, reporting, systems used and data management/transfer processes. This section should include a statement of your minimum expectations and allow the vendor to respond with information on how they will deliver.
- Pricing and General
Finally, the pricing and general section captures details of what the service will cost, contract related information, references, and any additional information not covered in previous sections.
The information above in this Request for Proposal guide gives you a basic framework of what to include in your call center outsourcing RFP. In order to help you work efficiently through the set-up of your own RFP document, we have created a Call Center Request for Proposal (RFP) Template to help guide you through the critical questions to ask as you solicit bids from potential call center vendors. Pressed for time? Outsource Consultants can write a customized call center outsourcing RFP on your behalf.
After the Call Center RFP is written
Now that you’ve written the RFP, it’s time to send it to your potential call center outsourcing vendors with an invitation to participate. You can send the RFP to as many or as few as you like, however, we recommend doing a first round audit of potential vendors to narrow the field a bit.
Not sure who to send the RFP to? This is where Outsource Consultants can help you the most. With years of experience connecting clients with inbound and outbound call centers, we can help narrow the field, send the requests, and vet the responses once they come in. Outsource Consultants helps companies with the call center outsourcing selection process every day and has extensively researched hundreds of USA and global call centers to help our clients find the perfect-fit partners. Through definition of requirements, RFP management, vendor selection guidance, and implementation assistance, we help clients save significant time, effort and cost.
If you’re interested in outsourcing with a call center, we can help at no charge!
Outsource Consultants are call center experts with over 25 years of outsourcing industry experience that have spent thousands of hours vetting and analyzing the strengths and specializations of the industry-leading outsource call center vendors. If you’re considering call center outsourcing, simply call 888-766-4482 or request a free call center cost proposal today and we’ll help you find the solution that best fits your exact requirements.
