The success of outsourcing relationship hinges more on the pre-finalization stage rather than the miscommunication and misunderstandings during the process. The most common fallacy about outsourcing decision to a BPO firm, say a call center in India, is to take it too lightly. Without giving a serious thought about the capabilities and promise of the provider, the companies outsourcing their operations, often, choose a wrong BPO firm. Here, I will concentrate just on the two most common mistakes committed by the companies in selecting the correct business partner.

Mistake #1: I need references!

This is a common demand by every company, i.e., verifying the credibility of the call center by cross-checking from the existing or past customers. This is a total giveaway as far as selecting the right BPO is concerned. I'll explain how and why.

If I am asked for references and if I have an iota of common sense of doing business, I will never disclose the references of unsatisfied customers - not even in my sleep! You can consider it from the other side as well. There can be possibly two answers to this kind of query, (a) I'll give you all the references of my satisfied customers; or (b) I don't have any references, in which case I was not even eligible to bag your order in the first place!

The references are, mostly, of no help to you as a buyer but such inquiries from references can be of immense help to the call center in question. They can be richer by a couple of million dollars if you just rely on all these positive references. Many a call center, India has produced, have mushroomed just by showing few positive references to the prospective clients in the West. The result is unsatisfactory services and an indelible blot on the Indian BPO industry.

Mistake #2: Can I talk to your agents?

This is yet another query that is bound to benefit only the provider. To verify the credibility of the provider, the agents must be suitably trained to handle the job. But what makes you think that I'll put a novice on duty to answer your questions? Obviously, I'll get the prospect to speak with my best agent on the floor.

The prospect has nothing to gain from asking these simple questions. This reminds me of the situation where you go to a shop and ask the salesman if the displayed products are good. Which sane salesman will ever say that the product displayed in the store is not good?

The correct approach

Now, where lies the solution to these obvious faux pas committed by the prospect? The verification of credibility of the call center is vital before awarding the contract. But committing the above mistakes are only going to benefit the prospective BPO.

The way out is simple. Just speak to the man at the helm, the managers, the owners etc. Basically, speak to the top management. Ask them relevant questions about their jobs. See for yourself if the leader is capable enough to properly guide his employees. The questions like, what is their vision; How can they add value to your business; Will they do everything it takes to handle your business like their own; can elicit all the information straight from the horse's mouth, so to say.

The idea is to choose the provider that is run by people with strong fundamentals & industry experience, rather than fly-by-night swindlers. Form a judgment based on the answers to the above questions and other relevant queries about their business. This judgment should be your own as opposed to that of a third party. Always remember, it's you who is doing the business and it should only be you whose judgment matters!