Working with an outsourcing partner can be a great way to manage customer demand, but these relationships don’t always get off to the best start – creating unnecessary stress, compromising anticipated efficiency gains, and ultimately leaving everyone wondering why they entered into the agreement in the first place!
The good news is that there are lots of ways to help these partnerships go smoothly!
That’s why our Editor – Megan Jones – spoke to Adrian Hawes and Vinay Parmar to hear their first-hand experience of nurturing these relationships well (and rounded up some top tips from our recent Call Centre Helper site visits too!)
10 Ways to Improve Your Outsourcing Partnerships
1. Show Up and Be Present – Especially in the Early Days of the Relationship
Don’t underestimate the positive impact of putting in time with your outsourcing teams – in person!
“When I was managing outsourcing partnerships, I found that showing up regularly had a big impact – especially in the early days of the relationship.
For example, I spent three to four days a week on site in the beginning and I spent a lot of this time just talking to the teams and learning more about them.
I was very conscious not to just sit in an office on site either. I got out on the floor talking to people.” – Vinay Parmar, Keynote Speaker & Expert on the art and science of winning customer loyalty
2. Make Time for Those “Water Cooler” Conversations Too (They Are Just as Important as Formal Meetings)
It’s not just about having professional conversations either! It’s about the informal chats beside the water cooler too!
“I really loved those corridor conversations and getting a feel for what was really going on behind the scenes. In fact, it was often those informal conversations that gave me the most insight, catching people when they were most relaxed over lunch.” – Vinay Parmar
3. Don’t Just “Chuck Things Over the Fence” and Hope for the Best
You have to think of your relationship with your outsourcer as a true partnership – based on transparency and openness. Don’t just expect to “chuck things over the fence” and for the magic to happen.
“One of the things that I’ve been frustrated by in the past is working with an organization that just wants to outsource as a way to fix a problem for them. They just want to “chuck it over the fence” and say, “Right, solve the problem for me” and then manage it almost entirely through the contract.
When, in actual fact, success comes from thinking about it as a relationship instead. You have to help them to help you! The only way to do that is by being prepared to share all the insight you have with them, rather than just relying on a contract to manage everything.
Of course, you’re going to have a contract with third parties – that’s the nature of the beast – but if you are resorting to managing a third-party relationship purely on the basis of a contract, I personally think it just doesn’t work. It sets you at odds with each other and it loses that relationship feel. It just doesn’t work.” – Adrian Hawes, Award Winning, Transformational Resource Planning & Contact Centre Professional
4. Include Outsourcing Agents in Team Events and Incentive Schemes
Don’t just keep your team events and incentives schemes for your in-house teams, extend them to the teams supporting you via your outsourcing partner too.
“Whenever we had team events or had prizes up for grabs, we would always invite the agents from our outsourcing partner to take part as well. We also included them in our incentive schemes.
This approach really helped to make them feel part of who we were, as though they were just another team in our central contact centre.” – Vinay Parmar
If you are looking for incentive ideas to create an engaging and productive work environment, read our article: 100 Great Staff Incentives to Motivate Your Team
5. Share Fun Facts and Photos for Your Outsourcer to Display on Their ‘Meet the Client’ Noticeboard
Think about what you can do to make it easier for your outsourcing partner to understand your culture, customers, and more.
For example – as we saw on our Call Centre Helper site visit to WeAnswer – some outsourcers have ‘Meet the Client’ noticeboards up in their offices – with key information and stats about their clients, including:
- About the company and where it is based
- Pictures of the company products
- How many people work at the company
So why not ask if they do this and offer to provide fun facts and photos of your team – all to help your brand story come to life.
6. You Could Even Give Agents Products to Touch, Feel, and Familiarize Themselves With
You don’t have to limit yourselves to fun facts and photos either! You could even provide product samples for outsourcing agents to try out for themselves.
As we also saw at WeAnswer, this hands-on experience can also help support technical training on specific product lines, as agents can visualize what the customer is seeing and better describe the next steps involved.
Making sure agents champion your products and services can improve brand advocacy. To learn more, read our article: How to Ensure Agents Love Your Products and Services
7. Consciously Generate Good PR Back at Head Office
And it’s not just about you personally building good relationships, it’s about nurturing positive internal perceptions of your outsourcing partner too, so make sure you regularly share the latest good news and learnings back at Head Office.
“Think about what you can do to generate good internal PR for your outsourcing teams too, so you almost run your own mini marketing campaign.
When I talked at Head Office about our outsourcing teams, I always talked about them in a positive way – as a partner, as an extension of us, being sure to share visuals and pictures too.” – Vinay Parmar
8. Invest Time in Training Up THEIR Team Leaders Too
A good way to make sure your outsourcing partner is aligned with Head Office is to put their team leaders through your internal training programme, so they are nurturing the same skills and culture in their teams too.
“We once put our outsourcer’s team leaders through our development programme and invested in them as part of our longer-term goals, as this helped them to replicate the right behaviours in their own agents.” – Vinay Parmar
“It’s about taking steps to make your outsourcing provider feel like a true extension of your team, because if they don’t, quite frankly, why are they going to put the effort in if they don’t feel valued?
Done right, they will feel like they are you – because, in the end, they are carrying your brand, after all. So, it’s in your best interest to make sure that happens.” – Adrian Hawes
Sometimes it can be difficult to find time for training, especially if you have staffing issues. For practical methods to stay on top, read our article: How to Keep on Top of Training in a Short-Staffed Contact Centre
9. Talk to Your Outsourcer Every Day (Not Once a Month!)
Don’t just check in once a month and hope that everything is running the way you want it.
Set aside time to talk to your outsourcer every day to continuously learn, adapt, and thrive together – and proactively avoid any surprises and miscommunications too!
“I saw this first-hand when I worked on the COVID-19 vaccine rollout handling digital planning. We used outsourcing contact centres and we were literally talking to them every single day – doing everything we could to help.
When rolling out a project at such an enormous scale, it can be complex and volatile. Checking once in a month and hoping for the best helps no one.” – Adrian Hawes
10. And Don’t Just Leave It up to the Contract Managers to Build Good Relationships
Large organizations typically have contract managers in place for handling their outsourced teams, but it’s not just their job to make sure these relationships go well.
“Other people need to get involved in supporting outsourcing relationships too. For example, in my planning team, even though we didn’t manage the contract, we were still helping with planning for the contact centres in India.
Members of my team were out there all the time – because it mattered! It mattered to us, and it mattered to them.” – Adrian Hawes
What’s Been Your Experience of Nurturing Great Relationships With Your Outsource Partners?
Join our LinkedIn community to share your experiences with us.
With thanks to the following people for sharing their thoughts and experiences for this article:
- Adrian Hawes, Award Winning, Transformational Resource Planning & Contact Centre Professional
- Vinay Parmar, Keynote Speaker & Expert on the art and science of winning customer loyalty
For more great information on outsourcing and call centre management, read these articles next:
- Out of Hours Service – Who’s Doing It Best?
- An Outsourcer’s Guide to Developing a PR Strategy
- What Are the Industry Standards for Call Centre Metrics?
Author: Megan Jones
Reviewed by: Xander Freeman
Published On: 28th Apr 2025
Read more about - Call Centre Management, Adrian Hawes, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), Top Story, Vinay Parmar
