Allowing employees to work remotely is far from a new concept. Despite this, employers are still hesitant to accept working remotely. IBM was an early adopter when it came to offering employees remote work opportunities. In early 2017, IBM rescinded this arrangement for thousands of workers forcing them back to the office. Management (and IBM is not alone) are slow to embrace the concept that people work even when they cannot be seen.
Are you paying people to perform a function or are you paying them to show up at a physical location? If you answered function, then location may be irrelevant. There is no arguing some jobs require a physical presence. Retailers. Restaurants. Warehouses. The irony? The jobs that do not require a physical presence are often the highly skilled, hard-to-find skills sets. If you look beyond an employee’s physical location, then your access to talent becomes worldwide.
If companies are reticent to trust employees they cannot see, imagine what they feel when they outsource functions. In most cases, considerably more will go into building up the trust factor. The first step to overcoming negative perceptions is spelling out how outsourcing is in the client’s best interest.
There are distinct advantages to outsourcing non-core business functions:
We now arrive at the basis of this piece. If employers have a hard time trusting their employees, imagine the level of distrust when it comes to outsourcing business functions. There is NO implied trust to start. You read testimonials and get referrals, but you never really know until you start doing business together.
What can you do as a service provider to mitigate client concerns and build trust faster?
Do not promise what you cannot deliver
It sound obvious... but we all know there are plenty of service providers that do this very thing. If it is not a service that you can or will provide, make that abundantly clear before you accept the engagement. If getting an engagement depends on you performing a service you do not provide, then passing on the engagement is best for both parties. If you are a plumber, you do not take electrical jobs. The same principle applies here.
Spell things out in your engagement letter or services agreement
You cannot outline every possible scenario that may occur, but use your engagement letter or services agreement to get you as close to that point as possible. Spell things out. Advise the client to ask questions. Get the arrangement off to a good start by establishing common ground for expectations. Scope creep kills margins. A clearly written engagement letter or services agreement defines what is covered and what is not. Services not included in the original agreement should result in extra charges without creating animosity between you and the client. The strength of your engagement letter or services agreement goes a long way towards establishing a strong relationship right from the start.
Communication
If real estate is location, location, location, then remote support is communication, communication, communication! Do not make the client ask. Keep them informed. Let them know what is going on and why. Do not assume they already know or that no news is good news to them. Keeping your client informed on progress, developments, changes, problems, resolutions and updates reassures them you are on the job. People get tense with not knowing. We reach our own judgments and conclusions in the absence of information to the contrary. Remove those concerns by being an incredible communicator.
Response times
Do not allow yourself or your staff to get in the mindset of it is just another open ticket or trouble call. It may feel that way to you, but the client or customer rarely sees it that way. Oftentimes the client or customer views it as the biggest, most irritating thing they could possibly imagine. Open tickets or trouble calls demand swift responses. Slow response times only allow bad situations or perceptions to get worse. Which brings me to the last point…
Empathy
Again, it may not seem like a big deal to you, but the client or customer usually does not share that opinion. Put yourself in their shoes. I am sure there are other things they would rather be doing. A sympathetic ear does wonders for a person’s outlook. Understand their point of view. Antagonizing emotionally charged individuals rarely leads to a positive result. Listen and understand. Be genuine.
Are you paying people to perform a function or are you paying them to show up at a physical location? If you answered function, then location may be irrelevant. There is no arguing some jobs require a physical presence. Retailers. Restaurants. Warehouses. The irony? The jobs that do not require a physical presence are often the highly skilled, hard-to-find skills sets. If you look beyond an employee’s physical location, then your access to talent becomes worldwide.
If companies are reticent to trust employees they cannot see, imagine what they feel when they outsource functions. In most cases, considerably more will go into building up the trust factor. The first step to overcoming negative perceptions is spelling out how outsourcing is in the client’s best interest.
There are distinct advantages to outsourcing non-core business functions:
- Eliminating recruiting costs associated with the function.
- Eliminating costs associated with a direct hire workforce – equipment/work stations, sick days, vacation, 401k contributions and health insurance.
- Eliminating downside risk of unfilled vacancies.
- Day-to-day management/supervision of function is no longer required – but make no mistake, outsourced or not an organization is always ultimately responsible for everything that goes on within it.
- Broad, uninterrupted expertise in the outsourced function.
We now arrive at the basis of this piece. If employers have a hard time trusting their employees, imagine the level of distrust when it comes to outsourcing business functions. There is NO implied trust to start. You read testimonials and get referrals, but you never really know until you start doing business together.
What can you do as a service provider to mitigate client concerns and build trust faster?
Do not promise what you cannot deliver
It sound obvious... but we all know there are plenty of service providers that do this very thing. If it is not a service that you can or will provide, make that abundantly clear before you accept the engagement. If getting an engagement depends on you performing a service you do not provide, then passing on the engagement is best for both parties. If you are a plumber, you do not take electrical jobs. The same principle applies here.
Spell things out in your engagement letter or services agreement
You cannot outline every possible scenario that may occur, but use your engagement letter or services agreement to get you as close to that point as possible. Spell things out. Advise the client to ask questions. Get the arrangement off to a good start by establishing common ground for expectations. Scope creep kills margins. A clearly written engagement letter or services agreement defines what is covered and what is not. Services not included in the original agreement should result in extra charges without creating animosity between you and the client. The strength of your engagement letter or services agreement goes a long way towards establishing a strong relationship right from the start.
Communication
If real estate is location, location, location, then remote support is communication, communication, communication! Do not make the client ask. Keep them informed. Let them know what is going on and why. Do not assume they already know or that no news is good news to them. Keeping your client informed on progress, developments, changes, problems, resolutions and updates reassures them you are on the job. People get tense with not knowing. We reach our own judgments and conclusions in the absence of information to the contrary. Remove those concerns by being an incredible communicator.
Response times
Do not allow yourself or your staff to get in the mindset of it is just another open ticket or trouble call. It may feel that way to you, but the client or customer rarely sees it that way. Oftentimes the client or customer views it as the biggest, most irritating thing they could possibly imagine. Open tickets or trouble calls demand swift responses. Slow response times only allow bad situations or perceptions to get worse. Which brings me to the last point…
Empathy
Again, it may not seem like a big deal to you, but the client or customer usually does not share that opinion. Put yourself in their shoes. I am sure there are other things they would rather be doing. A sympathetic ear does wonders for a person’s outlook. Understand their point of view. Antagonizing emotionally charged individuals rarely leads to a positive result. Listen and understand. Be genuine.
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