Common Questions asked in RFI’s and RFP’s for Outsourced Call Center Services

Are you a publicly traded or privately held company?

Are you a subsidiary of any other company? If so, what is that company and are you managed autonomously or through the parent company?

Describe the key differentiating points between yourself and your competitors.

Beyond the services of providing Call Centre support, describe any value-added services unique to your organization and not possessed by your competitors.

Does your organization have a Mission and a Vision Statement? If yes, please state.

Please provide a copy of your mission statement as well as a copy of your organizational chart. Include background information on your principals and senior management members.

Please provide a list of each of your locations, both in Canada, the U.S. and internationally. Include the following information: (Inbound, Outbound, Number of stations, City, Province, Postal Code).

Please attach a list of financial references as well as a copy of a Dun & Bradstreet report on your company.

Provide 3 current client references with contact and phone numbers.

What are your company's expansion plans?

Do you support/enforce the telemarketing regulations of your country?

Define how you manage consent to go on states.

Define how you manage federal time of day calling restrictions.

Define how you manage state and federal disclosure regulations.

Define how you manage state or partner no rebuttal requirements.

Define how you manage your do not call, or do not solicit responses.

Do you perform any file scrubs prior to calling? If so, please identify types and frequency.

Describe the daily management practices and culture you will establish to ensure a willingness to develop a collaborative partnership with Client beyond the standard transactional, price-based focus and to ensure commitment to loss reduction and prevention.

What are your standard hours and days of operation for Inbound and Outbound?

How does Operations communicate with Client Services?

How does Operations communicate with Quality Assurance?

Describe the programs in place to allow agent-scheduling flexibility throughout the duration of the project.

Describe your company's Employee Relations policies for standard employee benefits packages.

Describe your company's reward, recognition and/or incentive programs.

Does Bidder perform background checks on all of its agents? If yes, list checks performed.

How do you create a positive work environment?

How does Management track TSR perception of culture and resolution of grievances?

How often are performance appraisals given and who reviews the performance for the following:

Provide samples/examples of the tools used to manage performance to program standards for onsite management, account management, and your company's senior management team.

What are the skills and education level of your agents/workforce?

What is the average length of employment for your agents/workforce?

What languages can your agents support?

What other tasks does a supervisor have to accomplish?

Please describe the reading, spelling, grammar, comprehension, math, and general clerical tests your company administers to staff.

Please describe your education procedures, including duration and curriculum.

Describe any existing feedback loop between QA and Training.

Please discuss your re-education procedures.

What assessment tools are utilized to ensure product knowledge and skill level?

What do you look for when hiring a trainer? (experience, skill set, personality, education)

What is your education philosophy?

Who decides what ongoing training is needed for a TSR? How is this decided?

Client values companies with a structured Continuous Improvement and/or Quality Improvement policy. Please define your company's Quality Assurance and how Client will benefit.

Are clients able to blind monitor agents?

Do you have digital recording capability?

Do you record calls to verify sales?

How are the production results monitored?

How do you ensure consistency with all centre staff regarding critiquing and scoring TSR monitoring sessions?

How do you handle a client who is not satisfied with the service he/she is receiving?

How does your company gauge customer satisfaction?

How does your organization measure its ability to respond to customer service issues?

How often are TSRs monitored?

How often is formal feedback provided?

How often is informal feedback provided?

Who does the QA department report to?

Who ensures call backs are made on a timely basis?

Who or what ensures assessment tools are used and verified?

Is your management information system capable of providing real-time reports?

Please list your capability to generate additional customized reports and submit relevant examples.

Provide a copy of sample reports used to manage Inbound/Outbound programs (intraday, daily, weekly, and monthly)

What are your delivery standards?

Describe the data networks your company uses.

Describe the voice networks your company uses (including long distance company).

Describe your company's agent desktop applications.

Describe your company's CRM application/s.

Describe your company's CTI application/s.

Describe your company's Knowledge base application/s.

Describe your company's switching equipment.

Describe your company's voice response technology.

Are duplicate computer records stored off-site? If so, where and by whom? How often are these records backed up and sent off- site?

Do you have a disaster recovery or business continuity plan? If yes, describe it.

Do you have an uninterrupted power supply?

Do you have IT support on-site?

How much downtime has your agency experienced in the past 12 months due to systems, electrical and weather related incidents?

Is there an Internet firewall in place? How often are firewall server activity logs reviewed?

Please describe all systems area security measures?

Please describe any technology driven innovations currently in development or recently deployed, if applicable (i.e. Web Enabled Interface)

Please explain your disaster recovery plans.

What is included in your price?

What costs would we typically expect to see over and above your standard hourly (minute, call) pricing?

Describe how you will implement an Agreement of this scope including all key tasks and responsibilities assumed by your organization and those that are required (in your estimate) of Client.

Identify information you will need from us to optimize the efficiency of the implementation - includes data requirements, process document and other related materials.

Identify key implementation activities that are the most critical, and are the most time-intensive to execute.

Please describe your approach to change management and communications in order to maximize implementation efficiency and ensure rapid contract adoption.

Provide your timetable for completing the implementation you propose to service in each of your locations.