All businesses want to satisfy their customers, especially when they interact with representatives of the business. This is why providing outstanding customer care should be an integral part of any auto lender’s business strategy.
Whether it’s a singular borrower or a dealership, the customer’s experience will ultimately play into their decision to engage the lender for any future needs. As a bedrock for any auto lender’s loan portfolio, a loyal customer base further diminishes the need for continuous marketing and advertising. However, setting up and operating an in-house customer care department entails considerable investment, including hiring a dedicated customer care team, not to mention the hardware, software, and other expenses.
With outsourced managed servicing that includes customer care, service to customers can be taken on by a third party with considerably more expertise than the lender. Ideally, this managed servicing vendor will also provide 24/7 customer support and be able to use multiple channels to communicate. A customer’s experience when interacting directly with lenders impacts whether that customer returns when they require additional products or services. This is especially true for lenders seeking to provide customers with end-to-end loan solutions throughout the lifecycle of their loans. When it comes to outsourcing customer care, service should matter more than control for lenders.
Elevating Customer Satisfaction with Outsourced Customer Care
Ultimately, one of the fundamental reasons customer service departments exist is to retain customers. When outsourcing customer care, service to the customer should improve, thus increasing retention. But how can auto lenders attain this cost-effectively? Rather than asking about the cost, lenders should instead ask how they can afford not to. Outsourcing customer care and other business functions reduce costs while making the lender more flexible. Managed servicing providers help lenders quickly scale up or down to optimize their operations according to their needs. This increases efficiency, allowing lenders to achieve higher profits or add additional services.
A key reason many businesses go with a managed servicing provider is that they open alternative avenues through which customers can contact them. Outsourcing customer care services enables customers to communicate with lenders via multiple channels, including email, social media, mobile applications, and call centers. This expanded capability to engage is incredibly powerful. In fact, a study by the Aberdeen Group found that companies with the strongest customer engagement strategies retain an average of 89 percent of their customers. In contrast, those with poorer engagement strategies only retain a third of their customer base.
When to Outsource Customer Care
Well-trained customer care representatives are invaluable, able to swiftly troubleshoot a customer’s problems. Through customer care, lenders build relationships with borrowers, and there are numerous reasons why outsourcing customer care makes sense at certain times. This is especially true when a lender reaches certain junctures in its growth.
These may include situations like:
- For new lenders just establishing themselves, outsourcing customer care ensures service will be of the highest quality, increasing the chances of success.
- Times when a lender requires quick increases or reductions in customer care coverage based on need which may include seasonal cycles—this also negates the need to hire and train dedicated customer care staff.
- Uncertainty exists as to longer-term strategies and the company’s direction, allowing lenders to keep high-quality customer care services when substantial changes or rapid growth occur.
Managed servicing providers enable a better customer experience for a lender’s customers through outsourcing customer care.
Concerns About Outsourcing Customer Care Services
Lenders with fast-growing loan portfolios are most likely to look to delegate their customer care to a third party, but this handover comes with several perceived problems.
Risks some lenders see from outsourcing customer care service include:
- Additional costs
- Differing communication styles
- Higher security risks
- Incompatible work culture
- Loss of control over messaging
- Lower quality service
Though some lenders are initially reluctant to take on a managed servicing provider for their customer care operations, when done right, outsourcing provides significant advantages that help auto lenders better compete.
Finding the Right Managed Servicing Partner
When outsourcing customer care, service providers serve as extensions of an auto lender’s team. The right managed servicing partner will easily and efficiently support every aspect of an auto loan’s lifecycle. Ideally, they should know how to modernize the lender’s processes, offering access through digital portals to determine risk, compile borrower details to help provide relevant products and services, and use sophisticated technology to give the lender an edge over competitors.
When looking for a managed servicing provider for customer care, consider the following:
- Ability to adjust quickly to new developments.
- Attention to detail, especially when considering customer confidentiality.
- Average experience of the managed servicing partner’s customer care agents.
- Capabilities for direct monitoring of outsourced customer care agents with customers to ensure they’re well-treated.
- Communication capabilities in foreign languages if needed.
- Established processes that promote transparency and accountability.
- How feedback on customer care agent performance is collected.
- Proper training programs and refresher courses to ensure representatives have the knowledge they need.
- Turnover of their customer service teams.
- What metrics to track and how they will be used to ensure consistently high-quality service.
- Whether their technology can integrate easily with existing tech infrastructure.
It’s important for a lender to work with a managed servicing partner that uses proven processes to deliver excellent customer care. Their values should also align with the lender’s core values to maintain trust, transparency, and accountability throughout a loan’s lifecycle. By utilizing outsourcing for customer care, lenders can personalize the customer experience and develop long-lasting relationships with their customers.
defi SOLUTIONS: Outsourcing Customer Care Services
The best customer care providers deliver quality service quickly and efficiently, dedicated to resolving a lender’s customer queries and issues. When it comes to outsourcing customer care, defi SOLUTIONS presents innovative solutions that give lenders an advantage over their competitors.
As a managed servicing supplier of customer care, defi SOLUTIONS offers:
- Access to cutting-edge technology that many lenders couldn’t otherwise afford.
- Analytics that track such things as call volumes, average wait times, length of time to resolution, and other metrics regarding performance.
- Cloud-based software that enables lenders to scale their operations easily and quickly.
- Expert customer service teams that assess need, build rapport, interact empathetically, provide personalized service and resolve problems.
- Extends customer care operations to suit the lender, including providing availability after hours, on weekends, and during holidays.
- Interactive voice response (IVR) that interprets a caller’s intent, routing them to the appropriate agent for their issue.
- Omni-channel customer care solutions that allow interactions via voice, email, chat, or fax.
- Online communication capabilities via email, text, and chat.
- Virtual assistants that enable customers to serve themselves, or which initiate the process to improve response times.
Getting Started
defi SOLUTIONS has over three decades of experience providing lenders support when outsourcing customer care. Services provided by defi’s customer care representatives ensure that a lender’s customers will always receive prompt responses and positive interactions. For lenders struggling to find a workable customer care solution in-house, we invite you to contact our team today.
