Outsourcing or In-House Dealer Marketing Magazine | January 2008
You are probably familiar with the term ‘outsourcing’— using a third-party company to do things that you either cannot or do not want to do internally. Many dealerships use external call centers, surveyors, mystery shoppers, and outside mail houses.
Outsourcing can be a huge benefit to a dealership. Some reasons for outsourcing include economies of scale, convenience, accountability, and increased productivity for current employees. The challenge for the automotive industry is to outsource for the right reasons. Most dealerships, however, outsource for the wrong reasons. But, how do you know what the right reasons are?
One key question to ask yourself is can you be sure that the projects you are outsourcing are driving the desired results? The decision of whether to outsource or remain in-house doesn’t have to be timeconsuming or challenging. Any activity, if executed properly, drives the desired result. All you have to do is determine the best way to accomplish the valuable process or activity in the most efficient way.
There are four steps to determine whether to outsource: Step 1) Identify what works. What processes or activities, when implemented, drive results?
Step 2) Test the process to ensure value.
Step 3) Implement the process consistently and with the right resources (in-house or outsourced).
Step 4) Measure your results and strive for even more.
Outsourcing is a good option when at least one of the following issues is at hand: The task is mundane and/or very task-oriented, the task requires specialized skills, the task requires constant management oversight for compliance or high efficiency to be achieved, or the task does not take away from the customer experience if done by someone outside the dealership. If these issues do not come into play,
in-house may be the better option.
Once you have decided to outsource, consider the following key components when selecting an outsourcing company: Flexibility, accountability, reliability, and most importantly the integration of the outsourced task into the day-to-day business processes of your people.
This requires great technology and communication between the outsourcing company and the dealership. For example, choosing an outsourcing company whose technology is tightly integrated with an affiliated call center and print house gives dealers a variety of options as to how their goals can be accomplished.
Dealers can determine what type of calls they want performed internally, and then have other calls that have either not been made in a defined amount of time, or that fall within certain criteria, to be executed externally. This provides the dealership with control of the cost, and the customer experience.
Should you outsource or keep your activities in-house? The right answer is both. Whichever choice allows you to reach your goals and optimize the strength of your business is the right one.
