Customer service isn’t just about picking up the phone. It’s also about showing your customers that your brand is reliable and can provide timely and effective solutions to their problems.

Having good customer support is one of the biggest factors in whether clients stick with a business or move on elsewhere. In fact, 32% of consumers say that good customer service is one of the key factors influencing their trust in brands, according to Marketing Week.

Most companies try to handle customer service in-house because it gives them more control. And for some businesses, that may work. But it may fall short in industries like engineering and maintenance.

Imagine a total HVAC system failure in an office building in Ottawa during a harsh winter. The property manager makes calls to your support line to have it repaired, but no one picks up right away. By the time your firm answers, the issue has already been escalated to a competitor.

One delayed engineering call response leads to a frustrated client, affecting the contracted company’s image as a reliable brand. In high-stakes industries, customer support reliability isn’t optional. It’s everything, so customer service outsourcing may be the better approach.

In-house customer service gives your company more control over management, training, and brand consistency. Since they work directly for your company, they know your brand’s services, values, and customer base. But buildings don’t just operate during business hours.  The call can come anytime.

But it also takes a huge investment because your company handles the sourcing, training, managing, and other requirements for building an in-house customer service operation. Plus, getting it up and running can take time.

These factors make in-house teams risky for industries like engineering and maintenance, especially when dealing with emergency calls after hours or across bilingual provinces. One missed call could lead to delays, dissatisfied clients, or even a potential contract violation.

Customer service outsourcing gives you a reliable team that’s already trained and ready to offer support. Partnering with an answering service like On Call Centre is a cost-effective investment that helps you avoid the risks of missing client calls and boosts your brand’s reliability.

Bilingual outsourcing as a competitive edge

Canada’s market demands good bilingual service quality. According to the Government of Canada, the country’s population is almost 37 million, and about 22% speak French as their first language. To meet these market needs, you need to go beyond simply answering calls and start providing inclusive and accessible services.

Having a bilingual customer service operation offers you a competitive edge because you can serve both English and French-speaking clients. Through customer service outsourcing, you can rely on a fully bilingual call answering service like OCC to handle calls in both français et anglais, ensuring your clients feel understood no matter where they’re calling from.

Compliance, SLAs, and the need for consistency

In engineering and building maintenance, reliability isn’t just a brand promise—it’s a contractual obligation. Even one instance of a missed call could lead to an SLA violation, client penalties, or potential compliance risks.

Factors like SLAs, late-night emergencies, and a team on the road can be hard to juggle when you’re managing an in-house customer support operation. Outsourcing customer support to a 24/7 answering service provider like OCC ensures consistent response times, even after hours.

With our custom dispatch protocols, fully bilingual customer service representatives, and fully customizable call answering services, we can provide reliable customer support teams for any type of business.

Contact OCC today to learn more about our 24/7 bilingual answering service.