How to Select an Outsourcing Partner

You wouldn't want your customers to hear that."

4. Flexible and scalable: An ideal provider is one that can ramp up when your call volume spikes and still maintain excellent customer service. Gary Pudles, president and CEO at AnswerNet, recalls one incident in which flexibility and scalability were crucial. "We have a client that previously did only a small volume of direct business. But after it was cited positively in Consumer Reports, its sales quadrupled overnight. It's good that we were flexible enough and scalable to help them over the hump," he notes.