When this topic matters
You decided to outsource. You have 5 offers from agencies. How to select the right one?
Wrong selection means months of lost time, money, and reputation risk.
What happens in practice
Typical selection by price: cheapest offer wins. After 3 months you discover quality is catastrophic.
Problem: all agencies look similar on paper. Difference is in people, processes, and approach — which is hard to evaluate upfront.
Why it fails
Price as only criterion: cheap agency saves on people and training. High turnover, low quality, weak results.
Missing due diligence: you did not talk to reference clients, did not see operators, do not know processes.
Unrealistic presentation: agency promises anything to win contract. Reality shows after launch.
How to think about it
Evaluation criteria: 1) Experience with your segment (B2B, B2C, SaaS, enterprise...). 2) Operator quality (listen to real calls!). 3) Processes (onboarding, QA, reporting). 4) References (talk to clients).
Red flags: too low price, promising unrealistic results, unwillingness to show processes, ambiguity about operator turnover.
- Segment: experience with your client type
- Operators: listen to real calls
- Processes: onboarding, QA, iteration, reporting
- References: talk to current clients
What you gain and what you lose
More expensive agency: higher quality, lower turnover, better results. But higher upfront costs.
Cheaper agency: lower costs, but often hidden costs in quality, management, and slow ramp-up.
When to apply
With every partner selection. And then regularly evaluate — agency that was good a year ago may not be good now.
Pilot project: start with small project before long-term contract. You will learn reality without big risk.
Do not just look at price. Evaluate: segment experience, operator quality (listen!), processes, and references. Red flag: too cheap, too many promises.