Fantasy football has come a long way in the past couple of decades. Veterans of the game may recall hours-long drafts that featured a chalkboard to track picks, and stacks of magazines and stats to provide guidance on strategy. Following each week’s games, you would (im)patiently wait to see how your team performed, since scoring required the manual addition of the official stats delivered in the newspaper. It was truly a labor of love, so participation was restricted to those who were willing to put in the time and effort.
The internet brought fantasy football to the masses. Online draft rooms with player projections, stats and injury reports lowered the barrier to entry, and real-time scoring available on mobile apps added excitement and suspense to every live game. Leagues now include everyone from seasoned football statisticians to casual fans who shrug when asked to define the significance of a touchdown, so it’s no surprise that draft strategies (and their eventual success) vary greatly.
Let’s review some popular draft strategies and – to stay on message – how they relate to your outsource call center search:
The Intensely-Researched Drafter
Did you know that a particular 3rd string running back is actually be poised to have a breakout year because the two guys in front of him are nursing injuries that are likely to be aggravated by the new offensive coordinator’s probable strategy? Or that a tight end will almost certainly shine in Week 7 because he always puts up numbers the week following a bye – when he’s playing on grass? Well, there are fantasy drafters out there who do, because they have performed research that would make a Ph.D. candidate feel like a failure. They don’t just understand the players and their abilities, they understand the complex external factors that can affect an individual’s performance on any given week. They’re not just drafting a roster, they’re thinking about every week’s lineup.
This is, of course, a smart strategy for selecting an outsource call center partner. When you’re vetting candidates to serve as your customers’ connection to your brand, there’s really no such thing as too much information. Finding dozens of potential BPO partners through various sources and then exhaustively researching them will put you in a great position to select a partner.
But this approach isn’t all upside. It’s only possible if you have an extraordinary amount of time to dedicate to the task. And while there’s a wealth of publicly available information, you’re likely missing out on proprietary information and details that are hidden behind a paywall or in an algorithm. Your search is inevitably limited in some ways, and you may not even know it.
The Anything-But-Football-Stats Drafter
Maybe the player was the central figure in a hilarious television commercial. Or has an entertaining Twitter account. Or a great team mascot. For some fantasy football participants, these stats are every bit as important as passer rating or rushing yards. They don’t take it too seriously, and like building a roster of likable players. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but football is an unpredictable game. And sometimes it works out. After all, a spot on an NFL roster means that the player is at least capable of greatness.
And really, it’s no different than an outsource call center making the shortlist because it’s located near a beautiful beach or employs an exceptionally charismatic salesperson with a flashy pitch video. That BPO may also happen to be the perfect partner. It’s a win-win situation for your customers and for the person responsible for site visits and ongoing communication.
But let’s be honest. In those cases, it’s a happy coincidence that things worked out. That’s not to say that taking auxiliary factors into account is always a bad idea. It’s not. The key is balancing them with the data and KPIs that are most likely to directly impact the outcome.
The Last-Minute-Preparation Drafter
Ahhh, the pre-draft cheat sheet scramble. As the countdown to the first pick goes from minutes to seconds, this owner is frantically trying to decide which website’s pre-draft rankings they trust the most while simultaneously working through a password reset because they haven’t logged in to their fantasy football provider’s site since Week 16 of last year. They’re essentially going in blind, and the clock is ticking.
Unfortunately, this is a pretty common scenario when looking for an outsource call center. Many business leaders find themselves in a situation where they need to suddenly find a new BPO partner with little warning and are forced to make a selection quickly. In some cases, this can work to your advantage. A time crunch eliminates the opportunity for overthinking, which can sometimes be detrimental to the process.
But I think we can all agree that in general, some research is better than none. You can’t necessarily plan for every contingency, but you can put yourself in a better position to pivot if you’ve already got some ideas in your back pocket. Even if you don’t have an immediate need for an outsource call center, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be staying up to date on regional trends and pricing in the event that you have to make a quick decision in the future.
The Phone-a-Friend Drafter
Let’s say you want to be competitive in your fantasy football league, but you don’t have the time (or encyclopedic football knowledge) to effectively prepare. If you happen to have access to an Intensely-Reseached Drafter, you’re in luck. Many, many championship fantasy football teams have been owned by someone who made the strategic decision to call for reinforcements and bring in an expert for their draft. This approach requires minimal input and maximum results.
Just like there are individuals who specialize in fantasy football, there are organizations that specialize in outsource call centers. They are focused on one thing: building and maintaining a comprehensive understanding of the BPO landscape. The trends, the players, the pricing, the performance. A call center advisory firm can be your shortcut to finding the perfect partner.
The key – in fantasy football and in call center selection – is finding the right ally. They may claim to be an expert, but can they back it up with data? How many fantasy football sources did they actually review? How many BPO vendors have they actually screened? Are they biased toward a particular team or outsource call center? If you pay attention to these considerations and select the right advisor, you’ll be a force to be reckoned with.
Want to Get an “A” Grade in Your Fantasy Football Outsource Call Center Draft?
We’ve screened thousands of potential outsource call center partners to build our proprietary database of over 500 top-performing partners. We continually monitor the performance of each one while receiving regular updates about their experience and pricing.
If you want to learn how Outsource Consultants can be your secret weapon in the draft room, get started by requesting your free call center cost proposal.
