Confidence verses Skills
India is a country that emphasizes hard skills in schools. Most school systems worldwide do the same thing. But, in business, hard skills, such as technical skills of various sorts are only half the equation. You need soft skills too, and this means interaction skills.
Communication
When I call India, I notice that people speak very quietly, and mumble. The phone lines are not good to begin with, and then people’s unclear communication skills makes it much worse. Good communication skills are paramount in business. The bosses of companies always have the best communication skills of anyone at their company. But, workers need to communicate too, but generally lack the skills. Communication needs to be TAUGHT somehow, but someone, somewhere in India. Having good clerical or technical skills will not win over the desireable clients as much as combining your skills with good communications and customer service.
Be confident?
Americans are great with confidence. We think we can do anything, when in reality we don’t know what we are talking about half the time. This works great in business — at least in the beginning. In business, it is suicide to overpromise, or underdeliver (which are the same thing in essence). However, it is also suicide to appear shy, squeemish, or lacking in confidence. If you do business with the West, you MUST adopt a “Can Do” attitude, a friendly disposition on the phone, clear English, etc. It is common in India even with PhD’s to think that they can not do something. This type of thinking is a psychological damper and has been passed along from generation to generation in India. Mothers only tell their children “don’t do this, don’t do that”. It is stifling. There needs to be a more proactive way of thinking that identifies what is beneficial to do, and then find out how you can do that beneficial thing.
In person it is opposite
Indians are a nationality that are amazing in person, and terrible on the phone. I wonder how such a nationality can survive in the call center issue being so bad on the phone! I think Indians should do “Meet you in person center” outsourcing instead of call center outsourcing. They could fly clients to Hyderabad, and meet clients in person, have samosa chat (a common food in Bombay) while people talk to each other and sip on masala chai. Indians are the most personable nationality when samosas and chai are involved. The trick is pressing you internal psychological buttons here. While you are on the phone with a stranger, pretend that they are Lakshmi Aunty and that you are talking about how the family is doing — in person — with no phone — except there will be a phone! Your whole tone will be much friendlier and people will like you immediately! Just trick yourself into forgetting that the person is a stranger, and trick yourself into forgetting that there is a phone. Maybe use a speakerphone and pretend the person is right in front of you!
Doing more of it is the key
I have learned a lot in my own personal development. As a child I was very shy and had all of the bad charactersistics I complain about in my blog. I had to grow out of my shyness, my mistrust of strangers, and adapt a positive attitude so that I could attract clients — lots of clients — and desireable ones too. What I learned is that you need to do a lot of phone work to get good at it. Developing a positive tone, asking the right questions, being polite, and wording your questions and answers in a way that leaves a positive feeling in the other person’s mind are all critical skills.