Monthly Archives: September 2010

KPO Definition and Information

September 17, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Outsourcing Articles | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
KPO Definition and Information
 
There is another blog primarily about BPO:  it’s definition, and information about what type of specialties would be included in that category. KPO is a more advanced type of outsourcing that involves primarily research and analytics, although it could involve web technology, software development, accounting, legal work, and more.
 
 
KPO companies with a broader scope might get involved in legal research, patent research, document drafting, and litigation support, which are all specialties associated with the more narrow term LPO.  Financial research, and accounting analysis work are also common for KPO companies to take part in. A few KPO companies even get involved in India’s new growth industry which is pharmaceutical research.  However, the most common types of work that a KPO company would do would include market research, business research, business intelligence, data analysis, market segmentation, marketing strategies, etc.  A few firms even do content writing, and other types of technical writing.
 
123outsource.net has a directory of KPO companies that you can browse to find KPO firms in any part of the world.  We have a majority in India, but there are American, Filipino, Latin American, and European companies as well.  Additionally, we have a huge selection of global BPO, call center, data entry, medical billing, medical transcription, web design, software development and other specialties as well.  We currently have roughly 3000 listings of outsourcing companies and the number is growing at more than 100 per month!
 
Outsourcing KPO work to India is very popular, because you can gain the services of a very educated team of individuals for a fraction of the cost of what it would be elsewhere.

Suggestions for Google+

September 16, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Social Media | Tagged | Leave a comment

I like Google+ and consider it to be the most interesting and well thought out social media site out there. The membership count is significantly lower than Twitter, but that could change. Here are some ideas to make it better.

(1) Seeing your feed.
When you login to Twitter, the first thing you see is the posts of your followers. On Google, you put people in your circles, but what difference does it make if your material is not in their face regularly. Even on Twitter where your material is in their face, very few people dig down enough to see your content much if at all. On Twitter the problem is that people follow too many others and your stuff gets lost in the shuffle. When I login to my business Google+ account, I have to dig to see what my followers posted.

(2) Favorite accounts vs. favorite posts
Twitter allows you to favorite a post. Google allows you to circle an account in any circle you want, or in more than one which is great. What I like to do is to have favorite accounts. I find most people boring, so I want to see the accounts that I really like. Google allows me to do this, but they should have a standard and mandatory circle for all accounts called Favorite Profiles. Google could rank accounts not only by how many people circled them, but by how many people favorited their account! Smart!

(3) Multiple repeats
When you retweet or repost something on Google+, the original post still stays on whatever feed(s) it is on. You might see an identical post three or more times on a particular feed. This is a problem and really annoying since I run into this problem several times per day.

My solution to the multiple repeat post syndrome issue is to have posts show up once. If the post gets retweeted, then show the icon of the last retweeter as well as the icon of the original account posting the content on general feeds. When it gets retweeted, it should jump up on the algorithm for where it appears on the feeds, but should appear only once.

(4) Notifications
I don’t like clicking on the bell to get a thin display of critical information that could get lost easily. It is better the way Twitter does it by having a full scroll of interactions. I like the idea that you can delete unwanted interaction information on Google+, but the problem is that content gets deleted by accident the minute you are not paying attention. Perhaps an “are you sure you want to delete this” button would be a good safeguard.

(5) It is hard to get followers
Does it get easier over time to accumulate followers? On Twitter it is a snap to get followers. I can get 20-40 per day without even spending more than 25 minutes per account. But, on Google+ I spend an hour and only get three or four new followers. Couldn’t there be an easier way to get circled?

(6) Take the tour
I feel that if Google+ had their own communities for several dozen popular interests and put amazing content picked by experts, that would be amazing. Then, prospects who are interested in Google+ could take the tour and be impressed out of their mind at how good the content is. Even people who don’t want to join Google+ might change their mind after they saw that the content was superior to any other medium in social media today!

Can they do it on their own?

September 16, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Hiring & Firing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

I hire people to do all types of tasks for me. The ones who last can do what they are supposed to do without any intervention from me. I hired someone to do sales. I don’t need to badger her to ask if she did what she was supposed to. She just does what she is supposed to and I just pay her. It is simple.

But, I sometimes unknowingly hire other people who just don’t do what they are supposed to. None of the programmers who I have hired get anything done without me constantly cracking the whip. They complain bitterly about how they don’t like me bothering them all the time, but they don’t function on their own, so I wasn’t given a choice.

Then, there are writers. I find people who can write. But, the writing process involves more than just writing. Topic selection is very important. There needs to be some analytics knowledge to be able to pick the type of subjects that will be popular with your audience. But, to pick catchy and unique titles is not that easy. So far only two of the writers I have worked with can come out with lots of ideas. The only problem is that one of them comes up with the same ideas every time I ask him to brainstorm. Once again, if I am not part of the process, things go sour. The other writer just sends me articles. They are pretty good. I don’t have to tell him anything. The articles just come, and enough of them are popular so that I can keep him. Minimal intervention is okay, but constantly having to oversee someone’s work is too much for me to do. If I do that, I don’t have time to do my work!

The best worker not only gets work done on their own, but offers helpful ideas without being asked. Obviously they shouldn’t shove the ideas down your throat, but the idea that they offer on their initiative is amazing, particularly if their ideas are useful.

When you are doing your work, ask yourself if you do what you are supposed to without intervention. Do you get back to people when the job is finished, or do you make them track you down to find out what happened? People who get ahead have their own initiative and crack their own whip. I am saying this after staying up until 4:30am to finish writing 20 blog articles in a single day. I hope they are entertaining!

Outsourcing has a ceiling – a limit of skilled workers

September 16, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: BPO | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Outsourcing is a popular way for companies to get specific tasks done overseas for a fraction of what it would cost domestically.  However, outsourcing destinations such as India, Philippines, and other countries have a finite limit of skilled human resources.  Global outsourcing is growing in many countries by a rate exceeding 10% per year, often much higher than that. However, it is less clear how quickly the labor force can be replenished. India has been having a skilled labor shortage for several years, and the consequences are devastating for many companies. 

It is common for Indian workers in the outsourcing industry to jump from company to company seeking better benefits, better pay, and overall better conditions. Each time an employee jumps, it costs the mother company a pretty penny to retrain a new employee to fill their space.  In the long run, it seems obvious that higher wages will be the reality for BPO workers in India in many sectors.  Supply and demand are always in flux in any industry, but eventually, reality sets in, and bosses realize that they need to pay workers well to keep them.  Additionally, they need comfortable recreation rooms, delicious lunches, and maybe even prettier secretaries.  These workers these days have endless agendas on their check lists for who to work for!

One of the solutions being offered in the Philippines is more free educational courses.  Prospective employees would be trained to do outsourcing work, and English teachers will also be trained. The only way to bring more trained employees into the workplace is to train individuals who are not already trained!
On a sadder note, India is filled with semi-literate job-seekers who are simply not qualified for any type of outsourcing job.  There doesn’t seem to be a place where they can go to quickly brush-up on their language skills.  Sentence structure, grammar, and punctuation are all missing in their writing.  It would occur to many that thinking skills among these semi-literate individuals are also vacant, although that is an extrapolation!

When you hire call center workers: have an overseas friend evalutate them

September 16, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Philippines, Semi-Popular | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Are you in the Philippines or India? Do you hire call center workers who seem great by your standards. Well, guess what? Your standards don’t matter! It is the standards of the people wherever you are calling or receiving calls from that matter.

Are you doing incoming calls from Canada? You better have a friend in Canada who puts in his 2 Canadian Cents worth telling you what he thinks of your new call center employee. Getting calls from Delhi? Well, you had better ask some Delhi-ites what they think. After all, their standards are a bit different than standards in other parts of India, right?

Get workers who are attractive to your audience. This is not rocket science, but you do have to ask around and keep your eyes open. In the long run, the call centers that win are the ones that go overboard to please their clients. Do you try to please your clients? If so, how much do you try to please your clients? Are there a few MORE things you could do to please your clients? How often do you talk to your clients to ask them if there is anything else that you can do?

If it were me, I would run my call center workers one by one through a set of demanding people in various parts of the world. I would write down all opinions from all of my “judges”. It is so funny, because these days there are reality shows throughout the world where people will get up and sing before judges, or cook before judges. Each judge has something to say.

The sauce was too strong, and the cucumbers didn’t seem like they were “part” of the dish — they seemed like something you just threw in.

You can put your call center workers before judges and get critiques… That is easier than having your client tell you that you are fired because HIS customers didn’t like your new guy or your new girl. Think ahead and scrutinize your people — or someone else will.

You might also like:

Call centers who don’t answer their phone!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/08/call-centers-who-dont-answer-their-phone/

Professional web sites for call centers
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/09/22/how-to-get-clients-for-your-call-center-professional-web-sites/

Is it better to outsource to one blogger or build a team?

September 16, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Hiring & Firing | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

It might be better to outsource to several part time writers instead of one full time writer. If one drops out, you will still have other writers who are trained and know what they are doing. It is always risky to put your full dependence in a new and untested writer, especially if you might have to go through several until you get someone tried and true who you can use in the long run. It might take you two months, when you are too busy to play games testing out new writers — to find your new writer. Then it might take another two months to get them experienced enough to the point where they can function on their own.

Having only one writer puts you in exactly that position where you will be left high and dry every time someone quits. Having a small team makes more sense. That way you always have a few tested people while you are in the process of testing new people. The momentum of your blog is never compromised in that case. By having a small army or gang, you can test the new writers more slowly, and at your leisure. That way if you get slammed with a huge amount of work and don’t have time to test people for a few months, you will not lose momentum on your blog.

Professional comedy writing teams operate under this principle. Sit-coms generally will have a dozen writers. Some of them quit, get sick, or are busy, and they need a quantity of writers who are experienced on that project to continue the momentum and collaboration. Think about it. We live in the real world Be prepared.

Unfortunately, in real life, if you don’t have a dedicated person who you can depend on for everything, you need multiple backup and redundant resources for each task which is necessary. If you need a writer, an outbound caller, and inbound phone agent, and a database manager, you might need multiple individuals for each task. If you are lucky, there might be some crossover for some of the tasks. Your inbound phone person might like doing a little writing, and your writer might not mind doing a few interviews.

How often are marketers creating content? 42% create 1 piece per week.

September 16, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Outsource Marketing | Tagged , | Leave a comment

According to a report from Oracle Eloqua, less than 42% of content marketers produce at least one content asset each week. 62% produce at least one piece every two weeks, and 29% produce multiple pieces per week.

83% of people surveyed said their organization has a blog
24% said they publish more than 11 posts in a month.

But, how often should you publish content?
The more you post, the more likely other people are to see your posts. Additionally, Google and other search engines give favorable treatment to blogs that post more often. Fresh content is king, even if it is not the best content!

The most views for content are on Mondays. The most links come in on Thursdays. The most comments occur on the weekends. So, when should you post?

What do I do?
I will speak from experience here. I run three blogs. One of my blogs has been around for five years and boasts a healthy 20,000 visitors per month which is excellent for niche blog. This blog began by creating posts once in a while. Then, I figured out that I need to post more regularly. It became an everyday habit to post new content, although I published the content several months in advance using WordPress technology. Through constant blogging, I also learned what type of content my readers like which helped me to write even more popular content.

My newer blog is getting off the ground.
My newer blog (this one) which is about business and outsourcing did not get off to such an easy start. We don’t have personal connections with thousands of outsourcers like we do with the notaries who read our notary blog. For our notary blog, we created a thriving newsletter. It is not so easy to develop a newsletter even with a handful of subscribers for our outsourcing audience. The only tools we have which work are publishing lots of interesting content, and using social media to promote it. So far the blog is growing. But, honestly, if you publish less than six interesting posts per week, your blog will have a difficult time showing up well on Google!

What should you do?
There are people who have a blog just so they can say that they have one, and so their website can link to a blog with pretty pictures and generally dull content written by dull people who write dull blogs for a living. Many of those people are the 42% of content marketers who write about one piece per week. Even if your piece is amazing, your blog will never get any traffic unless you pump up the volume. If you don’t depend on your blog for SEO benefits or clicks, then this behavior is acceptable. But, if you want to milk the web for all its got, start finding a way to write.

What about going viral?
Having posts go viral is a science that involves connecting what you are writing about to what I call an anchor. An anchor is a well known concept, person, or company. In my industry, connecting business ideas about hiring programmers to Steve Jobs, furry kittens, or the term “success” can lead to posts going viral. Promoting content on social media at the right time of day, and on the right mediums can also help your post go viral. What makes sense is to study what types of posts that you of your writers create are the most popular. Also study using anchors as that is your ticket to having a chance. Most of the marketing blogs that I read are utilizing the “anchor” strategy on a daily basis, and if you keep your eyes open, you can see how they connect apple cider with their latest marketing scheme, or how they compare their dog’s lifestyle to some marketing concept that they are promoting. It may seem dumb to you, but the highest calibre of professionals are using this every day, and it is not a difficult concept to grasp.

Summary
If you want your blog to be successful, I recommend six pieces per week, and hopefully six really interesting diverse pieces. Keep it interesting, and don’t keep hitting the same points in every blog otherwise your readers will go elsewhere.

Diwalli Reverse Outsourcing

September 16, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: India | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Diwalli reverse outsourcing
 
Here is my comic idea for an outsourcing swap between America and India.
America normally outsources its work to India.  But, as India grows more wealthy, and since they take many days off for Diwalli yearly, it might be practical if America relieves them for a week or two during their festivities and take over their work.
 
A call center in India leaves their work to an American call center.  But, the customers who call in are accustomed to calling India and talking to people with fake American names and thick Indian accents.  This substitute call center in Memphis is going to have to learn how to sound like the original.
 
Manager:  Okay Ema-Sue, we need you to be “Sujata” and talk exactly like her, using exactly the same diction.
Emma-Sue:  All-right, I guess I could try, but it sure won’t come naturally to me, y’know, being born and bred in the South.
Manager: Its okay, because Sujata is also born and bred in the South… of India that is.
Emma-Sue:  Just tell me what you need me to say.
Manager:  Okay… Sujata’s work name is Mary Smith.  But you have to say it like she would.  Here is a tape recording of how Sujata says it..
Emma-Sue:  Okay, I think I have got it.  Hello, this is Mary Smith, may I help you?
Manager:  Hmm.. This is not working.  You don’t sound like her.  What can we do?  I have an idea.. We’ll have you watch Indian movies in English for the entire weekend, and then you can wear a sari with a bindi, and have a Ganesh next to you.
Emma-Sue:  A what?
Manager:  The Ganesh is a god that  looks like an elephant. People worship him by chanting.
Emma-Sue:  Oh, I love elephants, and chanting sounds fun!!!
 
————— Emma-Sue spends the weekend watching Indian movies and returns on Monday—–

Emma-Sue:  I have been watching Bollywood and practicing my Sujata accent all weekend.  I bought this Maharastrian sari that is five meters long, and I now am the proud owner of a Ganesh.  Lets try this again. Tell me how I’m doing.  Hello, this is Mary Smith, may I help you?
Manager:  This is much better, but you are still not capturing Sujata’s essense.  Hmm.  How can I solve this problem  Let me think about it.
Emma-Sue:  Maybe you should meditate, they do that a lot in India.
Manager:  Now you are talking. Although I don’t think that call center employees meditate, I think its the Yogis, but thats immaterial.

—————— After an hour of silent meditation ————————————————————–

Manager:  I have the answer.  We’re going to learn tonality. Just make your voice go up and down like this.  He-llo, my name is Ma-ry Smith
Emma-Sue:  Okay…. Hello, my name is Mary Smith.
Manager:  It is still getting better, but thats not it. I’m really stumped.
Emma-Sue:  Please don’t give up on me… You know I love my job.
Manager:  Okay… I’ll meditate for another hour and ask the gods what to do.
Emma-Sue:  Now you are talking.  Just make sure you ask the right gods, there are so many of them!

—————  Another hour of silent meditation —————————————————-

Manager:  A particular god came to me in meditation. I’m not sure who he was.  He didn’t announce himself or anything. He just appeared to me and he kept bobbing his head back and forth like they do in India.
Emma-Sue:  Maybe thats the answer.  Maybe thats it.  Thats it….Thats it.
Manager:  Whats it?
Emma-Sue:  If I bob my head back and forth like they do, I’ll be able to talk like Sujata talks?
Manager:  What? 
Emma-Sue:  Yeah…. thats it… let me try.
Emma-Sue: —–bobbing her head back and forth…. Hello, this is Mary Smith, may I help you?
Manager:  Wow…. that was perfect!!!! How did you do that?  If I were talking to you over the phone, I would think you were the real Sujata!!!  Amazing. I’ll have to call corporate and tell them the news!  Lets hear you on a real call!
 
Caller:  Hello, I’m having a problem with my phone.  I don’t hear a lot of static.  Am I calling America?  I though our call center was in India.
Emma-Sue:  Hello, this is Mary Smith, and … I will be your technical support representitive today.  How are you doing?
Caller:  I”m doin’ just fine! Where am I calling?
Emma-Sue:  Oh, I am most terribly sorry, I am not at liberty to disclose that ma’am.
Caller:  Oh… with that diction I must be callin’ India. These phone connections are getting so clear, I would swear that you were right here in Memphis several blocks from our local rib shack.
Emma-Sue:  Oh no, I am so sorry to here that you live next to a shanty town, I’m sure your luck will improve.
Caller: Shanty town?  What?
Emma-Sue: It is so sad that you live nearby all of those shacks, the poverty, it is soooo depressing, really.
Caller:   Oh no, its not a shanty town, its a place where you get baby back pork ribs.  Its a delicacy round here.
Emma-Sue:  Pork?  Oh my god, I would never…… oh… that is against,, oh never mind. In any case, I am happy to inform you that the problem with your phone was basically discovered by a technition in New– Ark and it is basically scheduled to be fixed on Tuesday morning.  The problem is not within the  lineage in your residence, but in the outside line. Please kindly just wait until tomorrow and simply let our technition fix the issue.
Caller: That was easy, y’all found the problem before I even knew about it.  But, New… Ark?  What is that?
Emma-Sue:  Yes, yes, it was initally discovered in its initial stage initially in … New…..Ark… I believe this is a very famous metropolitan area within the province of New Jer—sey, so kindly just wait until tomorrow. 
Caller:  Oh…. Newark.. I didn’t understand you.  I thought you were talking about an ark that was new! Ha haa… wait until I tell Jethro, that’ll just tickly his fancy hearin’ about that.  ha ha!!!
Emma-Sue:  Yes, I am very pleased that I had the opportunity to tickle your fancy.  Our fancy would also be mutually tickled if you would like to participate in our customer satisfaction survey. It will only take a minute. Or as you say in America.   I will take one New York minute.
Caller: Sure… I’ll do it.
Survey Clerk:  Hello Mrs Anderson, we just wanted to ask you about your customer satisfaction.
Caller:  Well at first, the line was so clear, I thought I was calling America… and that bothered me because I have been used to getting customer service from India for the last twenty years and would feel alienated if I had it any other way.   The lady I spoke to was really nice.  Its just that I have to remember not to use the wrong vocabulary with certain folks.  Words like, “Beef” and “Pork” just rub people the wrong. way…Boy, I’m getting hungry.
Survey Clerk:  Oh, I’m  MOST terribly sorry that we brought up beef and pork.  I assure you that it will never happen again, and I will take this matter up with management immediately.  Thank you so much and have an excellent remainder of your day.

Feng Shui / Vaastu: A busy market

September 16, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Vaastu Feng Shui | Tagged | Leave a comment

Feng Shui – a busy market

For those of you who believe in Vaastu Shastra or its Chinese equivalent, Feng Shui, I have good news. Feng Shui experts always tell you that where you live effects your destiny. This is very true information. I am a world traveler, and every different place I stay influences the performance of my business and effects how I feel too. In some places I feel like working twelve hours a day. In other places I feel more friendly, and in some places I feel like doing nothing. Where you live determines your life even more than your personality, believe it or not! If you are a hard worker, but you live in a place where laziness abounds, your hard work will be seriously effected by this lazy vibration.

Some places I visited even contribute to mental instability. There were two places I visited in Northern Arizona, where my generally even-minded brain was effected. In one place, I became agitated, sleepless, nervous, afraid, and had nightmares. I had nightmares in another place in Northern Arizona too. A third place in Northern Arizona left me having very watery thoughts during meditation. How odd, this never happens anywhere else. It was very disturbing. Los Angeles leaves me balanced for the most part, with an urge to work all the time, and enjoy myself too (after work is done, of course).

But, what can we do to enhance our business if we are stuck in a house that we bought? Most of us buy our houses without purchasing the wisdom of a feng-shui consultant or vaastu expert. We go for help after its too late asking, “What can we do?”. The answer is generally, “MOVE!”. We can not move easily, but good news is here. I studied feng-shui at a reputed local school in California on the weekends for two years. They taught some very good theory. But, what they didn’t teach was first hand experience. Nobody knew how much a given environment would effect you, they only knew that it “might” effect you in one particular way. My task was to go out into the world and really see how environments effected me and my work.

I learned that some places were so powerful, that if I stayed there for an hour or two in a day, my business would be effected for twenty-four hours. Some places were better for the outsourcing site, while some were good for the acupuncture or notary sites that I run.
The places that had the best effect on my business were banks, supermarkets, and bustling restaurants. These are places where money keeps circulating fast, like a waterfall. Waterfalls are renouned in feng-shui as having the best effect on money making. The nearest amazing waterfall to where I am is in Yosemite and only is full with water in the Spring. That is seven hours away!

But, not all supermarkets are bustling. Many markets are losing money, or have few clients. The trick is to find businesses where there is an endless flow of traffic and where the business makes money. But, how do you track this? Are you a business owner? See if your business does well for 24 hours after you are in what I call a feng shui hot spot.

How do I find my lucky spot? Spend an hour and forty-five minutes in a hot spot. Thats all you need. A slow meal, or just hanging around. Then see how your business does the next day. This should be done on more than one day. Some days are slow days, and other days your personal astrology might be bad. Try each spot for two or three days, and not on days when your business is typically slow like on the weekend for example.

Feng shui is fun, and can help your outsourcing business. Just find the right spot and dont’ be afraid to experinment and believe in the metaphysical and mystical forces that control your life even more than your will power!

Assessing the value of the quality you receive in #callcenter work is hard

September 16, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center, Management | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Assessing the value of the quality you receive in #callcenter work is hard

Imagine that you are hiring call centers to do work for you. How do you assess the workers? How do you assess the company as a whole? Each person has unique skills and will be put through different situations. One person might be more efficient at their work (more calls / hour) while another person might be better at calming down complicated situations! Some people are just pleasant to talk to — efficient or not, and might gain your company popularity. A few workers might
give wrong answers to questions, or just make things up — imagine what that can do to your reputation. Everyone is different and it is not always to easy to figure out who is ideal for your needs.

There are factors that I am thinking of that you might not be thinking of. How fast will the worker quit? If you train someone to do your work, and you invested a lot of time in them, it is expensive if they quit. Imagine investing $1000 of your time in someone just to have them quit three weeks later. How can you predict who will quit and who won’t?

When you tally up the scores of all of the people you are comparing, give points for efficiency, and points for how they make people feel. Subtract points for unreliable behaviors. If you are picky, one small goof and you are fired. Most employers have a longer string than that, but you have to figure out how much incompetency you can handle, because there is a lot of it out there!

When assessing the value of the company as a whole, after going through five or more workers, you will get a sense of the quality standards of the company. In my opinion, you are as good as your worst employee. But, on the other hand if you have a few great ones to make up for the bad ones, it somewhat compensates!

Tweets
(1) If you have a few star employees to make up for the duds, it somewhat compensates!
(2) Imagine that you are hiring call centers to do work for you. How do you assess the workers?
(3) One #callcenter employee might be more efficient while another might be more pleasant to talk with!
(4) Imagine investing $1000 of your time training someone who quits 3 weeks later?
(5) When you tally up the score, give points for efficiency, pleasantness & deduct for mistakes!
(6) When assessing the value of a company as a whole, try out 5 or more workers; get an average score!

You might also like:

Training and assessing your workers
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/06/04/training-and-assessing-your-workers/

Does your team function as a team?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/01/18/does-your-team-function-as-a-team/

If there are spelling mistakes are there work mistakes too?

September 15, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Of Interest | Tagged , | Leave a comment

I am the worst speller in the world — or at least that is what people tell me. I write books that I sell that have spelling mistakes after I have double checked them. But, I am careful in my work. I’m not perfect, but I care! But, part of my job is to detect when someone is trustworthy or reliable.

What I learned is that when someone starts off telling a small lie, or inflating a fact, that down the road they will do a lot of exaggerating. I also learned that if someone makes a spelling mistake, or grammar mistake, that can turn into poor work performance or inaccurate bidding shortly after. It is so hard to know for sure. But, I have seen examples of this in real life. You see a sign — such as a misspelled word, and then you see an outcome such as an error on work that actually matters.

So, the moral of the story is that as a manager or business owner you should not overlook anything. Even a person’s tone on the phone can tell you a lot. If they are a little too solid, they might use that against a weaker player. If they are too smooth on the phone, they will usually use that to get extra money from you. If they are too low brow in their personal style, they might not be that professional. In business, it is the plain, straight, exacting people who will give you the best value in the long run.

Pay attention to the signs. All of the signs mean something!

You might also like:


Each rep gives a different answer

Outsourcing can save you 60-90% of costs
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/01/01/1120/

When to write blogs quickly and when to take 3 hours / entry

September 15, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Of Interest | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

I used to write my blogs very quickly. I have no particular background in writing, other than the fact that I write many emails, and have written a few how-to books for my clients who appreciate my knowledge, but don’t care for my spelling mistakes! You can’t please everyone. But, in the last few years, I discovered the joy of blogging. It is very fulfilling to me as well as being a huge marketing plus for my various web sites. I estimate that 40% of my main site’s traffic is a result of the SEO benefits of blogging! Huge!!!

In any case, I started working with professional writers recently.
I found that there is a huge difference between occupational bloggers and professional writers. The level of writing is much higher if you get someone with an academic background, or someone who is/was a professional screen writer for television. I started doing what I call collaborative blogging with two writers. I pride myself on my ability to write 2-6 interesting blog articles per hour. That is very fast! But, when I work with the professionals, it takes two people at least 45 minutes together to finish one piece. That is 1.5 man hours. There was one article which was very long about a date between a notary (me) and a girl. This took three hours of two people working together by phone. It was a huge hit, but boy what a lot of time.

So, which is better, writing quickly, or taking your time and making it perfect?
I learned that my quick and dirty style of writing had many spelling errors. I also learned that there was a lot of room for refinement of the ideas, restructuring, and bringing more juice out of each idea. I also learned that refinement takes forever! According to my blog stats, the quick blogs maintained my blog traffic, but there was not much growth. When I had one or two really thoughtful entries per week, we got better overall growth in our total blog repeat traffic. Interesting facts to know if you do analytics. I decided that doing a blend of fast blogs and slow blogs was the best way to populate the daily entries in a blog. But, there is one more thing that I learned.

5 minute blogs teach you which titles do well
I learned that it is not about quantity, or even quality when you do blogging. It is about matching the interests of your readers. If you write a quick piece about something that your readers really want to read, they will click on it, and even like it, even if it is not the best written article. If something quick is popular, you can do variations on a theme next time, and put more thought into them. That way, your future articles will be about topics that are tried and tested, and you can spend an hour or more with a professional refining them and making them a joy to read.

Blogging is lots of fun, but you need to have a keen understanding of the strategical aspects of how to allocate your precious time and the time of your hired help!

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http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/07/10/1593/

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http://bpo.123outsource.net/2011/04/05/the-miracle-of-blogging/