Monthly Archives: September 2010

It is not comfortable moving up the food chain

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My business is growing very slowly. I prefer it that way, so I can keep my frame of reference. I don’t like huge and sudden changes in any case. Life is full of surprises and unexpected turns. Growing a BPO outsourcing business also has issues that come up, and growing pains are a huge one.

When you go from being a worker to a manager, it is completely different. I actually like doing grunt work. It is easy. You just have to do a good job and get it done on time. Managing others is much harder. YOU are responsible when they screw up, and it is not always easy to deal with unpredictable people. My strategy is to try people out on outsourcing projects that don’t matter, that way you can get to know them without having consequences other than the money you spent having them do a fake project!

For many years I operated with the same sales lady, the same programmers, and everything remained the same for the most part. We grew a little, and developed our skills in many facets slowly over time — particularly my SEO skills which I started acquiring in 2008 which saved my life. But, now I am confronted with interviewing dozens of people. I have lots of phone calls with companies I wish to hire for outsourcing as well. I have to test out blog writers, programmers, and assistants as well. This really tires me out.

I remember a day when I had two interviews in my county. One was an hour from my house. After that I went to the other meeting which was twenty-five minutes from the first interview. I had a light dinner, and then went to have wine at a nice hotel not far from my house. I was exhausted. The actual time I spent interviewing was only 90 minutes total in the entire day. It completely drained me out. I began to think that I am not cut out for this higher level type of work. I prefer to do my tasks myself and not do much hiring and firing.

“Will I ever make it up the food chain?”
But, then I thought that if I am ever going to make it up the food chain to higher management, I need to be a pro at hiring and firing. On a more comforting thought, when I talk to others in business, I realize that they are not really any better than I am at hiring and firing even if their organization is much larger than mine. Hiring is a skill that requires mastery, and mastery takes a lot of hard work, thought and refinement. I’m having growing pains slowly moving up the food chain, but I think I’ll make it. I’m not sure how long it will take until I’m comfortable doing a higher percentage of management rather than grunt work. Maybe I will be a full fledged manager in a year. When you work for yourself there are no promotions. You do what is necessary for the company to run, so this promotion is one that evolves or doesn’t evolve. We’ll see what happens!

If you are having similar growing pains growing your outsourcing company, you are not alone. Learn to master the art of delegation to the point of it being a science!

You might also like:

Should you have slack in your schedule as a manager?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/07/should-you-have-slack-in-your-schedule-as-a-manager/

6 ways to be more in control of your business
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/09/25/6-ways-to-be-more-in-control-of-your-business/

Tags on Google+ cannot be used the way they are on Twitter

Categories: Social Media | Leave a comment

Twitter and Google+ are both fun, but can’t really be used the same way. Twitter posts are limited to 140 characters while Google is more flexible. Google+ will let you write posts much longer than 140 characters, but will only show the first 400 or so characters before you need to click the “see more” link. I think Google’s attitude about letting you post longer posts adds a lot of flexibility to their social media venue. If only they had the volume of active users that Twitter does (technically they have more active users that Twitter, but it seems like they only have 10% if you look at active members of groups or people who post regularly).

Google+ rewards you more for the words at the top of your post.
This is actually very smart. I give Google points of intelligence. I learned that in Google+’s search results they reward you more for words closer to the beginning of the post. So, if you want to stress one or more particular tags, put them in the first line. I noticed that words near the bottom of my opening paragraph did help me show up on search results, but several notches down — to the point where you needed to scroll a bit to see them. I’m not sure if the necessity to scroll hurts you a lot or a little, but it could hurt you a lot, so keep this in mind!

Google+ tags don’t do much good unless…
If you tag a post with a keyword that doesn’t appear in your verbiage, you might not show up at all on keyword searches. If you have a popular account with many followers, or you pick a very unpopular tag, you might still show up. But, for the rest of us, you need to make sure your keyword shows up in your text, no matter how awkward it is to fit it in there.

Twitter just lets you tag and show up
Twitter lets you write about anything, and put any tag you like. If someone retweets you, especially if it is a retweet from that particular keyword’s tag feed, then you might show up better under that tag. But, the flexibility is much greater with tags on Twitter even though you are limited to very few characters.

What really matters in the end?
I’ve retweeted popular content on Google+ with really mainstream keywords. However, these prominent retweets didn’t get any plusses despite the fact that they were from excellent sources. I retweeted content from Harvard Business Review and many of the prominent players in the social media arena. It seems that proper tagging on Google+ might get you a little bit of popularity, if that. What seems to matter is having people who come regularly to your page, and share your content. What also matters is having high quality original content that people really like.

I gasp as see my Twitter clicks go from 2 a month to 42

Categories: Analytics, Social Media | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Twitter is a very simple, yet complicated social media platform. It is easy to tweet. Any idiot can tweet, but the problem is that most of the people who do tweet — are idiots. I looked at my analytics for previous months and years on Twitter. As I see my evolution unfold, I am painfully reminded of how I used to not have a clue of how to effectively use Twitter. Effective use of Twitter is like an art form. You get gradually better at it over time, but nothing happens all of a sudden.

Many novices are fooled by the top line number. They think that having lots of followers is a good thing. More followers is not bad, but it doesn’t translate into any SEO realities either. The key in Twitter is to have good tweets going to good content that your audience likes! Our worst several months we were getting only about two clicks a month. After I started really taking Twitter more seriously and spending more time creating more artful tweets, my click rate went up a bit. But, after I hired a professional comedy writer, that is where I saw the real results. We peaked at 42 clicks a month and had over a dozen different people retweet us.

I used to count straight retweets, but now I am more interested in how many different people retweet us. I retweet myself from my various accounts, but that means very little to me, and even less to you. I take pride when strangers retweet my content at least once a month. If the same guy keeps retweeting me, but nobody else does, then I lose interest.

Honestly, my twitter analytics for the outsourcing site are very poor. I often question whether it is worth it to even continue with such small numbers. I want hundreds of clicks and hundreds of retweets, not a dozen new people retweeting me on a good month. My Notary Twitter on the other hand is getting thousands of clicks using the PPC program. What works for one account doesn’t necessarily work for the other. So, I’m going to have to strategize here about what to do.

My gut feeling is that it makes more sense to create more content and let Google do the work rather than slaving away trying to create great Tweets and wondering why the retweet rate is so low!

Tweets:
(1) Effective use of Twitter is like an art form. You get gradually better at it over time.
(2) The key in Twitter is to have good tweets going to good content that your audience likes!

You might also like:

Social Media Optimization: Checking the effectiveness of each of your campaigns
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/12/20/social-media-optimization-checking-the-effectiveness-of-each-of-your-campaigns/

Your last four tweets count the most
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/12/09/your-last-four-tweets-count-the-most/

How to find call center clients — being pushy

Categories: Call Center | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Finding call center clients could be easy or hard, but having good technique is what you should be worried about at this point. You can contact larger companies and see if they need extra call center resources. Or, you can market yourself on the web and in directories and wait for the calls to come in. The main point is to attract the people you come into contact with. Many companies have not mastered this point.

Many call centers lack basic phone skills when you call them. They often don’t even answer their own phone, and many don’t even answer professionally. Often times, you can not get someone trained in sales to help you without really pulling teeth. So, master your phone skills before going on to the next step.

Don’t be pushy
Many businesses that do outsourcing of any type can be pushy about contracts and terms. If you are a smaller company trying to make it in the big world, you will feel tempted to copy what bigger companies do. This is a mistake. Don’t copy big companies. Big companies might have rigid contracts, formal looking offices, formal suits, receptionists, etc. You don’t need any of this. Contracts are restrictive and scare people away. Sure, you need to protect yourself from not getting paid. However, trying lock in a complete stranger to a contract will scare them away. Your phone is NOT ringing off the hook. So, if your phone does ring with a prospective client, your strategy should be to NOT scare them away no matter what. Lure them in by being nice, helpful and flexible.

The 70% rule
When I go shopping for companies, I have to turn down 70% of them because they have rigid terms and because they try to push me into a contract. Do you want to lose 70% of prospective clients? Most companies behave as if they don’t care if they get new clients — those companies get far fewer than they could if they changed their attitude. Does your company have this “Don’t care” attitude?

The long run
If you care about the long run of your business, you will quickly realize that catching a new client can turn into a snowball effect. That new client will stay with you for years if they like you. They can also give you more business volume if they like you. Additionally, they can tell their rich friends how great you are — if they like you. However, if you alienate your prospects at the point of sale — they will not try you out — and they will never know if they like you — because you were too pushy. So, DON’T BE PUSHY. Learn your lesson now.

Your employees are depressed…

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Your Employees are Depressed: Why Business Isn’t Booming–And What You Can Do About It

Depression: A Major U.S. Export?
In the United States and elsewhere, many people are just tired of all the economic ups and downs—and just don’t believe in the system anymore. Mental health in the workplace is at an all-time low, and workers don’t feel secure about the future. Even those fortunate few workers who believe they have stable jobs and good bosses may suffer from work-related depression. Psychologist Robert Ostermann, an expert on workplace stress, pointed out that, at the outset of the 21st century, in countries that emulated “the American model” (Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore) there was more stress. As outsourcing continues to be a solution made-in-America, stress continues to escalate in call centers in India, IT companies in India and China, electronics manufacturing companies in Asia, the Philippines, and South America, and all across the globe.

After Sept 11, 2001, outsourcing to call centers in India, for example, increased dramatically as a way American corporations could pay out less and have callers on the phone at hours when U.S. call center workers were sleeping. Along the way, America also outsourced its customer service problems and its stress: Americans expected their calls to be handled by people who spoke good English, understood their accents and their concerns, and could offer clear solutions. When customer service issues were handled by call centers in India, the U.S. company that hired the call center was often criticized and held to higher standards by critical customers who then became suspicious of the company they believed they were doing business with in the first place. For most call centers in India, with the jobs and income came the stress of having a call center that was up to U.S. standards.

How Many Depressed Workers Are There?

According to surveys described in The Times of India (Feb 19, 2013), 66% of employees in India suffer from stress and admit they have trouble focusing at work because of stress. Whether it is caused by the very real demands of multi-tasking or by the unreasonable requirements of an unsympathetic and harsh work environment, lack of focus is a major symptom of depression. At call centers in India, where poor management and stress are legend, stress is extreme; yet in 2013, stress is part of every job, every industry, and every country. As of 2011, a quarter of the world’s workforce admitted to suffering from depression, and 92% assert that their depression is job-related http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/11/nearly-quarter-of-global-workforce-depressed_n_1088785.html .

According to a 2013 article in The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, “Depression in the workplace is a global concern.” Michael Mazaar, author of Global Trends 2005, points out that “Depression is now…the world’s second most insidious illness” (after heart disease). Workers in call centers in India, the Philippines, and the U.S. are greatly at risk because customer service work on the phone is so stressful, but all types of jobs that involve multitasking and the potential for misunderstandings put workers at risk for depression. In the U.S. in 2001, job stress cost industry over $300 billion a year; what are the costs in 2013—if stress in the workplace has doubled or tripled? What are the current costs in the workplace–globally—because of stress due to outsourcing, national debt, mortgage interest rates, global warming, earthquakes and tsunamis, terrorism, global political meltdowns, and the threat of constant war? Human beings are aware of these issues, even if they do not consciously think about them or discuss them. These issues are real, and cannot be easily dispelled by talking about them…which may explain the current focus on medications: according to CNN, use of anti-depressant medications has gone up 400% since the late 1980’s.

Tip: If you think you are depressed: Spending time in nature (gardening, hiking, walking), exercise, and proper diet will bring you most of the benefits of the chemicals in medication. Also, studies demonstrate that just choosing to focus on the positive increases your serotonin levels.

Am I Depressed? Are Workers in my Office Depressed? How Can I Tell?

If you work in a call center or an office job in India, the U.S., or the Philippines, you may have noticed workers who are
· more and more forgetful
· often late
· prone to error and missed deadlines
· easily distracted
· exhausted
· confused
· withdrawn
· gaining or losing weight
· emotionless
· hostile
· preoccupied
· fond of alcohol

These are common symptoms of depression, a product of stress, and may be observable in your workplace. “Stress comes from bad managers,” says Robert Hogan, PhD, an expert on personality in the workplace. If you are a manager in a call center in India, the Philippines, the U.S.—or a manager in any office—you are in a position to help your employees and your company by finding out about employees suffering from depression.
According to Forbes, 65% of Americans surveyed said in 2012 that they would rather have a good boss than more money. Call centers in India are notorious for bad managers…but managers in the U.S. or anywhere else can be just as bad. A 2009 Harvard Business Review survey reported that “the majority of people say they trust a stranger more than they trust their boss.”

So What should I Do?

If You Are a Manager or a Boss:

1. Having healthy employees is good for business: According to an MIT study, depression costs “tens of billions of dollars” each year in terms of loss of productivity, time off from work, and health care or costs for treatment. Hire, train, and keep employees who are healthy and have a healthy way of relating to others—in person and on the phone.

2. Screen employee responses as you train workers. Give employees clear directions, realistic goals, rewards, and consequences. Talk in a pleasant and rational manner. Make employees feel safe. Let healthy employees mentor those who are on edge.

3. Observe employees at work. Don’t ignore any symptoms you observe. Be on the lookout for bullying or other behaviors that create stress. Ask questions and have employees see a company doctor if needed.

If You Are an Employee:

1. Manage yourself. Be aware of how you feel and how you react to others. If you are not happy at work, figure out why and make a plan to correct the situation.

2. Don’t just let the situation keep on the way it is. If you need more direction or different tasks and hours, speak up. Ask for help at the beginning, and follow directions.

3. Do your job. If you know the workplace environment is bad for you, find another job with a better work environment. If you can’t find another job, do everything to function better—including medication, if you need it.

Few workers feel the workplace is a friendly environment they can trust or feel comfortable in. Are workers at call centers in India and the Philippines taking the heat from U.S. business problems? According to Forbes, “The United States is a nation in decline” and the U.S. has slipped to 12th place in the list of the world’s happiest (read: most prosperous and stable) countries http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2013/01/09/the-worlds-happiest-and-saddest-countries-2/ .

Let’s face facts: terrible workplaces and poor job security are everywhere. In India and China, for example, only 40% of people surveyed in 2013 believe it is a good time to find a job. On the surface, these countries seem to be doing better than the U.S., but workers in India, China, and even the Philippines exhibit their own symptoms of depression. Labor issues, the high cost of food, worker safety, long hours, and poor wages are real: it’s not just about having a job, but the quality of the job and the work environment, too.

The Moral of the Story?

Despite the reports we hear of a boom elsewhere, there is no place where workers feel life is safe and the future is rosy enough to keep on working as usual. Whether you work in a call center in India or an office in the Philippines or the U.S., there is stress. In the workplace, do something good for others, and it will come back to you in increased productivity and focus.
Looking for the perfect country to do business with is like the old story of the house with the golden windows at sunset: a girl has always seen a house with golden windows. When she travels there one evening at sunset, the windows are not golden, and the boy of that house points out that the house with the golden windows is at the other side of the valley: he turns and points to her own house.

Perhaps the moral is still to look to your own house, your own country—instead of pointing at other countries’ productivity and bemoaning the fate or the lack of productivity of your own. We need not abandon outsourcing or doing business with those far-off countries that seem to have the golden windows, but we can try to strengthen our own nation. That means addressing problems that lead to stress and depression. It means not allowing our lives to be overtaken by the trivialities and frustrations brought about by a world that doesn’t seem to care anymore. Find the workplace that is the best for you, create a work environment that is positive, and reward the few people around you who care. Give good managers your best effort. But keep on looking.

Tweets:
(1) Americans are exporting depression as workers feel unsure about the future.
(2) Depression makes you forgetful, late, and distracted. Not good in the workplace!

You might also like:

If you were Donald Trump, what would you do?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/09/24/if-you-were-donald-trump-what-would-you-do/

If you hire happy people to interact with your staff
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/05/29/if-you-hire-happy-people-to-interact-with-your-staff/

What is a microvacation?

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What is a microvacation and why you should take one.

There are various types of vacations that a person could take. You could stay at home, go to a resort, go

to a foreign country, or just camp by a lake. These days there are more innovative types of breaks called “Workations,” “Twittercations,” and now there are “Microvacations” (not to be confused with Nanovacations.

It is hard for busy working people to get away.
You can’t take a one week or two week break whenever you feel like it. You need to be all done with your work and your meetings before you can seriously take time off. But, what if your work load just doesn’t end? There needs to be a system for dealing with that. Stress can pile up, and the stress doesn’t care if you have time for a break or not. You need a microvacation.

What is a microvacation?
A regular vacation could be a week or more, generally in a far away and hopefully relaxing or rejuvinating place. Or, it might be an interesting place with lots of sightseeing which could be refreshing albeit tiring. But, a microvacation is something that lasts only a few hours. It is not even as long as a mini-vacation or day trip. No, a microvacation is only a few hours at best.

Recommendations for quality microvacations?
The beauty of a microvacation is that they are low in cost. You don’t need to book hotels, and you don’t need to pay for expensive cabs, or airfare. Since a microvacation is so short, they are by definition nearby where you live. By my personal definition, a microvacation could be taken anywhere from thirty minutes to three hours from where you live. You simply drive to your destination, and then enjoy your activity. The point of a microvacation is to take you away from your regular stressful environment into a refreshing place. What you actually do is secondary providing that it rejuvinates you. Natural places are what I would recommend for a microvacation.

Where do I go for my microvacations?
I like the coast at sunset. I’ll often go for an hour or two. I will read blogs on my i-phone, or enjoy a quick meal at a coastal restaurant. The ocean vibration refreshes my mind and body, so that when I go back to work, I can function better with less stress. Sometimes I’ll visit the desert for a few hours as well. That is a longer drive, but it does miracles to boost my energy. Or, I’ll visit a local forest that relaxes me and boosts my energy. Use caution, because not all natural places will have the same effect on you. Choose places that you notice a definitive change in your mood or energy after you go there. Take notes on how you feel before and after each place, and go more than once to document your average net boost in energy or lowering of stress.

How often should I take a microvacation?
I would recommend a microvacation two or three times a week if you want to be able to work at optimal performance at your job. The weekend can be used for a longer microvacation that might require eight hours away from home. Shorter trips can be done after work during the week.

It is about the quality of the interaction on social media

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Interpreting stats on social media is not easy. I have to rely on my intuition to figure out what is what. We have multiple social media channels going on and I have trouble keeping up with all of it. My social media manager handles most of it, and I review her work from time to time.

Although we found it hard to get 11 Linked In members, and easy to get 18000 Facebook members, the total number of intelligent posts from other members on Linked In exceeds what we got on Facebook for this particular account. Please keep in mind that my Facebook account for my notary site is very lively and intelligent. I am not trying to undermine Facebook as they have been a valuable resource to me. I’m just doing a quality analysis on social media commentary.

It is the quality of the followers, not how many you have. It is about how many of them post, and how good their posts are. If you get intelligent comments on one medium, that is worth a million bad quality comments on another medium. Actually bad comments are a liability because you have to remove them.

Another thing to consider is the science of how an online community grows. Does it grow like a seed and germinate? Do you see a small seedling sprouting up, that becomes a small tree, then a bigger tree, then a huge tree which eventually produces fruits? It is very unpredictable.

We have had a Notary Facebook account for years. The total number of followers continues to rise. The quality and quantity of commentary seems to have been constant for three years. We get good comments, and enough of them, but it is frustrating that we don’t see any growth in the total interactions. Out Twitter accounts seem to have regular growth in the amount of interactions and retweets. Part of it is the improved quality of our content and increased networking on our end.

My bottom line message is to forget about the top line numbers in social media. Look at the growth rates for quality interactions.

African Outsourcing

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Outsourcing in Africa

Africa has a growing outsourcing industry with South Africa taking the lead. Although India has the bulk of the outsourcing market for the time being, Africa has offerings that India has no way of providing — Languages. Many European languages are spoken in Africa such as Dutch, French, Arabic, and many others. Although these languages will not attract U.S. outsourcers, they will attract many companies in Europe and the Middle East. Additionally, many African call center workers can learn to speak very authentic British sounding English much better than call center employees in other parts of the world. Speaking with the local accent is one way of gaining popularity with customers.

Political instability, frequent power outages, and poor infrastructure are factors that are detremental to the African outsourcing industry as a whole. But, prices are so low, that for many, its well worth it to tolerate these dangers and inconveniences. As time goes on, African countries are gaining credibility in the international market as reliable outsourcers.

Putting language aside, cultural attributes in Africa can be very helpful in the BPO Call Center industry. Being empathetic to distressed customers comes naturally to many African call center workers, perhaps more so than in other countries.

One area that is very important is broadband internet infrastructure. If a country has good connectivity especially in economic areas, then it can provide efficient and reliable communication services which are key in the call center industry. A year ago, Africa had no fibre-optic vertebrae. The recent building of four underwater cables has increased bandwidth capacity by one-hundred fold and has increased speed and reduced prices for internet usage as well. Currently there are only four million Kenyans with regular internet access, but access is expected to rise with the future sales of 3G mobile phones with internet accessibility.

African outsourcing continues to grow, and in another few years it will become a matured and regular desination for various types of outsourcing. With more global choices available, companies can find the most optimized match for their service needs which makes the world an overall better place.

Alternatives to having a fake call center name

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Alternatives to creating a fake call center name

It seems to be a formal rule that is recorded in the constitution of India, that all call centre workers will have fake names — or be immediately throw in jail for not shunning the culture that they are from.  But, why not have a policy of having TWO NAMES…

I personally have a name that I translate into many languages.  I have an English name, a French name (spelled the same as the English name, but pronounced differently), a Spanish name, an Arabic name, a Hebrew name, and lastly a very classy Chinese name which sounds surprisingly similar to one of their literary scholars (which was a complete accident).    If I go to China and people ask my name, I say, “Wo de zhong-wen ming-zi shi ma jue min”.   That means, my Chinese name is Ma Jue Min.  I make it clear that this is not my legal name, but this is the Chinese version of my name — Horse Awaken the People.  Incidentally, the name was meant to be the closest phonetic match of my English name, but has a very poetic meaning in Chinese, and is almost identical to Li Jue Min who was a literary scholar in China — a happy coincidence.

In any case, living in America, we meet people from all around the world.  Before 911, I met a guy from Lebanon.  If I met him today, he might hide his real name for obvious reasons.  He introduced himself this way — “Hi, my name is Ousama, but my friends call me Oos — Just call me Oos”.

So, picture a South Indian call center worker being honest about his name and location. “Hi, my name is Rama-Chandra Sri-Kumar Venkatchalam — but, you can just call me Mike… everybody else does”

There is a legitimate reason to adapt an alias name if your name is too hard for Americans to say. Please remember that many Americans live in places like New York where we hear 30 languages every single day, every day of our lives. We are used to hearing names of all types ranging from African, Indian, French, German, Chinese, Korean, etc. For cosmopolitan Americans, being able to pronounce a name like Rajesh would be a piece of cake.  But, for whitebred folks in Oklahoma or North Dakota who don’t have much diversity at all, it might be an issue to grasp ANY Indian name at all.  To me it seems logical to keep your real name unless it is just impossible for more than 5% of Americans to remember or pronounce.

Visit our worldwide list of call centers

The mystery call center caller

Which parts of the USA have better programming companies?

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When we think of BPO outsourcing, we often think of offshoring, but you can also nearshore to other parts of the United States for example. Many California BPO companies hire in the Midwest or the East Coast for example. The question is, which parts of the country have the most reliable service providers?

What I learned through a lot of searching around and interviewing people is that California is the worst place to hire programmers. Interestingly enough, 17 years ago, I remember that my aunt told me that her husband’s friends with businesses never hired California companies to do anything because of the unreliable service. They always hired companies in the East Coast. I remembered her story long after the fact and found it to be generally true. I also learned that people who live in California who are FROM a reliable part of the world, tend to be more reliable.

In any case, the Midwest is a place where the level of integrity is much higher than the rest of the country or perhaps the rest of the world. We encountered personality issues with a few emotionally unstable service providers in the Midwest. We also found some people who were not that smart. But, we encountered far fewer liars and cheats in the Midwest than in other parts of the Country.

New Hampshire was another good place to find programmers. New Hampshire is a no nonsense state for rugged nature loving individualists. The folks there bring new meaning to the term, “Live free or die!”.

Massachusetts, my place of birth had mixed results. There were many highly intelligent software companies there, but many wanted to charge 200 hours for a project that experienced people typically bid 35-45 hours on. What does that tell you? Are they bidding high so that they can get rid of us? Very dishonest if you ask me.

No place in America is perfect, but New Hampshire and the Midwest are where I would refer a stranger to find good outsourced help in programming or perhaps other specialties as well. If it were me, I would strongly consider outsourcing to India. Good Indian teams can get your job done quickly and cost effectively. Good luck!

You might also like:

How to make sure the software company you hired will deliver
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/06/22/how-to-ensure-that-the-software-company-you-hired-will-deliver/

Slow-but-good verses fast & sloppy programmers
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/06/16/slow-but-good-verses-fast-sloppy-programmers/

Why would you hire you?

Categories: Hiring & Firing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Would you hire you? Why?

We have many companies begging us for jobs. But, we don’t dispatch jobs. At least we are not doing that yet. We might in the future since everyone in India is desperate for assignments. But, the people asking for jobs are not very refined sounding. They don’t even know how to properly ask for a job. They sound like they have no experience in business and no skills either.

If I sat these desperate guys down at a table and asked them, “Would you hire you?”, what do you think they would say? If they were honest, they would say “no”. The companies who are worth hiring typically do not advertise much, and are very picky about which clients they accept. So, if you are available, you are not good, and if you are good, you are not available. This is a very real paradox in outsourcing.

I am not trying to berate newer and less professional outsourcing outfits by any means. I just want them to take a look at themselves and assess their strong points and weak points.

Do you get work done correctly? Consistently?
Do you get work done on-time?
Do you correspond well with clients, and as often as they might like?
Do you read, write, and speak good English?
Is your staff reliable?
Can you handle higher level work?
Are you meticulous enough?

Nobody is perfect, but my goal is to get people to look at themselves and try to figure out what their best points are, and which points need attention. Remember, you must pay more attention to your weak points than your strong points, otherwise you will be an unbalanced mess — and unbalanced messes don’t do well in the cut throat world of business!

Tweets:
(1) If you worked in HR, would you hire someone like you? If not: what can you fix in yourself?

You might also like:

Don’t hire an employee, hire 5 and keep the best one!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/20/dont-hire-an-employee-hire-5-and-keep-the-best-one/

The 2nd interview, why is it so important?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/09/02/the-2nd-interview-why-is-it-so-important/

Does the internet make it easier for new startups? Google sets the rules here.

Categories: Marketing | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Many people think that the internet makes everyone’s life easier. It is easier to shop on the internet because a zillion companies are competing to get you the same product at an even lower price, or with better shipping terms. But, the internet has put many bookstores out of business, and put many couriers out of business. The way we function in today’s society has completely been changed by the internet.

The internet keeps changing
The way the internet is used today is drastically different from how it was used five or ten years ago. As an internet marketer, I have to be very quick to adapt to and learn new marketing methodologies on the internet.

One world — one market
But, the fact is, that the internet makes the world, one small market place. The problem with that, is that if you are not in the top three in the planet in your market niche, you will not stand out, and probably won’t do well. On the other hand, if you have a physical location and also use the internet to strengthen your marketing, then you have the geographic advantage of being in a particular place. A hardware store in Maine, can’t compete with a hardware store in Los Angeles assuming that you aren’t going to buy the actual hardware online — and most people don’t buy heavy things online for obvious reasons.

Google makes the rules
Google sets the rules for who will do well in its kingdom. The rules are very interesting in fact. In the old days, you could have a site, do a little SEO, and you would show up well. Now, you have to do the SEO, perhaps some adwords pay-per-click, but you really need social media to do really well. My traffic would probably be less than half without social media. So, Google in essence is forcing you to become a master of social media if you want to do well.

The rules don’t favor the rich
I was beginning to think that without a huge budget, you couldn’t do well on Google. With more maturity and experience, I’m seeing that this is completely not the case. It is skill that Google rewards, not money. If you have money, you can hire a social media company that can get you all the accounts that the experts say you should have. You can get a Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, a blog, and a few others as well. They can get you followers too. A social media company can charge you anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand a month. But, the one thing a social media company can’t do, generally, is to use the social media mediums in the way that Google respects.

What does Google like
I used a lot of social media PPC. Google didn’t reward me at all for the Twitter clicks I got from PPC. The rewards came from organic clicks from twitter which were real, and resulted in longer visits to my site, and visits to more than one page per visit. I realized, that it wasn’t about budget. It was about making the system work. Google doesn’t care how many followers you have. They like the fact that you are on your blog and your twitter daily, and manually make new connections, interact with them, publish quality materials and get retweeted.

Anyone can tweet on twitter, but how many can get retweeted?
Anyone can make dumb interactions on twitter, but how many can get others to interact back and not ignore them?
Anyone can buy followers on twitter, but how many can get over a thousand relevant followers who are active?

Google understands that it is easy to buy followers. They understand that it is easy to tweet. They understand what is easy and what takes skill. Google is here to basically say that they reward you for doing what is hard, and for taking action on a daily basis rather than creating a site and letting it rot! Google rewards you for your skill and your efforts, and not for your ability to spend lots of money on services. Google is fair, Google is just. But, does Google and the internet (Google is the internet, or the internet god from my point of view) make it easier for startups?

In my opinion, the internet makes startups harder because you are competing with the entire world, and they know more than you do. On the other hand, if you are smart, and take the trouble to learn, you can outsmart those other dummies, and believe me, most of them really are dummies, and be in the big leagues in less than a decade. All if takes is really hard work, and refining your analytical thinking skills. Doing well on the internet is directly proportional to how you communicate and how analytical you are! Good luck!

Oh, and don’t forget to pray to the Google gods.
To please the regular non-internet God who we call God, he likes hard work, honesty and tithing. So, give to the Red Cross and a few homeless shelters to get on God’s good list. And to get on the Google God’s good list, interact more on Twitter and figure out how to get retweeted and clicked on.