Monthly Archives: September 2010

Giving up control of your work

September 26, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Outsourcing Articles | Tagged | Leave a comment

Giving up control
 
When you outsource to an overseas BPO company, or even give work to another individual to do, you are giving up some control. They do the work their way, and when they want to.  I personally even have this issue when I give simple tasks to a new assistant. 
 
The issues can be various, but in order for a company to grow, they have to delegate tasks to responsible entities who can effectively take care of them in the long run.  Sure, the other company will do things their way, and on their time table, but if the job gets satisfactorily done, that is the bottom line. 
 
On the other hand, if you hire a company who you have to fire, or if they stop work, then you can get yourself badly behind schedule and in a real bind. 
 
However, the fact that your job is outsourced globally doesn’t make much difference from it if were given to the girl next door — except that the culture is different and the phone communication has time zone issues.  Companies are companies wherever you go, and a good outsourced one will be crucial to the development of your company’s growth.
 
Keeping metrics on how the new company is doing is hard. People work at their own speed, and the quality of their work can be very difficult to determine, especially with communication.  If you give a data entry job to someone, you can count how many forms they fill out in a specific time period, and what their error rate is.  But, with custom programming, how can you tell if they are fast or slow, good or bad,unless you are very experienced.
 
What if someone is doing customer service for you, how can you tell how good they are? You can ask the clients they spoke to how their experience was, and base your opinion on feedback.  If someone is doing sales, then you can look at how many sales they make, but what if they made sales by exaggerating facts about your service?
 
The biggest issue is really your comfort zone.  Learning to be comfortable having others do your work is critical, and finding the right “others” to do your work is the next hurdle.

Outsourcing Notary Work

September 26, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: America | Tagged | 2 Comments

Outsourcing Notary Work
 
Many people think of outsourcing as hiring a company in another country to handle some of your back office tasks, and sometimes it is.  Companies overseas also hire American companies to do all types of tasks as well, generally tasks involving a higher level of technology since our labor rate is expensive.  But, hiring another company in your same town to do tasks that your own company can not efficiently do, is another type of outsourcing.
 
Notary Outsourcing
Mortgage documents used to be signed at banks, and lender’s offices throughout the nation.  California and Florida have led the nationwide trend towards mobile notaries that the rest of the states are now engaging in as well.  For the last decade or more, independent mobile notaries trained in loan signing have been outsourced to take over what used to be the jobs of employees.  Its easier.  You don’t have to do payroll, pay benefits, or even pay at all in many cases.
 
Free labor?
Notaries beware!  Background checks are an absolute necessity.  No!  Not companies background checking you. You have to background check them to make sure they feel a responsibility to pay notaries for their work.  Otherwise, you will end up a statistic.  I could estimate that 5% of loan signing jobs go unpaid.  The non-paying company might have gone belly-up, or perhaps the notary made a mistake.  In some cases, the loan didn’t go through, the signing company didn’t get paid, and they decided to take the liberty to not pay the notary.  “Notaries Ye Be Warned!!!”  There are pirates out there!
 
No Responsibilities
If business is slow, you just don’t hire anyone.  If you have bank employees, the salaries have to be paid every week of every month whether their is business or not. Loan signing business is typically faster during the last week of the month, and some months are faster than others.
 
Outsourcing can often save a company a lot of money.  However, by outsourcing your notary work, you lose control of who is doing the work.  Independent notaries are not always the best trained.  Most are not certified by any agency, and lack the experience and suaveness to handle sticky situations.  The highly experienced notaries generally want to get paid very handsomely.  So, outsourcing has its pros and cons, but its the standard way of business in the notary world today!

Are Outsourcing Contracts Just Another Trap?

September 25, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Management | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Sometimes, people need contracts.

You need one if you are a millionaire and you suspect your wife is marrying you for your money. You need one if you are buying a property or an office and you don’t know the seller personally (or maybe even if you do). You should have one with an employee or an employer or an attorney or a contractor who performs a service .

What about outsourcing? How much contract do you need, and how much is too much?

We are living in a time when people do not trust each other, and even if they do, there is always doubt. Things seem to change in a moment. Even if you have known someone for years, some crisis may strike and you will need to have something in writing to document your original understanding and agreement. Also, people are under a great deal of stress and two parties do not always remember things the same way. Finally, if you are outsourcing, you may not be familiar with the other culture, and it is good to put certain agreements in writing. Actually, a contract can tell you quite a bit about the party you are doing business with. These are all good reasons to have a contract.

However, most contracts are too complex for a simple agreement, and are one-sided: they do not protect both parties equally. Such a contract may show that the outsourcing company just wants to make money, and isn’t really interested in a good business relationship at all. When you see a contract like this, you may get the feeling you would rather not do business with this company at all.

One company we proposed to outsource some IT work to insisted that we sign a contract even before we gave them a one-hour sample project, and one wanted a contract even before they quoted us on several projects. We felt uncomfortable; this seemed extreme.

If you feel you have a good connection with a company, they should be willing to do a few basic things for you without a contract so that you can see how they work. Of course, if it involves giving them codes or confidential information, you will want some kind of understanding in writing. But if you do not already have a good understanding with the company by talking to them on the phone or in person, no contract will make it better…and if you do have a good understanding with them, there is no need to put in writing anything more than that understanding of details you already have and maybe a few details you have questions about. If the contract makes both parties feel safe, it may work…but the best contracts are drawn up by the two parties together , after they have had a chance to work together.

A good basic contract should include the names of the companies, responsible parties (business managers, project managers, or whoever is communicating the information), the scope of the work to be done, the dates, approximate number of hours, the fees, and time frame in which the work is to be completed. If the contract is for a call center, it may include training procedures and specific dos and don’ts plus frequent conferences and feedback. But it is fruitless to create an extensive contract before you have had a chance to work with the company on a short project. If a company wants a huge time commitment at the beginning–until you see the results, it makes no sense to sign a contract that binds you to a certain number of hours or fees plus extra fees for circumstances you never even wanted to consider.

In our experience, lengthy and confusing legal contracts up front only serve to show that at least one of the parties has had bad experiences or has not fulfilled some part of the bargain in the past. If this is true, you might want to keep interviewing companies until you find one you have a good understanding with. Nine times out of ten, when you find the right company, they will be willing to do a test project without an extensive, constrictive contract. After a test project, you can sign anything you think is needed–because you will have an idea of who they really are and how the work gets done.

You might also like:

International contracts to watch out for!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/14/i-refuse-to-sign-international-contracts-to-watch-out-for/

How to gain clients for call centers — contracts!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/04/05/how-to-get-clients-for-call-centers-contracts/

How consumers engage w/small businesses on Facebook

September 25, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Marketing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

More than half of consumers claim that Facebook is the most practical social medium for researching small businesses before making a purchase. There are various metrics on Facebook that allow the customer to get a sense of how good the company in question might be. First of all, Facebook posts often get great commentary from followers. Twitter and most other social mediums tend not to get much interaction. Google+ gets interaction, but doesn’t seem to have a very large regular crowd using it. Customers compare how many likes posts get and how many followers a campaign might have. The level of engagement and amusing content is also another factor, but customer reviews and ratings seem to be the most critical factor.

Special Offers Gain The Most Attention
Many companies also have special offers made on Facebook that can be redeemed or utilized in an actual brick and mortar. Additionally, promoted posts lead to more clicks to websites, and promoted posts with sweepstakes or prizes often do quite well.

Other ways that companies interact with their users besides Facebook special offers include:
(1) Promoted posts – which give you the ability to have a hugely augmented reach and get multiple times the visits.
(2) Sponsored stories – which entertain your clients and hence gain you loyalty and frequency of visits.
(3) Photo & video contests – you need a very large crowd to get people to be willing to do this. For small businesses, you might not have a critical mass, but for large businesses, it can result in free content for advertising or something fun to put on youtube.com
(4)Videos that encourage you to use your favorite products – a great way to get your customers to see your products in action.
(5) Prizes, giveaways and sweepstakes – this can be fun for your followers and attract new ones. However, prize giveaways are something that generally are not effective if you do them too frequently. For small businesses, perhaps twice or thrice a year is enough.
(6) Polls & Quizzes – Polls are great for you to learn what your clients like, or say they like. Their purchasing behavior is the real proof, but an added layer of knowledge can be helpful for your analytics department. Quizzes can be fun for some of your followers, but I wouldn’t have quizzes more than once in two months.
(7) Loyalty application promotions – Having a loyalty program can sometimes help a business and sometimes be more trouble than it is worth. But, try it out and see if you get any bites.

What types of businesses do consumers like to interface with on Facebook?
It seems that customers go more for restaurants, spas, and educational profiles on Facebook than for practical services. Facebook is a cyber-place that attracts people who want to relax and enjoy. So, you can see how seeing what’s new on the menu, or what your latest massage treatment is might be pleasing to a Facebook user. LinkedIn attracts more people who are interested in the practical side to business, networking, and having discussions about the technical aspects of their business. I personally run a Facebook for Notary service providers. It is a lively place to discuss technical issues, experiences, and ideas. However, the audience favors talking about personal experiences on the job which makes our profile personable and fun which is typical of a Facebook audience.

How should your company interact with its Facebook profile?
Facebook is a great tool to promote your business, but it is easy to use the network incorrectly. In my experience, the optimal way to use Facebook is to create a fun, engaging and entertaining atmosphere that people want to come back to. Yes, you can promote new products too, but don’t do it in a way that resembles selling. You can have specials too, because specials make people feel good. To create this type of pleasant atmosphere I recommend:

Informative posts with great photos – Facebook is one of the more visually oriented social media networks. Good photos will get you further on Facebook than Twitter for example. Having an interesting article about industry related information with a stunning photo will make people want to visit your page more often. If you are in the Restaurant business, you could have an article about a new type of dessert or steak, and have a sizzling photo to match it.

Regular interactive posts – Discussions are a great way to involve your users. My personal group averages more than a dozen replies per discussion and we are a tiny business. Having a quiz or poll from time to time not only will help you learn more about your users, but gives them a chance to interact with you in a meaningful way. I spend time each month going through several different forums looking for exciting new discussion topics to post and we typically post about 8-10 discussions per month. In your industry that might be too many, so you can experiment and see how well your discussions go.

Having special offers – discounts and specials are important, but don’t overkill. You don’t want your Facebook to look like an inexpensive marketplace. Keep the atmosphere fun, and then have specials from time to time. How often is up to you, but mix it in with the other fun stuff.

Stories – Stories that appeal to the emotions of your followers about experiences of your clients or others in the industry are a great way to get people to feel how their life will be like after they sample your products or services. Or, the story could be about things that your staff or other strangers not connected to you experienced. We use stories regularly and our followers keep emailing me saying how much they enjoy them! Remember, storytelling is the marketing technique of the future, so learn to master this art.

My Experience Marketing on Facebook
My personal experience with social media as a B2B website owner is slightly different than what the statistics might imply. When I make a special offer on Facebook, my newsletter, or anywhere else, it tends to be ignored. On the other hand, if I have a human being reach out to the right segment of my clients and offer them a special offer, it often results in sales (depending on how the industry as a whole is doing.) Our followers tend to like visiting our page regularly, love being involved in discussions, love to learn from other people’s experiences, and are generally fun. We get about 7% of our new clients as a result of our Facebook profile. They tend not to be the most business-like clients though which is not a surprise. Facebook is a feel-good site, and you attract happy people who like to interact on Facebook which is not a bad thing. LinkedIn might be a better place to find more business-oriented clients. As I said, I run a B2B, so the unbusiness-like people I attract on Facebook are in business, but don’t act like they take their business that seriously as a general rule.

5 Tips from Entrepreneurs For Starting a Business!

September 25, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Of Interest | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Many experienced business people wish they could start again: they would make better decisions overall, factor in social media and a stronger advertising budget, and maybe even plan for more family time. So– if you are starting from the beginning–you have the opportunity to get it right the first time! Here are some tips from entrepreneurs who wish they had done what you have the opportunity to do right now:

1) Create a written business plan–before you do anything else. This just means writing down all the business ideas you spend time telling your family or friends. The most brilliant entrepreneurs fail to have a written business plan, and this causes them to just shoot from the hip too much of the time. The plan does not have to be tedious or boring; it can be simple and practical–a big ‘To Do list’–that includes clear and measurable goals for each 6-month and one-year period, and 7-10 ways you propose to achieve them. Then, from there, create your marketing plan (who are your customers?), a plan for finding the right employees (what exactly do you need them to help with, and where can you find them?), and an advertising strategy (where will you be able to get in touch with those customers?). If you take some time to put this down in writing and discuss it with friends or mentors who are in business, you will know exactly what you need to do and spend each step of the way. “Focus on strategy,” says Ari Tulla, Co-founder of BetterDoctor, a site that helps people find and make appointments with doctors. Then, you can revise your plan as you discover more routes to success, more products, and new marketing tools and social media avenues. Sample business plans are available on the web; many good ones are available at score.org, the website of the Small Business Administration (U.S.).

2) Choose very carefully the people you work with and hire. The people you have around you will set the tone for your business and will have a profound effect on your thinking. Motivational speaker Jim Rohn asserted, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” So look for your employees, mentors, and sub-contractors from among people you know and trust. Screen them carefully and get to know them and their circumstances before you hire them.

3) Use time effectively; if you do not have good time management skills, develop them–or you will not last in business. One business owner admits, “When I began working from a daily ‘To Do’ list, everything changed. I was really smart, but I guess I couldn’t remember everything and I would get off track. Now I don’t take on any tasks or meetings unless I finish my To Do list first. Make and implement a To Do list every day…and you will make more money the first year of business!”

4) Speaking of hiring a staff– Don’t just hire people you may have to fire later on. Try a combination of subcontractors, employees, and BPO outsourcing. You need people around you whom you can trust, but you also need fewer expenses and less bookkeeping. Make a list of what work you really need done. Then, make a list of pros and cons–expenses, how much control you have over the process, flexibility of the people you want (hours, ability to multi-task and take on a variety of roles, wages), reliability…and come up with a system that fits your needs. One employer we know made sacrifices to keep his employees…but had he hired a few temps or subcontractors instead of actual employees, he would not have made other bad decisions based solely on his belief that employees would not negotiate about their hours or salaries.

5) Make time to talk to your customers, and really listen to their feedback. Ask them what they like about your business, and what could be better. If your company does not always answer the phone in a professional manner and this annoys potential customers– do something about it. If customers have feedback about products, prices, or customer service issues–listen, respond, and send them a Thank You email. Then, look into the problems. Customers like business owners who are in touch with what people want. One entrepreneur admits, “I always thought some of my customers were complainers who just had nothing else to think about. But one time, someone reported a glitch in the online ordering system, and it turned out to be something far more important than was evident on the surface. Now, I have regular talks with customers and even call them just to chat once in a while. I also send out surveys to get feedback, and they appreciate the attention and refer business to me.”

You might also like:

6 strategies for growing your outsourcing business fast!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/16/6-strategies-for-growing-your-outsourcing-business-fast/

Networking meetings are a great way to grow your business!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/03/networking-meetings-are-a-great-way-to-grow-your-business/

Outsourcing Social Media — what would the dialogue be about?

September 25, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Social Media | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

CLIENT: I want to hire someone who is good at social media and not just another pretty Facebook?

MANAGER: That is great, so what would you like to Tweet about today?

CLIENT: Well, I just wanted to let you know how I stumbledupon your company.

MANAGER: Oh, so tell me! Or should I say, share with me.

CLIENT: I was on Linked In, when I found a link to your other social media accounts. I wanted to learn as much about you as possible before I lost Pinterest.

MANAGER: Got it, I understand. Too many networks. It can get complicated.

CLIENT: I just wanted to mention that — or give you a mention.

MANAGER: Right

Social media is not rocket science. It is good if you learn how to use the basic platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to promote your business. The problem is that if you hire an outside company to do your social media, they don’t understand your business (probably) and also rarely know how to create content. A double negative. So, what do you do with this type of company? Ask questions and see who doesn’t fall on their face.

CLIENT: I run a widget company. I want to know what type of content you would put on my Facebook account.

MANAGER: Hmm, that is complicated. We are not familiar with your industry

CLIENT: That is what the last four companies I talked to said which is why I didn’t hire them, but am/was considering hiring yours.

MANAGER: Well, we have never had a client in the widget business. We could familiarize ourselves with the industry though.

CLIENT: Hmm. Instead of continuing this conversation, it would be more interesting to me to give you a little time to browse around our site and the web, and come up with specific ideas of what you would post about. Otherwise, I would not have faith in hiring your company. I need some type of guarantee of competency and results to enter into any type of business relationship.

MANAGER: Hmm, we can’t really do anything like that without a contract.

CLIENT: Well, I can’t sign any contract until I am sure about you. It is sort of like marrying a woman before you sample her cuisine. But, she refuses to cook her tequila korma until you marry her. It is a very dangerous catch-22 and not worth the risk.

Big business people often advise that you are always ready to walk away from a deal. If a deal seems to have question marks of any sort, it is probably good to walk away unless you swear by the individuals who you are dealing with after knowing them for a decade. Even if you have to say no to one hundred companies in a row — do so. Hire the right company who you feel comfortable with.

If the companies you interview are completely useless and unwilling to budge an inch without a contract, outsource your social media to yourself. Learn how to do it and then hire your own people, or find someone inexpensive in India who will follow your instructions rather than getting ripped off by signing a contract that guarantees the transfer of money to the company, but doesn’t guarantee any quality of work for you! I also recommend that any contract you sign should ideally stipulate results like how many unique new visitors you’ll get to your blog, or how many total relevant followers you’ll get. Your host company will probably not be willing to sign such a contract because they are only interested in taking your money and don’t care about results.

At least, you could have an opt-out clause if they fail to meet objectives stipulated. Protect yourself. There are a hundred ways to get ripped off in web business, and very few ways to succeed. In the long run you need to be the expert yourself instead of relying on others who are very weak in their knowledge base, and not looking out for your best interests — to guide you.

Followback strategy for Google+

September 25, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Social Media | Leave a comment

Google+ is a little bit difficult to use if you are not used to it. One of the issues is that you can’t tell who is following you back. On Twitter, you follow, and then unfollow those who didn’t follow you back. Googleplus doesn’t make it possible to do this. They want you to follow people you actually want to follow! But, I have a new technique I invented.

If you follow 100 accounts per day on Google+ for example — you would also unfollow most or all of them a few days or a week later. So, how do you know which ones were following you back? On the posts page of your account, you will see a list of those following you. The accounts that Google will show you tend to be accounts that you are NOT following back. Many of them could have been people you followed, who followed you back who you unfollowed. This way you get them back into your reciprocal circles. But, there’s more.

Create a circle called “Follow Back”
This makes it easier. If you have circles of those you are following, only to unfollow them a few days later in hopes that they will reciprocate, those circles tend to get eliminated systematically as part of the process. However, the follow back circle does not get removed by you if you use my strategy. There are temporary circles and permanent circles.

Another twist on circles
Since I follow people with the intention of unfollowing them a few days later — if I find an account that has many mutual followers in common with me, I put them into the circle that corresponds to where I found them such as a name of a community, etc. But, I also put them in a second circle that I intend not to erase ever such as my “Optimized follower” circle, or my VIP, or “Of interest” circle.

Summary
Basically, the way to grow your social media following is just like a scene from the Karate Kid movie. Wax on, wax off, don’t forget to breathe — very important! But, if you find someone during your outreach who you want to keep for good, put them in a special circle where they won’t get removed by you later on. Additionally, if those in your follow-back folder unfollow you down the road, there are ways to deal with this. You could unfollow your follow-back people, and then look at your posts page on the upper right and follow them back again — the ones who are still following you will show up there.

Twitter strategy — target those who retweet a lot!

September 25, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Analytics, Marketing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

I do a lot of social media for my business. It is hit and miss, and you have to understand analytics to know if it is helping or working. You need to understand the value of a follower, and how much effort is worth putting in to get a new follower. But, not all followers are created equal. Active followers are not necessarily harder to get, but they are in shorter supply, and worth a hundred times more than a dormant follower on social media.

I target active people on Twitter. I like people who tweet a lot. I like people with really top-notch content. I can retweet top-notch content without sacrificing my quality standards after all. I can also promote the blog articles that I read from other people’s top notch Twitter accounts, but put an original title and tags to accompany their link. That helps me, and helps them.

But, mostly, I like to target new followers who retweet a lot. If you post good content, and you have 1000 followers who love to retweet, your content could go viral, or at least show up on the keyword search results page on Twitter. The problem is that the longer you do outreach, you end up running out of the top notch prospects to follow.

I’m just starting a travel twitter @meander411
Luckily for me, the industry has thousands of active travel lovers who are on Twitter, and the content they promote is often excellent. The sky is the limit. I hope I don’t see the day when I run short of good prospects. We’ll see.

One of the obstacles that I run into is that many followers are from other countries who speak Italian, Spanish, Indonesian, or Hindi. I can’t function in any of those languages. I prefer English speaking followers. Another issue is that those who are not travel focused often retweet travel materials. Should I follow someone who is not relevant simply because they take interest in travel?

It is hard to say. We’ll find out how it goes after a few months!

My atypical lifestyle and ultra-efficiency

September 25, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Outsourcing Articles | Tagged , | Leave a comment

My lifestyle and efficiency

I have a very nice lifestyle — I admit it.  I own my own business(es) and choose how I live.  Sure, I am virtually handcuffed to the back of a moving train in a sense. My businesses produce more work than I can handle and those I hire seem to not function without me babysitting them.  If I had time to babysit them I wouldn’t have hired them in the first place!  But, I attribute the lifestyle I have to my efficiency.

Those who work in crowded stressful office environments are in an environment that seems to me to be not unlike slavery.  The boss sees how many workers they can cram into a small and unimaginative space, and forces them to do repetative tasks all day long. The workers usually don’t get much recognition for any achievements they make, and don’t feel any connection to the future success of their company since they will most likely move on to another company in a year or two.  Managers just squeeze work out of these grunts and hard work is only rewarded by more punishment.  No wonder so may workers don’t care about their work.

My life is completely different and free.  First of all I choose my hours. I tend  to work weird hours, and lots of hours since I have too much work.  Since nobody can really help with most of my work, I realize that if I don’t work fast then I will never have time to have dinner or sleep!  But, if I make too many mistakes then I will have to repeat tasks and suffer the dishonor of having made a mistake.  So, I tend to make few mistakes to save time and aggravation in the future.  I can also go on short trips if I bring my laptop, so I often will drive a few hours away to go to meditation venues.

I used to have a furry orange cat who would jump on my computer desk and give me a kiss when I was lucky.  The minute I left my chair, she would jump on it and go to sleep in it since she knew that I had inadvertantly warmed it up.  Then, I would have to reason with her about how that was “MY” chair, and it belonged to me, and how she needed to sit in the other chair which was HER chair. To this day, I am still not convinced that felines understand the concept of ownership, but it never hurts to reinforce this idea verbally from time to time. If I were smarter, I would have adopted the strategy of warming up HER chair, so she would know where to sit, but unfortunately my computer was in front of MY chair.

I have a nice view out my window. I can see a variety of trees, species of grass, and a very attractive parking lot which I wouldn’t trade for anything.  I  enjoy the quiet and low-stress environment of being the only person — well at least the only “human” person in my workplace. I have a megascreen moniter for my computer so that I can open infinite windows simultaneously.

Additionally, when I walk outside, there is a cafe, and I know the people who work there. I can enjoy conversations about politics, religion, the economy and many other topics while I take a break from my hectic work schedule which sometimes ends at 3am Pacific Standard Time.

And lastly, since I own my business(es), I am the one who reaps the praise and financial rewards when I succeed.  If I work hard and make a monster out of my businesses, then I will be a multi-millionaire.  If I am lazy and spend all day drinking cherry mochas, I will palpitate my way into pauperhood.  My destiny lays in my hands, not some boss who is only exploiting me as an expendable commodity.

The heaven of my life is so different from the hell that others go through at work.  I think that bosses should consider rewarding star employees with private offices (having their own small and quiet room).  They should get some flexibility in their schedule too. A nice view of trees and grass works wonders for morale.  And having animals can really bring tremendous satisfaction in the work environment. Having a sponsered trip out of town from time to time would be worth it if you have a few overachievers who really deserve it. Workers will work more efficiently if they are appreciated with rewards and a great lifestyle.

Outsourcing Data Entry

September 25, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Outsourcing Articles | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Outsourcing Data Entry
There are various issues involved in outsourcing data entry. Safety of information, boring work conditions, and the ability to hire specialized staff.

Security
By outsourcing data entry and data storage, you are opening yourself up to new opportunities and risks. What if the data entry company compromises you data and sells it (oh my god!). Or, what if your data is guarded with the best technology available to human kind with your new outsourcing company, but your data is not so secure at home with the mother company (hmmm). These are interesting points to consider. Any sensitive information has to be treated with the utmost of care. Servers need backups, and backups need customer service that is responsive, otherwise what good is it? Companies might seem good at first, and then a year later you might have a problem and it might take days to get a half-witted response from them about your critical data!

The main point is to pursue the issue of security of outsourcing data entry with a positive viewpoint: i.e. how can I put outsourcing on the table as an option to consider as a potentially more secure and better way to store and process data? If you are considering a particular company, its wise to ask as many questions about their security measures as possible and interview various employees to double check whether the information is really policy, or just a nice sounding story.

Boredom?
Data Entry jobs can be boring. I personally can only do two hours of data entry per day without wanting to take a three week vacation. If you have in-house workers do this, you have to deal with their boredom, attrition, perhaps even carelessness. By outsourcing data entry jobs, this problem gets transfered to a foreign country, far away. For all you know, they think its fascinating doing data entry and they can’t wait to go to work. Or maybe the work is boring, but their co-workers are fun, plus the samosas and chai served three times daily make the day pleasant. Work conditions are very different on the other side of the ocean.

Errors?
Its quite a job double checking everyone’s work, making sure they have a low rate of errors. In America, that type of work can be stressful. But, in India, there are many who like keeping tabs on others. Its part of the national culture in many ways. The job you hate might be a dream come true for someone else.

Attrition
Data Entry jobs might have high attrition rates. But, if someone lives in another country where this is their only means to make a decent living, they will be less inclined to quit on a whim. The job market in India changes so much, one year people will cut their left arm for a job, and a few years later, they will go job surfing and change jobs several times per year at great expense to the employer.

The Manila Bulletin stated on Aug 29th, 2010, that the attrition rate for data entry operations in the Philippines was only 14% which was lower than other industries. Attrition for data entry jobs might be high in America and India, but not in the Philippines.

Specialized Staff
A company that specializes in outsourcing data entry jobs can hire very specialized staff that a company who is not specialized in data entry would not be able to hire full time. Its a trend these days to focus on core competencies, and outsource the rest to other companies in your country, or in other countries. A company that specializes will also have the knowledge of how to hire the best staff since they know their business intimately, and less specialized companies wouldn’t be as sharp.

Pools of experts.
Sophisticated data entry companies will have a pool of experts who have an in depth business lexicon and technical know-how so that the company can easily deal with even the most challenging assignments. A company who doesn’t have the right mix of skilled employees, will stumble when faced with a similar data entry project.

How to make employers apply to you?

September 25, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Getting a Job | Tagged , | Leave a comment

This might sound easier said than done, but employers are tired of the same dumb people applying for jobs. What do employers look for and What are employers looking for? Crafier and more saavy employers do what the industry calls “digging” to find some unusual and more interesting job candidates. Employers are tired of brain-dead applicants faxing their CV or resume. They are tired of boring interviews. They want to hire someone who is exciting and alive.

There was a guy who wrote his own blog, and said that he was looking for a job. His blog was so interesting, and he wrote so much about himself and what he liked to do, that many employers did contact him. For most of us, this strategy wouldn’t work. But, for unique and creative people, it could work. Some employers want to hire someone with a Master’s degree to be a blogger while others prefer to hire someone who has written amazing blogs before? Who would you hire?

By putting your work on the web, prospective employers can check you out before they even talk to you. Great! People want to see what you actually can do, and what you would produce instead of a bunch of unverifiable claims boasting about how great you are. Put your work on the table!

There are also sites where you can post a profile about yourself and what job you are looking for. If you do a nice job with your profile, employers might give you more attention that you might expect. Remember that the OTHER profiles are probably boring and list a bunch of potentially fake qualifications. Make yours really unique and interesting in a good way, and then you might be the one who gets called. Remember, the key is to stand out and show what you have got!

Self-confidence arises from your internal thoughts and image

September 24, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Of Interest | Tagged | Leave a comment

I am reading Jeffrey Gitomer’s sales blog where he talks about confidence. But, it is sounding like what a guru would say, not a regular person. But, his statement is true. Your confidence, and your ability to arouse confidence in others does depend on your internal thoughts and image. So, if you feel that you can’t do something. Find a way to make a small success, and then build on that. Make a slightly bigger success after that, and then a little bigger. Soon, without realizing it, you will have the confidence of a moose with very large antlers.

It is interesting. I can look at someone’s picture and know if they have confidence. What does your picture say about you — besides that you are having a bad hair day.

If you have a poor self-image, start working on that today. A poor self-image starts with the thought, “I can’t”. It arises from a mind with limitation. We all have perceived limitations. But, you need to expand your mind. That is the real solution to poor self-image.

The greatest success is when your self-image is not dependent on what others say. I have people tell me how annoying and stupid I am on a daily basis. I think it is really funny. Because, I think I am annoying and smart. I regard being annoying as a positive trait. I work with people who don’t do what they are supposed to unless you annoy them constantly. So, I developed the trait of being annoying. Luckily, that train comes naturally to me! The minute these nitwits start doing what they are supposed to, I will have no more reason to be annoying. Then, I will have a problem — who will I annoy?

See your negative traits as positive. Do you get angry? Anger is good — to a point. Sure, don’t get mad and kill someone. But, anger can wake peopel up if they are doing the wrong thing. If you are a nice Hindu and tell someone in our nice gentle tone of voice that what they are doing is destructive, they might ignore you. Get angry and tell them, “Knock it off buddy”. You might get better results. So, don’t feel bad about yourself because you are angry sometimes. Anger is good.

What if you are not intellectually astute? This is also not a bad quality. If everyone were smart, there would be so much competition for smart-people type jobs, that smart people wouldn’t be able to get them most of the time. Think of the damage to society if everyone were smart. So, being a blockhead is not a bad thing. Someone has to be a blockhead. Just say, “I am a knucklehead, and that is okay!”

So, to sum things up. Think positively about ALL of your attributes. If others think you are a terrible person, learn to think that is funny. Your attachment to what others think can kill you internally. Also, think of all the positive things that are happening and that could happen. Follow my suggestions, mix with water (if you live in India, then filtered water), and then you will have unlimited confidence — guaranteed!