Monthly Archives: September 2010

Looking for Call Center Companies Online Is Not Easy

September 23, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The need for good directories is no joke. I run several online directories. I see how other directories often have outdated information, dead links, and incomplete information. It is hard to have all of your listings be dynamic, but at least the ones near the top of the list should have some redeeming features. At any rate, to boost the level of content on my directories, I venture out into the world of google to see if I can find new companies in the categories that I cover. For the last few days, I hae been trying to find call centers (call centres) in various Latin American countries. I tried to find BPO, KPO, LPO, Medical Transcription, and other types of outsourcing companies too. What I found, was not what I was expecting.

The search results on google seem to focus on news, blogs, job offerings, and just about everything EXCEPT what I was looking for. I wanted to find sites for companies who actually wanted to provide services. The next sad reality I learned was that the companies that I did find, were often huge international companies that were not exclusive to the country I was looking for. These companies typically specialized in … well … just about everything in the outsourcing world. It was not uncommon to see a MNC have thirty or so specialties ranging from call center, to business analysis, data conversion, medical transcription, and much more! The next type of information I found was company web sites that made it impossible to find contact information for them. It is a cultural trait in Latin America to make it a challenge to contact them. It’s more fun to make your prospective clients have a hard time reaching you. To me it’s madness, but in Eastern Europe, and much of Latin America, it is a business strategy to effectively hide from your clients so they have no way of knowing where you are or how to reach you. Site’s typically have no email address, no phone number, and an impersonal contact form. Contact forms are actually helpful. Clients have a tendency to ramble, and beat around the bush instead of telling you what you need to know to help them. Contact forms herd them in a channel just like you would herd cattle, hence forcing them to tell you all of the pertinent information you need to know. On 123outsource.net, the email field is a required field, so I can not create a listing for someone without an email. So, I have to guess the email. I’ll guess info@nameofsite.com for example. I hope I’m correct. A directory that doesn’t list email addresses is a sad state of affairs. The saddest thing I saw was a brand new contact center in Panama who’s contact us page said, “coming soon”. I guess they were not so serious about doing business. Everywhere I looked there was my blog, other people’s blogs, and other “less-than-helpful” information. I kept reading that call centers were sprouting up like weeds in central america, but try finding them on google. They seem to not exist. Once in a while, one of them will contact us to get listed, but I think we already have all of the good ones!

Outsourcers lose 80% of their prospects due to BAD communications

September 23, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Outsourcing Articles | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

This is just an estimate, but my experience leads me to guestimate that the average outsourcing company in India loses about 80% of their prospective clients due to not being READY when those prospects call or email. Most emails get ignored, and calls are either not answered, or are answered by someone too busy to talk, or too incompetent to answer questions.

Companies in America are better in this respect. They will have an uneducated receptionist answer the call and tak a message and MAYBE if you are lucky the manager will call you back when they are ready which is generally a time when YOU are no longer ready to talk to them. I will estimate that Americans lose 70% of their prospects by not getting back to people.

Do you keep track of how many calls your company gets and how many you miss? Do you assume that these people will call you back? If they have been refered to you or know you they might call back. But, if they are just “calling around”, then they will most likely not call back unless you have a web site that is so impressive that they feel that you are “the one”.

Can you put a dollar value or rupee value on the lost business that you incur through neglegence? What is it worth to you? Is it worth training someone who can answer a few questions? Or, are you simply too busy? Your company might be able to go from having 5 employees to 50 in a few years if you simply master the art of not missing calls from prospects, and other aspects of marketing.

Once you have mastered the art of not missing calls, then you can move on to mastering having an amazing website and networking skills.

Good luck! Oh, and by the way, I’m still waiting for you to call me back (hint-hint)….. (sometime in 2013 preferably — no rush, its not like I’m in a hurry).

Having a pronouncable name rather than a fake name

September 23, 2010 by admin
Categories: Call Center | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Having a name people can pronounce rather than a fake American name.

If you work at an Indian Call Centre, it might make better sense to have an Indian name which Americans can pronounce, rather than trying to pass yourself off as “Mike from St. Louis”.  If your name is RamaKrishna Subrahanium, it might be hard for Westerners to pronounce your name. But, if you claim to be “Mike from St. Louis”, then people will know you are a fake.  So, what about names like Rakesh, Hari, Ravi, Mahesh, Kumar, Sujata, Angeli, and other easy to pronounce names.  For folks in middle-America, it might be hard for them to pronounce these names, but they would get the hang of it after a while. You need to make Americans feel comfortable with you to acquire more call center business.

I saw a comedy about American call centers.  The call centers researchers had learned that customers are happier if they can talk to the same rep each time they call. So, the call center had all their representatives have the same name. Every single guy there was named John, and each girl was Cindy.  There were 100 Johns and 106 Cindy’s. This is a very comical, fake, and ineffective way to please your clients, however, for Indians there is a benefit.

Americans will never be able to pronounce multi-sylabic South Indian names like Tiravanantapuram (a city in Kerala).  Even Indians call this T-vandrum for short. But, if Americans keep hearing names like Angeli (NO, not Angela, but Angeli), Anita, and Kumar, they will get used to it.  After all, after our unfortunate war with the butcher of Bagdad, we can all pronounce the word, “Hussein”.  And after 911, we can all pronounce the name, “Oussama” (which varies in spelling, but is pronounced the same way regardless).  So, since we heard the word Oussama 1000+ times on the news and can now say it, then if all call center workers in India adopt exactly 10 easy to pronounce Indian names like Krishna, Sujata, and Ravi — then in another five or ten years, every American (Even people in the midwest) will be able to pronounce these names properly! In fact, we might even start naming OUR kids Krishna and Ravi.

If Indians master the art of being the best call center staff in the world — and keep their names — and are honest about being in Navi-Mumbai or Noida; then after a few years, it will be Americans who will be out of work unless they change THEIR name to Ravi, and pretend to be located in Secundrabad. If people think that the ONLY good call center workers are in India, we will all have to pretend to be in India.

Tamilians on this TV commercial get the sale!

September 23, 2010 by admin
Categories: Call Center | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Tamilians on this TV commercial get the sale where call centers fail!

Americans are so resistant to getting calls from Indian call centers, that managers at these call centers often feel that the problem is that Americans don’t like Indians.  This is simply not true!  Americans are a bit squeemish at first if you are from a culture that they are not used to, but if you are charming and perhaps funny, you can easily break through the cultural barrier.  The best thing about America is that cultural borders ARE crossable, and sometimes can be crossed faster than you think if you have the right approach.

There was a recent commercial on TV for cell phones. There were two Tamilian guys who were very funny, and likeable.  An overweight goofy looking freckled American boy named Billy steps up and gets roped by a noose around his leg that hoisted him up in to the air upside down.  One of the Indian guys said, “Silly Billy, you fell in to the contraPT”.  Billy got trapped by a contract that was more like a “contrap”.  This commercial was popular all around the United States.

North Indian call centers and airline workers think that they need to be as fair skinned as Europeans, and have perfectly neutral accents, and discard anything Indian about themselves to do well in the modern economy.  The irony is that these particular dark skinned Tamilians with very Thick, but understandable accents in the commercial became instant hits with Americans, while call center workers who pretend their name is Mike and pretend they are located in New York are NOT very popular with Americans.

The truth is that Americans normally feel threatened by people from the Middle East and South Asia who wear very foreign clothing, and who are perhaps dark, veiled, or have strong accents.  HOWEVER, Americans usually make an exception for Indians, since we perceive Indians as being GENTLE and INTELLIGENT when we meet them in person.

My point is that call center workers need to work harder at being PERSONABLE, instead of working hard to erase their Indian-ness. Americans normally like Indians who are personable — so there is no need to pretend not to be Indian.  Additionally, no matter how hard you pretend not to be Indian, you will still sound foreign to us unless you have been socializing exclusively with Americans for two decades.

I met one North Indian girl who was working on an airline in India. She was so fair, that she could almost pass as a European.  But, her attitude was terrible. She PRETENDED not to know what masala chai was.  Pretending that you are ignorant about Indian culture does not erase the fact that you are an Indian — it only proves that you are confused, and too snobby to accept the culture you were born into.

All you have to do is speak clearly, be helpful, and likeable!  Instead of being fake, focus on your interaction skills, and the rest becomes secondary!

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Tata Consultancy opens plant in the U.S.

September 23, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Outsourcing Articles | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

On September 14, 2012, the largest Indian software company, Tata Consultancy, opened an office in Bloomington, a suburb of Minneapolis, where it already has 1000 workers. The new 50,000 sq ft software facility will house 300 employees, 150 of whom are new to this Indian software company. Tata is doing this in part in response to comments by U.S. presidential candidates that outsourcing is taking jobs from U.S. workers. Tata plans to hire 2000 more U.S. employees by March, 2013. Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton said that the successful Indian software company Tata will become a “very important employer” in Bloomington. With headquarters in Mumbai, India, Tata has had offices in New York City since 1979, with a total of 18 offices throughout the U.S. This Indian software company also does outsourcing and is known worldwide for business solutions. Its revenue? Over 10 billion a year–with a profit of 2.2 billion.

Tata will receive a $500,000 loan from the state of Minnesota, half of which will be forgiven if Tata creates 150 new software jobs that earn at least $27 an hour. As of June, 2012, this Indian software company had almost 250,000 employees worldwide, so adding a few hundred–to forgive $250,000 in U.S. loan dollars–is entirely do-able.

In 1981, Tata established India’s first dedicated software research and development center in Pune. This Indian software company now has 183 offices in 43 countries. Application development and maintenance are 45% of its business. In the area of outsourcing, Tata’s BPO is the second largest BPO company in India, with a facility in the Philippines. Tata also ranks as the world’s 7th greenest company, according to Newsweek. Tata made 24,000 offers to new graduates at various IT colleges in India, and plans to hire a total of 37,000 engineers by the end of 2012.

What is it really like inside an Indian Call Center?

September 22, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center, Semi-Popular | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What is it really like inside an Indian Call Center?

During my trips to India, I visited many outsourcing operations. I visited programming houses, call centers, medical transcription companies, and more.

Typically, Indian outsourcing companies will have a bunch of people crammed into very small spaces with small desks. But, the call centers I saw were operating on a larger scale. The programming houses typically had 5-50 people present, while the call centers occupied entire floors of buildings and had room for hundreds of employees.

A Call Center in Mumbai
I was just doing my homework. I was staying at an ashram in Navi Mumbai. I wanted to see a real Indian Call Center. I had a call project to do. 2000 calls. To big for me to do, but too small for them to do. I got off the train in Belapur, or one of the stops near there. It was in 2007 and I don’t remember all of the details. I found the building. Finding anything in India is a miracle and reaffirms my belief in a supreme power. I’m not sure if it was Krishna, Vishnu, or God himself that helped me find this huge building, but its location right next to the train track made it easier. So, I went around this monstrosity of a building, and up the stairs. I had to ask multiple people for help finding the back entrance. Then, I was confronted with a bored looking security guard. He asked a few questions and then let me in to the next room. The manager was not there, but I met a guy in his mid-twenties who started asking me about the “strength” of my company. I told him that my company was not very strong because it didn’t go to the gym, but that he could feel my biceps to test me personally for strength. In America, companies don’t have strength, they have number of employees, and yearly revenues instead — a different use of language! I never made it into their high-security call center to see more.

A Call Center in Bangalore
I arranged an interview with the sales manager of a call center in Bangalore. We talked for a while, and he tried to get me to sign a very constrictive contract. My gut feeling was that signing my life away would not be advantageous. So, I didn’t! I met some of the staff there. There was a nice lady who was a mother working part-time.

She spoke too quietly. I didn’t think she would be a good match for my impatient clients who need to be able to hear what you are saying. But, there were rows and rows of cubicles at this nice office that was situated on a main artery in a prosperous part of Northern Bangalore. So, many people were there — it seemed endless. There was “motorcycle guy” who seemed very Americanized and was a smooth talker. He put on his flashy red and black leather jacket because his shift was over. There were some fast talking ladies who were on a project for a large corporation. There was a floor manager who was walking around seeing if everyone was doing their job. And then there was the shrewd looking salesman who wanted to twist my arm into an undesirable contract — well, undesirable for me, but very desirable for him!

A Call Center in Chennai
My favorite call center so far was a Call Center in Chennai. I met the manager who was very nice. He told me about all of the flexible options that I could have. Fluidity is high on my list of desirable attributes. I could rent a spot by the month and work there myself or hire one of his workers by the month. I got to choose who I liked, and it was all very reasonable sounding.

A Call Center in Noida or Delhi
I haven’t visited there yet. But, I will keep you informed if I ever go to a call center in Delhi. Noida is the Call Center capital of India just as Manila or Makati City is the call center capital of the Philippines (or perhaps the world). If your computer breaks, chances are you will be talking to someone named, “John Smith” who has a fake British accent who is in Noida — but, who can’t disclose his actual location.

You might also like:

Have your sales staff work American hours
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/12/how-to-get-clients-for-your-call-center-have-your-sales-staff-work-american-hours/

Better training at call centers
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/05/how-to-get-more-business-for-your-call-center-better-training/

Vedic Astrology and your Business

September 22, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Vaastu Feng Shui | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Vedic Astrology and Your Business
 
Vedic Astrology or just plain regular Western style astrology effects your business, marriage, and life more than you think.  Throughout the ages, different places in the globe have come out with different styles of astrology.  The technical names are different, but the verdicts will share many parallels.  Its not so much if you believe in astrology or not, but whether or not you have a sophisticated practitioner that really matters.
 
I’m lucky in this regard.  I live in the same building as a very seasoned astrologer.  She is a European astrologer, not a vedic astrologer, but that is a detail to me. She dictated to me what type of business I would do well at. Fortunately, I’m already in exactly that type of business, and doing well.  Since I have Uranus in my career house, I would be good at virtual business i.e. internet business. Fortunately, I figured that out a decade before the reading.  My astrologer can also tell me which relationships will work, and what the challenges will be.  She can also figure out why people get along or don’t.  My housemate had an argument with a mutual friend. The astrologer blamed it on their Mars being incompatable.
 
Its fascinating living with an astrologer. I see the world in a completely new perspective.  Constellations and planets determine how business will function, communicatiion problems, and relationships.  Wow!  Every day has a unique energy. There are global constellations, and personal planetary transits.  Its really interesting. I’ve learned enough to be able to predict which day will have more new sales, more renewals, and which days I should just go hiking and take the day off!
 
Relationships are an imporant factor that a good vedic astrologer can help with.  If you are considering a marriage, a good astrologer can tell you what the challenges are with a particular match.  The details can not really be revealed in the chart, but will show up in your life.  At least you know what to look for!
 
Geo-Astrology is a great tool to figure out which place is best for  you to live. It can take into consideration finances, home, relationships, health, and much more.  The proof of the pudding is actually to spend time there and to take notes on how life really is.  But, astrology can at least give you some ideas of what places are best for you to try first.  So far, my geo-astrological chart has pointed me in areas that were most balanced for me in the long run!
 
Whether you belive in Vedic astrology or not, people have been basing marriages and careers on it for centuries, so there is a lot to it.  I suggest learning more about it since its a valuable indicator!

Mid life work crises happen 2x for women, but only once for men

September 22, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Of Interest | Tagged | Leave a comment

In America, we have a very feminist culture. A woman can do anything a man can do, and perhaps even better. Of course, while these women are out fighting for equality, they typically neglect their household duties such as taking care of their children and husband, get divorced, and have misguided children as a result who have a poor sense of family values. But, putting spiritual values aside, women are not the same in the workforce. Here is why.

Patience is a virtue!
Women are more patient than men, especially in their twenties. This allows them to stick longer at a job that might show no immediate signs of opportunities for advancement. This allows women to get more raises and advancement. They have the patience to take the time to master their skills too. In this respect, women as an entirety are better than men in the workforce. Women also are often more easy to get along with on the phone and patient with difficult customers and difficult situations. Not the women I know (necessarily,) but once again, women as a whole.

Midlife crisis #1: mid-thirtees
Both genders have midlife crises. I have one every day for example and I am a guy. Men lose their urge to keep their job in their late forties or fifties and want to travel the world or buy a sports car in many cases. Women on the other hand have their first mid-life crises much earlier. It is more of a breakdown that happens somewhere in their mid-thirties. I have seen this happen to many people. They lose their ambition at work. Their previous cast iron work ethic becomes lost to a desire to be a mom, or just take it easy. Although women are capable of doing the same tasks that men are, the desire to keep up with the rat race year after year seems to be weaker in women, especially at this age. If women can pass through this crisis age where so many fall short in their careers or quit entirely, then they have another hurdle to overcome.

Midlife crisis #2 for women
Women have another crisis during menopause. They get crankier, and their work suffers in many cases. Their desire to work long hours and do difficult work diminishes. In a society that expects women to be as men, it must be difficult working, having two midlife crises and then having to raise whining children all at once! Goodness.

The irony is that America is a feminist country, yet both genders act like men. Wouldn’t we be a masculinist society if both genders idolize the male role in society? In my mind feminists are the most authentic sexists that exist, because they see a lesser value in the women’s role in society while systematically pointing the finger at men calling them sexists!

Korean style mid-life crisis (sesame glaze not included)
Koreans are a very different type of nationality than others. Koreans have their own midlife crises, often in their early forties (for men) or early thirties (for women). The Korean male breakdown happens earlier than when American men often break down. Koreans are pushed so hard by their parents, peers, and society as teens and young adults to work themselves to the bone and get ahead, that they breakdown and become basket cases in many cases when they reach around forty. Society allows them to slow down at this point and take it easy a bit. The problem is that many Koreans get disgruntled with work, life, and society at this stage and drop out, or make a major life change. I have seen this happen several times with people I know from Korea.

For English, Press One. For barely speaking English, depress more than one!

September 22, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Hiring & Firing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Many call center managers screen their workers. They require their workers to be fluent in English and have certain capabilities. But, my experience on the phone suggests that this is not always true. Different call centers have different standards. Some don’t seem to have any standards.

It is not easy testing people out. There are different situations that can arise. My strategy is to find situations where most call center clerks fall on their face or fly off the handle. Throw a few curve balls at people and see how gracefully they react. Skill in business is NOT about how you handle daily business. It is about how you strategize, and how well you handle ugly situations.

Americans are sick of dealing with callers who can’t function in clear English. Thick accents, mangled names, and incompetent answers are not going to make you popular. Even those who speak the queen’s English show their true lack of colors when asked to pronounce place names. Los Angeles, Newark, and Tucson are some good ones to test people out with. Try a few Spanish city names in California if you want to throw someone off fast as well.

Another factor to remember is that call centers need workers in a hurry if they have a new project. If you need people fast, you have to take who you can get. If only unqualified people come to the interviews, you have to pick from them. In a situation like this, by definition, you will end up with some substandard people. And since you are in such a rush, you won’t have time to train them either which will make matters worse.

My suggestion: Screen your workers
Never hire people when you need them.
Hire people when you don’t need them, test them, train them, and get them ship shape. That way if they don’t work out, you can fire them before putting them on a critical project. And if they do work out you can train them before putting them on a critical project. Having a little too much labor comes at a cost, but losing a prized client due to having lousy workers is much more expensive! Also, if you hire people when you don’t need them, if you are in a bind and can’t get any good applicants, you will already have someone in house. Large companies have lots of screened people hanging around. They can always transfer from one department to the other if necessary. That way they don’t have to repeat the screening at the last minute all over again!

Singapore Country Profile

September 22, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: City Profiles | Tagged | Leave a comment

Singapore country profile
 
Singapore is a beautiful tiny city-state country in Southeast Asia sandwiched between Malaysia and Indonesia.  You can look across the channel to Malaysia and there are Indonesian islands just a short boat ride away. The national language(s) consist of Malay, Chinese, English, and Tamil which is a South Indian language spoken in Tamil Nadu.  Additionally, there are many Islamic Indians who speak Urdu who live in Singapore.  They are famous for their fluffy parathas which seem identical to Kerela parathas. 
 
Singapore has one of the busiest posts in all of asia and trade is their forte.  The country is filled with high rise office buildings, and the standard of living is the highest in all of Asia by far. It seems that the business of Singapore is business.  Many believe that Singapore is protected by magical dragon spirits that contribute to it’s good fortune as well.
 
Religion
There are a wide variety of religions in Singapore with Chinese Buddhism at the top of the list.  There are many Christians, Muslims, and Hindus as well along with Taoists of Chinese descent as well. Please be informed that in Chinese culture, Buddhism, Taoism, and traditional animist and ancestor worshipping traditions all get merged into a conglomeration in many cases.  The ethnic groups in Singapore are predominantly Chinese, with a minority of Malays who were the original inhabitants, and immigrants from India.  However, throughout Singapore, you will see white people from Australia, America, and Europe there for travel and business as well.  Many Westerners also live in Singapore as it is the most comfortable place for a Westerner to live in All of Asia.    
 
Language
English is the primary language of Singapore, but most of the locals will know Mandarin and perhaps some Cantonese or Fukienese dialects as well.  But, the place names are mostly Malay or British sounding names.
 
Architecture
The architecture in this modern city is refreshing because a heavy emphasis is put on design, and the local style is very charming as well. There is a heavy Balinesian influence on the more modern local architecture, and its worth seeing.
 
Transportation
Transportation is fun in Singapore.  Take a bus, a subway, or hop in a luxury Mercedes cab as well.  They were S$35 when I was there and it was a flat fee. The regular cabs charged by the KM and were much cheaper.  Flights are available to four destinations in India, many parts of Indonesia, Asia, America, Australia, and Europe as well. The airport in Singapore is one of the most modern and efficient in the world.  You can go to a lounge between flights and watch movies or take a nap.  Get a massage or take a shower too!  This is a great way to arrive feeling fresh when you get to your final destination which usually involves a lot of jet lag.  
 
Cuisine
Singaporeans are famous for noodles, but what American menus entitle “Singapore noodles” is really not at all similar to what is available on street corners in Singapore.  You can find little noodle shops everywhere.  You can get thin noodles, flat noodles, and there are usually at least six types of noodles plus maybe some chicken wings, fish cakes, and other Chinese looking dishes.  To me it looks like Fujianese, Cantonese, or Thai cooking, but this is their daily food, and its delicious, and costs very little.  While you are in town, also try a Singapore sling (mixed drink that tastes like spiked hawaiian punch) and some famous Singaporean crab. Crab is avialable at the zoo, and perhaps in Chinatown as well, but not available at most restaurants despite the fact that it’s Singapore’s most famous dish!
 
Arab Street
Ironically, there are no Arabs to speak of on Arab street. However, there are mostly muslims there and they specialize in carpets, food, more carpets, a mosque at the end of the street, even more carpets, a few good halal restaurants, and yet a few more carpets. Unfortunately, to my dismay, none of the carpets were flying carpets.  Singapore is a friendly place in general, but the folks on Arab street are even more friendly.  On my brief visit I met Moroccans, Afghanis, Persians, Pakistanis, Indians, An African-American muslim girl (convert), and Indonesians there.  Virtually everyone on this street engaged me in a conversation for at least five minutes. One lady took a boat to Singapore just to buy a few carpets and bring them back to Indonesia.

Discrimination is bad for optimizing your business

September 22, 2010 by admin
Categories: Hiring & Firing, Outsourcing Articles | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Discrimination is bad for optimizing your business

In America, we are well aware of how wrong and harmful discimination is. We hear every day about how people suffer due to discrimination and how lives are ruined.  We hear all about the various legal battles in court that happen because a large company or university discriminates against someone on the basis of race. Minorities are not the only ones being discriminated against, as whites and Asian-Americans are discriminated against by affirmative action policies at universities and especially for government jobs such as post office, bus driving, and other jobs.  Although discrimination is prevalent, or perhaps rampant in the United States, at least we have been educated to know that it is wrong.  In other countries, it is common to discriminate without even a nanogram of remorse or discreetness.

If you run a small or large company, you need the best possible workers for all jobs.  If you have two applicants for a job, and one is a Kshetriya caste like you, and the other is a Brahman — you might be tempted to hire the person of your caste, even if he or she is slightly less talented at the job that you need him or her to do.  Lets say that you hire the person of your caste, and he only functions at 90% of the output that your other applicant could have.  You just lost 10% of your output, but your expenses remain the same.  If you are in a business where profit margins are thin, then you can not afford to lose even 1% of your gross productivity, or you might be in danger of going out of business.

Another more comical reason why you are benefitted by hiring people who are NOT from your community, is that you might have LESS in common.  If you have too much in common with people you work with, you will be tempted to spend all day chatting far too much, and your work will not be done with full efficiency.  Hire someone from a community that has as little in common with you as possible — to the point where there is nothing to talk about other than the weather — this way you will not chat at all, and productivity will be at an all time high. Anti-social people are great to work with.  They are no fun at all, and they will not join you for drinks after work, but you might get your best work done with them.

Another great hiring strategy is to hire people who don’t speak your language. Even if you have a lot in common, there will be no way to talk about it.  Communication will be very basic, and lots of work will get done.

On the flip side, if you hire great workers who are antagonistic to your clients because they don’t like the community your clients are from, then you will find that technical skills do not always make up for negative social interaction traits.

I had an experience with a company that did printing for me.  This company had workers of different races working there.  There were a handful hispanic guys there, two were very polite to me while two regularly gave me dirty looks and made rude remarks to me.  There was a black guy who was slightly friendly, but didn’t have too much to say. There was an Asian-American who was polite, but indifferent and not too friendly to me — not too friendly. I notice that the Caucasians at that company made an effort to be very friendly and warm towards me.  This example is sort of extreme, and unusual in my experience.  Did people treat me well or poorly because of the color of my skin? Or, were those people I encountered just individuals who are just being themselves?

So, if you want to get ahead in business, forget about hiring people who are the same race or caste as you, or “like you”, or who are “the right sort of person”, or “from a good community” whatever that means.  Hire people who get the job done best.  On the other hand, don’t hire super workers who treat your customers with contempt, or you might not have customers for long!

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Blog Title Optimization — This Can Revolutionize Your Blog Traffic!

September 21, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Analytics | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Secrets of “Title Optimization” on the Internet

What is Title Optimization?
If you are a blog writer who regularly consults Google Analytics, you will realize very quickly, that certain blog titles do better than others, EVEN when the content of the blog entry is weak. You might get endless traffic on a very simplistic blog that has a title that people just want to click on. You might even get repeat traffic on such a blog. Or, perhaps, it shows up well on Google because of the keyword phrases that you used in the title! Keyword variations are very competitive on Google, but keyword phrases with four words or more can get on the 1st page easily! (remember that)

How do you do Title Optimization?
The best strategy for blog title optimization is to just write lots of titles, and see which ones are getting clicked on the most. You could write a single article, and rewrite it slightly differently several times — each with a different title, and see which variation did the best. This is called, “Optimization”. For the sanity of your readers, I would space out these articles at least four days apart. See which variations did the best, and then create incoming links from other blog articles you wrote, and from pay-per-click sources on social media sites or other mediums to your blog entry.

My experience
I learned through trial and error, that you should write lots of different types of blog entries within your industry and areas of expertise. I wrote about 400 blog entries relating to the outsourcing industry as well as general management and marketing as these apply to outsourcing. What I learned was that roughly 5% of my articles became popular on Google. Not exactly viral, but they are getting seen and clicked on two years after the fact. These blog articles are generally about marketing your services or getting a job. However, one was about transportation — who would have guessed. Additionally, even though we know that marketing entries work well on my blog, we don’t know which titles will do well until we try them!

Try different titles, wait and see
Just try out different subject matters for blogs, and try different titles. You do not know which will become popular until you try. If someone links to your blog from their site or their blog, you could become an instant hit overnight! Just try different things and see what happens. Subject matter optimization is as important as title optimization. Subject matter is the general topic you are writing about, and certain topics will be more popular with your crowd than others. Pay attention to that! But, certain wording variations for titles work better than others, and you should make a study of which word combinations get the best results!

If something works — repeat your success
If you have a successful blog title, write different variations on a theme. Write other related articles on similar yet different topics. Those other articles could become popular too, and you can link these related articles to each other for better luck as well! My most popular article was about getting business for your call center. I have since written about 20 other articles with unique and specific tips for getting call center business. Many, but not all of those articles became popular in very little time.

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The future of marketing is information
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/06/01/the-future-of-marketing-is-information/

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