Monthly Archives: September 2013

How to find great offshore companies to do your back-office work!

September 2, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: BPO, Semi-Popular | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

How to find great offshore companies to do your back-office work!

Many companies in the United States are just too busy to get their work done. They need help, but don’t know where to turn. Outsourcing your tasks can be a life saver if you find a good BPO company to help you. But, if you get stuck with a sloppy company, you might end up doing your tasks yourself and being really busy. You can’t just roll the dice and expect to find a great company in India who can anticipate your next need.

Call lots of companies you find on directories
The first step in finding your ideal outsourcing partner is to compare many companies. Some people think that comparing means to call three and pick the best one. That is missing the point. You might need to call up to 500 similar companies to find a handful that are good enough to consider. Once you find your lucky handful, then try them out — then compare.

You can’t compare until you try them
I remember being at a drum store. The guy at the counter said, “You have to buy-it to try-it”. Not a very friendly attitude. The fact is that many outsourcing companies are just plain sloppy and don’t care even a little bit about their clients. In my experience, the 80:20 rule doesn’t apply in outsourcing. I created my own rule called the “98:2 rule of outsourcing” which also applies to American companies. 2% of the companies who provide services might get an “A” or a “B” in my book. Another 10% get a C. The rest are horrifying companies who you should avoid like the plague. If you are stuck with someone mediocre — count your blessings, it could be much worst statistically.

Call 500 companies
If you call 500 companies, you will find 10 that get an A or a B. Don’t expect them to be perfect. But, if they are pretty good, and “care” to a certain extent, then you are ahead of the game! Don’t judge them by how well they talk, judge them based on whether or not they get your task done up to specifications and if they answer questions and emails.

Give a small test project
How small should your test project be? I would test out a dozen companies or so. I would give them a project that is a few hours long. I might give a project that doesn’t matter. You don’t know what they are going to do, or if they are going to do anything at all. You would be surprised at how lousy most companies are. If they are not in the top 2%, they are not that great according to my rule! Compare the work of all the companies tested. Do not compare until all companies have submitted their results or finished their work. Don’t expect anyone to be perfect. See which companies are faster and which do better work. Compare pricing as well.

Pick three winners
Once you found who you like, give them a second phase of screening work. Maybe a slightly longer project. If they do well on that one, then give them a third. I would not entrust a company with serious long term work until they have passed through three tiers of scrutiny.

Never trust salespeople
Don’t believe what the salesperson says. You won’t be dealing with them in the long run, and most of them lie and misrepresent their company. You need to get the salesperson off the phone and get the project manager and workers on the phone. You need to get to know who you will really be dealing with, not the salesperson. That is the entire point of the test project — it might be the only way you will get to know the real people who you need to know who are behind a veil of secrecy!

Use 123outsource.net
123outsource.net has thousands of outsourcing companies in all types of categories from Accounting to Web Design. We have hundreds of call centers, data entry companies, medical billing & medical transcription companies, custom software outfits, and more. 123outsource.net constantly keeps in touch with companies on board and sifts the results little by little every month. This sifting lowers the placement of companies who do not have good interaction skills, and raises the placement of companies (on the search results) who behave in a professional and intelligent way. In the future, we will even go to the extent of testing companies out with small test projects to see how reliable they are. 123outsource.net is a source of thousands of choices that can make your quest for offshore help faster and easier.

Tweets:
(1) To find a good BPO Outsourcing company to help you, you might have to call over 100 and compare!
(2) To find the right BPO company to assist you, give a test project to many & pick a few winners.
(3) Never trust the salespeople in a BPO. They not only lie, but don’t know the technical realities.

You might also like:

Good sign bad sign: what to look for in newly hired workers
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/01/13/outsource-blog-good-sign-bad-sign-what-to-look-for-in-newly-hired-workers/

A 20 minute office visit reveals the character of a company!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/12/12/a-20-minute-office-visit-reveals-the-character-of-a-company/

Soup from a stone

September 1, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Outsourcing Articles | Tagged , | Leave a comment

When starting to write an outsourcing blog, it’s useful to remember the classic folk tale about making soup from a stone. In case you have never heard it, here goes:

Someone who is hungry (a soldier, a peasant…or maybe a BPO manager) comes along and claims he can make soup from a stone. He starts a fire, asks to borrow a big pot from one of the townspeople, and these people are all amazed that this BPO manager can make soup from a stone. The manager puts a big stone into the pot, adds water, and waits. All of the townspeople come and taste the “soup,” and say things like “Needs salt” and they bring salt, or “Needs carrots,” and they add carrots…until, of course, many ingredients have been added and it really is SOUP! The punchline is that someone says, “Imagine that! Soup from a stone!”

Of course, the soup is never really made from just a stone. Maybe the stone is earth, all the hidden stories of the earth and her people. The soup needs all our individual ingredients–carrots, beans, potatoes, salt–and, if you are not a vegetarian, a meaty soup-bone, too. But it can be delicious and nourishing! It takes a community to feed the poor and the hungry, or to inspire each other to keep hope alive. And an outsourcing blog needs the BPO manager or CEO to communicate with us about the company’s strengths and accomplishments…so we can write about your strengths and list you so other companies will hire you. Personal communication is an important ingredient that having a website cannot replace.

It would be great to have a conversation with you to in order to write an outsourcing blog that will bring you business. Showing me your website is not enough. People did not come up to the soup-maker and offer to show him a website or to order carrots online; people spoke and brought what was needed. Everyone helped. Getting work for your company is a joint effort, and without your input, it will not happen. I need you to tell us about your business, and why anyone should hire you. Can you make soup from a stone? I have visited your country many times, but what I really want is to get to know you.

Food from India is particularly delicious. It has just the right combination of sweets and sours, spicy and bland. I have been to India many times, but people must experience the food for themselves. In the same way, English-speaking companies will want to speak with someone at your company so they feel they have a clear idea of what you do well. What is unusual about your company? What are its strengths? How is it different than other companies that do the same kind of work? Can you have a conversation with us?

Sign on a restaurant window: “Come in and eat, or we’ll both starve.” Without the ingredients you bring—all the interviews and information some of you are providing– there will be no story. But if you tell me a story about how your company started, what the CEO’s background is, and maybe the BPO manager’s background…and how you have helped another company grow– we will have some of the extra ingredients we need to help your company find more work.

Then, we just keep adding the special qualities and skills you bring, and writing and answering requests for information… and then… Soup! For everyone!