Monthly Archives: April 2016

Skills you need to have to open a Call Center

Categories: Call Center | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Please also see:
How to get more clients for your call center (compilation)
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/08/20/how-to-get-more-clients-for-your-bpo-or-call-center-compilation/

Everyone in India these days dreams of opening call centers. Yet, the call center industry has almost completely left India except for technical support, aggressive marketing and a few smaller companies that don’t amount to much. Companies have gone to the Philippines where people there are more gentle, understanding, caring, sympathetic — which are traits that people in America want from a call center that less than 1% of Indians have! On the other hand, Filipinos lack aggression and are not as strong on technical skills which is where India has a huge edge (a sharp edge by the way.) So, India can still compete, at least in some ways. But, the Indians who want to open call centers don’t understand the skill sets involved, and they can only succeed if they have these skills.

(1.) Be the Best Agent Yourself
If you were never a call center agent, or weren’t very good, you won’t understand what is involved in being a great call center agent. If you run a new call center, that means you’ll have to hire people by the dozen to help you out. If you are the best call center agent yourself, you’ll know what to look for in applicants, and you’ll know how to pick the best ones and train them the best way possible so they can become just like you! Even if you didn’t have the softer qualities that the girls have, if you were good by guy standards, you might be able to hire and train others.

(2.) Spot Talent
If you hire call center agents, you will notice that most of the people applying for outsourcing jobs talk to quietly, too loudly, are too aggressive, too passive, too dumb, too unhelpful, or to folksy which means they’ll talk all day to the clients and not get work done. You need to know right away who the best people to hire are. Sometimes that is hard because in your stack of applicants there are no best people. So, you need to have a way to rank your applicants so you can hire the best dozen if you need to hire a dozen. And if people are not perfect, you need to be able to spot the ones you can train to be perfect which leads me to my next point.

(3.) Train Talent
After you have figured out who to hire, and have a long list of backups (because people quit and get fired on a whim in this business,) you need to train people. Training, monitoring, and evaluation never ends in a good call center. But, the newer hires will need more of your attention. You need to make sure you have time in your schedule to do all the hiring, firing, training, and monitoring.

(4.) Hire Monitors
You can’t do everything yourself, so you need top notch people with a lot of experience in the industry who can monitor, train and to management tasks for you. If you find someone who is second rate, your call center won’t do well. If you find someone great who quits, that is also not good. You might consider having a profit sharing program so this person is more of a partner than a wage earner — that way they will invest more in their work.

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You might also like:
Marketing your BPO outsourcing firm from A to Z
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2016/05/22/marketing-your-bpo-outsourcing-firm-from-a-to-z/

BPO projects, how to get them and what they entail
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2011/10/20/bpo-projects-how-to-get-them-and-what-they-entail/

How to start an outsourcing company
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/12/29/how-to-start-an-outsourcing-company-2016/

Should you work for a startup to learn how they operate?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/09/05/should-you-work-for-a-startup-to-learn-how-they-operate/

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(5.) Be Ready
Most Indians jump to step five before they have even been a rep or manager themselves. You need at least five years experience as a rep before becoming a manager, and you need five years experience as a manager before you should consider starting your own gig. Otherwise, you will for sure go out of business! I you don’t have the patience to be in this industry for ten combined years, then you do not have the patience to run your own call center which I assure you is a lot more involving than working at one. Most workers burn out after a few months, quit jobs, go to another call center or call centers, repeat the process for about two years and then leave the call center BPO industry. The fact that you endured ten years puts you in a very special category.

(6.) Find Clients
As a call center CEO, you need to be a master of the art of finding clients. If you did it for another outfit for years before starting your own, that is a good background. A call center cannot survive without clients. On the other hand, your clients won’t stay for long if you have lousy callers or managers. You should be an expert at all of the marketing channels associated with accumulating clients from email, cold calling, networking, websites, and even freelancing. If you start your business marketing yourself as a freelancer, you can accumulate your clients one by one which is a lot easier than trying to fill twenty seats, and then getting fired after two months which is more like a roller coaster than a BPO.

(7.) Manage Growth
Many of the most famous call centers have had huge problems managing growth. Because in real life, your call center demand may go from 100 seats down to 30 seats and then up to 200 seats. Call center business is a roller coaster, and you have to be a master of adapting to fluctuations in demand. My suggestion is to try to develop a clientele of very steady clients over time. If you have empty seats, charge a low fee for a three month contract for a new client. If you temporarily do not have enough free seats charge more for new clients. If you are consistently booked, it is time for a satellite office, or to move to a bigger office. Most call centers do not gracefully handle fluctuations in the market and get blown around in the wind of unsteady clients. They try to compensate by having one year contracts with complete strangers who have no reason to trust them. The result is lost prospects. There are other ways to balance growth where you do not alienate the client.

(8.) Save Money
If your business is doing well, you should save your money so you can invest in buying an office. Many in the call center business do a lot of drinking or partying. The stress of call center work makes people want to drink. You need to have a healthy liver and clear head to survive in this business. Also, if you party your profits away, you can’t grow. Buying your own office is a great investment and here’s why. Most people buy real estate and rent to irresponsible people who don’t pay rent on time or destroy the place. The investment is filled with risks. If you are the occupant of your investment, you’ve eliminated 75% of the risk right there. Even if you go out of business, you can still rent the building out to others and have passive income. So, buying an office is the best investment you could make — and it’s a sign of stability, prosperity, and respectability!

(9.) Do Good Deeds
If you are in the call center business, after you die you will go to a special heaven designed especially for you. It is referred to as call center heaven. But, you can only gain admittance if you do good deeds. So, be a good person and don’t do anything you shouldn’t!

(10.) There is no ten
Shouldn’t this entry have an even number of points? No! There is no ten. Why not, ten is a good round number? There just isn’t. You have learned enough now. So, go out into the real world and make your mark, grasshopper!

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How to choose which posts to share on Social Media & how often?

Categories: Social Media | Tagged , | Leave a comment

We all seem to use social media, yet so many of us use it so poorly. Do you share posts that have a nice title? Or should you stick to those that have a nice photo in their Twitter roll. What about the actual content of the article? I say, that you should use a process, and let me outline the process.

1. I keep lists of all of my favorite accounts on Twitter. You can do the same for Facebook. Every day I identify a handful or two of the best posts. Then, I compare those posts to each other and pick the best four or so posts to see which one I think appeals most to my audience.

2. I scan the article
Posting articles that you haven’t read is a poor idea. There are many popular blogs out there that publish a lot of fluff, and then once in a while they have useful content. You don’t need to spend ten minutes reading every word of the article. Just skim through it and make sure it looks substantial and interesting.

3. Give weight to the photo
If you are going to share someone else’s tweet, the quality of the photo in the tweet actually matters a lot. Even if your share doesn’t get reshared, a pretty picture makes your Twitter roll look better and you will get more followers — proven fact! So, the article needs to be good, and so does the photo. They should get the same quality score from you of an A or a B+, otherwise don’t bother cluttering up your feed.

4. The title actually matters too.
A great post with a boring title will not get circulated as well. Ann Handley is a marketing expert and claims that you should spend as much time perfecting your titles as you do with the entire blog post. Ann’s team might spend hours on a post, and hours deciding upon the perfect title. They do a bang up job, and so should you when choosing which titles other people wrote to share.

5. Should you tweet the post from your account?
It is easier to click the retweet button. However, Twitter will give you more credit and you will get a lot more shares if you write your own innovative title for the article and send it out again. If you don’t have a stock of excellent photos, you might lack there. But, on Twitter photos are less critical than on Facebook and many other mediums. If the original photo wasn’t that good, consider tweeting from your own account. If you can write a better title, then tweet from your own account. If you are in a hurry, then just click the share or retweet button.

6. Remove dead leaves
If posts you posted or shared don’t do well, I would remove them as they clutter your feed. Social media is about trial and error. Get rid of the errors!

That’s all for now.
But, keep in mind that you should not tweet or reshare a total of more than 30-40 times per day on Twitter if you want your account to grow. So choose what to share with care and flare!

Find outsourcing companies around the world on 123outsource!

Categories: About Us, Semi-Popular | Tagged , | Leave a comment

On 123outsource.net you can find companies that do every type of outsourcing including:

Accounting
General Business Process Outsourcing
CAD & Engineering
Call Center
Creative Writing
Data Entry
Medical Billing
Medical Transcriptions
Social Media
Software Applications — Mobile Apps & Programming
Web Design

Americans are visiting our site more.
The good news is that we have become more popular in America in the last year. Our stats have doubled for American browsers without advertising. This means that the quality of our directory has gone up due to my diligent screening of listings. We remove listings if they do not answer their phone, or if they do not communicate professionally over the phone. We also interview the workers at some of the companies to assess the quality of their staff which can really vary.

If there is one thing that overseas companies want more of, it is American, British and Australian clients. And in 2016, we are delivering a lot more of those! The clicks from America is steadily rising.

Compilation of best outsourcing articles

Categories: Compilations, Outsourcing Articles | Leave a comment

Here is a compilation of our best non-marketing oriented outsourcing articles. We hope you enjoy them.

The best tasks to outsource are not critical or time sensitive
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/10/12/the-best-tasks-to-outsource-are-not-critical-or-time-sensitive/

Is your outsourcing job just a job?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/02/22/is-your-outsourcing-job-just-a-job/

Bringing back jobs to America: How ’bout the South y’all?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/12/16/bringing-jobs-back-to-america-how-bout-the-south-yall/

If you invested in training your BPO employees, what types of tasks would you teach them?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/03/28/if-you-invested-in-training-your-bpo-employees-what-types-of-skills-would-you-teach-them/

The most important factor for creating leads for your outsourcing company
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/04/23/the-most-important-factor-for-creating-leads-for-your-outsourcing-company/

If you do outsourcing, your programmers need English
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/11/if-you-do-outsourcing-your-programmers-need-english/

What type of salesperson to avoid in outsourcing
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/12/14/what-type-of-salesperson-to-avoid-in-outsourcing/

The 2 minute contact rule
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2012/06/22/the-2-minute-contact-rule/

Gaining new clients and nurturing them correctly
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/04/17/gaining-new-clients-and-nurturing-them-correctly/

Is it fair that American jobs are outsourced to India? (2015 version)
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/12/25/is-it-fair-that-american-jobs-are-outsourced-to-india-2015/

Outsourcing work for $2 per hour?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/12/11/outsourcing-work-for-2-per-hour/

How does outsourcing work?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/11/16/how-does-outsourcing-work/

There are tradeshows for products; Why not have them for outsourcing?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/11/13/there-are-tradeshows-for-products-why-not-have-them-for-outsourcing/

A story about outsourcing invitations to a bicycle event
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/11/01/a-story-about-outsourcing-invitations-to-a-bicycle-event/

Outsourcing is like a long-distance romantic relationship!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/09/20/outsourcing-is-like-a-long-distance-romantic-relationship/

How much do you train a call center worker who only lasted three months?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/10/14/how-much-do-you-train-a-call-center-worker-whose-only-lasted-three-months/

Should you outsource your printing to a single vendor or multiple vendors?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/04/21/should-you-outsource-your-printing-to-a-single-vendor-or-multiple-vendors/

Joining a parade of outsourcing for small businesses
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/04/13/joining-a-parade-of-outsourcing-for-small-businesses/

How is the outsourcing landscape transforming?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/04/07/how-is-the-outsourcing-landscape-transforming/

Zen and the art of pep talks
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2012/08/20/zen-and-the-art-of-pep-talks/

The million dollar outsourcing query call
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/02/28/the-million-dollar-outsourcing-query-call/

Cottage industries in India ruin India’s outsourcing reputation
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/09/29/cottage-industries-in-india-ruin-indias-outsourcing-reputation/

Putting the ball in their court — outsourcing advice for beginners
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/02/16/putting-the-ball-in-their-court-outsourcing-advice-for-beginners/

What types of tasks are good to outsource?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/04/09/what-types-of-tasks-are-good-to-outsource/

Phone etiquette for outsourcing companies
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/01/13/phone-etiquette-for-outsourcing-companies/

Hiring people with great personalities
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2012/09/17/hiring-people-with-great-personalities/

Indian companies who answer professionally are even worse
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/01/23/the-indian-companies-who-answer-professionally-are-even-worse/

5 reasons you should have your outsourcing company under one roof
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/04/5-reasons-why-you-should-have-your-company-under-one-roof/

Pre-contracts for outsourcing: before the real contract!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/09/09/pre-contracts-for-outsourcing-before-the-real-contract/

6 habits of successful outsourcing companies
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2012/10/23/6-habits-of-successful-outsourcing-companies/

Is offshore outsourcing right for you?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/08/31/is-offshore-outsourcing-right-for-you/

Your heart already knows what you want to become in business
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/03/23/your-heart-already-knows-what-you-want-to-become-in-business/

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

The concept of lower middle management
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2012/08/01/the-concept-of-lower-middle-management/

Outsourcing in Japan
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2011/04/10/outsourcing-in-japan/

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Best Outsourcing Companies

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Do you want to find the best BPO companies in the world? Try 123outsource.net! We have BPOs all over the world in places like India, The Philippines, South Africa, Canada, America, and other countries. We have call centers in Manila, Data Entry companies in India, Software companies in India & Eastern Europe, and more. In total we have 28 specialties for different types of outsourcing services.

Additionally, we routinely filter our search results to get rid of BPO companies that went out of business as well as BPOs that don’t act professional. So, let 123outsource.net be a source of quality search results for your outsourcing queries.

As far as contacting BPO companies goes, some have international numbers that you can call 24/7 while other BPOs can only be reached on local time in India or the Philippines.