Monthly Archives: May 2016

What is the future of outsourcing?

May 24, 2016 by 123outsource
Categories: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

We all know that outsourcing began as a formal practice in 1989. Since then, call centers have grown, call centers have fallen, and a vast variety of other BPO services have come into fruition. But, where does all of this lead? Does it lead into a global workforce? In a sense it does, but global workforces already exist. Outsourcing merely means that your global or local workforce will work for another company and provide services to your company without being an “employee.”

So, what features will be new in the future? Or at least what features would be nice?

1. Reliability Tracking
Freelancer sites already have this. If a freelancer does good work, they develop a track record on freelancer sites. The sites control payment of the service provider once the job is done to the satisfaction of the buyer. It is hard to rip people off as your reputation is public on these sites. Unfortunately, most of us like to hire companies to do work. I believe that companies would do better work if their track records were public knowledge. No more late work, and no more shoddy practices. Companies would be force to do good work, on time, and communicate a whole lot better. Websites like 123outource.net attempt to get some type of quality assessment of companies. Unfortunately, 99% of the companies out there in 2016 are so marginal in quality, that after the filtering is done, almost nobody is left. Hopefully in the future, quality standards for overseas companies will rise significantly as well as for US companies.

2. Availability Optimization
What do I mean? If companies had staff members of all ability levels that always had a certain amount of availability, that would be easier for the client. Every time I want a good programmer, they are always busy no matter what the price, and I am always offered poor quality programmers for a cut rate who can’t even function. There needs to be availability for quality workers, otherwise I for one refuse to buy!

3. Staff Analysis
When you deal with a new company, you don’t know who the staff is. If there were online systems where you could see at a glance the names and positions of all workers at a particular company, how long they have been there, and even reviews about them — that would be fantastic information. You would eliminate part of the guess work involved in hiring strangers.

4. The Chai Wallah Beam Up App
For those of you who have ever watched Star Trek, you’ll remember when they say, “Beam me up Scotti.” If I am outsourcing a job to India and am having a web chat with the boss Sanjay, I want Sanjay to be able to send me some Samosas fresh from India at 3am my time by teleporting a Chai Wallah from Mumbai to Los Angeles. I want him to arrive at my front door with that tan outfit, and the ash on his forehead and knock on the door to announce — “Your samosas are ready sir.” Then when I try to pay him in dollars he will say, “We accept rupees only.” Then, I’ll say, “My rupees are all in storage, how about two dollars.” Then he would say, “Sorry, no English.”

5. Find-a-worker App
Instead of freelancers who I’m not so sure about. I would like to be able to look up workers in companies worker first. Instead of finding out about the company, I want to know if I can get suitable workers, and then find out where they work. This way I can find people who are well suited to me who are available to get work done.

6. Communication
Currently, the level of communication in India by phone is horrible. But, this could improve with time, especially as India is experiencing rapid economic growth. India will reach a roadblock in growth unless they overcome their structural deficiencies which include poor infrastructure and poor communication. I think it makes more sense for the government to get involved and keep stats on who is communicating well and who needs to be trained.

7. Middle-Men
It might be easier to do outsourcing if there were people who could make the arrangements for you. In my experience, whenever someone tries to help me, the help is a disaster which is why I do most tasks myself. But, in the future, perhaps higher quality people will be around to assist others do outsourcing. Or perhaps I’ll be the one who runs such a service.

8. Taking Clients With You?
At massage places, some practitioners bring clients with them to their new places of work. What if call center workers had contracts with clients in addition to their companies. If the call center worker ditched the company, but wanted to work under a new roof, they could keep the client. This would be a huge benefit as you wouldn’t lose your outsourced help so easily.

I’m not sure whatever other changes are necessary to make outsourcing more fun. But, for now, those are my ideas. Let’s hope they become reality somehow — and soon!

Marketing your BPO Outsourcing Firm from A to Z

May 22, 2016 by 123outsource
Categories: BPO, Marketing, Outsource Marketing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Do you run a call center, BPO, software outsourcing company, or want to? If you are good at what you do, you just might be able to expand into a real business! You’ll need management experience and solid skills, some cash, and some understanding of marketing — but, you can do it! But, where do you start?

Websites — Outsourcing companies need a website. Most people look for services online. So, making yourself easy to find with a website is paramount. However, having “a” website is just not enough. It needs to be well organized, have a services page where you have a long list of services you offer and notes about your expertise in those services. You need “About Us” information so people will get a sense of who you are. A good contact page is essential too with email addresses, a choice of phone numbers and an online form. Make sure your site is attractive, loads quickly, and does not have spelling mistakes, etc.

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

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/

Email — Many companies market by email, but do it wrong. Marketing by email should be personal. You should try to learn what the company’s needs are and cater to them. Additionally, emails that do not state the NAME of the recipient are impersonal and get ignored close to 100% of the time. Email marketing is powerful, but only when it is customized to the reader, and having a previous connection to the reader helps so they will know who you are. Otherwise, you are just another nuissance spammer. If you email decision makers in thousands of companies, find a way to ask them what their needs are, and get some dialogue going, you are in luck.

Phone — Phone calls from strangers are an annoyance. But, at least you can learn who the contact person is and gain their attention. Remember, step one is not to sell, but to learn people’s names, positions, and find out what types of services they use. Focus on getting information and find out what they need, what they like and dislike about their current service, and what improvements they would like to see in their service if they lived in a perfect world (which you will of course create for them.) Don’t call businesses unless they are very targetted otherwise you are wasting their time. Additionally, have someone considerate who has good English skills make the call instead of a bumbling nitwit who will lose your prospect’s interest the minute he opens his mouth.

Network — There are dozens of ways to network. You can go to networking meetings in your home country or the country where you are seeking clients. You can network with other companies in your industry to handle their OVERFLOW which is a serious problem. If you can be reliable about handling overflow, you might just become popular.

Freelancer Sites — Several years ago freelance sites were not that big a deal. Now, they are the standard way of getting anything done. Hiring BPO companies is a headache, but hiring a freelancer has never been easier. You can advertise your company as a freelancer, or freelance company on any site that will take you and watch the jobs come in. Yes, you will lose a percentage to the site, but you will also gain some long term clients who will refer you if you do a good job.

Linked In — We used to recommend Linked In more highly. But, since August of 2015 they made it hard to contact people using their medium without really paying. Linked In might change their rules in the future, but as of now, you can find people on Linked In, but you need to contact them using email or social media other than on Linked In. You can still try Linked In, but it is not as efficient or user-friendly as before which is a shame.

Advertise — There are sites like Craigslist where you can advertise. You can also advertise in industry specific publications. Track your sales that you got from your advertisements so you can keep the winning ads and get rid of the duds. You can advertise on 123outsource.net which specializes in promoting outsourcing companies on the web. We have a category for each type of outsourcing service as well, so your ad will be highly targetted.

Adwords PPC — PPC can be expensive, but you can geo-target where you want your ads to be shown and how much you want to pay. If you get a good return from adwords you can build a business fast. I built my Notary directory using adwords when it first started back in 2005 and got a bargain on it. I was paying 5 cents per click before others caught on. Boy was I at the right place at the right time. You can advertise specials that are displayed on your website using PPC .

Outsource Marketing — Who says that you should do your marketing yourself? Marketing is a specialty that might be better left to a specialist assuming they do a good job. But, many in marketing do not do a good job and don’t even care. So, be careful who you pick and offer results based compensation otherwise you won’t get any results!

Understand What the Client Wants — In India, business people are in a hurry to talk non-stop without listening. This is horrible. To do well in business you need to be gentle, smart, and listen. Your job is not to over-talk, but to be a detective and find out what the customer really wants. They might not tell you, so you have to figure it out. Understanding what clients want is similar to men understanding how women feel. If you hire a guy who has far too many girlfriends and keeps them all satisfied, he might be the right guy for the job (although he might come to work from a different direction each day.)

Be a Partner — The BPO outsourcing companies I have worked with have not tried to be a partner. Many have asked for formal partnerships, but this is not what I am talking about. Be a partner WITHOUT the formality. Be there for your clients. Offer suggestions without them asking. Alert them if they have done something dumb with their business. If you care about them more than they care about themselves, you will be rewarded with loyalty and referrals. People will swear by you. I have never seen anyone be this good all the time, but I do have one “partner” who is like this part of the time.

Correct English — Most Indians don’t feel this is important. However, Americans won’t hire you if you can’t communicate in proper English. You won’t get respect or jobs. We judge you based on how good your English is. If you make spelling and punctuation mistakes, we might not hire you. If you sound garbled over the phone or put us on hold without permission, we will assume you offer horrible service. In my experience, those who communicate poorly always do pathetic work — and I work with thousands of people. So, hire a tutor, and get your skills in order otherwise you will be unemployed.

Customer Retention — Outsourcing companies do not think about customer retention. They think of wooing new clients while they neglect existing clients who will therefor shortly dump them. It is easier to give good service to an existing client than get a new client. So, spend more energy making sure all of your clients are getting what they need. You could even ask them if there are any issues with the service and you might be surprised or appalled at what you hear. Some people won’t tell you unless you ask.

Blogging — Many companies understand the importance of community building. If you run a blog, forum, or community of some sort, you attract people who get to know your writing over time. These people can become clients or share your articles on the web on their networks. Blogging is a powerful way to make meaningful connections with thousands of people. I blog daily and swear by it. I spend an average of ninety minutes per day blogging which says a lot.

Chat Support — Many people will come to your site, but if you offer online chat to visitors, you might annoy them or you might develop a dialogue which could turn them into a client. Chat services on your site are something to consider although that is more of an advanced technique than a basic one.

Free Services — My best marketing secret is to offer free services in order to maintain and develop new connections with new people. A free client can turn into a paid client after they get to know you. Free services are by definition limited and not labor intensive for you to maintain. However, if you talk to your free members after a few months, you might find that they are more open to buying from you now that they have gotten to know you. My entire business model revolves around free services and I swear by its effectiveness as 25% of my paying clients started as free members. The question is, what type of free services could you offer? Samples of your work, or some other web-based application that they could have access to online. Think long and hard about this as it could change your future.

You might also like:

Best Marketing Resources (compilation)
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2016/02/24/compilation-of-best-marketing-resources/

Why email sales promotions don’t work as well as cold calling
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/10/25/why-email-sales-promotions-dont-work-as-well-as-cold-calling/

Who are your best business connections? They are not who you think!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/09/08/who-are-your-best-business-connections-they-are-not-who-you-think/

Create stories in your blog about the experience of your clients
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/07/18/create-stories-in-your-blog-about-the-experience-of-your-clients/

Outsourcing Contracts: What do you need to consider when creating one.

May 18, 2016 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

There are thousands of companies all around the world doing outsourcing. In India, they are a little more nitpicky about defining exact requirements to the point that you can’t have a conversation with them about anything without them asking, “So, what are the requirements?” I like to chat and feel people out before I talk about exact requirements. But, if you are in the business of drafting contracts, you need to have a very point by point system of identifying requirements.

If you are outsourcing call center services or software, it might be difficult to define quality in contractual terms. Contracts typically act on the behalf of the call centers providing the service. As a buyer, you need to have a contract that protects you too. Here are some contractual issues that I will elaborate upon below.

COMPENSATION

Payment for outsourcing services involving call centers is normally on an hourly rate with a fixed number hours per month or a fixed rate for a project. Contracts typically specify when payment is to be made and with some basic terms. However, there are some issues with these basic contracts.

Hourly Wages — Contracts with hourly wages ensure that the company will get paid. However, the buyer has no way to know if the number of hours the company claimed to have done really got done. Additionally, there is no way to know which worker completed the hours, or if the work completed was efficient or quality work. With software work, the code might be sloppy or have bugs which is another huge issue. If the buyer doesn’t make sure the contract specifies quality control in some way, shape or form, the seller is solely getting the benefit of the contract.

Fixed Rates — Fixed rate contracts are risky for both parties. If you are an outsourcing company and bug fixing is part of the contract, five months after you finish, you might still be getting requests to fix bugs. Additionally, what if your client wants add-ons to the programming. If you are the buyer, fixed rate compensation protects you from people who pad hours. However, you still do not know if a quality job will be done. As a buyer of programming services, if the programmer doesn’t deliver functional, clean code on time, you are in big trouble. Unfortunately most firms do not do good work, nor is their work on time, nor do they care even slightly. Knowing what you are paying doesn’t guarantee the work will be done on time or protect you from “spaghetti code” which is messy code.

Specifying Workers — it might be difficult to get an outsourcing house to do this, but specifying which worker will complete the job or the parts of the job at least guarantees that someone you like or know will be doing the work regardless of quality or efficiency of work.

Deadlines — If you have a clause in your contract that specifies deadlines for when parts of the project get done, you as a buyer are safer. However, if you are paying a deposit, you could still lose your deposit. I have never seen a programming company deliver on time, so your deposit money is generally money down the drain which will put you in the economic position of a hostage. Think very carefully before giving a deposit to a stranger unless they have very good reviews from reputable sources. If you divide your project into bite sized parts and pay upon completion, you will find out very quickly if the company you hired misses the first deadline — and it will be their problem.

Specifying Particular Workers — A contract could specify which employee is going to do the job. If you like Ramesh and feel he does good work, you could specify that Ramesh will complete the project singlehandedly. Ramesh would have to have an investment in the contract because in India people quit their jobs every four months on schedule usually for frivolous reasons. The boss of the outsourcing company will not be comfortable with this because he knows his turnover is unpredictable, plus other clients might need Ramesh since Ramesh is a star employee. You might have to pay extra, but it might be worth the protection. Playing musical chairs with employees is something Indians are used to, but is suicide in American business. You need someone good who won’t quit, so if you can negotiate that into the contract, you will be a lot better off as a buyer.

Emergencies — Some companies have clauses in their contracts about what happens if there is a natural disaster, war or other uncontrollable circumstance. Holding yourself not liable in such a situation is reasonable.

Penalty Contracts — If you can get the outsourcing company to agree to pay a penalty for finishing late, you have more leverage to get them to finish your project on time which in outsourcing is almost unheard of at least for the smaller players. No outsourcing company will agree to such a term without being paid a lot more. But, it might be worth it to you otherwise you will get hung up to dry for sure.

Quality of Code Contracts — If you are the buyer of programming services, you need to be very sensitive to the quality of code, especially if you are dealing with Indian companies. You need to first of all have an expert who you can hire in America to assess the cleanliness of the code. Ask your expert how you can write specifications in the contract that will protect you from the infamous spaghetti code which is a nightmare that will haunt you as long as you own the code which could be as long as a decade. If you put restrictions on the quantity of lines of code used, that might be a primitive way to safeguard yourself. Additionally, if you give a test project to see how efficiently they write code, that will give you an indication how good the individual is who did the test project who might not be the same guy who does the real project. Tricky— hmmm.

Another way to ensure concise code is to stipulate that if your expert can write any part of the code in 25% or less lines and make it work correctly, that the vendor is penalized. This is easy to enforce if you can get your expert off his rear end to actually do the work at $150 per hour instead of the $18 per hour you’re paying for an average guy in India.

CALL CENTER CONTRACTS

Call Center Result Oriented Contracts — Most call centers do not want results based contracts otherwise their income very unreliable. It makes more sense to pay a base rate and then extra if sales quotas are met. It also makes sense to quickly fire a company who doesn’t get you enough sales. I recommend comparing about twenty companies and see which one gets you more sales in the long run. Keep in mind that if Company #1 has Filipe you might get good results until Filipe quits and Scott takes over. So, make sure each company puts at least three employees on your job so you can get a sense of the average output that the company gives rather than how things are when you get their star employee.

Call Center Monthly Contracts — It is risky for a new client to just trust your company with a one year contract, especially if they have never visited your office. If the client is in Manchester, NH and you are in Manila, Philippines, it might be hard for them to come and visit although I recommend that they do. Many call centers try to get people to invest in long contracts when they are just starting out. It makes sense to give new clients the right to have smaller contracts with easy terms and not too many minimums so you can at least get them on board. Once they like your service, then you can be a little more demanding. Additionally, explain your countries employment laws, minimum wages, minimum hours per week or month so that your American client doesn’t act surprised when he/she finds out at the last minute.

IF YOU ARE THE VENDOR

If you are an outsourcing company, it makes sense to have contracts that get you paid by the hour. That way you are not reliable for quality, timeliness or anything else. You might get fired, but you will still get paid if the quality of your work is horrible. Make sure you get paid a lot more if the client has unique specifications. However, I would not necessarily say no to unusual requests. The reason is that other companies will say no, so this is an easy way to get a client who will be loyal to you assuming you don’t screw up too badly. In general, to attract new clients, I would be flexible in your contracts so you can attract a higher percentage of your leads to try you out.

IF YOU ARE THE BUYER

As a buyer, you need a contract that protects you from:

(a) Poor Workmanship (sloppy coding, bugs, or general bad service)
(b) Goal Achievement — in the call center work this means retaining clients & making sales.
(c) Missed Deadlines
(d) Disappearing Staff Members
(e) Inefficient Hourly Based Work (or hour padding which amounts ot the same problem)

A contract that doesn’t incorporate quality standards is a contract that makes sure you pay without guaranteeing value. If you can get to know the company and work with them for a few months before signing a bigger contract, that would make your situation somewhat safer. No contract will protect you 100% and few vendors will sign a contract that protects anyone except themselves. So, at least try to have contractual control over being able to choose your workforce, have control over deadlines, have an incentive plan which motivates the vendor, and have some stipulations for quality. If you are signing a big contract, you should consult an Attorney and really think deeply about what the issues are. If you are not experienced, you will overlook some very serious issues — so be careful.

.

How to start a Call Center or BPO Company – advice analyzed

May 16, 2016 by 123outsource
Categories: BPO, Call Center | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Real world commentary on starting a call center BPO business plan

How to blogs are easy to write, and popular too. But, how practical is the generic advice really? Does general advice cover “what if” scenarios? In real life, does business ever go as planned? Does your text book always, sometimes or never cover what to do in situations that really do happen? The answer is that generic advice will only give you a general framework of ideas of what to do to start out in a BPO business. The rest should ideally be covered in detailed tutorials, but rarely is. Part of the problem is that there is no market for nitpicky business advice — few want to read it unless it is juicy and drama-packed. So, here is my commentary about generic how to start a business advice.

Create a business plan
It is a well known fact that individuals who succeed are much more likely to have written plans than those who do not succeed. The fact that you wrote your plan down indicates that your though is more decisive, and also better thought out. A BPO business without a business plan is like a road trip without a map or idea of where you want to go. You need some type of plan, and the best plan incorporates all of the variations of what you might do. In real life, you have no idea of what direction your business will go if you are successful at all.

Real World Advice
The most important real world advice I can give you is to be receptive to what people want from you, and don’t be fixed on what you think you want to do. If you want to do customer support in call centers, but your clients want you to do Android technical support for 70% of their accounts, it’s time to learn Android. If you only have one request for Android, then it might not be worth pursuing. Basically, you have to be ready, willing, and responsive to shift directions when you feel it makes sense to do so. Being too rigid can kill a small call center startup.

Investors
If you wish to attract investors to your BPO startup, a professional and formal business plan will be necessary. You should have it done in conjunction with a professional who specializes in formal business plans who can guide you through the process. Those who fail to plan, plan to fail, so don’t skimp on planning. Without the head of the company having a solid background in BPO work and management, investors will not give you the time of day — nor should they. A company without a foundation will likely not get off the ground. But, there are plenty of opportunities to pay your dues at call centers in the Philippines and India and get experience.

Executive Summary
Specify how your company fills a need in the market place and why you feel you will be successful. If you have already been successful in the market previously, that is a type of indication that you will do well again.

Company Description
Write a quick description as to what your services will include. The critical aspect here is to specify what your company will do better in terms of hiring, training, hours of operation, and specialized, customized or tailored services. Companies that do well tend to focus on particular tasks and be experts at what they focus on in addition to having a few supplementary and related tasks they do as well.

Market Analysis
You need to document and research how large your market is, how large the market is projected to grow, how big your niche market is, etc. You need to include market pricing, government regulations, operating costs, and more.

Real World Advice
Market analysis is all find and dandy. But, what is more important is knowing how you can penetrate the market yourself, and what people will pay you. They might pay you a lot less than others are charging until you build a reputation and steady clientele. It is hard to pay employees, pay rent, and make a profit when you are being paid 20% less for the same work the other guys get full price for. Temporary as that situation is, take it into consideration.

Services
In addition to specifying the wide variety of services you wish to offer, you need to specify this clearly on your website. Many websites go on and on about high and lofty company missions without ever mentioning what the company actually does! Fluff vs. facts. If you offer too many services which you know nothing about, you might look good on paper until someone actually uses you. If you focus on doing particular services well, and don’t do what you can’t do well, your reputation will precede you.

Marketing & Sales
You need to know how you plan on selling services. How many salespeople will you have? Will you have a website or online advertising (recommended.) Who are you going to contact for jobs? You should make a very long list. You need to know the analytics and metrics of service sales as well such as how many calls you’ll have to make to get a single contract. In a small startup you will be the sales, management, training, marketing, and finance department. If you don’t know how to do all of these things you’ll have to rely on a partner who might easily betray you, quit, or slack off leaving you high and dry.

Funding Needs
If you are just starting out, it is hard to know how much money you’ll need. You need staff, an office, phone lines, computers, utilities, consultants, and more. It is better to overestimate how much you’ll need as running out of money will shut you down permanently.

Financial Projections
The advice I read online is that you should have a projection of financial data for the first five years. In real life, you have no idea of what will be going on in five years, even if you are very established. Markets change fast, you will change, and you probably won’t even be in business in five years (a cheerful thought.) Whatever your financial projections may be are just guesses. I tend to suspect that those who do financial projections for Coca-Cola Corporation are the best in the business and yield a lot of accuracy for their statements. You unfortunately do not have Coca-Cola’s highly paid experts. So, just do your best and don’t invest any faith in your numbers as they are no more permanent than clouds in the sky.

Appendix
Include any supporting documents, important information, credit history, reference letters, licenses, permits, contracts, etc.

.

New Startups on the Techstars accellerator

May 12, 2016 by 123outsource
Categories: Startups | Leave a comment

Here are some interesting new startups that are part of the Techstars Seattle Accelerator program. This program focuses on promising and innovative companies that take advantage of some of the new technology such as analytics, drones, gaming, and information sharing.

DroneSeed
http://droneseed.co/
This company replants forests using drones at a price that is 10% as expensive. I’ll think they’ll be doing well until the drones get their heads together and form a union.

Subcurrent
https://www.getsubcurrent.com/
this is a slack bot for collecting critical feedback at work. Information can come in the form of polls.

Beam
https://beam.pro/
This company connects gamers through interactive live streaming.

Fig Loans
https://www.figloans.com/
This company offers affordable credit for low-income families

Keepe
http://www.keepe.com/
This company connects property managers and contractors such as handymen, plumbers, electricians, etc.

Kepler Communications
http://keplercommunications.com/
This company offers access to space borne data in real-time. This service is normally used to communicate with spacecraft. If they want to really save money on rent, they can put their office in space too!

Shyft
https://www.myshyft.com/
This service makes it easy to swap shifts at work in a hurry! I thought that’s what semi-balding managers were for…

.

Is it time to Uber-size your outsourcing business?

May 10, 2016 by admin
Categories: Innovation, Semi-Popular | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Uber is always in the news
Every time I go online, I see news about Mark Cuban, Startups, Apple, Uber, Richard Branson, Innovations, and more. People either love Uber or they hate them. In the Notary industry which I am heavily involved with, there is a company called Snapdocs which used an Uber-type model to run their business. They have Notaries all throughout the United States who get text messages whenever there is a local job available. The Notaries can accept the job or barter for better terms. Snapdocs has somewhat transformed the Notary industry in the United States — and it will never be the same.

Can your BPO use Uber thinking?
But, how can your outsourcing or BPO company apply Uber-type principles to better running your operation? In some ways you can. Most outsourcing companies have between five and fifty people in a particular location. Or, some of them might work from home. Uber operates on a nationwide or worldwide level. If a job is inputted into the system by a customer, any service provider who is close can claim the job. Outsourcing is geo-specific, as you function in a particular area, but — you cater to the whole English speaking world.

Job Offers
Uber operates on the principle of having small jobs taken care of quickly at an affordable price and in a nice way. If you deal in huge programming contracts, the Uber model might not be appropriate for you. But, if you dissected your huge jobs into smaller parts, you might be in business. If you have ten people who answer inquiries all day and all night long on a commission basis, they could answer inquiries as fast as Uber drivers pick up customers. Your reps could answer questions, give quotes, and advice too, all in real time (within minutes.) Smart companies offer samples or smaller jobs at reasonable prices to gain the confidence of new clients. Small jobs could be dispatched, priced, and finished overnight using Uber modes of operation.

Call Centers
Smaller call center contracts could be sold the same way. If a smaller client wants service for one day per week, this small order could be fulfilled well using Uber type principles. Many small businesses have a horrible time finding good call centers who are responsive to small clients. Most do not take an interest in small clients and don’t return calls. If yours is the one that is responsive, you might dominate the small-client market and clean up!

Think Small
Uber type principles are good for small jobs. But, how can you make money doing small jobs? First of all, if you accumulate a lot of small jobs, you can make a lot of money. Secondly, small jobs might pay higher per hour than large jobs giving you a better margin. Third, small jobs can turn into regular clients if you take care of them well — which most companies do not as most companies are only interested in big jobs.

How Do You Do It?
Just have an online system where clients can put in their work requests. Make sure that a team of people is around to answer requests on a first come first provide service basis. Once the request is handled, work goes on just like any other job that you are taking the old fashioned way.

Should You Do It?
If you have a really cool modern system, and it catches on with good marketing, you could become a huge company overnight. Most other companies are very sluggish about offering quotes or getting back to people. If you are the one that is effective, polite, and does good work fast — you could conceivably take over!

You might also like:

Is Amazon too tough on their workers?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2016/06/10/is-amazon-too-tough-on-their-workers/

When you slow down, I slow down
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2016/05/04/when-you-slow-down-i-slow-down/

Good business karma or bad business karma?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2016/03/08/good-business-karma-or-bad-business-karma/

America invented & forgot about customer service
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2016/03/02/america-invented-forgot-about-customer-service/

What if you got your business advice from Yoda?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/11/30/what-if-you-got-your-business-advice-from-yoda/

You don’t get to the next level in business by being in a hurry
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/11/13/you-dont-get-to-the-next-level-in-business-by-being-in-a-hurry/

.

Compilation of Motivational Posts from 2011 to 2015

May 8, 2016 by 123outsource
Categories: Compilations, Motivation | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Here are some of our more popular motivational posts from all time.

Positively reinforcing good worker behavior and negatively reinforcing bad
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/03/31/positively-reinforcing-good-worker-behavior-and-negatively-reinforcing-bad/

Best Motivational Quotes
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/09/10/best-motivational-quotes/

Motivating workers with competition
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/08/14/motivating-workers-with-competition/

In China, hot girls were hired to motivate programmers
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/08/24/in-china-hot-girls-were-hired-to-motivate-programmers/

Now is the perfect moment
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/04/04/now-is-the-perfect-moment/

How to sell like a pro, what exactly do they do?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2012/06/25/how-to-sell-like-a-pro-what-do-the-pros-do/

Are bonuses really the best incentive?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/01/17/are-bonuses-really-the-best-incentive/

How do you inspire people who do boring BPO jobs?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/09/20/how-do-you-inspire-people-who-do-boring-bpo-jobs/

Will power vs. decisive will power: what’s the difference?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/07/17/business-will-power-vs-decisive-will-power-whats-the-difference/

Motivating workers with bonuses or shortages, which is better?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/08/22/motivating-workers-with-bonuses-or-shortages-which-is-better/

It is fun to do the impossible
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/04/16/it-is-fun-to-do-the-impossible/

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

.

When you slow down, I slow down

May 4, 2016 by 123outsource
Categories: Management | Tagged , | Leave a comment

I have noticed that in my handling of people who work for me, I tend to mirror their behavior. When I first hire someone, I am very attentive to them. In fact, I normally delay hiring new people until they will be able to have my full attention. There is a lot I will have to explain to them and a lot I would need to do to check up on them.

Since I am very short of time most of the time, I have to prioritize where my time goes. If I am not done on a project, and someone needs my help. I have to choose. Should I delay my project to deal with someone’s project or finish my BPO project? If that new helper is putting in a lot of hours helping me, I would be more likely to get back to them quickly since I value them. Please keep in mind that I hire freelancers which might be part of the problem. On the other hand, if they slack off, and deliver far less than they promised me, I tend to keep them waiting as they are no longer critical to my survival. If someone quits who doesn’t do much, I am not losing much either.

In real life, I need to find a way to get more done and always be ahead on my schedule so I have time to deal with hirees. That way I never have to keep anyone waiting. I hope I find a way. That means outsourcing a higher percentage of my work so I’m not bogged down as much. Another thing that I need to think about is hiring people who speed me up, so I mirror their behavior, because I am always behaving like a mirror!

New Chicago Startups

May 4, 2016 by admin
Categories: Startups | Leave a comment

SiNode Systems
http://sinodesystems.com/
A developer of materials for up and coming ion-lithium batteries

Parknav
https://parknav.com/
This app helps drivers find real-time parking solutions including free, metered and permit parking. “Stop driving in circles!”

PowerReviews
http://www.powerreviews.com
This company offers services and software to manage your reviews.

Vibes Media
http://www.vibes.com/
This company is a provider of mobile marketing solutions & mobile wallet marketing.

Pangea Money Transfer
https://gopangea.com/es/send-money/
This company helps you send money internationally using their platform.

Optulink
http://optulink.com
This company helps you get better sound quality from your mobile phone and optimize your connection.

NowSecure
https://www.nowsecure.com/
A mobile security platform that does mobile app testing, device monitoring, forensics and security intelligence!

DialogTech
http://www.dialogtech.com/
Call attribution software for marketers and phone tracking analytics.

Broadview Communications
http://www.broadviewcomm.com/
A mobile advertising and sponsorship platform.

.

Filipino Call Centers

May 1, 2016 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center, Keyword | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Find Filipino Call Centers on 123outsource.net. We keep our search results filtered regularly to list only the best of Call Centers at the top of our list. We also have many call center specialties such as Appointment Setting, Chat Support, Email Support, Technical Support, Lead Generation, and more.

Most of the call centers listed with us are in Manila, Makati City, Cebu, or in various parts of India. So, if you are looking for a Manila Call Center, Makati City Call Center, Cebu Call Center or India Call Center, you have come to a place with a lot of hiqh quality and up to date selection.

Call center contracts can really vary from company to company. Some will allow you a one or two month contract while others demand a year. There are a few that will allow you to book services one day at a time as well if you prepay them. We recommend interviewing the actual call center agent before hiring any of the call centers you might find. If possible, try them out on a small call center project before committing to a long term call center contract.