Author Archives: 123outsource

A meet you in person center

May 24, 2012 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center | Tagged , | Leave a comment

A meet you in person center

It is my experience, that Indians are really good in person, especially when they are on break, and having cookies and tea.  I have had very unfavorable experiences with Indians over the phone as a rule.  I know a handful of very professional and personable individuals from India who are excellent on the phone, but the rest of the country lags behind it seems.

So my question in another blog was, how can a country that has awful phone skills be so successful in the call center industry? Since Indians are much better in person, I think they would be very pleasant to work with in a “Meet you in person center” rather than a call center.

For example, if I need tech support, no problem.  I’ll just book a flight to Hyderabad with my computer, and meet someone at a “Meet you in person center”.  Unfortunately to book an appointment, I might need a call center, and get hung up on by accident and then not get an apology when I call back.  But, for the sake of my blog article, we’ll say that no appointments are necessary at this “meet you in person center” and that you can go there day or night and meet happy, helpful people.

So, I could get off my flight, get a cab, pay triple even though I bargain hard because I am a foreigner, and then arrive at this “Meet you in person center”. Then, we could have samosas, and chai, and socialize for a while.  People are very pleasant in India when they can relax with no stress and enjoy a hot drink — or a cool drink. But, on the phone, they can be so emotionally distant. So, the ideal to engage with the call center workers socially without stressing anybody with work related issues.  After everyone has gotten to know each other, then you can start working on technical issues.  Perhaps an hour later we will be done, and I can catch a 30 hour flight back to California, and all will be well.

Maybe my idea lacks practicality, but it would be very popular as a video on the Jay Leno show.  He would love this idea for sure! He would love it even more if he could drive one of his classic cars right into the building.

Although this blog article is one big joke, business with Arabs is typically done this way. Arabs are similar to Indians in that they require face to face interaction, and they like to take business slow and enjoy a lot of socializing and eating nuts and seeds for a few hours before they begin to talk business.

Visit our Call Center Search page

How often do you contact old prospects?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/05/19/how-often-do-you-contact-old-prospects/

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

Are you aware in business?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/06/18/are-you-aware-in-business/

Handling Stress in a Call Center Office

May 22, 2012 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center, Semi-Popular | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Handling stress in a call center office

It is really stressful to be on the phone all day going from call to call to call. I sometimes do 200 calls in a day and I am a wreck afterwords. Call center workers are routinely in a state of being frazzled, and have to recover from their demanding job. Many turn to alcohol, but too much hard alcohol damages your liver and arteries making you even more prone to stress. So, what is the solution? In my line of work / overworking, I have become somewhat of an expert on this subject. Here are some really effective techniques for relieving stress. Not all will be in your budget, or nearby you, but do your best.

(1) A glass of red wine per day
Scientists have learned that those who have a glass of red wine (red is better than white for your health), have lower stress, less heart attacks, and live considerably longer. Additionally, red wine has antioxidants that clean your arteries. Too much wine will damage your liver and make you groggy the next day. One glass or half a glass per day is like a magical medicine. Hard liquor and beer are horrible for your health. Avoid these no matter what your friends say!

(2) Visiting the beach
Many call center industries are near water. Manila and Mumbai are driving distance from the beach. Oceans have theraputic energies, and being near water for a few hours, taking a slow walk on the beach is one of the most effective ways to relax. Even some medical doctors tell their patients to take a drive down the coast sometimes!

(3) Spend relaxing time with friends and family
If your friends and family are annoying, then skip this tip. But, there needs to be a balance of work and leisure. Too much of one or the other creates an imbalance in life that can lead to emotional and even physical problems. Make sure you have a good relaxing day at least once a week.

(4) Forests and mountains are great!
Trees have mystical healing properties, and sleeping in a forest, or being around trees can do wonders for your psychological state. For one, there are no phones in forests which might make it appealing to a call center worker!

(5) Meditation
No!!! not medication… Meditation!!! Ohm… Ohm…. Meditation takes decades to master, but even a beginner can get immediate benefits. Scientests have learned that meditation changes your brain waves and can make you more peaceful. Try meditating a few minutes a day, or an hour per day. I try to do twice per day. Your life can gain a sense of balance when you integrate spirituality and peace into your life

(6) Acupuncture
The Philippines has many Chinese people, hence there will be good acupuncture practitioners. India has really awful acupuncturists practicing very careless and unprofessional acupuncture for the most part. I might skip acupuncture in India. But, REAL acupuncture is really good for your health, and can help you live in balance.

(7) Reading a good book?
Television is not a good way to relax, because it is too stimulating, and doesn’t engage your mind as much as a book. Reading a book can leave you feeling fulfilled and it can transport you to a different reality — one with no phones!

(8) Me time
Sometimes I do this — but generally I don’t have time. Even on my days off, I am in a hurry to get to my favorite hiking spot, or meet up with a friend. There is still stress. But, having a “me time day” is great. Plan your day with activities that you are going to do slowly. Have an ice cream — very slowly… but,eat it before it melts, so don’t go too slow. After that, perhaps have a slow meal, and intentionally eat slowly, and spend lots of time staring into space (I’m really good at that and so is my cat). Make idle conversation with strangers talking about relaxing things. Take a slow walk. Being in nature is perfect, but even in a dense city, you can find internal peace as you breathe in toxic fumes. Movies are good too, since they take you out of your reality.

(9) Walking and running.
Any type of physical exercise is wonderful for the body as long as you don’t injure yourself or over do it. Exercise helps the body balance itself chemically, and gets the blood flowing so that all of the cells in your body can detoxify and get the nutrients and oxygen they need from the blood. I suggest walking for an hour per day at a minimum. It is wonderful for your heart and your whole body.

Summary
Destressing is an art and a science. Part of it is to create mental balance. Another part is learning to remove your mind from “where” it normally is. But, physical health is a huge counterpart of being able to be relaxed. If you work all day at a call center and never take a long walk, and then drink too much like so many call center workers do — then, you will be a wreck and will probably die early. Fried chicken is the food of choice for Filipino Call Center workers. That is a suicide diet, especially when you combine it with hard alcohol. When people are under stress, they gravitate towards comfort foods like ice cream and fried chicken. I get the same cravings too when I am overworked. The only solution is to learn ways to relax, so that you can neutralize these tendencies.

Tweets:
(1) Drinking beer with a friend might not be good for your health, but if you put the glasses together you’ll get clicks which matters in my business!
(2) As for your plan to avoid alcohol — Put a cork in it! A daily glass of red wine will keep your arteries clean & has antioxidants.
(3) Resveratrol is found in the skins and seeds of grapes: found in red wine: good for your heart and raising good cholesterol.
(4) A polyphenol in red wine called Resveratrol is good for your heart and lowers stress levels.
(5) When was the last time you saw a stressed wino? Drink a glass of red wine a day!

(6) Stressed on the job? Try having some red wine with lunch. If you don’t get fired, your stress will be demoted!
(7) Drinking on the job? Switch to red wine! It will reduce your stress, clean arteries & help you live longer!
(8) Want to make waves in the #outsourcing #callcenter world? Reduce stress by visiting the beach!
(9) Is your #outsourcing #callcenter career just coasting along? Reduce stress by visiting the beach!
(10) Even God needed to rest after his creation. Reduce stress & Relax w/your family!

(11) Is your #outsourcing job so stressful that you can’t see the forest through the trees. Relax in the woods!
(12) What’s in YOUR mantra? Stressed out? Learn to meditate!
(13) Stop saying, “Um”, and start saying, “Ohm”. Reduce your #outsourcing stress — learn to meditate today!
(14) Read any good tweets lately? Don’t judge a tweet by its hash tags! Reduce stress by reading!

You might also like:

Visit our Call Center Search page

How to get more clients for your call center
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2011/05/05/getting-more-clients-for-your-call-center/

Firing people for being angry
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/07/31/firing-people-for-being-angry/

Balancing work and recreation
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2012/10/02/balancing-work-and-recreation/

Are your callers annoying?

May 14, 2012 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center, Semi-Popular | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Are Your Callers Annoying?

Sales is a difficult field, and so is marketing. Many try to succeed, but most fail. So, what is the secret? Understanding a few basic principles is the secret.  If you are calling prospects or existing clients, you are dead in the water if you are pushy or annoying.  There are exceptions to this rule, and I will elaborate on this.

Beginning a sales relationship
Imagine that you are enjoying a Monday afternoon at work and the phone rings.  Let’s say a very pushy salesman who you have never met before tries to push a sale on you while talking in a nasal mono-tone. Are you going to buy his product? No way! It doesn’t matter how good his product is, or how good his deal is, you will be offended by him and avoid his company’s future contacts as well.  So, when you begin a sales call, being gentle and charismatic is the key.

Remember — a cold sale is a hard thing to do, but a warm sale is much easier.  If you don’t know a prospect, either get introduced to them, or get to know them.  The act of getting to know a prospect is the biggest part of the sale and is much more important than your sales pitch.  Learning how to develop rapport is key here. Becoming liked and trusted is life or death in your profession!

During the call – try to feel out the prospect, and find out what they need, or what they like.  Try to gently appeal to their wants and needs, plus their comfort level.  A smooth salesperson can do all of this without a hard sell or any arm twisting.

Schmoozing? What does that mean?
Jewish business people love this Yiddish word.  They love to schmooze, and they love schmaltz, or anything with a “sch” at the beginning for that matter.  Nothing works better in business than schmoozing and adding a little schmaltz (grease normally from a chicken) to a business deal.  The schmaltz makes everything much smoother. Arabs are the only ones who like schmoozing more than Jews although Arabs have a different word for it.  Many people think that sales is about being pushy and meeting quotas, looking at graphs, and identifying salient features of your product verses the competition’s.  In some cases that could be the case. However, if you pay attention (and I always do), and look at the low paid sales people, you will notice that they look at the clock more, are very anal about quotas and numbers and annoying factors that cause stress.  These novices are poorly paid and under a lot of stress.

 
The gentlemen of the business
If you meet the gentlemen of the business — seasoned older professionals who are making $150,000 or more per year, you will see that they have a very different style.   Although some might be really cool, while others might be really busy, they will know how to make good conversation and are often masters of interpersonal skills.  The trick here with Schmoozing is to create a connection with others and to get comfortable with each other before talking about any deal.  Talking about the deal comes LATER.  In Arabia, they will talk for hours about Schmoozing type topics long before even beginning to talk about business — and this is after arriving three hours late to begin with.  The business talk doesn’t begin until 7pm if everyone is running early (7pm solar time — Arabs look at the sun to figure out when to go to their meetings). I know a man who speaks five different languages and can talk about any topic known to mankind.  He is very personable, interesting, and fun.  He makes millions of dollars in sales per year as well.

 
Study from the professionals
If you hire call center staff members, realize that they can make you or ruin your name altogether.  Training and proper selection is life and death. Your workers have to master the art of interaction before you even begin to think about sales.

 

Once you are done with small talk
Once everyone has gotten to know each other, and identified the other person’s needs, it is time to talk business.  Now that you have been gentle and personable, it is time to introduce the deal.  The key is NOT to explain why the deal is good. The key is to explain HOW the deal is perfect for solving the prospects particular problems and meeting their particular needs.  If you are not tuned in to their needs, and just ramble on using a script speaking in a nasal monotone, and don’t listen to the prospect, you are dead in the water.  Once the prospect is sold on how good the deal is for them, then you can put a little time pressure on them if your pricing offer has an expiration date, or if your availability might decrease later on.  High pressure techniques have their time and place, and if you use them in the wrong time or place, then you not only blow a deal, but you blow your whole company’s reputation with a prospect forever!

Tweets:
(1) Are your callers annoying? Clients won’t buy products if they don’t buy the callers personality!
(2) Becoming liked and trusted is life or death in the call center profession!
(3) During the call – try to feel out the prospect, and find out what they need, or what they like.
(4) A smooth salesperson gently appeals to the clients’ wants & needs w/o any arm twisting
(5) Many people think that sales is about being pushy & looking at graphs, but it’s really about schmoozing
(6) Higher level sales-people make small talk before making the “big-talk” and closing the sale.
(7) High pressure sales techniques have their time & place. Use it at the wrong time & lose the prospect!

You might also like:

Are you aware in business?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/06/18/are-you-aware-in-business/

How do you teach interaction and smoothness?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2012/09/14/how-do-you-teach-interaction-and-smoothness/

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/

Untraditional solutions to unemployment

April 30, 2012 by 123outsource
Categories: Outsourcing Articles | Tagged | Leave a comment

A radical solution – hour control
In America, there is a 40 hour work week.  It is ironic, that those who are not paid by the hour are forced to work over 50 hours a week in many professions.  The 40 hour work week was created to protect workers from the oppression of having to overwork. But, since only some industries follow the time parameters, it only protects hourly wage slaves some of the time.  Here is a radical idea.  What if certain industries have fewer jobs, and many are out of work.  Rather than let some of the people be unemployed and have nothing, crippling their family’s finances, and depressing them emotionally, here is another better solution.
 
Let’s say that there are 1000 jobs making widgets.  Let’s say that suddenly, 10% of those jobs disappeared.  If the government took the liberty to have different work week standards for different industries and job-types, they could reduce the work week for widget makers to 36 hours which is a decrease of 10%.  That way everyone would have a job.  Another solution would be to have a government agency ask which workers would be interested in being retrained, since the widget industry was drying up. That way people could voluntarily change industries instead of ending up on the sidewalk on their rear end!
 
There are many different industries, and creating different length work weeks, and adjusting the length of the work week every quarter would be a cumbersome task.  But, would it be worth it?  
 
Hour reduction?
When workers make too many mistakes, they might lose their bonus, or even get fired.  But, this creates a sociological problem of unemployment.  Why not just reduce their hours for six months instead of firing them. In a flexible system of hour control, that would be a viable option.  The worker would still be able to pay their rent and basic expenses.  The worker would be in financial stress, but would not suffer the disaster of unemployment.
 
Government work programs
During the American Depression, the government created jobs for people to build trails in the mountains, build bridges, and do many other types of work.  I say that governments worldwide should create jobs for unemployed people.  Maybe these jobs might not be glamorous, but we always need more jobs done in society. Cleaning up the streets, fixing up older homes, building solar power infrastructure, and the list goes on. These jobs always need to be done. It doesn’t make sense for someone to be at home twiddling their thumbs when there are jobs that desperately need to be done.
 
Conclusion
There are many ways to reduce unemployment, but maybe it’s time to investigate some innovative plans.

Particular offices and how they effect your work

April 14, 2012 by 123outsource
Categories: Outsourcing Articles | Tagged | Leave a comment

Offices and how they effect your work
 
I am unusual in that I work from home.  Of course, in today’s virtual world, more and more people are working from home as employees and freelancers. I own my own company and hire others who work from their home as well which is also unusual. Unfortunately, there is no way to keep an eye on employees working remotely, so you have to pay them by the job as sub-contractors which works well… generally…
 
But, I am thinking that at one point, I will need to get an office in able to be able to grow my company to the next level. I run several bustling online directories, and there is a lot of work involved. Having a few people in an office to do phone calls, emails, and database management would really help in the future.  Some people think that people work much better in an office environment. The focus is purely on work, and there are fewer distractions than being at home.  I think this is generally true, but we need to look at each environment one by one.
 
My visits to local Los Angeles office buildings – Downtown
I visited office buildings in many parts of Los Angeles, and the types of buildings were all very unique.  I started in downtown in a high-rise. They had special deals on office spaces as they had many empty units. They were in prime, A rated office space.  We were up on the 36th floor in a very professionally managed building with high security.  The small rooms with no windows on the inner side of the building were relatively cheap for the area starting around $600 per month.  But the nicer rooms with windows were much more expensive.  My main issue was air.  The air was recycled, and not fresh — with a low percentage of oxygen which is not tolerable if you have a heart condition.  I would suffocate if I worked there more than two hours.  I thought of bringing in many plants which would convert CO2 into Oxygen… I wonder if that would work.
 
Midtown –  a dream shared office
The next building was a shared office loft.  There were several companies with mini-suites there (no walls), and a whole bunch of entrepreneurs. The atmosphere was vibrant with creative energy and hard work.  I liked the manager very much, and the air was freshly pumped in from the room (the manager was the architect who designed the place).  Wow!  So, I went back and tried working there.  You can rent by the afternoon, day, week, or month at reasonable rates considering how attractive this place was.  I did 76 phone calls in two hours and five minutes. I’m not sure if that is a record, but my concentration was very good there, and lots of work got done!
 
Beverly Hills – a nightmare office
I saw a realtor near the border of Beverly Hills.  He was very nice and arrived early, and so did I.  However, the square footage of the office was not what the specifications said.  I learned that they include hall space in the specifications.  The building was really old and very unattractive.  But, at least the windows opened, so I could breath.  
 
Midtown again…
I saw a nice office with two rooms separated by a wall with a huge window.  I found that the size of the rooms wouldn’t meet my future needs. I needed the back room to be smaller since it would be for me personally, and the other room to be bigger as it would need to accomdate three people during peak usage…  
 
The 1920’s building.
This was a real cultural experience.  The landlord was really nice and showed me around. The entrance had a wonderful classic Spanish architecture and a domed arch near the entry.  The tenants were an ecclectic mix of creative people including a singing teacher, an acupuncturist, and many varieties of small business owners.  I thought it was a really interesting place. 
 
Conclusion
It is hard to determine where would be the best work environment and why.  But, the work environments were so diverse, that it was an interesting tour of my own city, that lead to my eyes being opened in new ways.  My favorite was the shared office.  But, in the long run, I’ll need to find that perfect office that is the perfect size and configuration.

Programmers and their speed of work

April 8, 2012 by 123outsource
Categories: Popular on Google+, Software Development | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Programmers and their speed of work
 
I lacked perspective because I used the same people for years
I have had the pleasure or displeasure of needing the services of many programmers in my lifetime.  They are all different in so many ways.  Some get back to you when they are supposed to while others leave you always wondering what their progress is, has been, or will be — if any.  In any case, I had spent too many years with the same programmers and noticed that one of them was pretty fast while the other was sometimes reasonably paced, and sometimes a little slow. I didn’t realize that the speed of a programmer can vary much more than these two.
 
Programmers quitting & getting fired by the boatload
After this, one of the programmers got fired, and the other quit.  I was left high and dry. So, I tried some other programmers out, foolishly thinking that they would churn out work at a similar speed to the previous programmers.  The first one I hired took three times as long to do similar tasks as my previous programmer.  He used the excuse that he was not familiar with the coding of the site.  I tried another who took four times as long.  Familiar or not, I feel that maybe taking 50% longer makes sense but three or four times is ridiculous.  I don’t know who is right or wrong because I am not a programmer.  All I can say is that I would really like to have my old programmer back.
 
Don’t pay by the hour as a general rule
The moral of the story from a business standpoint is that you can NOT assign programming jobs to be billed by the hour, unless you are very familiar with the individual doing the work.  Otherwise, you can easily get crazy bills that are high because the programmer is slow, or perhaps they are padding their hours, or who knows what? It is not easy to say unless you know a person’s character or behavior. I only know the bottom line which is that I am being billed for far more hours than I feel is reasonable.
 
Quality & speed can really vary
Additionally prices for programmers can range from $10-30 per hour in India and from $45-$180 in the United States.  The quality and speed of their work can really vary, and it is not easy to know how skilled an individual programmer is unless you really know them well and have worked with them extensively.  The best way to assess a programmer is to engage them in conversation, see how responsive they are about their work, and use your senses.  If you start having problems with their work, that might not show up for months, so in the beginnning — use your senses.

Evaluating the work of outsourcing companies

March 23, 2012 by 123outsource
Categories: Outsourcing Articles, Semi-Popular | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Evaluating the work of outsourcing companies
 
People who do analytics analyze various metrics, and might come up with formulas to evaluate market performance, or perhaps the performance of people’s work.  It is sometimes easy to evaluate the work done by a particular company, but there are so many variables, that it is not easy.
 
Quantity is an easy metric to concern yourself with. If the average employee working on your project at a particular call center can do 30 calls per hour, that is a metric you can use to see how valuable they are.  You might find that one employee averages 25 calls while the other averages 40.  Is one being lazy, or are they more thorough?  Do they spend too much time chatting with clients when they need to move on to the next  customer?  Or is it good to spend a little time being personal.  In this busy world, many people are in such a hurry, that they don’t have time to get to know others or to make small talk.  Many discipline themselves not to make any small talk, but to frantically move on to the next call.
 
Quality is not such as easy metric to look at.  If you hire a call center (call centre), and they do many calls for you, you have to listen in on their calls, or get feedback from clients as to how good they are. Call center work is actually quite involving.  There is the way a clerk speaks which might be clear, too quiet, or they might have poor pronunciation.  Some clerks don’t answer questions clearly. It is common for call center employees to show empathy if a client has suffered at the hands of the company, while other call center employees behave like they couldn’t care less.  Some employees might suggest solutions to problems, or even be able to talk a client into making an additional purchase.  If you made an evaluation check list, the list might get longer and longer the more you look into these types of issues.
 
Flexibility — is the company you hired able to adequately handle your changing workload or are they rigid? Do they nickel and dime you too much with hidden charges, or are they accomodating and working for your convenience instead of theirs?
 
Reliability — Many companies have a very “fluid” workforce. People are being hired and fired regularly, so you are always having to deal with new employees. You might have an old worker you learned to trust, but then they might disappear.  Or, the boss, might allocate his workers to another project leaving your project on the back burner going slowly.  Are there strange things that happen to your account from time to time, or is it always steady?
 
There are other metrics to think about, but these are some basic ones.  Good luck figuring out how to assess the strength of your outsourcing partners!

Tweets:
(1) Measure the quality & quantity of work done at various outsourcing co’s to compare!
(2) Flexibility & reliability are metrics that are even more important than quality & quantity!
(3) 1 way to compare outsourcing companies is to see how long they keep the same workers!

You might also like:

How good are you at estimating jobs?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/09/how-good-are-you-at-estimating-jobs/

If your client criticizes your workers, who do you side with?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/09/19/if-your-client-criticizes-your-workers-who-do-you-side-with/

How do you train a BPO worker?

March 20, 2012 by 123outsource
Categories: BPO | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

How do you train a BPO worker?
 
I have a very small company, and we do tasks very similar to what people in BPO companies do.  We do call center work in small quantities — perhaps an average of two hours a day of outgoing calls, and then we have one dedicated full time incoming phone attendant.  We do about two hours a day of data entry work filling in online forms.  We even do KPO type tasks (we meaning myself individually) such as SEO analytics which includes keyword analysis.  Content writing is another specialty which I personally engage in, etc.
 
The hard part is how to train others to do all of the 20 types of tasks that I do daily.  Training BPO call center workers is not easy.  The manager has to create a SCRIPT for the call center worker to use when doing outbound calls. 

Hi, this is Don from ZYX company, we are calling in reference to your account with us … etc.
 
The script is easy to write, and to say.  The tone of voice that you require for reading the script might require a special personality.  Perhaps a strong man, or a caring woman.  Or, perhaps a tough woman, or a sensitive guy!  The hard part is training them to answer questions. There are so many questions that someone could ask, and how do you train a worker to answer all of the possible questions?  I think that creating an online cheat sheet is super, where all of the answers to common questions are there, and you can search by keyword.  Workers should be trained in the main topics, and be quizzed regularly to make sure they understand things well.
 
The next question is, how often do you check up on your workers?  Some people get better with experience, while others keep making the same mistakes endlessly no matter how many times you correct them.  There should be periodic checking up on workers, and regular evaluations.  If someone has been on a project for three weeks, and hasn’t mastered the basic questions after receiving regular coaching, maybe it is time to say good bye! On the other hand, perhaps your star employee is having trouble dealing with some of the finer points of answering more subtle or less common questions.  How detail oriented should your staff be before handing a question over to the manager?
 
If you are training a BPO data entry clerk, it might make sense to show them the process, have them repeat it a few times in your presence, and then to do a few hours on their own, and then have a reevaluation.  Data Entry seems to me to be less involving than call center work because there are no incoming questions — the complexity of the work is hence, more limited which makes it easier.  But, how do you teach a disorganized person good formatting skills?  You are on your own! Good luck!
 
Training for KPO work is much more sophisticated, and I don’t want to touch that topic today!  Let the folks in Bangalore deal with that — there are so many highly qualified KPO workers there.

KPO and Analytics, which company is right for you?

March 17, 2012 by 123outsource
Categories: KPO | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

KPO and Analytics, which company is good for you.
 
There are many KPO companies out there offering a vast range of knowledge process outsourcing skills.  Some skills such as accounting require formal qualifications.  But, analysts need only be “good” at what they do.  An analyst might have a certain amount of training to be “good” enough to work for a company.  I have found that a trained analyst might know more than you do about analyisis, but are they as sharp as you about analyzing your business metrics and data?  I think that you are paying more attention than they are since your retirement rests upon it, and I stress the word rest.  If you analyze wrong, you might not rest, but only stress during the time you thought you were going to be retired. 
 
A good analyst is only as good as they are smart, and have time to devote to your project. If they are in a hurry, they might not look thoroughly enough at the complicated details of your business or marketing plan, and neglect a lot.  If you hire a KPO company, fancy or not, make sure they are paying attention to your case and not being neglectful! Or you will be sorry!
 
Some companies might have fancy offices, fancy looking secretaries, fancy graphs, and a fancy website. It all looks impressive, and someone less fancy might not insprire credibility.  But, being fancy is not enough. They need to deliver results to you — in a way that is helpful to you without breaking your bank account.  Maybe your first assignment should be to hire someone to analyze how much you should pay your KPO company analyst?
 
I hired a web analytics person to help me, and he changed my life.  So, his help is still helping me now, because he taught me skills that I will keep with me for life!  Some investments give you a 100x return, and this was one of them.
 
Sometimes analytics projects take a while, because step one is to create a source for accumulating data. No data, means there is nothing to analyze.  It can take time to accumulate data, and you need to have a clear idea of what type of data you want to accumulate. For my purposes, I do internet analytics, so google analytics is my main tool, and it is wonderful.  For doing other types of marketing research, you will have to ask your KPO analyst what tools they want to use.

Assigning billing work overseas to BPO companies

March 14, 2012 by 123outsource
Categories: BPO | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Assigning biling work overseas to BPO companies
 
This is a topic of concern to many US companies, particularly small ones who have less control.  It is nice being a big company.  You can set up huge offices anywhere in the world, get business licenses anywhere and your attorneys will do the work for you.  You can have your head office in the Caymen Islands where there is no corporate tax.  You have a lot of freedom being big.  But, for the rest of us, we do not have these luxuries.  We are at the mercy of who works for us.
 
There are many companies that hire overseas BPO companies to do their billing and credit card transactions.  It is common.  For the most part, it is business as usual.  Americans are always fearful that people in a foreign country will be more likely to cheat them, but I feel that you need to look at countries one by one. India and the Philippines do most of the BPO outsourcing in the world, and there are only scandals from time to time, and perhaps not that many more scandals than their equivalents in the United States.  I don’t have the data.  If you hire a reliable company, all it takes is one bad individual (or apple as we say over here), to spoil the bunch.  One bad employee can commit serious fraud involving credit cards, and ruin a whole company’s reputation and cost them millions. That bad guy could be anywhere. He could be in India, or Canada, or who knows where.
 
If you are in Nevada, and hire a company in Nevada to do work for you, you can have a contract, and you can sue them if they violate the contract.  If you are in Nevada and hire an Indian BPO company to do work for you, it is not so easy to sue them.  For that matter, if you are in India, it is not easy to sue someone in India due to the inefficient legal system.
 
To keep the trust of your clients, if you are a smaller company, you might be better off having your billing done domestically rather than hiring an Indian BPO, and preferably by a trusted staff member.  I would not have billing done by anyone you have worked with for less than a year if at all possible. There is a lot to lose here!

Working in an office vs. at home

February 8, 2012 by 123outsource
Categories: Of Interest | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Do you work better in an office or at home?
 
Many of us work at home these days. Some of us are disciplined and can churn out hour after hour of work at home.  We never shut down, when we are home, we are always working.  Office folks clock out at a particular hour, and don’t lift a finger when at home.  It is a completely different lifestyle.  I have spent my life working very industriously at home or should I say, “from home”.  However, I have spent some time in offices, or hotels in office areas, and the vibration in those places is so work oriented that I work faster. 
 
So, rather than saying that working from an office is better, I would say, that working in a place with a good “work energy” is fantastic.  Your productivity can go up significantly.  It is hard to measure how much extra work you can do in a good environment, but perhaps we SHOULD measure it.  A good work environment could help you to get more done per hour. While it could also help you have the focus to put in more hours without getting tired or distracted. 
 
Part of it is seeing other people busy around you. That will rub off on you as well. I study feng-shui, so I believe that whether you see these others or not, their feng-shui of being busy and productive will rub off on you.
 
The worst thing that can happen to you is to be in a lazy place. I go on vacation in the woods.  I bring my laptop to the hotel in the redwoods.  This is a place that does wonders for my health and spirits, not to mention all the nice people I meet hiking around.  But, I feel lazy about work in those types of foresty places.  Sometimes I don’t crack open the lap top for days, and if I open it, I might only do two or three hours of work. I always work on vacation, and call a vacation a workation.  I go away to revive my health and spirits, but not to slack off. I am extremely busy on trips, and every minute counts.
 
My concluding note is to meditate in an environment that is condusive to meditation.  Work where it is most condusive to work. Play where it is most condusive to playing too.  There is a perfect environment for everything, you just have to find it.  And if you can’t have the perfect environment, then work with what you have, but do it with awareness!

Choose a company from an area that specializes in what they do?

February 6, 2012 by 123outsource
Categories: Of Interest | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Choose a company from a region that specializes in what the company does?

I recently chose a programming company that was in an area that specialized in wine and small farms.  I found that the skill of the programmer was quite good.  However, the attitude about getting things done, and getting back to me was very lackidasical.  Perhaps this is the culture of the area they are in which is famous for wine, and a great place to take a weekend away from home if you live in the big city. The area has wonderful family owned small farms with all types of produce.  There are wonderful small restaurants, bars, seashores, oysters, and much more.  Is it bad luck that I had bad luck with this company, or did I break a rule of life?
 
My last programming company was in suburban Los Angeles.  The head programmer was quite good, and the boss was excellent. But, once again, they were not completely focused on programming, and had only two programmers. Now, they have zero since the market for programming got slow nationwide.  I’m thinking that they are in an area which is not focused on programming. Our area is focused on Hollywood, and the clothing industry, and other things, but not IT work. 
 
I talked to some smart young guys I bumped into at an Indian fast food joint.  They were in the social media and programming business in the management end.  These guys told me that in the Los Angeles area, only one out of ten programmers is good and hard working, while in the Bay Area (silicon valley) which is famous for the computer industry and where the the computer and internet was invented, that 80% of programmers up there were good in their opinion.  I think these two gentlemen summed it up, and proved my point.
 
If you want to hire a wine expert, go to an area famous for wine. If you want to hire a great cook, look for one in an area famous for food.  But, if you want to hire a programmer, hire one in an area famous for programmers.   Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Silicon Valley, and Phoenix Arizona are places that come to my mind.
 
The company I am using now for programming has been working on projects with me for five years. They are in Pune which is an up and coming programming hub in India.  This company has 45 programmers.  This proves how serious they are about the industry in contrast to companies in America that have one or two programmers who are perpetually late completing projects, etc.