Author Archives: 123outsource

Traditional remedies to unemployment

August 10, 2011 by 123outsource
Categories: Outsourcing Articles | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Unemployment is a problem throughout the world.  It is psychologically devestating as well as financially ruinous.  I remember when I had just arrived in California from Massachusetts.  It was a six day trip in my pick up truck.  I had come to get a job in international trade.  But, that never happened.  There were no such jobs in Massachusetts, so I saw that Seattle and Los Angeles had many jobs fitting this description, plus Los Angeles had a large Chinese community, and my back up plan was to teach English in the Chinese community. 
 
After months of searching and getting rejected for various types of commodities trading and international type jobs, I was running out of money. Living on ramen noodles is no joke, month after month!  Two months of unemployment almost crippled me financially. I finally gave in and started work doing landscaping for a while, and then did tutoring in the Chinese community which made me a meager living.  Not knowing where my next meal was going to come from effected me mentally for years.  I have never enjoyed the emotional security that others have, since I feel they have more to fall back on.  I have only a hard sidewalk to fall back on which explains my seven day work weeks, week after week.  I want security in my businesses — and I’m determined to work for it!
 
Solutions to unemployment
Training is a great solution.  Not everyone can afford training or knows what to engage themselves in.  It would be wonderful if governments could provide services to determine what type of job a person is best suited for.  The tests given might not be completely accurate, but it would be a wonderful start. 
 
Market analysis could reveal which markets need more workers, and there are many doing this type of market analysis and trend analysis.  The trick is to combine the knowledge of which industries need more workers with training programs and mentoring programs.  To a certain extent, this type of system is already in place, but not all unemployed individuals are guided into the right industries — only some of them.

Ways that people ask for jobs

July 31, 2011 by 123outsource
Categories: Getting a Job | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Every day, people are asking me for jobs that I don’t have.  People respond to my blogs asking for jobs.  My blog is not a job market, it is rather a source of information and opinions about outsourcing.  The type of requests I get are also written in broken English.  Nobody will hire someone who writes text message English or broken English.  Below are some examples of job seekers and how they sometimes communicate.  You will quickly understand why these applicants don’t have jobs.
 
Example #1:
“Dear Sir, i want part time job pls give me full detail”
 
Commentary
1.  There is no text anywhere that suggested that we were offering a job
2.  “i” should be capitalized since it is a proper noun.
3.  i want part time job — there should be an “a” since you want “a part time job”. 
4.  “pls” is not English.   When you are texting someone, you might use abbreviations.  However, someone seriously looking for a job would write correct English and say, “Please”
5. This person is begging.  Someone serious about getting a job would introduce themselves, tell me the specifics of what type of job they wanted, and send a resume.  Someone saying, “Give me job” is a mere begger, and nobody wants to hire a begger.
6.  give me full detail — detail needs an “s” at the end since details are generally plural.  This person should start out by asking if we even have jobs, rather than asking what the details are.
7.  This job applicant is in Africa.  How can a company in America possibly hire an African resident to do anything.  The applicant is far away, there is no way to verify if they are actually doing the work, they have no reputation with us, and don’t work for a reputable company.  If I hired someone overseas, they would have a company with a long track record, so that I would be able to trust them.
 
Example #2
“good working and good typing skills”
 
Commentary
1.  There is no introduction here.  The person claims to have good working skills, but doesn’t say who they are. 
2.  This person should email the manager offering a job rather than responding to a blog. Blogs are not for advertising that you are looking for a job.
3.  This text is not  a real sentence.  Sentences begin with a word that starts with a capital letter, and would include a subject and verb.  There are no subjects or verbs in this sentence.
 
Suggestion
If this person were emailing someone for a job, I would recommend a quick email in this general format.
 
Dear Sam,
I have five years experience as a typist and data entry clerk.  Please let me know if your company has any vacancies that might be able to employ my skill sets. I am a very hard worker and am flexible about where I live and how many hours per week I work.   References are available upon request.  Please see my attached resume.
 
Respectfully,
Vijay Chaudhury
 
Example #3
I get many emails saying, “Dear sir”.
I don’t like to be contacted by people who don’t even take the trouble to know who I am.  I am just one of thousands of people the writer is contacting. I think it’s better to send focused emails only, not spam.  A focused email is targetting a specific company and contact person about a particular job that you are qualified for.  Contacting random companies and begging for work is sheer stupidity and  a waste of time too.

Tapping into the national consciousness of your clients

July 16, 2011 by 123outsource
Categories: Vaastu Feng Shui | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

We all hear spiritual gurus and their followers talk about consciousness and other mystical ideas. Many claims are made about many types of wishy-washy subjects, but how often do you ever get solid proof of anything?  I believe in mystical ideas too, but I want to understand the mechanics of how mystecism works, and sometimes there is information.
 

It’s the language!
It is a common believe that you should speak the language of the customer. If you want to get clients in Spain, you should speak Spanish, and if you want clients in the UK, you should speak English, preferably British English.  Clients will feel more comfortable with you if you know their language. If you wnat to attract clients from America, would you put someone in charge who knows nothing about America?  Would you have an American flown over to India to work at your company?  Would you hire an Indian who has spent a few years in America in charge?  In my point of view, the closer the individual is to the culture of the client, the better off you are.  Of course, the manager has to also understand the mechanics of the business you are in as well, otherwise his language skills are almost useless!
 
Consciousness
But, there is more that we can add to this theory:  consciousness.  I am learning new things about consciousness daily.  Being in tune with the national consciousness of the client(s) you are selling to really matters.  Lets say you are starting a new marketing campaign to attract clients from Kenya.  What I learned, is that by simply having dinner at a restaurant serving Kenyan food, or spending time in a place dominated by Kenyan nationals, you become more “in tune” with their national consciousness.  I also learned, that simply by sleeping in a place with a particular national consciousness, your consciousness becomes infused with that particular national consciousness.
 
Case study in Koreatown, Los Angeles
This is a particularly interesting case study.  If you follow my blog, you will know that I take Chinese Feng Shui as seriously and religiously.  I try to learn new things about Feng Shui as often as I can.  I knew from past experience, that spending a night in a hotel in Koreatown would boost my sales for one of my businesses.  However, on my stay in May, 2011, I learned some new things that surprized me.
 
In late May 2011, I spent a night in Koreatown in Los Angeles, CA.  I arrived late, and talked only to the clerk.  I checked in, went to my room, watched a bit of television, meditated, and went to sleep. I noticed that the vibration in Koreatown is not at all well suited for meditation. There is too much activity, and too much materialism too.  During my sleep, I dreamed about all types of Korean people that I didn’t know.  I don’t remember the specifics of the dream, and it didn’t seem to have any particular significance either – other than the fact that it was about Koreans.  I live in a 25% Korean neighborhood in Los Angeles, but never dream about Koreans in my home for some reason.  The next day, I had my coffee, and was off to a meeting with my programmers. A few weeks later, I checked my web stats, and it was amazing what I found.  
 
Clicks from Korea up 7x
I had not changed my advertising to attract clicks from Korea, but I was getting 7x the click volume for about 3.5 weeks from Korea.  The clicks eventually tapered out, and went back to normal.   By the way, companies in Korea are very fond of our page about Indian Software Companies.  They don’t seem to take interest in any of our other pages though.  Additionally, clicks from the Philippines were up too.  There are very few Filipinos in central Koreatown, so I couldn’t figure out why our Filipino clicks were up too. 
 
Conclusion
I can only guess where my readers are.  I’ll guess they are mostly Indian.  If you are in India and want to attract American clients, contacting American companies is obviously a good idea.  Having someone who is familiar with the American culture could call and email American companies who might be able to use your service.  But, there is more!  Tuning in to the American consciousness is a good idea…. but how?  I would recommend hanging out at the Hard Rock Cafe in Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Delhi, or wherever else you can find one.  The culture of the cafe is very American.  I’m not sure if the owners are American though.   You could also go to places where Americans hang out.  There are very few of these in India.  You could have a slow meal at a hotel where lots of Americans stay, or a hotel owned by an American chain.  Just keep notes…  See if your sales ratios go up during times when you frequent these places.  It’s easier to tap into national consciousness in America where we have the whole world living under our roof.  India has no official neighborhoods for certain nationalities which makes it harder to perform this type of experiment.  But, you can try to find places best suited to particular national consciousnesses, and let us know what happened!

Training for Outsourcing Jobs

July 12, 2011 by 123outsource
Categories: Getting a Job | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

We get many people applying for non-existant jobs at our company.  My company consists of myself and one other person. We do all the work. We have no other jobs, and don’t understand why someone is applying for a job, that we never claimed to have?  This clueless behavior is why many are out of work and can’t find any work. Nobody wants to hire someone who can’t think and who wastes others’ time.  Additionally, most of the job applicants can’t spell and are very sloppy in their communication skills. I would never hire anyone to even pour me a cup of coffee if they were sloppy.  So, what is the solution?  Training!
 
What do you need to know?
To work in outsourcing, there are various types of skills you need to know.  For call center work, you need to be able to speak clearly and listen well. For data entry work, you need to have good English skills and good formatting skills.  If you don’t know how words are spelled, you will not be able to correct other people’s errors when transcribing data.  In data entry, you might have a hand written document and type the information into a database.  You are expected to format addresses correctly and find errors in spelling. If you can’t spell yourself, how can you possibly find errors in other people’s spelling? 
 
Catching errors
You might need to notice inconsistancies in data too as a data entry clerk.  If you are looking at addresses and you realize that the zip code (PIN code) is from Delhi, yet the rest of the address seems to be in Cochi, Kerela, you just caught an error. A good data entry clerk is watchful and sharp and can catch mistakes with ease. Sometimes, the name of a neighborhood might erroneously be put in the city field.  In India, addresses often include names of areas like Jayanagar, or Shivaji-nagar.  If the database you are using has a separate field for city and street address, you need to make sure the right information is in the right place.  What if the name of the road is all mushed together?  Springhillroad for example. Do you know when the names should be separated and when they should be together?  Sometimes you need to google this information.  Should Shivaji-nagar have a hyphen, or be separate words? Maybe it should all be one long word.  As a data entry clerk you have to be sharply aware of these issues and have a way of solving them, otherwise you will be the most mediocre data entry keyer in the industry.
 
Schools
If you live in India, the king of the outsourcing industry, you will have no lack of schools for many different outsourcing professions.  Just look in the local classified section of your local newspaper and you will find dozens of schools that will teach you how to work at a call center, data entry company, or medical transcriptioning.  Rather than bothering hundreds of companies for a job when you are not qualified, you are advised to get highly trained so that you are an asset, and not a liability.  Companies in the West want to outsource to save money, but if there are multitudes of errors in the work produced, the errors will cost the companies more money than they are saving.  Many companies that outsourced to the Philippines, or India found that the error rate was sometimes so high, that they were willing to pay ten times as much to have companies in America do the work for them.  On the other hand, if you can provide faster and better service in India, than any American company can provide, you will make a handsome living in the long run.  In the long run quality of work, and good customer service will win you high paying work and steady work as well.

Looking for jobs in all the wrong places

July 3, 2011 by 123outsource
Categories: Getting a Job | Tagged , | Leave a comment

We get all types of feedback from people using our site, but the feedback involves them asking us for a job!  Additionally, people who click the “I’m going to use this company” button want the company to use them, so they are misusing this button. Responses to blogs are mostly from those seeking employment too.  We don’t offer jobs here, we are a DIRECTORY.  If you want a data entry job, go to a data entry company, NOT US!  We can’t help you.
 
What is a directory for?
In America, we have what is called the Yellow Pages.  This is a phone book that you use to look up phone numbers of businesses. If you want a data entry business, you look up under “D” to find companies in specialties beginning with “D”.  As technology evolved, America invented electricity, the telephone, computers, and the internet.  In ancient history it was the Chinese who invented more than anything else, but the 1900’s was the American century — at least for innovation.  Our business is a phone book or yellow pages for outsourcing companies. We DO NOT offer jobs!  We offer a way for companies and freelancers to list their service so the public can find them.  So, please don’t ask me for some processes for your company.  I don’t have that.  I can list your company on my directory and that is the beginning and end of it!
 
We don’t know where the work is!
People say to me, “So, I know you don’t offer jobs, but who does?”.  I can’t answer that question. The only way to get work is to ask specific companies who specialize in the type of work you are trying to do.  Ask them, not me please.  I understand directories, and where to get good sushi in Los Angeles only, that sums up my intelligence.
 
People will not hire you overseas
Most of the inquiries I get are from people who can not spell in English.  If you are in India and can not spell, NOBODY in America will hire you to do anything. The Indians who come to America are doctors and computer experts.  If you have trouble spelling, or trouble with punctuation, you need to perfect your language skills, otherwise nobody can use your service anywhere. 
 
Are you worthy of a job?
If you are not proficient at Data Entry, or Call Center work, and start bugging companies incessantly about a job, you are wasting their time and your own.  Go to school, and become good at something. Then, your job search at least has a chance of having some type of success.  If you don’t understand that proper nouns begin with a capital letter, and you don’t understand that the space goes AFTER the comma, and not before, you need to go back to school — and fast!  
 
What can we do for you?
Our site has a new page where you can list yourself as someone seeking a job.  I’m not sure how many companies visit that page, but at least you are giving yourself a chance.  Most of the entries there are butchered in my opinion.  Mispellings, and not particularly graceful or impressive accounts of previous employment are in abundance.  If you are going to advertise yourself, you should make yourself look impressive. Have someone proofread your work please!  Presentation is everything!  So please take a look at our job seekers page!

Who is an Indian?

June 15, 2011 by 123outsource
Categories: India | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Who is an Indian?
 
Over the centuries, there has been a lot of confusion as to who is an Indian.  India used to be a much larger country historically, and now it’s geography has been divided into several countries. Those who used to be Indian, are now Bengladeshi in many cases.  Additionally, Indians have been going overseas for centuries to all parts of the world.  Those who were born overseas are termed PIO (person of Indian origin) by the Indian government.  But, what if you jump across the border from Burma to India, do you become an Indian, especially if you have no paperwork?
 
The Americas
When Christopher Columbus “discovered” America, he thought he had found India, and called the locals Indians.  However, the local Native Americans were not wearing their finest Mysore silk saris, or crepe saris, nor were they wearing bhindis, so Chris was far off base here geographically and culturally.
 
Additionally, research and mythology has shown that people from India have been populating the Americas for up to 17,000 years.  A demon king from Sri Lanka in mythology moved to Brazil many thousands of years ago.  Is it a coincidence that many locals from Brazil and Mexico look identical to Gujarathis, Assamese, or South Indians? Genetic markers were found in Central American natives that traced their ancestry partially back to India, China, and to other ethnic stocks.   Some psychics feel that there was a huge continent called Lemuria that went from near Sri Lanka all the way into the Pacific.  Perhaps the Natives of South America lived on Lemuria at some time in the past.
 
The flag of Mexico looks almost identical to the flag of India.  Even the melodic routines of the music in Mexico and Guatemala closely resemble Indian music.  The word Gautama is Sanskrit for lord Buddha.  The words Guantanamo Bay, and Guatemala closely resemble this word.  Author Gene Matlock has researched the etomology of place names in Latin America and traced many of them back to India, Afghanistan and other places that were remove from Latin America.  He thinks that boats from India came regularly back and forth to the Americas until around 1300 when India was invated by Muslims.  Euro-centric historians conveniently omit any reference to any other culture having any involvement in the Americas other than those who crossed the land bridge from Siberia many thousands of years ago.
 
Bhutan
Many Indians live in Bhutan and have lost their property rights because they were not ethnic Bhutanese.  That doesn’t seem like a “spiritual” thing to do for a Buddhist country.  On the other hand, they don’t want to be inundated with illegal immigrants from India. My suggestion is that they should show compassion and tolerance and forget about who has Bhutanese blood!
 
Past Births
The Indian government’s term PIO is a great term. But, shouldn’t there be a term for those with Indian past births?  I am very tuned in to past life regression. I have had dozens done for myself and have witnessed the history of my soul.  It was fascinating.  Since I am so sensitive to this issue, I bump into white people who make it very obvious (at least obvious to me) that they have had many past births in India. The clues include personality traits, interests, and a nose ring. Leather chappals could be a good hint too!  What is really even more fascinating and hard to explain is that some of these individuals of Indian past births even have Indian physical features.  I know a full blooded white lady who has very Indian shaped eyes which is interesting.  She is very oriented towards Hindu culture. Many Westerners with past births in India will be likely to be vegetarian or to take up meditation of some sort.  As humans, most of us have had dozens of past births.  These births could have been focused in certain parts of the world, or spread out throughout many regions.  It is possible that someone could have had one hundred past births all in different countries, but most people have had clusters of births in particular cultural groups that they will feel close to in many lives to come.

Who is using 123outsource.net?

June 14, 2011 by 123outsource
Categories: Outsourcing Articles | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Who is using 123outsource.net?
 
The answer to this question is very bizarre.  When 123outsource.net outsourcing directory was started, it was supposed to be a directory to help American and U.K. companies find Indian software and BPO companies to help them with their work.  I figured that the majority of the clicks would come from India, the Philipines, and perhaps about 10-20% of the clicks would come from America.  The findings are completely different.
 
The Arabian Gulf
Most of the companies who use our directory are looking for service providing companies in their own country. Filipinos are looking for Filipino companies, mainly call centers in the Philippines, and Indians are looking for BPO companies in India. Americans were slow to even query foreign pages for service providers which was a shock to my system.  My whole business model was taken off track by zenophobic Americans.  Our country is the most diverse on earth, so why are we resistant to look overseas for services?  It is five countries in the Persian Gulf, namely: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar that are using foreign companies the most.  
 
Africa
We were not advertising in Africa much until quite recently.  Kenya is now our 8th largest browser on our site.  It was actually #3 for a while right behind the Philippines if you can believe that.  It is such a small country, with not much presence in the outsourcing industry.  But, I believe that they will grow to be prominent in the call center and BPO industry.  People speak English well there and have good social skills.  It is just that the economy and financial markets are so backwards there.  The infrastructure and internet connections are really behind schedule in Kenya.  But, over time things will change.
 
A bizarre happening
Our facebook is showing up on google more in it’s Korean version than its English version. Its very strange.  When I look up blog posts, they show up on google in the Korean Facebook, but the actual blog entries are not yet showing up.  Maybe in a few weeks they will start to show up.
 
India
Indian companies are using our site the most.  They are hiring other Indian companies to do their back office work.  Data conversion and data processing tasks are the most common.  Surprisingly, the software page in India was going to be our most popular page, but it is actually one of our least popular pages.  People are looking for data entry and call centers, not programmers.  It is my belief that India will lead the world in programming one day.  But, maybe today is not that day — at least not for us.
 
Looking for outsourcing jobs
It seems that a huge portion of browsers on our directory are looking for jobs. We get resumes sent to us all the time. We are creating a database where job seekers can enter their information and specialties.  Maybe one day it will be a popular page for companies to search for prospective employees in their area. We’ll find out!

Call Center Directories

May 20, 2011 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment
Call Center Directories
 
There are many call center directories out there, but which ones should you use, and why?
 
This directory specializes in a dozen or so outsourcing specialties.  The second most popular category is it’s call center directory.  This directory lists call centers in India, the Philippines, Canada, and others spread throughout the world.  Although this directory is newer, and currently has less than call centre 200 listings (which is less than some of the other directories), the information is generally quite useful, easy to query, and “fresh”.  You will NOT find many disconnected numbers, and the site is easy to use and doesn’t have annoying advertisements all over the place.
 
Callcenterdirectory.net
This directory is the easiest to use and has call centers throughout the world.  They have many in the Philippines, India, Canada, USA, and many other places as well.  Unfortunately, this directory mixes the call center titles with pay-per-click advertising which makes it less pleasant to use this directory.  Also, some of the companies are long gone and have been out of business for a while with disconnected numbers, etc.
 
Callcenterdirectory.biz
This directory helps you to find call centers with various specialties and sizes. However, you will not be able to choose the location of the call center.  There are filters for onshore, near-shore, and offshore, but the search results are in the USA, and Canada.  It is better to let the browser choose their country.  The Philiipines is the most popular call centre outsourcing country in the world, and they deserve their own special page in my opinion.
 
Callcenterindia.com
This site focuses exclusively on India and has many listings. Spelling mistakes abound, but you will be able to find many good contact centres on this site.
 
Findacallcenter.com
The listings section of this directory only list a handful of companies, generally in the United States
 
Specialtyansweringservice.net
This site allows you to find answering services that are specially trained for your industry.  You can find answering services that specialize in working for accountants, tax preparers, biotechnology, the fashion industry, banking, finance, advertising, agriculture, and more!  How unique! Unfortunately, no companies are listed in their directory, so you will have to email them and hope that they respond.
 
Callcenterplanet.com
Google ranks this site quite well, but when I do a search, I am informed that the site has been hacked and that no search results are available.
 
So, what makes a good call centre directory?  Should they have many listings? Should they have up to date information  Should the site be easy to use? Should there be different pages for different countries?  Should they have a page where they help you find a job?  These are all interesting questions.
 
You might also like:
 
 
 

How to attract more clients to your call center part 2

May 19, 2011 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center, Popular Posts | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

How to get more clients for your call center part 2
 
Part 1 of this series about marketing your call center was very nuts and bolts.  Basically, you contact companies who might need your services, be receptive to their questions and needs, and offer them a few hours sample of your work if you think they are serious about a long term relationship.  The several hundred dollars you lose giving a free sample could come back to you 1000 fold in the long run with repeat business and referrals.
 
Hiring the right staff
There is a spiritual law that says that if you have the right people, business will naturally come to you.  Isn’t it funny how some businesses grow without putting a dime, a peso, riyal, or rupee into advertising?   This always frustrated me as a child while I put endless hours in sweat equity marketing my lawn mowing business while other people just got the business while they were sipping iced tea.  Although, I eventually got referrals, and was good at certain tasks concerning the manual labor that I used to do, I did not have the refinement necessary to be someone’s first choice.  I also didn’t have a marketing system for getting referrals. Its much easier to build your business through referrals than it is by getting clients  through advertising.  What I learned later in life, is that it is not a crime to spend a fortune on advertising, but it is a crime not to have a good “offering”, and a good system for gettting referrals.
 
Hiring the right staff that comprises the perfect blend of personalities to handle your clients and future clients is imperative.  If you have a call center with a bunch of pushy salespeople, and customer service reps who mumble, you are going to have a hard time growing at any price.  Remember, that the cost to a company for losing them a client is much greater than whatever they are paying you! Outsourcing is a great way for companies to save money, but let them save money without the headaches that are associated with outsourcing.  Give them the best service in town and a great experience that they will remember
 
Can you imagine if XYZ company hires a call center, and the service was mediocre, but dealing with them was a pain in the neck? The manager at XYZ will have a bitter taste in his mouth with all of the bad memories of XYZ company.  It is a far better plan to give companies who work with you as wonderful an experience as you can while still maintaining a good price.  When all is said and done, and all of the numbers are crunched (analyzed), giving people a pleasant experience counts for 50% of their decision of whether they are going to use you again, even if your actual work is not the best.
 
Having polished staff members
There are call center companies where the employees speak clearly, are patient, polite, and explain things well.  These are the call centers that are going to get the repeat business. I spoke to a call center rep who was the most polite person I have ever encountered.  He worked for a fancy bank, and it is no surprize that they value that individual, as he brings professionalism to their already very professional organization.  On the other hand, there are nightmare call center staff members who hang up on clients, lose their temper, or are always transfering them to someone else who may or may not be there.  You could lose a million dollar account with behavior like that.  The quality of your staff = the security of your future success in business!
 
Training and mentoring
Nobody starts out perfect, except perhaps today’s call center rep from Well’s Fargo. Most call center emplyees just don’t have their act perfected.  It is critical to spend more money on middle level management who walks around and moniters people.  You have to make sure people are performing at an optimal level.  If someone is not answering questions clearly enough, give them a coaching session.  If someone is too quiet, or rough, give them a mentoring session.  If someone has a pronunciation problem, give them a training session in clear speech.  Nobody is perfect, but through molding, amazing improvements can be made. If you do not start out with assets, you can turn someone into an asset in a few months!
 
It’s the experience
My favorite experience with a call center employee was a young lady I talked to many years ago.  She was working for a credit card company and she was located in the Philippines.  She solved my credit card issue quickly and efficiently, but she also had a nice personality too.  We talked about my flight to India.  She commented, “Oh, you flew right over me.. next time you fly over the Philippines, say hi, okay?”.  I’ll never forget her.  If you have staff members who are so charming and pleasant that people would actually like to meet them and get to know them, then you are in business. You will be discovered soon enough.  You can have the best marketing department in the world, but a charming staff member is much more potent than the best salesman on earth!  Remember, you only talk to the salesperson at the BEGINNING of your relationshp with a company.  After the sale is made, you see the regular employees.  If they make your day, you will stay with the company forever!

You might also like:

Part 1 of how to get more clients for your call center

Finding a lucky feng shui spot for my office

Pune City Profile

May 18, 2011 by 123outsource
Categories: City Profiles | Tagged | Leave a comment

Pune City Profile
 
Pune is a bustling medium sized city in Maharashtria, roughly 99 miles Southeast of Mumbai.  There is a highway and railway connecting Mumbai and Pune, and both arteries go all the way down to various parts of South India. Pune is famous for its IT industry.  New IT parks have blossomed in the last decade or so, with new IT companies opening up daily offering various software servicies and other services as well.   Pune is not as well connected by air as their airport does not have regular flights to foreign countries — yet. It seems, as Pune is one of the fastest developing cities in India, that flights to Singapore, and possibly to UAE will eventually be available. 
 
West and South
Pune is a relatively small, yet very comfortable city.  You can walk from one end to the other.  On the Northwest, the road to Lonavala leads into the hills.  There is a large IT park in that vicinity, and some nice residential areas where you can purchase a 2BHK (two bedroom) dwelling and live in comfort.  The pleasures of urban life are not too convenient to the Northwest yet, but as time passes, perhaps things will evolve.  To the South, a highway that is several years old stretches around the city.  This highway is less than optimally efficient with pedestrians crossing, and slow vehicles clogging up both lanes. Perhaps they should consider having a fast lane and a slow lane, and have a speed minimum in the fast lane. It wouldn’t cost much to create a system like that.  Deccan Gymkhana is one of the relatively exciting parts of town.  There is a law University in that general area, as well as the Pyramid mall which is an exciting place to spend a few hours on a Sunday.  There is another huge University on Ferguson Road which is an area wiht a real College flavor, and lots of cafes and restaurants lining the road. 
 
East Pune
To the East, there is the train station, and famous Koregaon Park where the blast occured in the German Bakery. Koregaon Park is a wonderful place to take a stroll, and engage in a nice Chinese, Iranian, or other international meal.  There is a cafe on every block, and the locals are very cosmopolitan and friendly.  Hard Rock Cafe is one of the more recent players in Koregaon Park near the outskirts of town.  Enjoy a glass of imported wine, or a beer, and listen to your favorite 80’s hits from America!  The SOB burger is the best burger in the world for beef eaters out there. For vegetarians, there are many choices too (although the choices are not anywhere as good as the burger).   Camp is another hip area of town.  There are cafes, night clubs, restaurants, Islamic tea houses and more!  
 
Museums
The Raja Dinkar Kelkar museum has wonderful artifacts and a breathtaking courtyard.  The Pataleswar Cave Museum has some caves, and a temple.  Its worth a quick trip, but don’t expect too much here. There is a good kabob restaurant around the corner from them, so go with an appetite. Shaniwar Wada is another worthwhile to go for about half an hour. Walk around the humongous inner gardens and tour the palace.  Honesly, Agra, Hyderabad, Darjeeling, and Rajastan  are much better tourist destinations than Pune, but Pune is a great place to live and work.

Hyderabad City Profile

May 16, 2011 by 123outsource
Categories: City Profiles | Tagged | Leave a comment

Hyderabad City Profile
 
Hyderabad is the third most important city in South India and the sixth most important city in India.  Hyderabad has a thriving IT industry and is the second most popular  software hub in the country with Bangalore as the first and Pune as the third (although these titles could change at any time).  In addition to having a great software IT park near Banjara Hills, Hyderabad has many other things to offer.  Hyderabad has museums, landmarks, pubs, restaurants, spas, and more!
 
Attractions
The Salar Jung museum has many historical artifacts including swords, antiquated pictures, and much more.  It is worth spending about 90 minutes there, and then enjoying some lemon rice in the snack bar.  Char Minar is another fantastic place to visit.   Enjoy some tea from a tea stall, and then climb the stairs of the famous Islamic landmark located next to an equally beautiful masjeed (mosque).  Gol Konda is the best place to go in Hyderabad and is the Western part of town.  It is a huge Islamic fort, and you can find a choice of independent tour guides there for an affordable price.  One part of the fort allows you to hear the echo of what is going on in a very distant place due to superior engineering that happened hundreds of years ago.  Film City, or as the locals call it “Filim City” is a wonderful place with at least a dozen gardens, and all types of film sets of all varieties.  You could spend hours there, and it is fun every minute of the way.  Just get on the tour bus, and away you go. This is the Indian equivalent of Universal Studios. Last, but not least, try an Ayervedic spa.   Aalankrita, located in the outskirts of the city offers a lovely resort spa with Ayervedic massage, great food, and more. Just tell them to take it easy on the air conditioning or you will freeze and turn into a popsical for sure.
 
Transportation
Traffic is bad in Hyderabad, but not worse than any other Indian metro. Cabs are not cheap, but are more likely to stick to the meter there. The airport and connect you with other parts of India easily, but international flights to Singapore, UAE, Europe, and other important destinations are not yet possible.  Maybe soon they will have a few flights. 
 
Lifestyle
While in Hyderabad, you can sample a few hip bars and nightspots.  There are also many decent restaurants offering local cuisine.  Hyderabad, although located in the South of India, is very dominated by Muslims who have their language and ancestry in Northern India, but with a lot of Persian and Pakistani influence. This influences the language (many speak Urdu in additon to the state language of Telegu), but the food has a definitive Moghlai influence.  You can enjoy a spicy Hyderabadi chicken dish with a splended blend of spices, and a tablespoon or two of yogurt to balance it off in the recipe.  Or enjoy some kabobs.  Biryani is a famous dish of Hyderabad, but Biryani is not Indian in origin.  Biryani is a Saudi Arabian dish called Kabsa which was slightly adapted when it came to India with the Muslims.  Chicken, lamb, and vegetarian biryani are all popular dishes and it should be a legal requirement to try one while you are in town.

How to find a data entry job!

May 14, 2011 by 123outsource
Categories: Data Entry, Getting a Job, Popular Posts | Tagged , , , , | 22 Comments

Where to go to find data entry jobs. 

There are many places you can go to find data entry jobs on the internet, and many places you can find data entry jobs in your city. It is safer to find a real job where you work in an office. That way you meet the boss face to face, and they can not run away when its time to pay you. There are many sites on the internet that can help you find work, but some of these are scams. It is important to find legitimate companies who really need your services and who really will pay you.

Tell-tale signs of scams
If a company wants to use you, but doesn’t test you thoroughly, it is likely that they are not professional, and a potential scam. If a company wants to charge you money for being on their list, there is no guarantee that you will receive a single inquiry. This is risky business. You should not pay money to a company unless they were referred to you by a satisfied customer.

Internet sites
Some sites list job openings, while other sites have opportunities to work remotely. Some sites will help you start your own business. A few sites specialize in helping you get freelance jobs. If you have no business background, it is not advisable to attempt to start you own business doing anything. Data entry is a serious business and clients will not want to hire someone working from home who they don’t know unless you come highly recommended. If you are going to do remote data entry, make sure the company spends time checking you out. If they don’t invest in scrutinizing you, they are likely to not be a good company to work for.

Our recommendations
Find real companies in your metro, or at least within a few hours of your home. Try to meet with them in person, and see if they can either hire you or offer you freelance work. Sometimes, the bosses of these companies will be able to refer you to their colleagues who have similar companies. If your skills are not up to par, you will spend a lot of time job seeking, but without finding much. If your skills are excellent, then you should start off by contacting data entry companies in your area and talking to the HR staff over the phone or in person.

Sites that list job offerings

Indeed.com
This site has a long list of job openings for data entry clerks world wide. It is a good place to look for openings.

Naukrihub.com
This Indian based site can help you find work in many types of professions including medical transcriptions, BPO, and data entry.

BPOjobsathome.com
This site helps you work from home in India and has many types of data entry, and data conversion jobs that you can do.

Careerbuilder.com
Lists Data Entry jobs all over the United States

dataentry.in
This site offers information about data entry jobs in India including medical billing, data processing and many other specialties.

careerguru.com
This site offers a holistic job search. They have many data entry jobs being offered in the United States.

gofreelance.com
This is a fun site, but they don’t have that many actual data entry jobs being offered.

Sites offering work from home opportunities

my-data-team.com
This site offers work from home data entry job opportunities.

online-home-jobs.com
This site caters to people all around the world, including India, the Philippines, and many other countries. This well organized site has a well explained process of how you can find and do data entry work. They even offer online chat with an attentive clerk at the other end.

ourdollars.com
This site offers work from home data entry job opportunities. Get paid by automated funds transfer technology as often as you want to get paid!

online-data-entry-jobs.com
This site allows you to gain employement working from home anywhere in the world. You can be an outsourced data operator, marketing typist, data-collection research assistant, data proofreader, general audio transcriber, response typist, and more!

homeworkers.org
IHA offers many types of jobs where workers can work from home including medical coding, photography, writing, data entry, product assembly, and more germiny.com This site does a thorough job of describing the real work opportunities verses the scams. clickonlinejobs.com Offers work from home data entry jobs.

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