Category Archives: Marketing

If someone doesn’t need your services today…

October 15, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Marketing | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

If someone doesn’t need your services today, they might need you tomorrow!

Don’t be too upset if a client doesn’t need your BPO service today. They might have someone else, or just not have any work to do. But, if you stumble upon people who need one or more type of outsourced services in the long haul, they might be worth chatting with. The key here is to be casual during your initial phone call, and perhaps making very carefully phrased suggestions.

The mistake Indians make selling their BPO services over the phone is that they are often careless, pushy, or desperate sounding. This doesn’t work. The higher level salespeople in India are smooth talkers. They are cool, calm, knowledgeable and collected. Learn to be cool as a cucumber. Remember — you are not attached to the results of your phone call, you are just interacting and seeing what people need.

How to make suggestions
Be careful making suggestions to prospective clients. Let’s assume you are on a phone call with a prospect who doesn’t need you now, but perhaps they might need you in a year. It is still worth talking to them. Talk very nicely and try to be helpful, but not too helpful, because that is being pushy.

Have you considered adding xyz software to your site?
We noticed that your coding might be cleaner if it were divided into smaller modules, but it is not a huge issue. It might be easier to read if it were segmented.
The graphic design on your home page looks nice. How often do you redesign it?

These are gentle questions and suggestions. You are probing the prospect to see what their needs are without shoving your BPO service down their throat. Remember, if they have a pleasant chat with you and find you to be a reliable source of knowledge, they might consider you next time they are in the market. Humans tend to want to work with someone they either know, or have had more contact with in the past.

The next step is to follow up by email. If you exchange emails from time to time, or if you send “we just wanted to say hi” emails every four or five months, people will remember you. Sending emails to strangers doesn’t work, but if you call first, and then email someone who likes you, they will be likely to read and save your email. If you stay in touch with people, there is a chance they will use you in the future, or refer you to a friend. On the other hand, if they either don’t like you or are not impressed by you, you will just be annoying them. If someone from your company interacts with prospective clients, choose someone who is a smart talker who is cool as a cucumber!

You might also like:

Social media: Promoting your products with humor and information
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/05/28/social-media-promoting-your-products-with-humor-information/

The future of marketing is information
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/06/01/the-future-of-marketing-is-information/

Networking meetings are a great way to grow your business

October 3, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Marketing | Tagged | Leave a comment

Do you want to grow your outsourcing business exposure. There is nothing better than meeting real live people, especially people who might be great clients. People in America go to networking meetings. Sometimes you have networking breakfasts, networking lunches, and networking wine and cheese parties. I just met a great business contact at a wine tasting with my buddy. He knows a lot of local business people, and I was introduced to someone who has staff members around the world who do ASP and PHP programming which is a service I am in desperate need of at all times.

If you are stuck behind a desk in India and want to gain new clients overseas, you need to have an arm and a finger in the United States or some other overseas country and find a way to meet influential locals. Either you should come here and wine and dine us, or send an agent. A good agent could use various types of channels to gain business to send to your company. They could set up ads, cold call companies, go to networking events and more! Regardless of who does the networking for your company, if you don’t do any networking, you won’t have a network — and THEN, where will you be? Networkless!

Try growing a business without clients. It doesn’t typically work very well.

When in doubt — NETWORK!

You might also like:

How to get clients for your call center: steal one from your boss
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/09/05/how-to-get-clients-for-your-call-center-steal-one-from-your-boss/

The power of knowing people for outsourcing
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/06/10/the-power-of-knowing-people-for-outsourcing/

Getting work for your company on 123outsource.net

September 4, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Marketing | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

There are lots of businesses in the U.S. and elsewhere that would like to outsource to India or the Philippines and hire your company. But first, they want to be able to talk with you. Whether you seek work in data entry or accounting outsourcing, run a call center in India, or do web design, getting work with a U.S. company all begins with how you answer the phone. Business people need to feel you are professional and can communicate well in English on the phone–well enough so that they feel confident giving you their business records and other data. Since we would like to help your company, let’s talk about how to make a good impression.

People calling your company from the U.S. will be disappointed if you just answer “Hello” and do not mention a business name. For example, of the many professional accounting outsourcing companies listed on 123outsource that we called recently, only about 3% answered with a business name or had any kind of phone answering system or protocol. Yes: we do call your company to see how you handle yourself on the phone. U.S. businesses that might outsource to India expect a bright, pleasant, professional man’s or woman’s voice on the phone at the outset, ensuring them that this could be the start of a friendly and stress-free business relationship. They are also expecting someone to answer the phone using a company name. If we have to repeat your business name several times before you acknowledge the name and say, “Yes, this is XYZ Company,” it does not create a good first impression. It sounds funny, but in some cases, the person we talked to on the phone did not seem to know that the number was listed as a business; it’s as if they had forgotten who they were! Even if you are doing accounting outsourcing and you have the very best accountants, you need to be able to speak to us. How you answer the phone is important.

U.S. clients want to hire confident professionals, whether this means a call center in India or another group of workers. When a business plans to outsource to India, the managers are very interested in the quality of your work, what software you use, how long you have been in business, and any stories about the first project you took on and how your company has continued to improve. If your expertise is data entry, accounting outsourcing, or managing a successful call center in India, being able to tell us a bit about your company and your attitude toward your work–being able to talk on the phone and tell a brief story about your company–will show that you are personable and that you are able to engage in a long-term business relationship.

We at 123outsource.net have traveled and lived in other countries, and we understand that life is different in India or the Philippines. In many ways it is more relaxed, and that is a benefit to those of us who want to outsource to India, or hire a call center in India or a company to do data entry. We know and appreciate your culture and your views about life and work, and we would like to be able to have a brief conversation with you about your company and your experience so that we may recommend you to companies seeking to hire you.

How you answer the phone will distinguish you from other companies that are just starting out. There is a lot of work in the U.S. for companies who do data entry, have a call center in India, or do accounting outsourcing in India, but U.S. business owners who speak English would like to be able to have a 3-minute conversation with someone who speaks English and is confident, enthusiastic, and articulate about your company’s work. We would like to encourage U.S. businesses to outsource to India, but we need to be sure you have the skills companies need. People in the U.S. want to have a conversation with you. They will not make a decision to hire you simply on the basis of your website.

Email and Skype are very helpful, but businesses are interested in how you answer the phone and how you sound on the phone. If you understand us and can talk with us for a few minutes about your background and specific accomplishments, and can tell us something inspiring or educational, we will have a better idea of who you are and how you relate to people. If a U.S. business can have a brief intelligent conversation with you, that company will feel good about moving to the next step in any business relationship.

Here are a few questions for you. We would love to hear from you (really!) :

1) Can you commit to answering the phone with your business name?

2) Please provide us with business hours: when can people call your company and have a live person answer the phone in a professional manner?

3) Is there someone at your company who speaks English and is able to have a conversation about your company’s achievements? Who?

4) Is there an interesting story about how your company was started, or about the owner’s background? Let us know and we can call you. (:

Types of tweets that win the game!

August 15, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Marketing, Semi-Popular, Social Media | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Many people like Twitter, but being popular on twitter is hard, even for the talented. So, here are a few “twips”.

(1) Don’t write downers on Twitter. Keep it upbeat and happy. Even an informative tweet that has tone in it can repel followers quickly.

(2) If you are going to Tweet about something unpleasant, make it a shocker. People like to be shocked and will be likely to retweet, especially if someone died, was jailed, injured or was maimed.

(3) Many people like it if you tweet about what is illegal or who got in trouble for doing something dangerous or illegal

(4) Then, there is the G-Major tweet. A simplistic tweet stating some very basic information about some subject matter.
i.e. Acupuncture originated in China and is 3000 years old — is an example of a simple yet informative tweet. These tweets generally get some positive attention, especially if they are general enough for a regular person to understand!

(5) Tweets about how to succeed or make more money are often very well accepted.

(6) Tweets that are funny or have an interesting point of view on an issue can get retweeted easily!

(7) Keep it varied, and don’t write the same thing over and over again.

(8) Mixing in some current events, general media info, responses to posts on Facebook or other social media platforms that were interesting, and general industry news is a beneficial mix. The exact mixture needs to be experimented with and decided upon by you.

(9) Interactions are better than tweets. Yes, it is a documented fact, at least with my accounts. Writing really interesting responses on OTHER people’s Twitter accounts can get you noticed fast. If your account only has 100 followers, you can still go to someone’s account with a MILLION followers and write a beautiful rebuttal to someone’s point. Typically what happens is that you will get retweeted systematically, but NOT usually by the account where you posted the remark (if it is a big account). Typically, others that frequent that account to read responses will retweet you, and this will get you fantastic exposure overnight! However, if the account you responded to is in the same industry as you are, then you have a high chance of being retweeted by them. It is interesting to see how the game manifolds itself. Twitter is fun, and if you play your tweets right, you can become a hit sooner than you “thwink”.

Notes
My audience for one of my accounts loves accounts of fraud, crime, punishment, industry news, how to make money fast, etc. But, they don’t like international themes, overseas news, witty points, or philosophical observations. I need to be aware of my crowd to please them. Are you aware of your crowd? Pay attention to what you Tweet and how your audience responds or grows when you tweet stuff they like!

Visit our BPO outsourcing page!

Find Social Media companies on 123outsource.net

Tweets:
(1) Don’t write downers on Twitter. It is better to look at the tweet as half full, than half empty.
(2) Even an informative tweet that has tone in it can repel followers quickly.
(3) If you are going to Tweet about something unpleasant, make it a shocker.
(4) Shock, but don’t depress: tweet if someone died, was jailed, injured or was maimed.
(5) When you tweet, make it provocative. Provocation provokes a retweet!

(6) It is hard to ignore a tweet that has an element of shock to it.
(7) Don’t tweet that your lunch made you queasy, tweet that you were food poisoned by the waiter!
(8) Many people like tweets about what is illegal or dangerous!
(9) Many people like tweets about illegal activities that blew up in someone’s face!
(10) Girls are as attracted to dangerous guys as people are to tweets about danger or illegal activity!

(11) A tweet with very basic information or simple facts will be very appreciated by your followers!
(12) If you want your Twitter to be successful — tweet about #success (or #failure). People like this!
(13) Successful tweets are likely to be short, and have at least 2 #hashtags, plus a link. #success
(14) For a successful tweet, tweet about #success (or #failure.) People like succeeding (& watching others fail.)
(15) Tweets that are funny or have an interesting point of view on an issue can get retweeted easily!
(16) Mixing in some current events & quotes from ur FB followers w/ur industry specific tweets gets traffic!

(17) Tweets get lost in the shuffle, but interactions show up in people’s “connect” inbox & if u click “expand”
(18) If u have a small twitter account, you can still get seen by RESPONDING to tweets from bigger accounts!
(19) Are you aware of your crowd? Pay attention to how they respond or grow when you tweet stuff they like!

You might also like:

Active verses dormant followers on Twitter
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/09/27/active-vs-dormant-followers-on-twitter/

Twitter and the American dream. The chance to make it big is possible
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/08/12/twitter-the-american-dream-the-chance-to-make-it-big-is-possible/

Gaining market share or gaining the type of market share

July 18, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Marketing | Tagged | Leave a comment

In my type of business — the directory business — there are many challenges and many things to think about. We need a critical mass, but how much mass is really desireable? How many service providers do we need in a particular area.

I used to try to write blog entries to please the masses. I am realizing that most people just don’t think, and don’t want to. They don’t want to improve or learn much either. They generally refuse to be professional, or reliable as well, although they almost always make it a point to claim to be professional and reliable. What I learned is that having these poor quality people is a liability on a directory, and trying to attract them on Twitter, search engines, blogs, etc., just isn’t a rewarding idea in the long run although I might get some clicks.

So, what does matter? Or, what does matter to me in any case? Quality people matter. The people on our directory who are engaging, interesting, communicative, funny, friendly, and serious about what they do are the type of people that companies want to outsource to. Of course these people are not merely people, they are generally heads of companies. Some are heads of small companies, while others have high positions in very large companies. The point is not how large their organization is, but how desireable they are to talk with and work with.

I think that if I had a much smaller directory, but had these very dynamic types that I described in the last paragraph, that my directory would be a lot better.

Skill level is another factor. I do not do data entry, and can not test them at their skill. I feel that my directory for outsourcing would be a lot better if I could find some metric to test how good various companies are at data entry. First we go through the ones who don’t pick up the phone, and then the ones who answer unprofessionally. But, finally, when we get a manager, we can see if we can get them talking about data entry. My strategy is open ended questions. I’ll leave it up to them. I’ll ask them to tell me as much as they can about the snags in data entry. I’ll just shut up and let them do the talking. If they make it sound intelligent, I’ll assume that they have some good skills and are paying attention. I’ll leave the rest of the metrics to other analytics.

Wish me luck! And — if you are the charismatic leader of a reliable outsourcing company — we want you on our directory. Start with a free listing!

Social media & promoting your products with humor & information

May 28, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Marketing, Social Media | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Many companies are using social media these days. It is the “in thing” and for a reason. If hundreds of millions of people use it to make friends, find new business contacts, and compare products, it must be the place to be. But, do you use it correctly? Social media is hard. Even if you have a good staff member to run your Facebook and Twitter campaigns, the content needs to come from somewhere and that involves you in some way. I have personally been using various channels of social media since 2010, and it is hard to create an endless stream of great content. You have to figure out what people in your network like to read about, and write endlessly about it in a way that makes them want to interact.

THE GOLDEN RULE here is to tweet only 5% about promoting your products and the rest should be about stuff that the people on your network like to read about!

What I learned is that none of the books about social media that I have browsed through, or the magazine articles that I have read have helped me to become a better social media writer. But, there are things that I have done which helped.

(1) I read OTHER PEOPLE’S twitter profiles to see what they are doing. 99% of the content is rubbish, but there are a few accounts which have amazingly good content. I learn from what they are doing.

(2) Humor and wit makes your Twitter do better. Remember, put some Wit in your T-Wit-Ter. People are looking through hundreds or thousands of tweets and accounts when they visit their Twitter. If your tweets don’t stand out, then you will be overlooked.

(3) Juicy stories, gut wrenching tragedies, and drama will get people’s attention. Remember, most people are EMOTIONAL and not analytical. Just because I like to analyze, I should not assume that others do too, because only 1% of humans are the analytical type, but at least 70% are emotional. You get a bigger crowd by spending more time focusing on emotionally rousing topics. This works especially well on Facebook and blogs as you can get great responses.

(4) Quick Tips: Information is king on the web. But, do you tweet the type of information people want? The most popular type of information across the board — irrespective of what industry you are in would be QUICK TIPS that get big results. Hire someone who is an ace on the phone and watch your sales double. Spending an hour a day on analyisis can save you 40% of total costs in your business. The gas station at such and such a location sells gas at 40 cents below the average cost in your metro — save a mint. These are very vague samples I am giving, but this QUICK FIX information is popular. It is something people can understand, use, and benefit from quickly. People have little patience for having to actually learn something — quick and dirty is the key to popularity in information these days, especially in the A.D.D. generation.

(5) Rewrite the title of your blog in your tweets. You can tweet the same blog entry once every two days, each time with a different title. Since you have 140 characters to play with –that is much longer than a typical blog title length. You have a lot to work with. Take some of the juiciest content from the body of the blog, and make a twitter title out of it. Then, find some other content and do it again.

(6) Specifics sell. Although most people don’t like analytics, they like numbers that pop out at them. If I tell people we got 78% more clicks this month — nobody cares. But, when I tell them we got a MILLION clicks in the last 42 days on a particular site of mine — their eyes almost pop out. And this is true information. Understanding the emotional impact of information stated in different ways is paramount. Say the same thing three different ways and see which way more people react. Percentages require aptitude to comprehend, and most people don’t have aptitudes, but large numbers like a million is something even kids understand — and it presses on an emotional trigger point as well.

(7) The WOW factor. Anything that can make people say wow works. I’ll leave that up to you.

(8) Write 200 tweets and then look at them in perspective. If you just tweet whatever comes to mind, you are missing the birdhouse here. Twitter is not about tweeting anything. It is about gaining attention and losing it. A single bad tweet can lose followers and sour people who will still follow you. Go through your proposed list of tweets and peck at them a bit. See which ones to cut from your list because they won’t fly up to speed. Find others that will ruffle people’s feathers the wrong way and cut those. Organize your tweets in order of how effective they will be for gaining (or losing) followers and test them out. When I look at my last month’s tweets, I see a bunch that make me say wow, and a few others that make me ask, “Why did I publish that?”.

(9) Promoting your products. People use social media to promote their brand. But, most companies miss the point. They tweet self-promoting boring stuff that nobody will want to follow. Nobody will want to retweet their stuff either. Not rubbish, but boring. You need a ratio of stuff that your followers want to here compared to self-promotion. I suggest 20 tweets about quick tips, infromation, stories, etc., for every 1 tweet about what you are selling. That way you keep people interested. I am quickly turned off by self-promoting Twitter acounts. Boring and uninspiring.

How often do you contact old prospects?

May 19, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Marketing | Tagged | 1 Comment

I once wrote an entry called the 2 minute contact rule

It was fun to write and helpful too. I use this in real life. But, how often do you call an old prospect? Don’t call too often or you will be bugging them. But, try to see things from their perspective. They chose someone else rather than you in their initial purchase of outsourced and offshore services for their call center, data entry, software, or other needs. This doesn’t mean that they didn’t like you. They could have been comparing hundreds of companies, and just chose the one who made most sense to choose at that moment in time.

Now, it is six months later. They are in bed with that company, or maybe they have moved on. They know all of the company’s attributes and characteristics. The salesperson probably told them lots of nonsense. The project manager probably slacked off. And the workers probably botched something. I can not stress the power of positive thinking enough — BE POSITIVE! Their incompetency is your golden opportunity. Think positively!

They will appreciate the fact that you touched base with them without badgering them. You spent two minutes chatting about how their project was going. They remembered you and took the time to talk. How touching! Now that they are upset with their service provider, and you have made contact with them back then, and again now, your chances are higher for making a score. You didn’t have to pay extra for that lead either, because you already had it in your files.

Let’s say that they don’t hire you. But, in ANOTHER six months, you do exactly the same thing. You have 200 old prospects collecting e-dust in your online database of prospects. You spend two minutes per call on all of them. 400 well spent minutes. 7 hours of actual labor that is one day’s hard work. You might score a big contract. Now, they have heard from you over a longer period of time at specific intervals. You have become like their FAMILY. They have gotten used to talking to you. You are practically in the door.

The key here is that old prospects have value. Don’t stop chasing the new prospects, but getting to know people over time has a special value that can turn into sales. Don’t overlook eggs in your basket that just need a little more time to hatch.

What you never thought of is the correct answer

April 13, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Marketing | Tagged | Leave a comment

I love to think, and I think a lot — or at least I think I do. Some people say I think to much. But, I enjoy thinking. Should I be a dunce like them to make them happy? Duh!!! But, I have been learning a lot about thinking. The most important part of how you think is what you don’t think about.

Today I was thinking about how my pricing formula for particular areas on one of my directories doesn’t make any sense. The logic I used to calculate prices had been created years ago, when I was in a much earlier stage of evolution in my business. Now, I am realizing that there are so many factors that could be included to make the formula much more intelligent. But, I didn’t — because I didn’t think of that.

So, whenever you are thinking over a problem, ask yourself, what am I not thinking of, rather than regurgitating ideas that you have already thought through hundreds of times.

Step two, is to compare ideas with a smart friend. Do you have a smart friend? I have a few. Each one has a completely different take. But, one of my friends has opinions that just take me by surprise. He says things that I would never think of that kind of make sense. Wow! Mind expanding thoughts by the dozen with that guy. He opens up the windows of possibility within me.

So instead of pricing an area based on how many people have a high position in that area, there are many other analytics which it never occured to us to use:

# of jobs delegated in that area
clicks in the area
quality of the listings in that area

Another analytics that never occured to me was reviews. But, since so many service providers ask for reviews, the only reliable quantitative source of reviews would be negative reviews.

The critical piece of information I learned is: If I compared areas of similar sizes, the areas with a higher number of top notch service providers got more cumulative jobs than the areas with fewer numbers of quality service providers. My assistant guessed that this might be the case. Additionally, I learned that the jobs were shared between the best service providers and average service providers. So, having high quality people in a particular area serves as a type of an anchor to attract business to an entire area of my site that would be shared by many of its members. Fascinating.

So, once again, what I didn’t think of, happened to be the most important piece of information that I learned about today.

You might also like:


Indians who ask a million questions

Do you think about the long term business?

Focusing on the goal is half of the secret to fast growth

February 12, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Marketing | Tagged , | Leave a comment

After talking with hundreds and thousands of outsourcing companies, I have gotten a very clear impression of what the successful companies do. Successful companies have someone who is a good communicator who answers the phone — perhaps 24 hours a day. If nobody is there, there will be a professional sounding answering machine. But, to find a company with this level of professionalism in India is hard. Only about 2% of Indian companies are what we might call “professional”.

But, the irony is, that these professional sounding companies typically have 100-2000 employees and get about 80% of the market share. So, it is the old 80:20 rule — except that in this case it is the 80:2 rule. 2% of the businesses get 80% of the work, and probably 98% of the profits.

So, the question is, how can a small company with a limited budget rise to the level of a larger and more professional company?

The answer is: By constantly focusing on that goal. Most companies don’t care if they are not professional, and the result is that nobody who is any good will want to work with them. If a little company actually cared about how they interacted with prospects, first of all, they would not remain a little company for long. They would grow. But, the other thing to remember is that little companies can offer a much more personal experience.

I feel that little companies can offer better results to their clients than a large company simply by virtue of the fact that you can get to know the boss, and that the boss will have more involvement in your various projects. The only thing the little company needs to do is to care, and to try their best.

Do you care?
I do!

The secret to success is to hire more employees!

February 10, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Marketing | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Every time we call companies, the manager is always busy. Companies take too long to get back to people, and too long to get things done. Companies don’t want to hire someone new because it is too labor intensive to interview people and train new people. Companies lose so many new clients because they are not fast enough on the draw getting back to people, and too slow to do good work.

Basically, the bottom line is that companies are too short-staffed to have the resources to hire new people. That is an oxymoron and makes no sense.

My enterprise suffered from the same fate that these other companies I am describing in my first paragraph suffer from. My enterprise is tiny, with only three people, plus outsourced social media staff and outsourced programming staff. We have so many different things to do, and it is hard to train people to do those new things. But, I finally started a new person with some phone tasks. She offered a lot of coaching to new clients on how they could do their marketing better. The effect was that our sales grew by 60% overnight. Karmically, the sales growth could have been because of my increased help to my clients. It is hard to say. But, if you have more people doing actions at your company, then there is more room for profits.

If you have slightly more labor than you need, then you will be covered when someone is sick. You will be covered when someone is on a vacation. When Diwalli or Christmas comes around, you might be able to have more employees who will stick around. You will not have a problem being behind on work. You can call people back really fast, or answer their call to begin with instead of having them leave a message.

Spiritually, you create a vacuum when you have available labor. You attract more work. There is so much work out there that if you do a good job attracting it through good marketing and spiritual means (the spiritual vacuum theory), that you can become very wealthy! All you need to do is hire more people — train them very thoroughly, and keep an eye on them to make sure they are doing a good job.

Getting better ROI setting up operations overseas

January 4, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Marketing | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Many companies set up shop overseas. Some prosper and others don’t. Many Americans are violently against this. But, people need to consider that it is very expensive setting up shop in certain locations. The labor rate might be high just to get mediocre employees. The rent might be sky high as well. There are other costs that you could consider as well. Avialability of labor that has the skills you need is another huge factor. Many companies will consider political stability as well. Starting an outsourcing company in Kabul might not be the best idea these days (or any days). There are various factors you have to think about when setting up an operation in a location.

So many locations?
Let’s say you were setting up a call center. You could do so in India, The Philippines, Costa Rica, Africa, America, Romania, or Canada. Which location makes more sense? America has the most expensive labor, but has workers who speak clear English and have cultural skills which might be a challange tofind overseas. But, the rent is not necessarily more expensive in America! You can get five square feet of space in Arkansas for the same price is one square foot in Pune, India. Is that foot in Pune any better than it’s corresponding foot in Arkansas? Africa has cheap everything, but god knows when the next coup d’etat is coming not to mention if your internet will be compromised. Each country has different attributes and costs, so how do you decide?

Look into the future
Big companies do very sophisticated analysis as to where they should set up their operations. Some choose Mexico because it takes 17 hours to truck their goods to a central location in the U.S. Others like India for its huge pool of people with technical skills. One company might choose Canada to save on its air conditioning bill (just kidding). But, you have to remember, that conditions never remain the same. The cost of land in India might be expensive NOW. But, in ten years, the population will be up by a significant percent due to the unending birthrate. Additionally, the wealth accumulated in India in the next ten years will push the price of Real Estate up yet another notch. Companies in India are often moving into remote areas to save on rent. But, those remote areas will not be cheap for long the way things are going. The beauty of America is that land in Texas was cheap in 1850. It was still cheap in 1950, and will still be cheap in 2050. If you buy the realtor a few bottles of wine, he might even throw in a few longhorns on the property.

Calculate ahead of time
The bottom line is that some places will have land prices that are priced out of the market in 10 years. Other places will have labor rates that are impossible in 10 years. Many places might have been blown off the face of the earth after 10 years due to political problems. The only way to make up your decision where to get optimal ROI is to really study numbers and look at trends. Visit the places you are thinking about investing and get to know the locals. Get to know what is going on.

How do you teach interaction and smoothness?

September 14, 2012 by admin
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So, how do you teach interaction and smoothness?

I feel that a busy call center is the worst environment for teaching sales.  A cool and relaxing environment where people can focus on interaction is much better.  I study dream analysis which is the study of symbology. My dream dictionary says that a coffee house or coffee in a dream represents stimulation and interaction.  I feel that sales should be taught in a coffee house. Lesson one should be how to call someone on the phone and smoothly engage them in a conversation.  Talk about THEM and what they are doing. They might ask about you, and what you are doing. NOTICE that we have done a lot of talking and not yet talked about what we are selling — this is good.

Did you forget that you were selling something? — GOOD!
When people get to know you and like you, they are now willing to talk to you LONGER, and have put their defenses down, which makes it easier for you to talk about what you are selling while they are still in a good mood.

Learn the art of asking questions
You can practice this in the cafe with your sales mentor.  You pretend you are on the phone with them, and you could even hold real phones to your ear to make it realistic.  You could joke with the people at the next table to lighten the mood — and the key here is to keep the mood light.  People are bothered by salespeople, so if you are the one salesperson who keeps the mood light, they will be less repulsted by you — they might even like you! Think positive!

This dialogue below is very casual. It might be considered inappropriate for larger companies, but smaller companies have the luxury of developing their own “corporate” style which could be very informal.  Many people in America really like a relaxed and folksy (informal) way of chatting.

You can practice a dialogue:  Let’s say that Ravi and his trainor Ramesh are hanging out at Barrista’s somewhere in India.  Ramesh pretends to be the prospective client who is a manager at a company somewhere overseas.

Ravi: Hi this is Ravi from Aleppi Call Center, may I speak to Candace please? (a professional introduction is a must)
Candace: Hi, this is Candy, how may I help you? (Candace uses her informal name variation)

Ravi: So, how is everything going today?   …. (if Candace is really busy, this casual approach will backfire)
Candace: Oh, just busy doing emails as usual.  I feel like a slave in this office.

Ravi: I know how you feel, that is why I do most of my work from a local cafe.  We have all become friends here at the cafe.
(Ravi smoothly lightens the mood)
Candace: That sounds like so much fun, if only I could do that

Ravi: You can always pretend that you are at a cafe when you are trapped in a stressful office
(Ravi has a witty and cool response to every statement Candace has made so far if you have noticed)
Candace: That is so true, I’ll remember that… By the way, what is your call about?

Ravi: Oh, right — “purpose”. It is so much fun chatting, that I almost forgot that we are supposed to talk about something productive!  (funny comments make the other person feel relaxed) We run a large and well reputed call center in Kerela, (this line adds professionalism) and we were curious to know if your company feels overburdened in any way in regards to the volume of calls, emails, or technical support issues.  I noticed that you mentioned that you were buried in emails, we have staff members who specialize in answering emails, and we can train them to answer them exactly how you would like them answered.
Candace: Hmm, that is very interesting Ravi. We have never hired an outside company to do anything like this for us. I have never thought about this even briefly…

Ravi: Certain repetetive tasks are easy for outside companies to assist you with.  More specialized tasks requiring a deeper knowledge of your core competencies (notice that Ravis uses MBA terms with ease) are better left to a skilled manager at the mother company in our experience. Does your company have any types of tasks that you consider to be repetetive that drain your labor resources? (notice that Ravi does more asking than telling — he LISTENS)
Candace: Hmmm, once again you have got me thinking again, usually I operate in auto-pilot when in the workplace. Hmmm….. thinking…  Actually, we do have some repetetive emails, and from time to time some annoying phone calls.  Does your company like annoying work?

Ravi: We actually thrive on that — the more annoying, the more we enjoy it.  (Ravi adds humor once again to win over the mood of the prospect).  We are actually so used to busy work over here, that we don’t even notice how repetetive it is. (Ravi adds a psychological sales pitch here making his company look very seasoned and reliable).  We are actually very flexible at our company.  We cater to companies small and large alike. We can come up with an introductary plan to meet your specific needs which seem to change by the week.  (flexibility is a huge factor when dealing with smaller companies with unstable workloads).  We can handle your overflow whenever you need it, so that you can relax and smell the roses a little more.  Why don’t we set up a time to go over what your specific tasks are and what they entail.  Once I know what the tasks involved are, I can give you approximate billing details.  Do you think you could itemize the type of tasks that you need done?
Candace: I never thought about that.  I guess I could work on that tomorrow.  I’ll itemize all of the work that we might need you for.

Ravi: That sounds great!

What can we learn?

A larger company would need a more formal approach as I mentioned before. But, Ravi smooth-talked this lady.  He was friendly, funny, and involved her in a conversation before talking about business.  He got her to interact with him which is critical. He asked questions, listened, and provided business solutions that were tailor make for her.  Keep in mind that large companies have untrained workers rattle off sales slogans about how they provide tailored and customized solutions to their clients. If you talk more to these salespeople you will find that they have two million clients and only three choices and trust me — these three choices are standardized and there is nothing customized about them.  Rather than making too many generalized claims about your product, make specific claims that pertain to the prospect.    After this dialogue is over, Ravi will have to brush up on his follow up skills which are equally important as the initial sales call.

Can you teach your salespeople to be as smooth as Ravi?

Some people just don’t have it in them to sell anything.  So, you have to start out with people who have potential. The next stage is to get your trainee to relax.  Tension doesn’t sell anything.  Teaching interaction is hard, because that derives from a person’s individual style. But, you can try to train someone to make smooth conversation, and witty remarks from time to time.  The path to smoothness is a hard road, but a little training could go a long way!

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