Category Archives: Semi-Popular

Marketing Your Outsourcing Company

November 24, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Outsource Marketing, Semi-Popular | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Marketing your outsourcing company – Basics
 
Introduction
If you run a company that provides outsourced services or wishes to do so, it is critical that you know how to market your services effectively.  There are many different types of products and services that are typically outsourced.  123outsource.net is familiar with services only, and specializes in promoting a dozen or so professional categories with their respective sub-categories.  There are many facets for marketing your business involving online promotion, public relations, customer service, and quality of service.  All of these aspects are critical and must be perfected if you intend to gain market share.  Being Visable helps you attract clients, but giving clients positive experience helps you keep them and get referrals.
 
Why listen to us?
123outsource.net is owned by the same individual who owns 123notary.com which has been around since 2000 and is the prime venue for effectively marketing notaries public in the United States.  When it comes to internet marketing, we are experienced.  We have been outsourcing programming and other tasks for years and have some basic common sense ideas for what effectively helps a company function more efficiently and provide more desireable service to clients. 
 
Online Promotion
If clients can’t find your company, it doesn’t matter how good you are.  A good web presence makes you accessible to the public, but is only the seed in growing your business.  The truth is that most companies worldwide get most of their business from word of mouth, regardless of how sophisticated the technology they use is.  A small restaurant or a large international high-tech company get noticed primarily because of word of mouth.  If you have a base of satisfied customers, that base can grow with referrals and repeat customers to result in a much larger customer base.  But, to get your INITIAL clientele you need a good online presence as well as a comprehensive marketing mix appropriate for your company and industry.  This outsourcing blog intends to be very general in its approach, so please use a consultant for specific marketing tips.
 
Components of an Online Presence
A well designed, easy to use, informative website is where every company needs to start.  Websites get outdated in content and design every several years, so don’t be afraid to devote part of your budget to periodic or a regular schedule for renovations.  Typical characteristics of an old style website are pictures with faded colors, broken links, information that was from many years ago, and design styles that were popular in the 90’s.  Sites today use brighter colors, high definition photos, and cutting edge web design. 
 
Optimizing Your Website
Regardless of the quality of your site, you will not get noticed without a good optimization campaign.  Optimization is generally complicated and expensive.  Please  visit our SEO page to learn the basics of optimization so you will understand what SEO professionals are talking about when you contact them.   The basics are that certain pages need to emphasize certain keywords, and that internal pages need to be linked to each other in a way that emphasizes keyword similarities and user-friendly functionality.  Additionally, having supporting content from blogs, facebook, twitter, forums, and other social media is actually magical in terms of search engine performance.
 
Public Relations Outreach
One way a company can market themselves is to contact specific companies that could use their services.  Email campaigns are common ways for SEO and web design companies to do outreach.  However, emails normally get discarded if the sender is not known, especially with promotional emails.  Calling companies manually by phone can be an excellent way to attract new business.  If the employee making the call is polite and helpful, but not pushy, new clients can be obtained.  If you are serious about gaining a new client through outreach, its more effective to offer the prospective client something substantial for free.  A few hundred dollars worth of free services is a great way to woo a serious potential client.  Make sure they intend on spending at least a $500 per month for at least a year before you give them anything for free.
 
Customer Service
If your company offers a pleasant experience to your clients, you are more likely to accumulate long term customers.  Good customer service is critical.  The people who answer the phone should speak well, and emails should be returned quickly. Internal management should make sure that all job tasks are explained clearly to the workers, and that the output of the workers is scrutinized BEFORE it gets back to the client.  Make life easy for your clients even if it costs you a lot more.  They will remember you for this.
 
Quality Work
Doing good work is critical.  The speed and accuracy of your work makes or breaks your business regardless of how good your promotional stengths are.  All of the facets of a good marketing mix need to be balanced. If you are good at work but lousy at internet presence, you are compromising yourself. But, if you can be fairly good at all of the components mentioned in this quick outsource blog entry, then you stand a good chance of succeeding in the outsourcing world. 
 
Please see our other related blog entries to read more about customer service, double checking work, and more!

Tweets:
(1) If clients can’t find you, it doesn’t matter how good you are. A good web presence makes all the difference.
(2) Get your initial clients from the web & then get clients from word of mouth! (or word of mouse)
(3) Marketing your outsourcing company from A to Z

You might also like:

Most BPO blogs use cheap looking pics
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/03/11/most-bpo-blogs-use-cheap-looking-pics/

Creating a vacuum in business
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/02/28/creating-a-vacuum-in-business/

What is it really like inside an Indian Call Center?

September 22, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center, Semi-Popular | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What is it really like inside an Indian Call Center?

During my trips to India, I visited many outsourcing operations. I visited programming houses, call centers, medical transcription companies, and more.

Typically, Indian outsourcing companies will have a bunch of people crammed into very small spaces with small desks. But, the call centers I saw were operating on a larger scale. The programming houses typically had 5-50 people present, while the call centers occupied entire floors of buildings and had room for hundreds of employees.

A Call Center in Mumbai
I was just doing my homework. I was staying at an ashram in Navi Mumbai. I wanted to see a real Indian Call Center. I had a call project to do. 2000 calls. To big for me to do, but too small for them to do. I got off the train in Belapur, or one of the stops near there. It was in 2007 and I don’t remember all of the details. I found the building. Finding anything in India is a miracle and reaffirms my belief in a supreme power. I’m not sure if it was Krishna, Vishnu, or God himself that helped me find this huge building, but its location right next to the train track made it easier. So, I went around this monstrosity of a building, and up the stairs. I had to ask multiple people for help finding the back entrance. Then, I was confronted with a bored looking security guard. He asked a few questions and then let me in to the next room. The manager was not there, but I met a guy in his mid-twenties who started asking me about the “strength” of my company. I told him that my company was not very strong because it didn’t go to the gym, but that he could feel my biceps to test me personally for strength. In America, companies don’t have strength, they have number of employees, and yearly revenues instead — a different use of language! I never made it into their high-security call center to see more.

A Call Center in Bangalore
I arranged an interview with the sales manager of a call center in Bangalore. We talked for a while, and he tried to get me to sign a very constrictive contract. My gut feeling was that signing my life away would not be advantageous. So, I didn’t! I met some of the staff there. There was a nice lady who was a mother working part-time.

She spoke too quietly. I didn’t think she would be a good match for my impatient clients who need to be able to hear what you are saying. But, there were rows and rows of cubicles at this nice office that was situated on a main artery in a prosperous part of Northern Bangalore. So, many people were there — it seemed endless. There was “motorcycle guy” who seemed very Americanized and was a smooth talker. He put on his flashy red and black leather jacket because his shift was over. There were some fast talking ladies who were on a project for a large corporation. There was a floor manager who was walking around seeing if everyone was doing their job. And then there was the shrewd looking salesman who wanted to twist my arm into an undesirable contract — well, undesirable for me, but very desirable for him!

A Call Center in Chennai
My favorite call center so far was a Call Center in Chennai. I met the manager who was very nice. He told me about all of the flexible options that I could have. Fluidity is high on my list of desirable attributes. I could rent a spot by the month and work there myself or hire one of his workers by the month. I got to choose who I liked, and it was all very reasonable sounding.

A Call Center in Noida or Delhi
I haven’t visited there yet. But, I will keep you informed if I ever go to a call center in Delhi. Noida is the Call Center capital of India just as Manila or Makati City is the call center capital of the Philippines (or perhaps the world). If your computer breaks, chances are you will be talking to someone named, “John Smith” who has a fake British accent who is in Noida — but, who can’t disclose his actual location.

You might also like:

Have your sales staff work American hours
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/12/how-to-get-clients-for-your-call-center-have-your-sales-staff-work-american-hours/

Better training at call centers
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/05/how-to-get-more-business-for-your-call-center-better-training/

Offshoring & Outsourcing — why does it happen and is it worth it?

September 20, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Outsourcing Articles, Popular on Twitter, Semi-Popular | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Do you have a company that needs to outsource part of its busy work to another company to save time? It is hard hiring staff to do odds and ends, or busy work in America. Costs are high, people are lazy, and then you have to deal with payroll taxes, unemployment taxes, EDD, and more! What a pain!

The government doesn’t get it.
If they really want to stop all of the offshoring that is going on, instead of having RULES that stifle offshoring, they need to have incentives for INSHORING (if that is a word). All of these taxes, payroll rules, and minimum wages create high unemployment and make it risky to hire anyone. Labor laws make it difficult to fire someone without risking being sued for wrongful termination as well. If you combine all of these factors with the laziness and disrespect which is part of the modern American culture — a logical person will draw only one conclusion: Take it overseas — and fast!

In foreign countries, people ACTUALLY want to work.
I know this might sound hard to believe, but it is true, and I am an eye witness. People overseas might not have the work skills or communication skills that you want, but you can get lots of work done really cheap if you know who to go to and how to handle them.

Offshoring takes skill
Many Americans are afraid to outsource because they are afraid of what people in foreign countries will do with their work. This is a legitimate fear. There is an abundance of sloppy and unprofessional behavior. It can get so unprofessional that you will say, “What is wrong with these people?” frequently. However, if you find the right people who really want to work (sort through them), you will find that you can get work done at 20% of the cost, and often much faster than you could get it done here. In addition to needing skills picking a company, you need to know how to HANDLE them. I have taken many rick shaw rides in India, and you have to know all of their tricks and how to manipulate them instead of letting them screw you. Either you have to be a player, or you will get played. Overseas companies can be very unresponsive and uncooperative, not to mention sloppy. You need to know when to bribe them, when to threaten them, and when to pack up and leave them. It is a lot like how dating is if you live in a low income neighborhood. It is a jungle out there, so if you want to thrive, you need to know how to play the game.

Don’t fear foreigners — You can get screwed right here on domestic soil
The typical white American feels so comfortable with other white Americans and so uncomfortable when in a foreign environment. Your feelings have very little to do with reality. Sure, if your senses tell you that an individual is trouble, you very well might be right, but outsourcing is not something to fear — it is something to master. I have dealt with many American companies. Although they are more professional on the surface, they are notorious for not returning calls, not returning emails, keeping you waiting indefinately, and even outright cheating clients out of thousands. Remember: when you get screwed in India you get screwed out of Rupees (2 pennies per rupee). When you get screwed in America by middle class white Americans and you can lose thousands. The scale of proportion is very different and you can lose big right at home. People here cheat all the time. My personal experience is that you will get screwed twice as much in India as you will here, but the one time you get screwed here will be of a monetary value of 10x what you got taken for in India.

Basically, I recommend trying to do some outsourcing and offshoring. Start on a small scale and try some companies out until you find someone you like. If later on, they are too busy or become uncooperative, you can try some others out. In the long run, if you learn how to play the game, you will increase your profit margin in ways that you might previously have thought were unimaginable.

You might also like:

An emotional experience with a Russian outsourcing company
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/18/an-emotional-experience-with-a-russian-software-outsourcing-company/

Are you dealing with a broker or an owner?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/09/16/are-you-dealing-with-a-broker-or-an-owner/

When you hire call center workers: have an overseas friend evalutate them

September 16, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Philippines, Semi-Popular | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Are you in the Philippines or India? Do you hire call center workers who seem great by your standards. Well, guess what? Your standards don’t matter! It is the standards of the people wherever you are calling or receiving calls from that matter.

Are you doing incoming calls from Canada? You better have a friend in Canada who puts in his 2 Canadian Cents worth telling you what he thinks of your new call center employee. Getting calls from Delhi? Well, you had better ask some Delhi-ites what they think. After all, their standards are a bit different than standards in other parts of India, right?

Get workers who are attractive to your audience. This is not rocket science, but you do have to ask around and keep your eyes open. In the long run, the call centers that win are the ones that go overboard to please their clients. Do you try to please your clients? If so, how much do you try to please your clients? Are there a few MORE things you could do to please your clients? How often do you talk to your clients to ask them if there is anything else that you can do?

If it were me, I would run my call center workers one by one through a set of demanding people in various parts of the world. I would write down all opinions from all of my “judges”. It is so funny, because these days there are reality shows throughout the world where people will get up and sing before judges, or cook before judges. Each judge has something to say.

The sauce was too strong, and the cucumbers didn’t seem like they were “part” of the dish — they seemed like something you just threw in.

You can put your call center workers before judges and get critiques… That is easier than having your client tell you that you are fired because HIS customers didn’t like your new guy or your new girl. Think ahead and scrutinize your people — or someone else will.

You might also like:

Call centers who don’t answer their phone!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/08/call-centers-who-dont-answer-their-phone/

Professional web sites for call centers
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/09/22/how-to-get-clients-for-your-call-center-professional-web-sites/

Philippines is #2 in non-voice outsourcing?

September 1, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Philippines, Semi-Popular | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Philippines is #2 in non-voice based outsourcing?

2011 was a special year for the Philippines.  They passed India to become the #1 country in call center outsourcing (voice-supported outsourcing).  But, the Philippines is #2 now in non-voice services according to bpooutcomes.com.
 
Many companies are pleased with their outsourcing ventures with the Philippines, and there are many advantages.  But there are disadvantages in outsourcing to the Philippines that you might not think of.  Corruption, bureaucracy, poor infrastructure, abject poverty, and a suceptability to natural disasters!
 
When companies outsource, they might be making an equation regarding, how the language skills of the employees are, cost, ease of communication, level of experience and technical saavy.  But, how many companies integrate the possibility of a severe tsunami, flood, hurricane, or other disaster into the picture.  It is so unpredictable, that even if you do take these factors into consideration, you will not know how to weight them.
 
Look at what happened in Thailand a few months ago.  Everything was fine, and then they had a horrible flood in July 2011 along the Mekong and Chao Phraya rivers.  Can you imagine if you give all of your call center work to a company near a river in Asia, and then all of a sudden, your workers have to take an inflatable boat to work — assuming work is still there?   I worry about this too!
 
Putting aside these risks that are hard to evaluate, the Philippines has a great work force of friendly people with superb English language and cultural skills.  So, don’t worry, be happy… and take your altimeter with you when you visit your prospective call centers in the Philippines. Remember that high ground needs to be on the requirement list!

Tweets:
(1) 2011 was the year that Philippines passed India to become #1 in Call Center Outsourcing
(2) Disadvantages in outsourcing to the Philippines: Corruption, bureaucracy, poor infrastructure, natural disasters!
(3) If you outsource to SE Asia, if there is a flood, your workers might need an inflatable boat 2go 2work!

You might also like:

Call Center Manila News
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2011/04/06/call-center-manila-news/

I see amazing potential in India
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/05/06/i-see-amazing-potential-in-india/