Who you gonna call – Ghostbusters? Nah. The Philippines!

June 25, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center, Popular on Twitter | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Sometimes you get companies that offer inexpensive work, but the quality is not that great. Other times you get expensive work, but the quality is not good enough to merit the price even though it is good. The Philippines is a lucky destination and very popular with call center outsourcers. There, you get people who are super on the phone, and the price is calculated in pennies. I’m exaggerating, but you get the point!

The Philippines has a virtual (no pun intended if you’re hiring a virtual assistant) army of half a million English speaking, highly trained call center workers who are ready for battle. They can do telemarketing, lead generation, technical support, customer care, or just chat with customers. Culturally, they have a very smooth manner over the phone. They don’t get mad at customers like I do, on the other hand their sense of humor isn’t always as good as mine!

It is good to compare. Try people in various different countries. But, when all is said and done, call in the artillery, and find a Filipino Call Center. Caribbean destinations are also known for high quality call centers and they are on American time zones which in addition to great Costa Rican coffee, is another great perk!

Tweets:
(1) If you want a great call center at a great price, consider the Philippines & the Caribbean.
(2) The Philippines is a lucky destination that is popular with outsourcers

You might also like:

Call centers in the Philippines are getting more expensive than India
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/03/30/call-centers-in-the-philippines-are-getting-more-expensive-than-india/

Half a million Filipino call center workers are on American Time
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/03/29/half-a-million-filipino-call-center-workers-are-on-american-time/

Choosing the right people to help you blog

June 20, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Social Media | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

You can’t just go to eLance and pick people to help you blog. There is a lot in the equation. Blogging is actually very complicated if you want to be successful at it. There are many metrics and analytics to consider. The value of a good blog post is based on how many readers it gets, and how many more regular readers you develop. To turn a one time or two time visitor into a regular reader of your blog might be based on more than one really good article. It might be based on consistently good articles which appeal to the reader. However, if you have a few really good articles or a few really unattractive ones, that might make the difference between having a regular reader — or not! Another factor is SEO benefit of the blog post. Some blog posts attract a lot of traffic from Google, while other ones might be popular with your regular readers, but wouldn’t show up well on search results.

Freelance bloggers do not generally care about the long term success of your blog, nor do they care about the “analytics.” That is your problem. They just want to collect their fee and pay their bills. As a manager of hired hands, you need to know who is worth it and who is not. Freelance bloggers typically want to charge an enormous amount for each piece they write. Unfortunately, the monetary benefit they create for you might be far less than their fee. To get a blog popular, you need more than 1000 pieces. If you pay $100 per piece, you will have paid $100,000 just to get your blog regular traffic which might help your site be a little more popular. Hardly worth even $5000. It is easy to lose all your money hiring the wrong people at the wrong price. You need to understand what makes your blog tick, and find people who can do it for a price that is sustainable.

Have someone write a few pieces. See how much traffic each piece gets after ten days. Measure again after sixty days. See if it gets many clicks from Facebook or Twitter. You can use that figure to compare to articles written by you or others on staff. Also, have your new writer submit several pieces over a two-week period. See if your general blog traffic goes up in a noticeable way in that period or right after that period. That will indicate if your exciting newbie got you some new “regulars” to come to your blog. If your experiment delivers positive results, you could test them over a month or two and keep your eyes on the growth. Remember, that some weeks your blog might have a good week. But, if your new writer is any good, then every week will be a good week.

Outsourcing makes the world go round!

June 19, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Of Interest | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Some people think that outsourcing is good because it allows you to cut costs. Others think that outsourcing is bad because it takes jobs that rightfully belong to Americans and gives it to undeserving poor people in foreign countries who have names that we can’t pronounce (and don’t want to learn to pronounce.) In California, some people think that there are too many Mexican immigrants coming in while others like the affordable source of labor. The truth is that without Mexican labor, nothing in California would get built, harvested, or done. The state would grind to a stop. You wouldn’t be able to get help at your restaurant and you would be able to run most types of businesses that rely on labor. We don’t realize this, but outsourcing is the same. Without outsourcing, America, Germany, and the UK would grind to a stop.

There is an acute labor shortage in industrialized countries. There are not enough people to do many of the tasks we need to have done. Those who are hard working already have jobs. Those who are lazy don’t deserve jobs. Whatever can’t be done here, needs to be shipped to wherever some willing and capable hands (fingers) can do it.

We take this for granted, but much of America’s medical transcriptions are done in the Philippines or India while we sleep. There would be horrible delays and triple the cost if those offshore agencies were not able to handle our medical transcription outsourcing needs. Something like 80% of UK’s programming is handled offshore. Without people in India and Eastern Europe helping out, how would the UK function? They would only be able to do 20% of the work.

I am struggling to find quality help in the United States for basic tasks such as programming, phone help, and other work. It is like pulling teeth to find someone willing to work who actually cooperates. It is not funny, and not pleasant. It is so nice to have the option to hire overseas to people who have a work ethic.

Also, there is a new outsourcing company in India that claims that they can enhance planetary movement through intermolecular technology (never heard of that.) I guess that proves that outsourcing really does make the earth go round — literally.

Outsourcing or Offshoring? Which is which?

June 16, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Of Interest, Semi-Popular | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

When I use the word outsourcing, I am thinking of a mystical character named Rajiv who kisses his sari-clad wife goodbye, mounts his elephant, and makes his way down the crowded streets of Agra with his briefcase in one hand and his mobile phone in the other. Of course in real life, people in India only ride elephants for festivals since the cost of buying 600 bananas every time breakfast rolls around isn’t getting any cheaper. But, it is a nice caricature of Indians, having them ride exotic creatures.

But, outsourcing only means giving work to another company or freelancer to do. If the work is not done by an in-house staff member, that would constitute outsourcing.

Offshoring is another concept altogether. Offshoring is when you take your work and send it to some other country far far away. But, offshoring might not be outsourcing. If you had your own branch office in Nepal and hired your own people, it would be offshoring, but not outsourcing. If you are in Arkansas and hired a company next door to do your data entry, it would be outsourcing, but not offshoring.

Then, there is Nearshoring where you take your job and give it to somebody in another state or country that is not that far away. If an American companies hires someone in Mexico that would be nearshoring.

Then, there is Backshoring when you bring your overseas jobs back to the good ‘ole United States.

Then there is Non-shoring where you have your work done by the Outsourcing boat! Just have Isaac mix me another mojito!

All of these terms delight me, but what would be a good term for having someone on another planet do your work? What if your medium consults the spirits on the planet Gorkon for some deeply philosophical spiritual matter? Off-Planeting or Off-Terra-Firma-oring? Maybe Off-Terrestrializing.

Call earth for only 3 cents per minute!

You might also like:

Outsourcing: Why everyone is doing it. One bizarre example
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/03/25/outsourcing-why-everyone-is-doing-it-one-bizarre-example/

Don’t expect to get paid more due to your GPS coordinates
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/03/19/dont-expect-to-get-paid-more-due-to-your-gps-coordinates/

How can corporations encourage “garage entrepreneurship” in their workers?

June 14, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Innovation | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

It is always inspiring to read about how Steve Jobs succeeded, and how a guy working in his garage became a billionaire through sheer passion, perseverance, and brain power. He made it there through “garage thinking.” Innovating on a shoe string in a garage! But, big corporations often lack innovative capabilities. Their workers are too engrained in the cubicle mentality. If you work in a cubicle, pretty soon your brain will become a cubicle if you ask me. To succeed you need tremendous drive, but you also need the independence and environment to succeed.

Using artificial conditions to foster entrepreneurship
Real start-up entrepreneurs use their garage often because that is the only place they can use. But, imagine what would happen if you put your workers in entrepreneur type positions and created a virtual garage in a huge warehouse next to your office? Or, what if you asked them to work at home in their own garage? In real life, garage type entrepreneurs start organically. I don’t think they can be artificially produced under the right circumstances. There is something innate about a good entrepreneur. Even if everyone around them tells them that it is bad to be an entrepreneur, they will want to do it anyway! I think that creating a warehouse filled with garages is a silly idea, but makes for a great blog article!

A plethora of garages
Imagine that these faux-entrepeneurs were asked to come to work unshaven wearing torn t-shirts or tank tops, whatever successful entrepreneurs wore when they started out. Let’s put a little more pressure on these folks. Real entrepreneurs will go broke and lose everything if they fail. They are under real pressure, and have real drive to make sure their invention doesn’t fail. Let’s sign a contract with these workers that if their invention sells, they get a percentage, but if they fail, they get fired and have to pay the company $5000. That contract will separate the men from the boys. No more excuses. This is the real deal. You can duplicate a dusty garage, but can you duplicate the pressure that a real entrepreneur goes through? The answer is — to a point. I’m sure that you cannot duplicate an entrepreneur’s drive to succeed, but what if someone with a quarter of that drive were put under the right combinations of circumstances — could that guy make it as an entrepreneur? It is quite possible.

Internal drives fluctuate
We all know that to become an entrepreneur you need tremendous drive and internal discipline. I remember stating businesses as a child. I was completely incompetent, yet I always worked really hard and managed to turn a profit. I have that innate entrepreneurial spirit that others lack. But, if someone with 25% of the necessary drive were thrown into a situation where they would be subjected to the same market pressures of an entrepreneur, I feel their drive would fluctuate in the up direction in many cases.

Summary
A warehouse filled with faux garages is a wonderful concept to think about and write about. I would love to see this concept documented on CNN one day and see it breed some real entrepreneurs that will change the world like Steve Jobs!

7 principles of Steve Jobs: #1. Do what you love!

June 8, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Innovation, Popular on Twitter | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Although Steve Jobs never had principles for innovation, he did have 7 principles that drove him. These principles are Steve’s, but the interpretation is mine, based on my own experience fused with some of Steve’s commentary.

1. Do what you love
In any career there will be serious problems, setbacks and frustrations. If you don’t love what you do, no matter how good you are at it, you will be likely to quit or lose interest if you experience any big problem down the road.

2. Put a dent in the universe
It is hard to succeed in a big way if you have small goals. It is natural to think small, but train yourself to think big. If you have big goals and huge aspirations, you stand a chance to make a big difference in the world. Maybe not as much as Mr. Jobs, but, more than most other people!

3. Kick start your brain
Steve believed that having a wide variety of experiences helps you think more broadly. If you throw yourself in a variety of difficult situations, you will learn to think effectively in a wide variety of contexts. If you are always in the same place dealing with the same issues, you will not have the opportunity to grow much!

4. Sell dreams, not products.
One steakhouse sells steak, but the other sells sizzle. Which one gets the business? Nobody cares much about having a new toy, unless that toy will transform their lives. Even if you are in a small business catering to small clients, if you provide amazing service that makes their lives so much more pleasant, you will leave them with a dream-like nice feeling that they will remember! Salesmen tend to be good at selling dreams, but those dreams often turn into nightmares if they fail to deliver on promises. Have your product deliver dreams — not your salesman.

5. Say no to 1000 things.
I once read that the difference between a successful person and a very successful person is that a very successful person says no a lot more of the time. In real life, to get optimal products and optimal people, you have to narrow down your selection. Most people are mediocre. But, even among the very best people, their characteristics might not perfectly fit a team. The normal company selects one new employee after 100 points of contact such as an email, phone call or interview with a prospective employee. To have perfect employees, it might be better to go through 10,000 prospects to find that perfect one and a few backups.

But, in the innovation process, saying no has its place as well. You might need to try thousands of experiments and refinements until you get it just right! It is a long and tedious process, but if you do it right, you get a product that will be awe inspiring! if you settle for the third mediocre idea that you test out, and say, “Good enough,” you will never be world famous! Remember — good enough is the enemy of better!

6. Create insanely great experiences
I keep telling this to BPO companies. Why just drag yourself through your processes and beg people for more when you do a mediocre job on what you are doing already. Even the way people answer the phone tells me a lot about how good or bad they are. If you are passionate about your work, the way you answer the phone communicates that to the world. The way most BPO companies answer the phone, I know right away that I am going to have a miserable experience that I will regret for the rest of my life. Instead of offering acceptable or mediocre customer experiences, why not be the best in the universe? You’ll make more money, and will definitely be remembered.

7. Master the message
Many sales experts and motivational speakers are saying the same thing Steve is. Don’t sell by selling. Sell by telling stories that are magical about how someone’s life was transformed, or could be transformed by a particular product or service. If they do the math and realize the product will be good, they might go for it. But, most people think emotionally, so you have to make them feel an amazing feeling about your idea, otherwise, they will not be that active in supporting it, especially in bad times. I remember in a movie about rap artist BIG, someone compared living for paper, with living the dream. You have to sell your dream to others to get their support. So, master the art of crafting emotionally riveting stories to implant your feeling in the hearts of your listeners!

You might also like:

Steve Jobs Principle: The more people you network with outside your field
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/08/28/outsource-steve-jobs-principle-the-more-people-you-network-w-outside-your-field/

Do you use the Steve Jobs principle: Think Differently?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/05/25/do-you-use-the-steve-jobs-principle-think-differently/

Putting clients on hold at a call center is a big problem

June 3, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center, Management | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Call centers operate for their own profitability. If you have agents sitting around with nothing to do, you’re losing money, right? Not exactly. If you have too few agents, then when a caller calls at a busy time, you will have to put them on hold. Customers really don’t like being put on hold. It tries their patience, and wastes their time. You might be paying a certain rate for call center workers, but the time of your client calling in might be worth $100 per hour. Each minute you keep them waiting is close to $2 in lost productivity. First of all, your client’s time is worth more than your agents’ time. Second, if your client fires you as their call center, you could stand to lose tens of thousands per month! I am amazed that when I personally call call centers, it is almost impossible to reach a competent manager. They just never seem to be at their desk. Where are they hiding? Do they want to avoid getting new clients?

I often joke that the difference between India and the USA, is that in India, service waits for you while in America, we wait for service. Of course, the quality of the service from coolies, rickshaw drivers, and other people in their category is very far from being polished or pleasant. But, at least they are usually there, and waiting. If you could combine quality and considerate service with the, “They wait for you instead of you waiting for them” principle, you might have a call center that is more popular than you think.

Sit down and think about it. Do you run your call center for your personal pleasure, or for the pleasure of those who call in needing help? I created a business proverb a year or two ago.

If in a conflict between a customer and a substandard worker, you side with the worker, you’ll end up with more bad workers and fewer customers.

If you operate your business for the benefit of your customers, you will end up with more customers, and fewer you’s, if that is possible. Think about it!

Only 1% of customers feel they get the service they deserve

June 2, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Management | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Only 1% of customers are completely satisfied
A CEI survey revealed that only 1% of customers feel that vendors are meeting their expectations. Of course, there are different industries, different countries and different individuals involved. But, I have a lot of personal experience working with many companies. It is really only my accountant who meets my expectations for service. She does a great job, and offers a few valuable tips without being asked. Additionally, she answers her phone even when she is busy and doesn’t miss deadlines. Everyone else I have ever dealt with has let me down one way or another. Some companies let me down every single time!

Most people will pay for better service
86% of customers according to the survey would be willing to pay more for better service. Would they pay enough to justify your costs? It is not clear. However, if customers are dissatisfied with 99% of the companies out there, if you are the 1% that doesn’t disappoint them, then imagine how fast your business will grow!

Resolve problems quickly
The best way to resolve problems is to avoid having problems in the first place. But, if you have a problem, try to solve it fast before the resentment grows in a customer. Sometimes the problem is that the client wants something that it is not your policy to deliver. Or they feel they are entitled to special treatment and then get upset if they don’t receive it! Putting unreasonable requests aside, try to resolve all problems as fast as humanly possible. Listen to the client, understand how they feel, and find solutions. Sometimes you can’t solve their problem, but you can find other ways to make their problem better. Or, you can give them something of value for free to show you care, even if you were not able to rectify whatever they were calling about. Being cared about will score you lots of points in the eyes of many clients, especially in this world where nobody else cares!

Customer service as an investment
Training your employees how to be the smoothest at customer service is important. Selecting those who will be naturally inclined to do a good job is also important. It pays to invest in good service. After all, how many clients will you keep if your service is nonexistent or horrible?

Can a top level executive really take a year off?

June 1, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Of Interest, Popular on Google+ | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The concept of a Sabbatical comes from the Hebrew tradition (that wasn’t always religiously followed) of letting the land rest every seven years. That way it would be refreshed for following years. If it were me, I would plant soybeans to get some nutrients back into the soil, but that is just me.

There is even a mystical river in Jewish tradition called the Sambatyon River that spits up rocks six days a week but rests on the seventh. Where is this mystical river? I bet it would be a good tourist attraction. It might only exist in the ethereal realm somewhere near Shambhala!

But, what about an executive taking time off? I take a week off or ten days off regularly. I work seven days a week and need a change of scenery otherwise I lose my mind. Taking a month off would be a stretch, but a year? Most executives can’t afford to do this because they would lose their job permanently. Sure, they might be able to reapply and get back in if their boss liked them, but there would be no guarantees. If you run your own company, your company might not exist after you hire some other guy to manage it for a year. Most people are screw-ups, so if you plan on being totally uninvolved, make sure that new manager is thoroughly tested over a three year period at a minimum.

But, maybe it is a good idea for this to be a cultural norm. Professors get to take a year off. Why can’t executives? Maybe larger companies could have a dental plan, health benefits, and a 30% paid sabbatical. If there were some system in place like a maternity leave which is standardized in many countries, then people could take that break they really need.

Executives are decision makers by trade. They live in a changing world, and the articles I read suggest that CEO’s burnout and crumble after around — you guessed it — seven to nine years. The opportune time to take a break is in exactly seven years. It is like taking a cruise on Princess Cruises — “Come back new.” Well, that is what they say in their commercials. Taking a break from work will not help with tactical decisions. But, tactical skill would come back quickly in only a few months. Strategical decision making skills could be greatly refreshed from taking a year off and seeing the world. You would be very deeply rested and have a completely new perspective on life, especially if you lived in different countries during this time or went back to school to take a few refresher courses.

After all of this time I’m spending writing about sabbaticals, I’m beginning to think it is far past due for me to take one! But, where will I travel to? Bali, China, Dubai, The Himalayas, and of course — the Sambatyon river (if I can find it.) My intuition tells me that it is in North Africa somewhere if it indeed exists. Maybe I’ll find the lost tribe roasting marshmallows on a camping trip on the banks of that river.

Is it immoral not to let your workers go to the bathroom?

May 31, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Management | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Some companies in certain countries don’t let their workers go to the bathroom, except during their breaks. Is this cruel and unusual treatment? Laws vary from country to country and I know very little about this situation. However, the psychological effects of being treated like a slave cannot be good. If you are working hard, particularly at a call center job, you need to relieve yourself, or the pressure can really mount up. Additionally, imagine how you will feel if someone else tells you when you may have permission to use the bathroom. You will resent such a person.

A place of escape
On a converse note, I will say that in my personal experience, the bathroom is a place of escape for uncommitted workers. This escape mechanism might be what is responsible for the oppressive rules. I once had a programmer who spent half her life in the bathroom. Every time I called, she was in the bathroom. Was she texting? What was she doing? Or was she just avoiding me? If you have a company to run, you can’t have workers go to the bathroom ten times a day and spend long hours in there. Women tend to spend a lot longer in the bathroom than men.

Employees who abuse their bathroom privilege
Having strict bathroom rules for all people is cruelty. But, for those individuals who abuse their bathroom privileges, there need to be rules. If you work eight hours a day and two are spent in the bathroom, that is horrible. For those that spend more than an average of twenty minutes a day in the bathroom, there needs to be some sort of rules. The first rule would be tracking. There should ideally be a way to track how many minutes a particular employee spends in the bathroom and at what times. If someone is abusing the privilege, then perhaps they should be fired.

I’m not sure how to handle the bathroom dilemma, but rules should only apply towards those who can’t function without rules! Gotta go. Never mind, someone else is in the bathroom. I’ll have to wait!

What is the average age of someone working in a call center?

May 28, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Many people think that to work in a call center, you need to be under thirty and live in Manila. This is not exactly true, although there are probably a few hundred thousand individuals who match your description.

Roughly half of call center workers are thirty or younger, but there are older people as well. Only 10% of call center workers are over fifty which is another interesting statistic. There are more ladies than men in the industry, and the ladies often do not have a high level of education. Based on this information, I would tend to assume that call center work is entry level, and so unpleasant that nobody would want to do it into their old age unless they had been promoted to a higher level, or unless they actually liked the work.

Call center work doesn’t have to be an entry level job. With good training, and many years of experience on the job, a certain level of mastery is likely. Additionally, if management treats their agents with kindness and appreciation, why wouldn’t more people stay at the job for a longer period of time? A third point is that call center work seems to drive people crazy due to the long hours even if they enjoy it. But, what if your job consisted of only a few hours of calls, and you could do data entry, chat support, or something else during your other hours? It might be a whole lot more tolerable that way!

Some employers prefer to hire older employees who had more life experience who can establish a rapport with a wider range of clients.

Although most call center employees are young, you might be better off hiring older people who will really take care of the end-users attentively!

Management of Labor Disputes at Call Centers

May 27, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The problem with call centers is that management wants to get the maximum amount of labor out of their workers. Many call centers don’t train their call center agents much if at all. Many of these call centers put lots of pressure on their workers to do more calls per hour and work long hours. The result is a high attrition rate, and high burnout. The management can’t handle the pressure either and they tend to quit frequently as well.

The problem is, how do you get high volume, high quality work out of your workers? Keeping them in a pressure cooker will upset them. Is there a better way?

I have a friend who works in a tax preparation center. The more returns she does, the better she gets paid. There is an incentive and profit sharing program in action. She gets paid on an hourly rate, but that rate is set based on how well she did the previous year. For call centers, you could do the same. Pay your workers based on how good their quality and quantity was in a previous time period. That way you don’t have to hassle them and you can all be friends! Work at your own pace. Since call center work has a high turnover rate, why not pay people on how good they were the previous quarter? Give quarterly raises.

If you want to keep your callers around longer — don’t mistreat them. Give them appreciation, and more freedom, and pay based on results!