Tag Archives: call center

How to get clients for your call center – have your sales staff work American hours!

October 12, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

How to get clients for your call center – have your sales staff work American hours!

It is commonplace for call centers to have their callers working an American schedule when they are located in Bangalore, India or Makati City. But, is your sales staff working American hours too? Or do you make it like pulling teeth to be able to actually speak to someone. Running a call center is a lot more complicated than running other types of businesses because the work is very time sensitive. Calls can only be made during particular windows of time.

We call call centers, but they don’t answer
My only question is, how can you be a call center when you don’t even answer your own phone? Maybe you should hire another call center to answer your calls so you see what it is like hiring someone like you! We had to call time after time after time only to find out that the manager only works a few hours on three days a week. What a pain in the rear.

Sales calls do not come all day long.
Sales calls come when they come. But, if you are not there when the calls arrive, then you will probably lose a new contract. If someone cannot reach you, they cannot do business with you, even if you came highly referred. It is sort of like waiting for the train in India 30 years ago. You don’t know when the train will come, but if you are not at the station, you won’t catch it! You might need to train multiple people at your company how to answer basic sales calls. That way you can keep prospects interested in your company while they wait for the manager to get back to them with final answers to questions about the initial contract. In the mean time, they can get answers to questions such as: how many employees to you have, what your specialties are, what typical contracts are like, etc. Everyone has different questions, but training a handful of people to answer basic ones can go a long way!

You might also like:

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

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

How to Get More Business For Your Call Center — Better Training!

October 5, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

How to Get More Business For Your Call Center — Better Training!

Everybody in India wants to start a call center. But, those that succeed have better training for their workers. But, you might say, “I need BPO clients first before I can think about training, how can I get clients?” You can get call center clients by networking with others who have call center business. You can buy leads from them, or create advertisements visible to those in the West. But, if you don’t provide good service you will get dumped before you know it, and you will be out of business. So, GETTING business is not your problem — keeping it is the problem. Sure, it is hard to think like that when you don’t have business and have never had it, but try to think from the perspective of someone who has tried and failed in the call center industry and learned something! Training is the secret to keeping clients.

Impress people with your training
If you can impress upon prospective clients how well trained and flawless your call center employees really are, they will be more likely to want to sign a contract with you. If you simply hire people off the street and don’t invest in their skills at all, when the critical call comes in from a prospect, you will have no way to impress that person. Conversely, you will be very evasive, and try to sweet talk them. You will try to assure them that everything will be okay if they just sign that contract. This is not a reliable way to gain trust. Gain trust by getting to know people, and let people get to know your staff. Don’t hide your staff — show them off (if they are any good)

Americans are wary of bad service
Americans are so sick and tired of bad service from India. You should be very tuned into this sentiment instead of continuing to ask, “How can I get clients”. If you offered high quality service you would have to fight to get rid of clients. Instead, ask yourself how you can give Americans the best service that they ever had in their life. If you can make that fantasy a reality, then your phone will ring off the hook. Word travels fast.

How do you train people?
Part of the training is for management. Managers at Indian outsourcing companies typically have many unprofessional types of behaviors. They answer the phone saying, “Hello”. Professionals state their name and company name. Only 2% of companies in India have professional sounding answering machines that actually state the name of the company you called (so you don’t have to guess) and make it possible to leave a message. Whether they actually call you back is another story. Training sales staff to actually answer the phone and be able to answer basic sales questions is another matter to consider. But, actually training the workers is harder than you think. You are not American, and you don’t know how Americans like to be talked to! You need to hire someone who specializes in training call center employees to come to your office and give regular training sessions.

That sounds expensive!
Doing business is expensive. Paying salaries, rent, cab fares, utilities and other expenses are not for free. If you are going to pay all of these other costs, invest in training. My guess is that he who invests most in high quality training will probably grab a higher percentage of market share more quickly than any other company. Most companies are not even trying to compete. Americans are less sensitive to price variations as they are to quality variations in companies. Because, if you give them low quality service, then they will lose THEIR clients which will make them go out of business. Americans would rather pay a little more and get better service. I’m not suggesting that you charge double what the others charge in your area, but don’t try to be the cheapest, try to be the best. Sure, offer special sign-up deals for the first three months to get people on board if you need to, but in the long run, focus on quality.

What type of training do people need?
Call center employees need help with pronunciation, clear speaking skills, speaking loud enough but not too loud, and handling difficult situations. You need to be sensitive when there is a problem. You need to be on the side of the person you are talking to and care. You need to be able to explain complicated situations flawlessly to the person on the other end of the phone. Some call center employees can do this, but, many can’t handle even the smallest of complication. Learning American culture and expressions is always helpful. Mastering the art of American small talk is quintessential to success. But, it is the Philippinos who learn these skills almost effortlessly and not the Indians. Why is this? People in the Philippines have excellent interaction skills in general, and they rub off well on Westerners. People in India often just want to make a buck, and don’t want to learn anything about their client or interact with their clients. This attitude is not attractive to Americans and has to change! Otherwise there is no way that you will be successful!

You might also like:

Write professional emails to get more call center clients
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/02/how-to-gain-more-call-center-clients-write-professional-emails/

Starting a call center? Keep financial backup for 3 months
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/09/26/starting-a-call-center-keep-financial-back-up-for-3-months/

Starting a Call Center: Keep financial back up for 3 months!

September 26, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Starting a BPO Call Center is no joke. So many people in India think they can just jump into business, fill a 20 seater with a bunch of girls, and be in business. Many of the people who start such businesses might have been managers in a call center. However, they lack the knowledge they need to have to manage the entire operation. There is a lot you need to know in business that goes above and beyond what a manager knows.

How do you make sure you have constant work for your employees? What if employees quit in the middle of a project? What if your client dumps you in the middle of a project? What if there are hidden expenses? What if you need help training people? There are hundreds of problems that you could encounter that you might not be well versed at dealing with.

My recommendation is that you start SLOW. Get some really small clients and take really good care of them. Don’t lust after large clients. They will come in time if you are any good. Start either at home or in a tiny office with perhaps one or two people working with you. That way you can oversee the entire operation and ensure flawless work.

You need at least 3 months expenses saved up in cash just in case. Things happen in business, and things tend to happen a lot more quickly when you don’t have long term relationships with clients or staff. This is why I suggest starting small and building up slowly. Some people have a growth plan for their business that is financial. I suggest growing your business relationship by relationship, and judging your success by how many relationships you have had for three or more years! If you are starting out, you have ZERO of such relationships. Think long term and think about pleasing your clients and workers. Keep them happy and they will grow!

Your 3 months expenses need to cover rent — so a cheap rent is in order. It needs to cover salaries, utilities, and all other expenses including accounting, legal fees, etc. Usually I tell people to think big, but if you have no experience, you can gain a lot of skills and knowledge by building up from the ground. If you try to grow your BPO Call Center too fast you get in trouble. As a famous rapper once said, “The faster you rise, the harder you fall”. Keep this bit of gritty street knowledge in mind! It is a matter of survival in your case.

Are callers in India more sincere?

September 18, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: India | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Are callers at a call center in India more sincere than U.S. call center workers? Many of them are educated, and eager to please. They use false names if their call center asks them to, but many have a positive way of looking at it. “I think people in the U.S. are very busy, and they just want to make sure they get good customer service. If they hear someone with a foreign accent, they are not sure. If they have one problem with a caller from another company, they do not want to hear from another caller in India,” says one call center worker in Delhi. “I do not feel that I am being false. I am being myself, but with a name that people in the U.S. can relate to,” says Robin, whose real name is Lakshmi. “I am sincere about my work, and want to give great customer service.” Robin’s call center in India is one of the very best and most sought-after.

Call center workers at this call center in India are certainly less cynical about their lives than their U.S. counterparts, and they take work seriously. Having worked as a caller for high-end fundraising in the U.S., and having supervised numerous callers recently from time to time, I can tell you that American call center workers after a while will say almost anything to those they are calling. They will be friendly, get the credit card number, then hang up and at break time often complain about the people they called. Those who feel bad about themselves and do not like their jobs are not sincere. For example, they will sound like a Democrat on one call, and talk Republican on another, and generally try to fit in with what the caller chats about just to get along. If someone makes a comment on a presidential candidate, they will agree–not matter what they think–to make people think they are talking to a fellow American with the same values. Many are just so involved in the daily grind that they do not have any hope anymore about the political scene and life in the U.S. in general. Is this any better than using a false name?

However, U.S. callers communicate well. They provide reliable customer service, if that is the kind of call they are making. They are fluent in English, and compared to workers in a call center in India, they create a better impression that a situation will be resolved– whether they believe that or not. If call center workers in India do not know whether the situation will be resolved, they may not say that it will be.

Is this better or worse for the U.S. consumer? Is it bad customer service to be honest?

Maybe yes.

How to Get More Clients For Your Call Center — Get an Agent!

September 14, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center | Tagged | Leave a comment

Many companies in India have some sort of a nexus or venue in the West. It is common for companies to have an American phone number, or perhaps an office in London, or an agent in Australia. It makes sense, and you can get ahead by using this technique. Think from the perspective of your clients. If you were a mid-level manager in the United States, do you want to call an Indian number at 1am, or would you prefer to call an American number during regular business hours? Done thinking? That’s right — me too! The other benefit of having a presence in the West, is that people will think your entire company is in THEIR country which will make them all the more comfortable. Below are some various approaches to getting an agent.

(1) Get an office in America
It is expensive to have an office in the United States. You have to pay rent, liability insurance, utility bills, payroll, salaries, and more. You will pay if you use this approach. But, on a brighter note, if you want to be in full control of the people promoting your business, you need to have them as employees and not fly-by-night freelancers. Sure, you can start out with a more flexible relationship with a freelancer you don’t really know. But, in the long run, if you have a company in India with 20 or more people, I recommend having a nexus somewhere in the United States. Keep in mind that rents and labor costs are a lot more reasonable in Texas, Oklahoma, Southern states (not Florida), and Midwestern states. If you try to get an office in a wealthy coastal city in America, you will be paying double for office space and more for salaries as well. You can fly to DFW in Dallas from any continent in the world. It has all of the benefits of a coastal city, with a price tag of a small town!

(2) Get an agent
Unfortunately, I have met many people who are agents for outsourcing companies in one way or another. They pretend that the company providing the service is really their company. They charge triple what you are charging for your service with no real added value other than how pretty their voice sounds. Many of these agents are not up front with prospective clients which gives the illusion of unreliability. If you use an agent, you need to come up with an arrangement where you will both come across as being reliable and reputable. You might pay a commission for leads regardless of how well those leads pan out in the long run. If the leads systematically are not good, then try another agent.

(3) How do you find an agent?
Just visit www.findanagent.com! Just kidding. It is not so easy to find an agent. Someone who is already involved in outsourcing who knows how to get business would be a good agent. You could also try to deal with companies in the United States who are in the same industry that you are in. They could route work to you that they cannot handle. At least they are already getting the type of calls that you could use! You need to get to know a lot of people to shop around for an agent, and the search will take months in the best case scenario. But, if your business means anything to you, then invest your time and find someone who will get you results!

(4) A U.S. phone number
It is not a crime to get an American phone number and then forward it to India. Many companies do this. You need to have a big enough business to afford a phone operator who works the night shift to accommodate American calls during American business hours. Keep in mind that the U.S. is spread over six time zones with the majority in Eastern, Central and Pacific time which is 9.5 to 13.5 hours before your time in India (depending on daylight savings). If you are more connected to England or Australia or some other country, then you can get a phone number from there instead of an American phone number.

Having the image of being where you are not without lying is powerful. If someone thinks you are in Denver, and finds out you are in Darjeeling, that is not a crime. Just don’t lie about your name or location. Don’t falsely claim to be in Denver, just get a Denver phone number and let others falsely assume you are there. Don’t claim to be John Smith when you are Ravishankar Balasubrahmanian. Those of us who are experienced in business know that if you lie about one thing, you will lie and cheat about everything! Nobody respectable will do business wiht a liar. So, be honest, and be helpful on the phone, and then people will not be that upset when they find out you are 10,000 miles from Denver (and 1000 feet higher). If you get a good agent, nexus or foreign phone number, this could lead you on the way to wealth!

How to get clients for your call center: steal one from your boss?

September 5, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Many people do exactly this. Honestly, it is not ethical, and you will probably not last long. Imagine that you are working at a big call center in India. Imagine that your boss has 500 seats and many managers, and that you are one of the managers. Imagine that you have a database of his clients and know a few. You could network and arrange a mini-mutiny. It happens all the time. People get sued over this.

What can you offer this client that your boss can’t? Your boss has overhead. He also has something you might not have — knowledge. Your boss understands the REAL expenses and risks associated with doing business. He also knows that HR costs really are, not to mention rent and utilities. All you understand is that the client is paying so many lakhs per month and that it could all be yours just for offering a better price. After all, you could rent a small place and do the job for half the price, right?

Wrong. You would have to hire workers who might quit the next day. They will not be trained by you. They might deliver horrible performance. Your VoIP system might not work properly which will ensure you will lose all of your clients overnight. You might underestimate some hidden costs. The Indian mafia might want a payoff from you that you are unaware of until they threaten to break your legs. These are things your boss knows that you don’t know.

So, if you do steal a great client and offer them 40% off as a come-on rate with the idea of jacking up their rate after the initial contract expires in three months — beware. You will NEVER get your old job back again. Your boss probably knows others in the industry who will be alerted of your wrongful deed. Also, you will probably go out of business. You will be jobless and broke and deserve it for sabotaging your boss, and endangering the business of his client. You can not service his client like your boss can. The quality will not be the same.

If you want to start a call center, get call center management experience. Preferably at least four years of it. Learn how to network with clients. Learn how to hire and train workers. You need to understand EVERYTHING about the business, not just bits and pieces. I suggest that when you are finally ready to start work — start small with smaller clients and work your way up slowly.

Good luck and be ethical!

How to get more clients for your Call Center — Craigslist!

August 18, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

I study the analytics on my blog and roughly 10% of my readers are Americans, 80% are Indian, and the rest are from all over the rest of the world. If you are American, you will know what Craigslist is. But, if you are Indian, you need to learn how to advertise your offshore call center services on Craigslist — today! It is a site where you can post job openings, houses for rent, used lawnmowers for sale, etc. You can join discussion groups, find a date, and much more too. Craigslist is famous. It was started by a regular guy, and it just grew out of control.

Craigslist makes it free to post an advertisement. The trick is that you need to keep posting it or it will move down in the search results and get lost in the shuffle. They allow you to repost every 60 days. You post ads based on geographical locations. You could choose several metros in the United States. You could advertise your call center services in many metros in the United States. I can not guarantee what type of results you will get, but it is one of the things that you should try. Marketing always includes a mix of different techniques. After you use these techniques, you try to measure which venue got you more leads and how much it cost in time or money.

We put an ad in Craigslist for bloggers. We got 18 inquiries in two days. Not the best quality people, but at least they responded.

The point to remember is that new Indian companies tend to behave like beggars. “PLEASE give us call center work.” Don’t behave this way. You are there to help others without being desperate or pushy. Successful Indians are cool and know what to do. Unsuccessful Indians are the worst pain in the rear and NOBODY in American will want to deal with a headache. Be calm, cool, helpful, and let your readers know that you can accommodate their needs the way they want it. The minute you try to act impersonal or rigid like a big company, you will lose small customers.

Indians typically like to impress others by pretending to work at a big company when they work out of their bedroom. Nobody in America likes a fake. Keep it real, and be really helpful without being pushy. You are there to help them, not to push your unwanted service down their unwilling throat. If you are sincere and able to help others, you will get clients.

Small clients are good if you are a small company. They are easier to get, and easier to keep if you do good work. Big clients will dump you in a second if you don’t measure up, and trust me — they have refined analytics about what it means to measure up. They will not tolerate a single slip-up.

Keep your advertisement simple, yet informative. Helpful, yet competent. Be there when your email rings, or when you receive a phone call in your inbox (or the other way around). Be friendly and non-aggressive to prospects. Let them get to know your staff. Don’t make them sign a contract right away until they have gotten a test run of your service. Give first.

What people worldwide don’t understand is that it is God who pays us. If you are delivering value to the universe, God will make sure you get paid. Contracts are just formalities. Relationships are what guarantees that you make money.

Keep it real and try Craigslist today!

Visit our search results for Blog Set Up Programming

How to attract clients to your Call Center — Linked In

August 13, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

I get dumb sounding emails daily from web design companies, web developers, call centers, BPO outfits, data entry companies, and especially from SEO companies. But, these dumb emails lack any type of knowledge of my name, needs, wants, or anything about me. Dumb emails don’t get people business with any good ratio. But, smart emails could. I would be so impressed if someone sent a smart email and actually knew something about me. Emailing is one way to attract potential clients, but what about social media?

Linked In was recommended to me by a call center professional in Calcutta. He says that he has 8000 contacts on his profile and has an easy time reaching decision makers. Please keep in mind, that being on the right medium is only part of the battle. You have to present yourself well. But, at least this is an efficient way to find companies. Can you imagine using the phone and calling people’s secretaries all day long getting nowhere? Using linked in you could probably find dozens of decision makers per day.

But, there is more. When you communicate with professional business people, they will not appreciate it if you come across as someone with the sensibilities of a teenager.

(1) Don’t use text language: i.e. “How r u”.
(2) Don’t ask what they are “into”. We are not in the 8th grade anymore. India seems to be permanently in the 8th grade in their usage of the word into not to mention certain irresponsible business practices.
(3) Don’t try to convince someone that your name is Sam Jones when you are Ramesh Ramachandra. Try to pick a nickname that sounds like your real name.
(4) Keep your conversations real and professional.
(5) Don’t make offers that are too good to be true, too cheap, or crazy sounding.

The key on Linked In as with any other medium is to get to know people before you ask for anything. To bombard a stranger with requests for contracts is sort of spamming them. Learn the art of chit-chat. Get to know people, make small talk, ask them what they do, and what their needs and aspirations are long before you try to sell them. There is no formula for how long you gossip before you introduce your services. But, I would suggest selling them on your knowledge before you sell them on your services. These days people want to buy from someone that they can trust for reliable sounding information and solutions. If you don’t know how to be like that, then learn. There is a lot of money to be made if you can be an information guru!

Remember — the difference between a 5 million dollar a year salesperson and the 5 rupee per hour salesperson is that the high priced one is cool, sociable, and is an infinite source of knowledge and confidence. His inexpensive counterpart is just an annoying jerk. Be knowledgeable, helpful and find your call center clients on Linked In.

You might also like

How to attract clients to your call center — contracts!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/04/05/how-to-get-clients-for-call-centers-contracts/

How to gain clients for your Call Center: Pay-Per-Click!

August 1, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center, Popular Posts | Tagged , | 1 Comment

You down with PPC? Yeah you know me.
Remember this song from the 90’s? I do. Or was it the 80’s. It is all a distant memory. Actually, it was OPP, not PPC, but close enough, right? People ask me all day long how to get clients for their call center. The truth is that there are hundreds of ways, and PPC is one.

Google and other mediums offer pay-per-click programs.
You can pay for clicks on particular keywords. You bid how much you are willing to pay on particular keywords, and you can set a daily maximum budget for ad-groups which are groups of keywords which supposedly are in the same category (for best results). Easy, right? Actually, this PPC system requires a lot of time and expertise. I recommend that you learn something about it so that you are in control.

Yes, you can hire an online marketing specialist to help you out.
Whether they are any good or not is something you will not know if you are keyword illiterate. You might get screwed, or just receive mediocre work at great expense. Or, you can master the ancient Chinese art of keyword identification, selection and ROI analysis. If my memory serves me correct, Sun-Tze made references to this art in his literature… Actually, scratch that — I’m confusing Sun-Tze’s psychological warfare techniques with my keyword warfare techniques and my memory is playing tricks on me.

The basics you need to know are:

(1) What your keywords are.
This includes keyword variations, and combinations of geographical terms and keyword variations. If you promote Twitter campaigns in Noida, then you might like terms such as:
Twitter Noida, Twitter Promotion Noida, Social Media Noida, Noida Social Media, Noida Twitter, Online Marketing Noida, eMarketing Noida, Internet Marketing Noida, Internet Marketing India, Internet Marketing Delhi

Pair geographic words & industry terms
These are just the tip of the iceberg (or the heap of discarded coconut husks in the case of Noida). Each geographical term needs to be paired with industry terms — forward and backwards — with the geographical term before and after the word. Include nearby cities, metro names, country names, and more. Include related industry terms like Call Center, Social media, Online Marketing, and more. Additionally, Google has a bunch of suggested terms, and estimates for how many clicks you will get bidding on their recommended terms. Get an account and the possibilities are as endless as you can pay for.

(2) ROI…
You need to know if certain words are getting you customers. This is not so easy to predict. But, you hire a professional to configure the ROI system on Google, and then you can see how many searches for particular terms make it to your contact us page. If they fill out an inquiry form, then that qualifies as a LEAD, and leads are worth money, and are a metric. You need to figure out how many contacts equals a new client, and what a new client is worth. Also please keep in mind that if your company learns to better at retaining clients through better customer services, you might keep your new clients longer and get more referrals — hence making them 10x as valuable. Smart… very smart…

(3) Adjusting your bids
Once you can guess the ROI on your terms which can take a few months in some cases, you need to adjust your bids. Beware, google adwords has some bizarre twists. I find that if I bid a particular amount on a term, I can slowly lower my bid, yet get the same traffic. Why is this? That is because Google slowly acquires analytics on my ads performance and CPM revenues that they are getting. If I get steady clicks, then they lower my price to be in the same approximate level in the paid search results. Additionally, if my ad is out there longer, then people recognize my company name and click on my ad more which increases my CPM click rate — and google LOWERS my per click price at a particular level the more clicks per 1000 impressions I get — a very interesting fact which you need to write down your notebook.

(4) Add more ad groups
As your campaign grows and prospers, you can add more ad groups, more terms, and refine your campaign. You can even be more aggressive and try new offensives.

(5) Geo-targeting 101.
Learn this. If you are an Indian Call Center, and want clients in America, Google allows you to target certain geographical regions of the world. Target towns, cities, zip codes, countries, or even continents. You will pay more for clicks from America, but that is where the high paying clients are. Keep in mind that Americans are also more demanding, and often more berating or hard to deal with than your friendly and agreeable compatriots in mother India. If you are going to pay big bucks to Google (which has made me very successful by the way), make sure your website is attractive enough to get conversions (sales) from the traffic that Google gets you. Presentation comes before promotion — got it? Also, make sure your staff who answers the phone can deal with American clients gracefully. You might consider an American phone #, and answering the phone 24 hours a day.

(6) Lessons to be learned.
I used Google PPC to find companies as well as to advertise my own company. I learned that many overseas companies, particularly a company in China NEVER answer their phone. That means that all of the thousands that they waste in PPC costs go down the drain. I wonder what Sun-Tze would have to say about that?

Pretend to be weak when you are ready to attack — Sun-Tze (rephrased by me)
Throw your money down the drain when you desperately need it to hire staff members who speak passable English — The opposite of what Sun-Tze would say.

Remember…. business is war. If you fail, you go broke and suffer being socially ostracized, poverty, disease and other horrible fates. Use Google Adwords the right way and you could become a millionaire. Use it wrong and you can lose it all.

You might also like:

How to attract clients to your call center — Linked In
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/08/13/how-to-attract-clients-to-your-call-center-linked-in/

How good is your salesperson? How much difference does it make?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/04/11/how-good-is-your-salesperson-how-much-difference-does-it-make/

How to attract clients to your call center: don’t deal with people who use personal email accounts. http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/08/27/how-to-attract-clients-to-your-call-center-dont-deal-with-people-who-use-personal-email-accounts/

How to get clients for call centers — contracts!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/04/05/how-to-get-clients-for-call-centers-contracts/

How to acquire call center clients — looking like a big company

June 20, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Call Center, Popular Posts | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Getting respect
Many small companies feel that they can’t get any respect unless people think they are a big company. If you live in a 3rd world country, it is hard to get past these narrow-minded opinions. 3rd worlders have nonsensical and narrow-minded opinions about almost everything. In America, we don’t think that bigger is better. The coolest companies in America are small companies. Small companies often don’t want to become bigger companies.

Keeping your roots
Some larger American companies still maintain a lot of the charm that they had when they were smaller companies. Some people think that you can’t get ahead without the big company image, but charm sells — and don’t you forget that!

Small time call centers
Many small time call centers feel that they can not get clients unless they look like a big company. Nothing could be further from the truth. Often, the reps at these companies will be very impersonal and distant to maintain their big company image. However, when you ask them anything about their company and workers — they can not produce any content — it is always private. The bigger question is, how can you acquire call center clients if you don’t answer any of their questions? People don’t want big companies, they want answers! So, start giving them.

Being helpful — not being big
Indian call centers are famous for having people with typical thick Indian accents pretending to be in America, and having a fake American name. They think that the only way to be liked is to be American. This is not true. The way to be liked is not to be American, and is also NOT to be a big company. Being HELPFUL is the way to be liked. At my company, clients don’t like it when we are NICE to them. They don’t want NICE, they want HELP. This is why I succeed in my business — I am not nice — But, I am helpful.

Skills — not size
When I interview call centers, I don’t care if they are big or small. I want to know if they have employees who can do my work the way I want it done. If they have 100 workers of various skill levels, but refuse to give me one who has the skill set that I want, I will not be happy. I would be better off with a call center with 1 seat, that has the worker that I want. It is about skills — not size.

The moral of the story
What you should learn from this blog entry is: Don’t pretend to be a glamorous large company (unless you are). Rather, pretend to be a small, helpful, and skillful company that answers all of the client’s questions. Then, you will impress people. You should be flexible and nice too if you want to attract call center clients!

Does your company have a refined mission statement?

May 31, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Many companies publish a mission statement on their website. But, that is only a token of a mission. A real mission is like a shared purpose. If all the workers are trained regularly to be familiar with what the long term goals of the company are, then they will be more on the same team as you.

Workers are concerned with their personal lives, families, pay checks, free time, quality of life, etc. But, are they concerned at all with the goals of the company? Your company will lack cohesiveness if not. Workers tend to do better work if they see a bigger picture. If they see how their work affects society in a bigger way, they will do the same boring work, but with a much better attitude. So, having them tuned into your company’s mission regularly, can help with seeing the bigger picture.

Imagine a call center whose goal is to enrich the lives of people by providing pleasant phone calls.

If your goal is to make others happy by being pleasant, you will think less of how unpleasant your job is, and more about the goal. If you keep thinking about that goal, then the lives of the people you call will be better and you will be nicer to them.

On the other hand, your mission could be to be great at giving information rather than being nice. You might be socially awkward on the phone. But, if you are always trying to be the best at giving information, people will remember your company as the one who gave them the best information. They might dump the “pleasant” people at the other company to get more great information from people at your company.

Another goal for a call center might be to be the fastest call center around. You could train workers to get callers off the phone fast. The problem is that you might cut people off before they were done having their problem fixed, or they might think you were rude.

Ideally, a company mission should be a combination of factors. Be as fast as you can be without upsetting anyone. Or give great information while being polite. Be pleasant while also giving effective answers to questions.

The main point of this article is that if you keep your company’s mission in your worker’s ears at regular intervals, they will be more in tune with what your company is all about — and so will you.

There is one company whose company mission is the best one in the world. They are:

Mission Tortilla
I’m not sure what their mission is, but I think it is to make the most great tortilla chips in the world — and they succeed at this too. Maybe it is because the word mission is embedded in their name. What do you think?