So, you own a BPO. Perhaps you just purchased a 10 seater, or you want to start a company. We’ve heard this many times before. If you don’t have many years of management experience at someone else’s BPO, you are doomed to failiure. Knowing what you are doing has many facets. Getting work done, hiring, dealing with finding the right property all matter. But, if you can’t find jobs, then what good is it?
I found a list of 500 companies that hire outsourcing companies to do their work such as call center, data entry, BPO, programming, social media, etc. You can look those companies up online. But, how do you find the decision maker? Do you talk to the secretary? Do you send an email to the wrong person who assures you they will forward it to the right person? Do you visit their company in person?
Pick a state
Since there are companies all throughout the United States that hire overseas outsourcers like yourselves, you could pick a state and visit all of the companies in that state. It is hard to find a contact person. But, if you are physically in their office, you will be very focused about finding that person, and the local staff might feel more inclined to actually help you since they can see that you are a real person, and well dressed with a briefcase, serious facial expression, etc. You could visit all of the selected companies in a particular state. It might take a while, but you might actually find real people. And people are much more likely to deal with you if they can interact face to face. But, is a personal visit a good first step? I think that would make a great marketing experiment if you visited offices cold for a week and saw if it led to any sales over a six month period. Sales don’t always come in immediately.
Linked In
You can use Linked In to find out who does what at what company. I am not skilled with Linked In, but it might make sense to master the art of Link-Inning so that you can find some good contact people. Finding the right contacts is half the battle, the other half is to get them to like you. So, have someone agreeable who speaks good English who is NOT PUSHY make the initial contact.
Cold Calling
Be prepared to hammer companies incessantly to find the right person. Remember, that the right people are the ones who are hiding. You will always get a secretary who knows nothing and who has no desire to help you. But, to reach the right person requires finding out their name, what they do, when they are there, and how to reach them. I have no idea how long this takes, so expect a long and hard battle.
Twitter
Sometimes high ranking people have profiles on Twitter. Some of the fancier social media companies have ways to target your marketing to reach only those high ranking folks. I have actually met good people on Twitter by accident. But, imagine meeting them on purpose!