After talking with hundreds and thousands of outsourcing companies, I have gotten a very clear impression of what the successful companies do. Successful companies have someone who is a good communicator who answers the phone — perhaps 24 hours a day. If nobody is there, there will be a professional sounding answering machine. But, to find a company with this level of professionalism in India is hard. Only about 2% of Indian companies are what we might call “professional”.
But, the irony is, that these professional sounding companies typically have 100-2000 employees and get about 80% of the market share. So, it is the old 80:20 rule — except that in this case it is the 80:2 rule. 2% of the businesses get 80% of the work, and probably 98% of the profits.
So, the question is, how can a small company with a limited budget rise to the level of a larger and more professional company?
The answer is: By constantly focusing on that goal. Most companies don’t care if they are not professional, and the result is that nobody who is any good will want to work with them. If a little company actually cared about how they interacted with prospects, first of all, they would not remain a little company for long. They would grow. But, the other thing to remember is that little companies can offer a much more personal experience.
I feel that little companies can offer better results to their clients than a large company simply by virtue of the fact that you can get to know the boss, and that the boss will have more involvement in your various projects. The only thing the little company needs to do is to care, and to try their best.
Do you care?
I do!