Month: July 2015

Staff Leasing 101: Is Cheaper Better?

Posted on by iStaff.ph

Cheaper might not always be the best choice but sometimes it is depending on the situation. For staff leasing, this general rule also applies. There are many service providers out there and they relentlessly compete with each other, and the main reaction to this is to offer cheaper services in order to attract clients.

Cheaper staff leasing services doesn’t always mean poor quality, but how do you determine if the cheap price being offered to you is a good deal? Here are a few tips to help you pin point what is a good deal and what’s not.

Ask for Proposals
Proposals are not just for formal purposes, it’s an opportunity for you to determine if the money you will be paying a staff leasing firm is worth the services they will be providing you. It would be best to look for a few service providers you like and ask a proposal from each one of them, so you can take a look and compare their pricings.

Research and Dig Deep
It can become too boring but definitely worth it. Would you want to be tied in a contract with a staff leasing firm that specializes in conning clients? It happens and is still happening today, so always be vigilant every time a service provider is offering you cheap services. Look for testimonials, press releases, articles and even comments on social media sites, you are likely to get a good grip on what’s happening with that service provider’s business when you research online.

Always Ask for a Portfolio
A staff leasing firm might send you their company portfolio, but it is best if you also ask for the professional portfolio of the staff who will be working under you. Request for a phone call or even a Skype interview so you’ll be able to see and assess the personality of the staff you’re considering to hire. This way, you can be assured that a dedicated staff will be working on your projects and not some random freelancer that the staff leasing firm is hiding from you.

Look At What They Specialize On
Staff leasing firms varies on their specialties, so if you’re looking to hire a team of data entry specialists it would be wise to look for a service provider that specializes in that field because they know it better than the others. Same goes for IT services; you can get a better programmer or designer from staff leasing firms that specialize in the IT field.

If the proposal is too good to be true, always think twice and never decide on the spot. It’s much better to keep searching for a reliable service provider than engage with the wrong one.

10 SEO Tips for Small Online Businesses

Posted on by iStaff.ph

Small online businesses are everywhere these days, and they are not limited to just gadgets, clothing, novelty items and knickknacks. If your business is new or have been around for a couple of years but still not getting that stable monthly or yearly sales you are aiming for, then you are probably not SEOing right or have not done it for your website.

SEO is short for Search Engine Optimization. It is the process of optimizing your website to get a better spot or ranking in search engine results pages (SERP). It’s a very tedious and repetitive task that’s why many clients are outsourcing them these days. Don’t worry about any expenses because SEO is free, all the free parts of online marketing!

Try these simple SEO tips to help your small online business get a better visibility on the web.

On-Site Optimization

This refers to your website. If all you have is a Facebook page or an Instagram account for your business, I suggest registering your own domain, it is much better if you have a real website that people can visit, view your products and get to know your brand better.

1. Use the H1 tag for page titles. It helps your visitors to know what page they are in and helps search engine robots to know what that page is all about.
2. Research for keywords. Using the keyword “novelties” is too broad, why not use “novelty gifts” or “novelty items” instead for your online novelty gift shop? It gives you a better ranking in SERP.
3. Page descriptions are not just for visitors. Keywords are also laid in page descriptions, this helps search engine robots rate your website or a specific page on your site for the relevancy of keywords you are using for its contents. The more relevant your keywords are, the better ranking you will get.
4. Register to Google Webmaster Tools. It’s a free SEO tool for analyzing your website, reports on your visibility on the web and diagnostics for a healthy, Google-friendly website.
5. Register to Google Analytics. Another great free SEO tool for monitoring traffic on your website. With this tool, you can see the number of visitors you have per day/month/year, other sites that are linking to yours and what keywords are driving more visitors in.

Domain Tip: If you do not have the budget for a domain name and hosting, go to WordPress.com or Blogger.com for a free domain.

Off-Site Optimization

Off-site optimization, also called link building, is a SEO method for helping your website rank in SERP, increase your brand’s visibility on the web and improve its reputation using other sites. Your small online business will benefit greatly with link building.

6. Get social more often. If you already have a Facebook page for your business, why not add another social media account like Twitter, Instagram or Youtube? The more visibility you have on the web the greater is your chance of getting more customers.
7. Free online directories are everywhere! Make it a habit to register your business online on your spare time.
8. Not all ads are paid. There are free ad sites where you can post your products, try Craigslist.org now!
9. Create your own blog. WordPress.com, Blogger.com and Tumblr.com are great for creative blogs, don’t worry they’re free!
10. Socialize with other blog owners. Join a blogger network and socialize with other bloggers in the same niche as yours. You can even trade links with them by offering an article for their blog with a link pointing to your blog or website.

Link Building Tip: Always add a link to your website when posting your ads, registering to online directories and on your social media profiles. This way, people will know that your business has a real website they can visit and search engine robots can rate you better.

Your small online business will work its way up slowly but surely by using various SEO techniques, and SEO doesn’t need to be expensive. You can do it on your own or by asking a friend or relative to help you.

The time will come that your small online business won’t be so small anymore. The growth of your business will lay more and heavier responsibilities on your hands perhaps that will be the time where you will be able to think of allotting a budget for hiring a SEO specialist. You can start by outsourcing a freelancer in your area or if you’re bold enough, try offshore outsourcing for other types of SEO services.

5 Ways Customer Feedback Can Help Grow Your Business

Posted on by iStaff.ph

Customer satisfaction is one of the most important parts of any business, but when customer feedback piles more negative responses, the business can be at risk of running down.

Businesses these days are taking different courses in handling their customer service; some build their own in-house team of customer care agents while others seek the help of outsourcing firms. Whatever the route a business takes, customer service will not improve if the owner themselves fail to understand their customers.

Here are five (5) simple ways customer feedback can help grow your business, especially for start-up businesses and newbie entrepreneurs.

1. Finding Your Strengths and Improving Your Weaknesses

Satisfied customers will leave positive feedbacks, with this you can learn about your products’ strengths and how you can make it even better. But when customers become unhappy because of your product or your sales personnel, negative customer feedbacks will continue to pile up until you resolve the issue. You can easily pinpoint the cause of decline in customer satisfaction by simply paying more attention to their feedbacks.

2. Happy Customers Creates Sales Opportunities

Customer surveys are not just for finding weak spots on your products or business, it can also be a great material to study and research for other sales opportunities. Whether it’s a positive or negative customer feedback, your sales team can always use fresh ideas or new approaches to grow your business.

3. Win Back Lost Clients and Keep Existing Ones

A customer survey doesn’t need to be too broad or too personal, just keep it simple and easy to understand and answer so you can get more customers to take it. The result of your survey provides you with ideas on how to keep your existing customers, and plan on how to win back lost clients, so have it regularly administered.

4. Getting Social Helps to Improve Overall Reputation

Asking your satisfied customers to leave public reviews on social media sites is a great way to improve your reputation, as well as asking them for testimonials that you can brag on your website or on social networking profiles of your company. The more positive customer feedback you get, the better will be your overall reputation, thus increase sales.

Tip: Have a dedicated staff monitor and manage your social networking profiles, this way you are always updated on what your customers like and dislike about your brand. Some entrepreneurs prefer outsourcing this job to save on overhead costs.

5. Create Brand Advocates Among Your Customers

Customer satisfaction often ignites comments online, the more you make your customers happy the more likely they will post positive comments and share their experience online promoting your brand for you for free! So the next time you pass on a customer feedback, whether it’s a good one or not, think about the growth of your company. If it’s important to grow your business, you will pay more attention to your customers’ feedbacks.

Tip: Social media sites are not just for connecting with customers; sites like Facebook offers paid advertising where you can use your online marketing materials to attract more customers. Some entrepreneurs seek the help of outsourcing firms that specializes in online marketing to strategize and initiate online marketing campaigns for them.

The Evolution of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) in the Philippines

Posted on by iStaff.ph

What began as call support centers in the 1900’s to cater to foreign costumers, the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in the Philippines has grown quite remarkable, serving IT services, offshore staff leasing for admin functions and many more today.

In the 2000’s, the Philippines shown excellence in the call center industry, and had made a stable growth of 46% annually since 2006. And by 2011, the country has earned the most number of call center employees, with about 400,000 heads compared to other outsourcing destinations in Asia. By 2012, the Philippine economy grew 6.4% through BPO; it is the country’s fastest growth since 2010.

Call Centers in the Philippines

Call centers popped all over the country’s capital, Manila, and extended as far as Visayas and Mindanao. More and more foreign investors are capitalizing in the Philippines rather than its Asian neighbors due to the fact that Filipinos are more polite and westernized in term of accent, even though BPO services in India and China are much cheaper.

IT Outsourcing

Information technology also plays a big role in the country’s BPO industry growth. Surprisingly, clients from different parts of the world are looking for Filipino programmers, designers and animators, it is evident that the IT professionals are also becoming popular, not just call center agents. Software development and animation is now part of that growth.

Offshore Staff Leasing

When one door of success opens, a lot of opportunities peek in. When outsourcing in the Philippines became popular, so did offshore staff leasing. Professionals for data entry, virtual assistance, online marketing, writing and many more also became in demand, which lead to the boom of outsourcing companies in the country that specializes in offshore staff leasing.

Outsourcing Functions of a Business

Today, the Philippines BPO industry is catering to businesses that are bold enough to outsource some functions of their business like the admin and support, finance and accounting and HR.

What Is the Future of Philippines BPO?

Business process outsourcing has provided clients with new ways and opportunities to grow their business, and for as long as there is the need to grow, there will always be a space for innovation and the Philippines’ BPO industry will always be ready to deliver.

Outsourcing Tip: How to Make Your Data Entry More Efficient

Posted on by iStaff.ph

In business, outsourcing is a merely a method entrepreneurs use to grow their bottom line. What makes a huge difference for others are the techniques and approaches they use to get to their goal.

Outsourcing your data entry does not guarantee a huge victory for your company, but it does give you a lot of rewards if you’ve done it right. Here are a few tips on how you can make your outsourced data entry more efficient.

Provide a Good Work Environment

Outsourcing firms have their own offices to house your outsourced data entry specialists. Even though it will be the responsibility of the service provider to provide all the equipment, software and other office supplies to your outsourced staff, it is still your responsibility to ensure that their work environment and physical conditions are perfect.

Your data entry specialists will be encoding data all day long, and a tired data encoder makes the most mistakes so it would be nice if you make sure their:

  • Office chair is comfortable enough;
  • Keyboards, mouse and computer monitor are working well;
  • Breaks are well scheduled; and
  • Workload is properly managed.

Check for Updates and Upgrades

Assuming that the outsourcing partner you’ve chosen specializes in data entry, software upgrades will never be a problem for you. All you have to do is review and approved such upgrades.

In case your service provider is not a data entry firm, it does not mean that they’re not tech inclined with data entry software and upgrades, keep in touch with them about the latest technologies available in the market and software upgrades that can benefit your outsourced staff. If necessary, take time to discuss it with them.

Set a Realistic Time Table

Some people think that outsourcing data entry, especially offshore outsourcing, gives you employees that work faster than anyone else. Well, quantity is way different than quality. If you want both, you need to set a realistic time table. Managing the workload of your outsourced data entry specialists is also important, because there’s a limited amount of workload one person can do in eight hours straight. So it’s important that you do not overload them.

Consider Using Optical Character Recognition (OCR)

Although it’s not a 100% guarantee to be accurate data, it lessens the time of encoding and provides more time for your data entry specialists to review and proofread their work. It would also help if you provide them with the original PDF files or scanned document so they can use it to double check the accuracy of their work.

In reality, data entry is a very important function of any business. Whether it’s a small, start-up business or a well established one, everyone in the office relies on data. So to make sure that outsourcing data entry will be efficient for your company, establish metrics on your service provider not just the outsourced staff. If you feel that you need a better outsourcing partner, look for another one. There’s also a thing called trial-and-error with outsourcing, no perfect combination or formula.