Month: April 2017

Most companies use call centers to handle external processes, and for good reason. Doing everything in-house may not always be feasible. In some cases, it can even be unproductive. Often you’ll look for specialized teams to handle dedicated, short-term tasks. Call centers fill this need by leasing their adaptable, capable agents at your service.

Outsourcing can be the best solution in business processing. Are you struggling which aspect of your business to outsource, and to what extent? Are you anxious to test the waters, anxious to enlist agents to handle part your business? Here are three basic guidelines to ensure you’ll get a good head start:

1. Prioritize the essentials.

This will depend on the nature and scale of your business. Some companies use call centers to handle customer support, others hire staff for back-office tasks. Anything that picks up the pace of operations is considered a viable task to outsource. However, your resources may determine which processes are best done in-house, and which are best outsourced.

Consider your company’s mission in choosing which tasks to outsource. If your mission is to have an engaging, responsive brand, it makes sense to invest in website development. If your current priority is to create a solid product, you may need more hands on deck in software development.

2. Companies use call centers to handle support; nothing beats good referrals when looking for providers.

Referrals spare you the hassle of screening and testing a long list of providers. If you’re well-networked in the industry, then referrals should be your first sourcing option. This shouldn’t discredit old-fashioned shortlisting, though. To be fair, there are plenty of new and small providers who can handle complex tasks, who can hold their own against big competition.

Trade conventions, colleague socials, even golfing buddies are good sources for referrals. You can never underestimate a good recommendation, especially if it comes from someone you trust.

3. Maximize the specializations of the provider you choose.

Companies use call centers for various tasks. This is common practice, because providers prefer to hire staff skilled and able to multitask. Unfortunately, you’ll never know the extent of your provider’s capabilities if you never ask. Inquire about the scope of your prospect’s services, the nature of its clientele. There’s bound to be a new specialization you can leverage to further enhance your processes.

Providers typically cater to various industries. Foundational processes are often shared among these industries (with custom tweaks). Take advantage of your providers’ versatility and hire a staff who can deliver beyond the job description.

Are you looking for ways to boost your brand identity? A BPO business consultant can help you create a strong, unified brand. Your brand is primary representation of your company’s core values and services. Communicate this to your market, first by learning specific features you need to work on for better industry presence. Initially, you have to set up a customer-oriented brand, to reach a wider range of potential clients.

Why is branding important?

Brand is a distinct association for your business. More than a simple name or image, it leaves an impression that resonates with your audience. With a unified brand, you’ll target the correct communities, improving results and prospects for success. As people gradually learn about your company, branding becomes ever important.

How does a BPO business consultant help in media monitoring?

The competition within the industry grows gradually; a strong foundation and brand identity set you apart from other businesses. With media monitoring or media listening, you’ll build a strong brand identity that reaches a lot of people.

In order to fulfill this kind of service, the media monitoring process includes search profiles, also search terms or keywords. Here are three steps to help you build an effective brand strategy:

1. Monitor what your competitors are up to.

The nature of media monitoring lets you explore the competition, based on certain filters applied to your searches. This is even an excellent chance for checking out your competitors, find ways to engage alongside the bigger companies in the industry (most of these probably hire BPO business consultants for the legwork). However, you need to look at what they are doing so you are ready to adopt new approaches.

2. Filter particular searches. Check the trends.

There are tons of information available, from multiple media outlets. To make the most of your monitoring, filter your search with profiles and search terms (keywords and keyword phrases). Understand the effective ways of relaying valuable messages that can reach thousands of people. Then, learn about trends that keep your customers engaged in various activities, programs, and products. You want to address certain needs, meet expectations that give your brand better recall in people’s memories.

3. Listen to the customer’s concerns.

Maybe more than the expanding your customer base, what the latter thinks about you and your business is crucial. Get to know your customers’ interests. As you monitor your brand’s presence on local and international platforms, focus on brand mentions and audience perception through the use of social media, radio, TV, and even print media. You can also improve on the process by hiring hiring BPO business who can lease you the staff, you can view possible changes and potential marketing strategies for stronger brand identity.

Cold calls or follow-up, which is more difficult? Companies that outsource support are familiar with the difficulty of establishing a good connection with prospects. However, in practice, trying to get establish an effective follow-up campaign can even be more challenging.

If you’re operating a call center, you’ve likely experienced the frustration. It’s easier if you’re aware of different practices that improve follow-up campaigns:

1. Don’t be annoying, be engaging.

Add value to your calls with prospects. Right from the initial call, agents should inquire clients ways to stay in touch. Clients know the most effective ways they can be reached for follow-up. Have a strategy to implement throughout the conversation. Engage upon contact, offer specific information that might interest each type of customer. For better results, pay closer attention to common customer concerns, preferences.

After finding out essential information and building rapport, ask prospects about their preferred form of communication. In this step, you are also securing their commitment, as well as any possible level of responsiveness to the interaction.

2. Get commitment for a follow-up.

Representatives make the biggest mistake of not properly establishing a specific date and time for the follow-up at the end of the first call. Hire companies that outsource support so you’re able to hurdle these pitfalls. You may even have encountered such scenario and simply agreed to a prospect’s “Call me next week” responses, or you may have even delivered a resounding “Alright. I’ll send you the proposal and follow up in a couple of days.”

This is crucial in establishing trust and catching the prospect’s attention. Understand the necessity of asking for a follow-up date and time. Vague answers and schedules are not going to help you in keeping in touch with any possible client. The process is similar to setting and receiving deadlines at work. It’s a powerful tactic so learn to use it properly. You don’t want to have a lot of missed calls or a longer sales cycle.

3. Send a reminder, set an agenda.

After you have successfully set a desirable date and time for the follow-up call, email your prospects a day before the appointment. Remember to carefully place the reminder on the subject line to catch the attention of the client. Try using this example: “Phone appointment for September 12th and article of interest.” Then, the content of the email must confirm the date and time of your appointment as well as the agenda for the call. Also, don’t forget to reduce the pressure of such follow-up, by opening a possible consideration for the prospect to discuss any concerns regarding the steps to take after the call.

4. Spare customers the template introductions.

Avoid starting the conversation with the common telesales agent opening statements such as “I was calling to follow-up on the proposal.” Also “I’m calling to see if you had any questions, and the reason for the follow-up was to see if you had come to a decision.” These are not poor statements, however, they are all obviously routine phrases that you simply had to use. Picking one of these will not establish your difference with other center representatives. Try working on a more intimate approach, one that builds better connection with the prospect.

5. Be polite, be persistent, and be professional.

There may not be a single formula for success, but with these final tips your agents may improve on closing sales. In every statement you give, remember how you would wish to be treated as a client but don’t go over the top even if you only have to leave a voice mail. Then, if you are not successful with the first call because the client’s not there, call in the next 10 minutes. In this manner, you are being persistent without being intrusive.

Should you have further trouble in reaching the prospects, consider hiring companies that outsource customer support. Otherwise, a good rule is to wait half a day. If you have been calling, leave a final voice mail, leave impression you’re available for the client by giving your number. Finally, be professional; if you still pursue the lead, space your follow-ups three business days apart.

Consider Companies That Outsource Support

This is actually your first and best solution. BPO companies can handle the brunt of the work with team and facilities dedicated for the task.

These are only some of the essential steps that can help you in improving your chances of getting replies from follow-up calls. Remember you have to understand the customer’s type and needs first to fully balance the specific actions to take. Learning these additional strategies gives you an edge over the competition.

Have you considered leased employees in managing how your brand is perceived on multimedia? This may not be priority at the moment, but is crucial as you gain reach online. Note that even the biggest brands stumble because of negative PR, responding with product recalls, and recompensations.

When you search for the right media monitoring service, it’s important you’re familiar with the key elements of the service, choose one that best suits your needs. Outsourcing has its advantages regardless of the scale of your business. Skilled, leased employees guarantee monitoring and documentation are on point.

1. Confirm the scope of the monitoring service.

There are different media outlets that you may include in the monitoring service: print, broadcast, and social media. Check if the platform used allows you to create, customize, and even collaborate in reporting. For optimal results, make sure the tool relies on a single service rather than from multiple monitoring vendors.

2. Check the monitor’s reputation, also the leased employees qualifications (if possible).

Work closely with professionals who provide customizable views, email alerts, and daily reports for your business. In this condition, gleaning data from conversations, trends, and results is going to be a lot easier. If you find the monitor functions effective, validate the current output results of the team so you’re aware of developing trends for your company.

3. Update media and influencer lists.

Regulate the tool that updates your company’s current list of media and influencers. You’ll maximize the leased employees productivity along the way. Once you decide to target a specific consumer group, an intricate understanding of the people’s life and possible reactions are considered. Also, monitoring updates or interactions with your brand as well as the industry are crucial in putting your company on the radar of major consumers.

Remember, the right tools and team of professionals help you build your company’s presence in various media outlets. As you consider these three important elements for media monitoring services, you can save both on cost and time that benefit your company’s overall performance. This is also a great opportunity to connect with specialists who provide good media research services and leased employees.

Time is seldom an ally to small business; it’s often the exact opposite! There are always deadlines and deliverables to meet. Effective time management is crucial, whether you’re part of a start-up or multinational company. If you’ve yet to outsource customer service as means to streamline your business, then it’s likely you’re missing out.

Your business has the advantage by outsourcing tasks, whether menial or essential. There’s only so much time to spare in a day. Are you willing to spend it on things you can just as effectively delegate? If you want added incentive to outsource customer service, then you’re probably aware the largest corporations already implement this as a matter of practice.

Feasibility remains a significant factor, though. How do you know if you’re in dire need of outsourcing? Here are four tell-tale signs it’s time to delegate to a dedicated, outsourced staff:

1. You want results. Right now, if possible.

Developing staff in-house has its rewards, but the process takes time to percolate. New hires need time to manage the learning curve, and this may take a few months to navigate. This is great if you’re willing to wait; unfortunately, this is rarely the case.

Isn’t it more efficient to have staff who are already trained and equipped to handle the tasks at hand? You’ll save time and money with plug-and-play teams. If you’re racing to meet a critical point in deliverables or timelines, a leased staff is exactly what you need.

2. You outsource customer service to compensate for a lack of expertise.

There’s always someone able and willing to take on any task, someone more efficient and cost-effective. You’ll burn out if you try to do everything on your own, especially the menial tasks. Routine is often the biggest roadblock to progress! If you’re admittedly unable to perform tasks for lack of knowledge or experience, it’s in your best interest to hire people who can fill the gap.

Partner with teams who are experts in areas you’re lacking, and make sure they share your company’s goals and vision. You’ll immediately realize you made the right decision, when your business runs like clockwork from the get-go.

3. You can’t spare time/you’re too busy.

This is a desperation to keep up with tasks you simply don’t have time for. It’s true time is your most valuable commodity, and an investment in the right team ensures you have spare time to focus on bigger priorities. Entrusting multiple tasks to one person doesn’t help either; this is risking a burnout. You’re in danger of losing top talent just because you piled one task too many.

The efficient solution is to outsource customer service, hire a team with all the skills and experience you need. If you barely have time to develop in-house, then you’d best hire ready and capable staff, always on-hand and for lease.

Are you managing multi-generational teams? This is common in employee leasing providers, and often majority of your personnel comes from the younger generations. As boss and leader, it’s important you pay attention to your workforce’s needs and expectations. Handling people of any age is a challenge. In anticipation of next generations entering the industry, what adjustments should you implement to ensure effective and healthy work environment?

Entry-level crowds most likely involve people within the same age range. This generation of millennials face a particular set of work practices, but these can be addressed with three basic practices:

1. Instruction

Most young employees are new to the workforce. They’re also typically fresh out of the education system. Employee leasing providers are updated with relevant school curriculum. Gain the advantage and do the same, leverage or adapt in effort to develop an updated corporate culture. Many of these young individuals are capable of developing any habit that is beneficial to your company. Your role goes beyond the limits of first employer. You’re in many ways a guiding force in the early stages of their career.

2. Involvement

Offer younger team members more opportunities. More importantly, give them a voice. Offer them the chance to participate in the company’s activities. Help build a strong foundation of skills and habits, resulting in better performance in the industry. You reap rewards from this initiative; you’ll see who steps up to challenges; your potential team leaders and managers. Use this one to scout for your top employees.

3. Diplomacy

Mistakes can happen no matter the age. However, you need to understand the reaction of a nervous intern is understandable, in comparison to new and seasoned employees. How you handle these kinds of situations is important.

Employee leasing providers know, prevention is still the first and best solution. When you need to reprimand an agent, be clear and direct, be blunt if necessary. Emphasize on what went wrong, how it happened, and why it went wrong. Afterwards, develop a way to fix such issues; these become precedents to avoid in the future. Curb your expectations, though; it’s likely they aren’t the first or the last to make mistakes.

These fundamental steps get you going, in effort to manage a young workforce. However, remember you need to find and practice other appropriate ways best suited to your company’s needs. Work your way around on handling the concerns of new team members. You can also consider employee leasing providers to handle most of the staffing concerns. You can reap the benefits of a solid, efficient team, without much effort and expense.

In the competitive field of contact center providers, finding the right one for a specific type of business is a tough job. Even though more and more businesses outsource their customer service to third-party call centers, you should ensure your partner delivers your company’s needs. What looks great on paper sometimes lead to unmet expectations.This is the reason why you should take time to define needs, beyond the immediate fix. Below are some starter tips to help you assess contact center vendors, before you sign any contracts and agreements.

1. Clarify the goals and support you need.

Identifying the type of services the business needs is the first step to classifying or trimming down the list of prospective call center providers. Decide whether your company wants 24-hour service, online chat representatives, or appointment scheduling. Aside from these, you should also set goals, develop a detailed roadmap which shows what the company wants to achieve within a given period.

2. Conduct background checks on contact center providers.

How does the business operate? What are the values they uphold? Who are their customers? These are just some of the many questions you should consider during the process of selecting the right call center vendor. And the best way to find answers is to ask their current clients. Aside from client recommendations, the competency and reliability of a call center vendor can also be assessed through proven track record, in your industry or with your type of clientele.

3. Choose the right people and available resources.

After listing your goals and learning more about the outsourcing company’s reputation, it’s time to know whether they have the right professionals to handle your customer service and support. Since their staff becomes ambassadors of your brand, their skill set should meet your standards. These requirements may include language proficiency, relative work experience, certifications, and the outsourcing company’s training and programs for employees.

4. Can the contact center manage your customer database?

This tip is one of the most valuable criteria you should consider when choosing contact center providers. The provider must seamlessly integrate customer support data into your customer relationship management (CRM). Through them, you would gain further understanding of your customers’ preferences and requirements, in effort to improve your brand’s performance.

5. Clearly communicate expectations.

In order to meet your company’s specific needs, you have to clearly state your expectations, as well as the procedures to be implemented. Explain the purposes of policy, security, and privacy measures. The goal is to develop a lasting relationship between your company and the outsource provider. In addition, you can also discuss your budget and consider asking the outsourcer to suggest changes that can save you from overspending.

The best contact center providers are dedicated to successful delivery of message and service, mirroring the ethics of their clients. Keep in mind the priorities are customer retention and brand value.

The contact center industry has grown, almost exponentially so. Today, a BPO contact center is part of everyday society, offering job opportunities to young and driven people looking for promising careers.

As easy as it may seem to be a contact center agent, there are some essential skills you should consider requirements. These skills can be learned, but honing these early on, as well as preparing to use them is sure to make the entire experience run smoother.

1. Calm and Collectedness

First of all, your agents should have calm disposition, in order to take in information and retain it. This can be expanded by helping customers, by taking notes of conversations, and giving an appropriate response. Agents also need to learn about their client inside and out, in order to help customers in need of assistance.

2. Patience

This is best complemented by flexibility. Customers come from various demographics, and not everyone is the same. A diverse group of people is bound to call for support, and agents need to know how to handle everyone. Some may be pleasurable, others not so much, but each customer is still to be given the best service possible. It can be rough, but that’s why clients hire a BPO contact center to handle this work.

3. Communication

Communication is key, and not in the sense of speaking eloquently and having a good hold of the English language. It’s in the way that a customer can be sure that the person on the other end of the line is giving their best service. Clear instructions, digesting information, and responding accordingly are integral for the customer’s satisfaction.

It can be challenging and tiring, operating a BPO contact center, but your agents can thrive in that environment if they’re trained and developed by these essential skills.

In a previous blog post, we covered three misconceptions that prevent small businesses and start-ups from considering BPO process as solution. Did you find this shortlist familiar? It’s likely you have hesitations grounded on different reasons. This supplement aims to debunk more notions in your list.

Many businesses now streamline operations through BPO solutions. You’ll notice the first advantage is in the leased/outsourced manpower. You also save on overhead costs (literally), since the lease service includes its own office facilities by default. If these savings don’t convince you to hire a BPO provider, maybe debunking these three myths will help:

Editor’s note: Click here for part 1 of this list.

Misconception #4: BPO Process Is Not For Start-ups

There’s the assumption start-ups are as streamlined as businesses get. Why consider BPO when you only have a skeleton crew to work with? It turns out many of the typical start-up’s tasks are routine, low priority, or repetitive. You have a lot to gain by delegating these tasks to a dedicated team, for a feasible cost.

It’s true larger companies outsource and lease business processes as regular practice, and with good reason. There are so many moving pieces in large operations, it’s more convenient to just hire a third-party to handle the routine tasks. Start-ups and small businesses are also staffed by core personnel, so they have goals and priorities down to pat. They know which processes to outsource, how to delegate, and how to keep the business lean.

Misconception #5: Leased Teams Are Unreliable

The reason behind this myth: leased staff often operate remotely. There’s also the saying that if you want anything done right, you should do it yourself. This is where it’s all the more important you choose the right BPO process provider to handle your campaign. Scout for the best handful of third-party providers, shortlist, and narrow these down to the competent few.

Visit your handpicked provider at their home office as formality, if you can. This is an advantage because you have opportunity to meet the leased team in person. You also get to meet with the supervisor assigned to the campaign. Even though all these are doable via teleconference, nothing beats spending time with your team in the same physical space.

Misconception #6: The Language And Culture Barrier

Offshore staff leasing often (if not always) involves working with teams based abroad. Often this also involves different culture and time zones. Sometimes, language is an obstacle. These need not prevent you from availing BPO process as solution, though. In countries where BPO is booming, competent, capable workforce is the default.

There’s expectation the team you’re hiring can adapt to the language requirement. Timezone is hardly ever a concern when you have staff rotating round the clock. Culture is also secondary to having a professional work ethic, which is requirement regardless of culture or location.

Hiring a BPO process provider can be the best way to streamline your small business or start-up. The advantages are too numerous, and you have everything to gain from lean and cost-effective operations.

Research was published on dict.gov.ph, “Philippine Roadmap for Digital Startups: 2015 and Beyond.” This aims to generate BPO process providers that will greatly help the country’s economic growth. One of the points mentioned in the research is the SWOT analysis of the Philippines. This is used in measuring the growth and development of country’s economy.

“Philippine Roadmap for Digital Startups: 2015 and Beyond” stated these five strengths of the Philippine business sector:

1. Strong Tourism Initiatives

In 2012, the Department of Tourism in 2012 launched its campaign “It’s More Fun in the Philippines.” This aimed to immerse tourists in Filipino culture, in the form of destinations, people, and experiences. The campaign brought 10% growth in total earnings of US$4.84 billion, exceeding previous year’s earning of US$4.40 billion.

2. Proficiency in the English Language

Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) scores in 2010 showed that the Philippines ranked 35th out of 163 countries worldwide. This is according to the Educational Testing Services Report. The Philippines also ranked first in Business English Proficiency, based on a study by the Global English Corporation. This language proficiency allows Filipinos to attain jobs that need strong proficiency in English language, especially in BPO process.

3. This Generation’s Population

As of 2014, the Philippines has one of the youngest populations in Southeast Asia. 60% of this population range 15-64 years old. This rate indicates that with young working population and fewer dependents, household income devoted for consumer spending and investments can increase.

4. Competitiveness in BPO Industry

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry contributes 4% to the Philippines’ GDP for its sustainable growth, in terms of industry size of at least 17% every year from 2006-2011. The Philippines also ranked 2nd among other countries in BPO process, next to India. According to the latest Tholons’ Top 100 Outsourcing Destinations for 2015, Philippines now has eight Next Wave Cities location from which Manila and Cebu City remained in the top 10. Other Philippine spots in the Top 100 are Davao, Santa Rosa (Laguna), Bacolod, Iloilo, Baguio, and Metro Clark.

5. Business Climate Best for BPO Process

According to the ASEAN Business Outlook Survey of 2015, the Philippines’ business climate has greatly improved over the past five years. American firms that were surveyed say low cost of labor, laws and regulations, personal security, and tax structure are among the satisfactory considerations.

Considering these five strengths, BPO process in the country will only progress in the coming years. The Philippines possesses developed hubs, as well as professionals who are always available as sourcing prospects.