Dear Small Business Owner: You Also Need Staff Leasing Service

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With the competitive nature of today’s industries, start-up companies find it more difficult to carve their niche in the field; competition is fierce and markets are saturated. There are also fewer opportunities, compared to big time corporations who have the lion’s share of the prospects. It’s fortunate small business owners have a leg up with outsourced help, yours could use staff leasing service, for so many reasons:

Reduced Cost

In partnership with Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs), businesses have the luxury of hiring dedicated workforce at a lesser cost. This is because the whole operation is being managed by the PEO. From recruitment to management, PEOs take on the role of overseeing the entire operation, which includes attending to all necessary transactions: taking care of taxes, insurance, benefits, and all other matters concerning the leased employees. In addition, PEOs takes care the workplace and equipment required for the job, leaving the company free of any additional expenses. This alternative is cost-efficient compared to hiring an in-house team.

Less Paperwork

As providers, PEO are also responsible for administrative and HR services. This is preferable for new companies, start-ups who don’t have the resources to hire their own HR personnel. By partnering with PEOs, business owners are also spared from additional paperwork; administrative tasks can also be entrusted to PEOs’ leased staff.

Reduced Employee & Legal Liability

PEO can essentially conduct all required arrangements between employees; consequently, companies face fewer liabilities, in terms of legal and employee issues. This is because transactions are only conducted with the PEO. Since all paperwork is left under the care of the PEO, small businesses don’t need to deal with such matters directly. The work is all on the PEO.

Fewer Expenses Translates to Increased Revenue

Many PEOs offer all-in solutions to business needs. The workplace, equipment, operation management, and the administrative and HR support all come with the package, so small businesses are able to skip many company expenses. Earning more while spending less is heaven for entrepreneurs.

Staff leasing service offers you opportunities to cut costs, without sacrificing the quality of your operations. If you’re looking for cost-efficient ways to streamline your business, consider leasing your staff instead of hiring in-house; you’ll have more money to spend on other essentials.

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Choosing Shared Services? Here’s Your Five-Point Cheat Sheet

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A business would be better if everything is kept simple. When operational costs start to grow but the productivity rate remains low, it’s time to think of strategies that would give the organization a vibrant metamorphosis.

Shared services model is the answer to that dilemma. It is a business model where the resources of a business are pooled together into a single unit. Here, the chargeback is not centrally divided but is computed based on the actual services used. It is a cost-efficient mechanism of doing business, eliminating the risks of wasting resources.

Shared Services Model – Cheat Sheet

1. Goal – What is the goal of the business in trying alternative ways of doing business? Is it solely based on cost-saving? Perhaps you want to improve the working conditions or to better the services? Whatever the reason, the goal to implement a shared service unit should always be results-driven. Analysis is the key to finding out if this kind of model would benefit all the players.

2. Team Decision – The decision to implement a shared service center is not shouldered by the higher-ups alone. The whole team should be involved in the decision-making, as everyone will be affected by any drastic business shift. This way, all sides will be considered, especially the ones who will need to adjust to accommodate the changes.

3. Time Frame – Time is crucial when implementing new projects. As far as shared services is concerned, a feasibility study should always be considered. This includes discussions on transitioning, training, and procurement of necessary resources. After all, for a shared service center to succeed, all things should run in unison.

4. Target Discussion – When the rudimentary procedures are settled, it’s time to explain the target to the team. This includes discussions on the output, the best practices, various approaches to take when handling the task, grievance procedure, and the goal of the organization. The involvement of each team member is important, as they’re the ones to decide as to what is essential and what is counterproductive.

5. Performance Monitoring – It is crucial to monitor the team right from the start of the operation. This is to gauge the capacity of each member to handle important tasks, avoiding any hindrances that would defeat the purpose of the shared service center. Leadership and delegation of tasks are improved in this setup, but it is necessary to consistently check if the management of the team is indeed efficient.

A shared service model is an advantage if you have a feasible strategy in place. Whether you’re a start-up or established corporation, consider this option if you want to maximize productivity and streamline operations.

Elsewhere on this blog:

3 Outsourcing Essentials for Better Business

Choosing Your Business Model: Shared Services Over Centralization

Build Stronger Teams on an Infrastructure of Shared Services

Monitoring Social Media: Where’s Your Focus?

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Establishing presence on social media is important, but monitoring your brand is crucial. Social media is not only used for customer service, it’s also a good way to see how your brand is performing; are you making the right impression? Social media is a platform where you can fish for opportunities for success.

The power of social media is great; you have everything to gain by leveraging it. There’s a lot of noise in this platform, and it takes effort to isolate and listen to what’s important. Many companies consider staff leasing service just to filter all the information. The goal of social media monitoring is to collect relevant data, also analyze how such data can be used to the brand’s or company’s advantage.

Here are two things to monitor online, especially on social media:

1. Monitor your Brand or Company

The first thing to monitor is your brand or your company. This is the easiest to verify, because a lot of information will be revealed with a simple keyword search. Consider user questions about your company, viral content about your brand, reviews of your products or services, or maybe even a community of your avid followers. All these information from common people will not only give you an idea of how popular your brand or company is, it also gives you the chance to connect with them. After all, the best customer service is when customers can feel your solid presence.

2. Monitor the Industry

After “stalking” your brand or company online, it’s now time to widen your perspective—monitor the industry. By doing so, you’re not just checking out the position of your company or brand in the market, you’re also keeping your eyes open for the competition. After all, the customers are not the only ones talking about your products or services, the other companies are also checking you out.

Monitor their activity and content, see if there are things that you can learn from them. Maybe you can learn from their weak strategies to improve yours? How about unsuccessful campaigns that you can use as case studies? Just gather relevant industry information and use them as recipes for success. Keep your customers close and your competition closer. If you find the task overwhelming, hire staff leasing service.

Beyond the noise in social media, there are important information in the form of complaints, positive reviews, questions, and feedbacks that you can use to improve your brand or company. By monitoring only the relevant things, you’re making the social media a place where opportunities abound.

Elsewhere on this blog:

Business 101: How to Widen Customer Network Using Social Media

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Shared Services Model – It Could Be Your Best Business Solution Yet

Shared Services Model – It Could Be Your Best Business Solution Yet

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In unity there is strength, as best described in the shared services model; it’s a business strategy where some resources of an organization are combined to cut costs and remove redundant operations. Processes are standardized and resources are optimized, effectively combining the best practices of different teams and strengthening the organization in the long run.

Cost-Cutting

With resources focused on just a single unit, operational costs would greatly decrease. In a normal setup, each department has its own intangible and tangible assets, even repetitive operations, while the shared services model pool valuable resources together to remove menial tasks. Consequently, downtime is lessened and operational costs are reduced.

Efficient and Professional

Reduced downtime enables workers to focus on their tasks. With dedication to only accomplish valuable services, the workers’ training and skills are improved. This promotes the professionalization of their work, making them able to deliver efficient service.

Improved and Standardized Service

A task-driven team is also customer-focused. Once cultivated into a work culture, clients and the business receive services from just a single structure and from a standardized process. There would be no complicated administrative procedures to take, just a streamlined mechanism to quickly and wisely extend services.

Flexible and Focused

There’s the misconception the shared services model is complicated, considering various tasks are juggled by just a single unit. The uncertainty that comes with this is normal, as a shift in business model is coupled with inevitable changes. However, this is resolved as soon as the shared service center is in operation, once the staff knows how to prioritize between processes. Thus, they can control the work flow by managing tasks, as well as strategize procedures based on the business’ and the customers’ needs. With such flexibility, the focus and quality of service is improved.

Indeed, the shared services model is not just a practical means to do business. It is a wise move to improve the overall operations of an organization, all while maintaining a professional workforce and providing optimum service.

Elsewhere on this blog:

Choosing Your Business Model: Shared Services Over Centralization

Expanding Your Business Reach: Multilingual Contact Centers

Four Outsourcing Challenges Your Business Needs to Hurdle

Five Tips for Providing the Best Customer Service Experience

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A bad customer experience can ruin your business reputation, drive customers away. This is unfortunate realization for companies forced to recall products, compensate for poor service. It’s really difficult to make up for such scenarios, especially when you’re up against angry customers who just wouldn’t quit. This is why many consider customer service outsourcing an efficient solution to complaint management. Whether your customer support is in-house or leased, these best practices should spare you from mistakes too many companies fumbled with.

1. Provide a clear explanation

You’re very familiar with your industry’s technologies and terminologies, and they say familiarity breeds contempt – towards your customers. If you can’t explain your service in plain and simple terms, the customer will feel misunderstood, even patronized. The clarity of communication is important because it affects everything you do. It influences the customer’s decision in buying as well as their experience in using the product or service offered.

Aside from slangs, colloquialisms, or technical jargon, you should also avoid passive-aggressive language and negative undertones. Explain things in chronological order or in order of difficulty, complemented by a friendly voice; your customers appreciate clarity.

2. Active Listening

In answering queries and dealing with customer complaints, listen with an intent to understand what the real problem is. If you ignore the issue or fail to meet your customer’s expectations, the situation could worsen or escalate.

To save you from failed communication, pay close attention to the words used, as well as the tone and other nonverbal signals used in a conversation. Through this simple practice, you would know where a customer is coming from, and you can address the problem correctly and efficiently. If you’ve considered customer service outsourcing, invest in training and coaching programs to ensure your support is equipped to handle the worst customer complaints.

3. Use Positive Language

One way you’ll steer clear of accidental conflicts brought by failed communication is to use positive language. Instead of saying “can’t” or “unavailable,” shift to words that propose a definite solution. When the focus of the conversation is on the outcome, the customer is less likely upset in the end. Done professionally and formally, the angry or frustrated customer will still trust your brand.

4. Follow up on Customer Requests

Whether you promised to give an update on a request or not, the customer expects the agent to follow through until completion. Failing to do leaves the impression you’re unprofessional, and may smear the reputation of your business. Before it happens, keep in mind all the requests deserve an immediate response, ensure your customers are guided from start to finish. Remember to be accountable for the customers’ satisfaction, making them feel important and valued.

5. Close the Conversation on a Good Note

Closing a conversation is more than just saying thank you and goodbye. A good agent doesn’t leave an issue hanging and unresolved. He/she guarantees that every transaction completely addressed the customer’s question or achieved the purpose of the call. Your willingness to close a conversation correctly shows that you want to get things right and care about the customer’s gratification.
A good customer experience sustains retention. Manage your customer base well and watch your prospects grow through word-of-mouth, on social media. Building a good reputation takes time; value what you’ve accomplished by keeping constant pulse on your customers.

Elsewhere on this blog:

Maximizing Customer Retention: Handling Complaints

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Four Outsourcing Challenges Your Business Needs to Hurdle

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Is your business outsourcing projects to specialized teams? You’re on the right track in taking that first step; it’s cost-efficient and feasible. There are also fewer worries in entrusting processes to skilled, experienced teams. However, you need to overcome a handful of challenges before you invest; have you considered how the employees in the company will respond the changes, and are you clear on the expectations set with your service provider?

Outsourcing work as extension of your business is beneficial in the long run, but you need to cover all bases if you want to milk all of the benefits. Here are four challenges you need to consider before, during, and after you take the plunge:

1. Transitioning the Management

Outsourcing parts of your operations could mean you’ll have to let some people go. At the very least, you’ll restructure teams as necessary. You need to anticipate the disruptions, manage it so the change wouldn’t be a liability. Existing employees may resist with lack of support; some may also seek other opportunities. Nip this at the bud with proactive strategies that gradually, seamlessly transitions the change in management.

Develop a professionally made communication draft, sent to all stakeholders affected by the transition. It’s best if you can personalize each message to the recipient; sending unique messages to different employee levels will also work. You need to address everyone’s lingering thoughts, “What about me?” and “What’s in this for me?”

2. Cultural Differences

You’re coordinating with teams from different timezones, sharing tasks with different cultural and corporate mores. Your corporate culture may be opposite from your service provider; are you willing to adjust rigid policies to accommodate your provider’s casual approach? What works for you may not work for your provider, and a compromise can be your best solution to achieve synergy.

Factor in national cultures, which can be categorized into differences in language, work ethics, work hours, and religion. Asian cultures are less confrontational than their western counterparts, and your straightforward approach may be received as aggressive, threatening by your eastern counterparts. Your service provider will likely have awareness training resource on hand; coordinate and trade notes in effort to merge the cultures.

3. Unrealistic Expectations

They say great expectations come with great disappointments. You’re partially at fault if you don’t clarify expectations with your service provider at the outset. It is true some companies expect their providers to take care of everything, which is hardly the case (unless stipulated). Set the bar too high and you’ll end up overcritical on the output, worsened by a barrage of negative feedback.

Your executive team need to be aware outsourcing isn’t the end-all of solutions; expectations must be realistic and agreed upon by all parties. Employees and stakeholders must be kept up to speed on developments, including setbacks encountered as the project unfolds. Managing expectations ensures there’s goodwill between the company and clients moving forward.

4. Protecting Intellectual Property

IP is always at risk when you’re working with outside parties. Non-disclosure and non-competition clauses should be airtight, and strictly enforced. Mitigate risks in areas affected, including access to information, physical properties like buildings and offices; implement administrative safeguards that sanction employee conduct.

Keep in mind the safeguards must consider the corporate and cultural differences mentioned, draft policies that anticipate and cover for loopholes. You can’t be too careful with your intellectual property, and it must be said that once that precious trade secret is out, it is out.

All things considered, the benefits of outsourcing outweigh its disadvantages. It’s just a matter of ensuring you’re on the same page with your provider every step of the way. You have everything to gain with efficient coordination, since your business is heavily invested in the results.

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Why Outsource to the Philippines?

Three Odd, Specialized Tasks You Should Outsource

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Businesses delegate tasks for minimum cost and maximum efficiency, the primary reasons why outsourcing is so appealing. Companies often outsource so they can concentrate on big picture management. If you’re considering third-party services, it’s important the provider leases skilled, experienced. and specialized staff.

However, you might not be aware of unlikely processes you can also outsource, sparing you time and money. This includes podcast production and email management, anything you’d rather not do and willing to pay for. Here are three other tasks you can delegate to outsourced staff:

1. Logistics, Planning, Appointments, and Reservations

Isn’t it great if you didn’t have to worry about the day’s mundane routines? Businesses have the same needs; the service is similar to hiring a personal assistant, but the scope is wider, covering important operations and processes. You can also delegate what can be considered errands. If you’re managing the personal affairs of a team or department, you’ll need help handling the task that pile up.

It’s best if you outsource these tasks to virtual assistants: dinner reservations, spa appointments, car rentals, parcel tracking, even social media posting. These seemingly trivial tasks are real-world concerns of businesses and corporations, and entire teams are leased and hired to to handle the upkeep.

2. Calls Management, Inbound and Outbound

Unlike virtual assistants who juggle a wide variety of tasks, virtual receptionists are dedicated to call management. Instead of answering calls on your own, you can choose trained and experienced representatives to filter the flow. As authentic and professional fronts to your business, virtual receptionists will also screen your calls, sparing you time and trouble.

There are plenty of tools you can use online, with receptions always on standby to take over your load. If your needs are so involved you’ll need a team of receptionists in rotating shifts, then staff leasing is your efficient, feasible alternative.

3. Research and Documentation

These can involve something as simple as a background check, to a comprehensive survey of target market trends. Either way, you can do away with the legwork. Outsource this to skilled researchers with background on statistics or library science. Even if you’re only composing a blog post with detailed data, researchers ensure the facts and numbers are straight.

You can hire individuals or teams, depending on the bulk of the work to accomplish. If you’re pressed for time, then you can spend it rehearsing your presentation, instead of fumbling with the source material.

There’s always someone willing to take on the task. With outsourcing, costs are surprisingly feasible, and people bid with high-quality work and shortest turnaround times. Whether you’re a start-up or established business, outsourcing the small task ensures you’re focused on management and operations, everything that keep the gears of the company grinding.

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Essentials of Contact Center Management: Call Handling

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Staff Leasing 101: Is Cheaper Better?

Business Metrics: What Surveys Can Do For Your Business

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While it is often overlooked and its relevance not emphasized, surveys are important in all endeavors. It’s the key to answering specific questions needed in an organization. However, the process isn’t as simple as it seems. Every question is drafted to cover a diverse range of topics; when answered, this provides companies answers and solutions. At the very least, companies have better grasp of its next strategies.

In business, surveys help collect valuable data used to better understand the market. These include consumers, competitor, and market trends. The data helps business owners, potential investors see the organization from a different standpoint. Surveys are conducted to answer questions and obtain data, used to improve processes and systems in the organization.

Every survey process has three phases:

1. Formulate relevant questions that answer most or all of the company’s questions.
2. Extract the raw data, translate, organize, present.
3. Identify positive and negative results, strong and weak points; suggest courses of action.

Surveys are vital to an organization’s success. The data points you in the right direction, also helps you prepare for unforeseeable problems or challenges you may encounter. Projections are insightful in new, various ways. Once data is interpreted properly, you have enough to use on customer outreach: engagement, monitoring, and follow-ups.

Here are some points to address:

– What’s the running pulse of your customers, your market?
– What can you do to improve communication, increase positive feedback?
– How can you improve customer experience?

Surveys glean information by collecting data from a representative sample of your market. This requires extensive preparation, execution, evaluation. Most companies outsource this service to specialists, which is often the most feasible option. Your company could be doing great, plateaued, or at a crossroads, all these ideal scenarios to conduct surveys on your market. However, it’s important your surveyor is skilled and experienced in processes, able to draft the right set of questions, choose the best sample, apply the appropriate treatment, and interpret the data.

Companies in tune with their markets are able to beat the competition. Finally, there’s one compelling reason why you should seriously conduct surveys: your best competitors are doing it. Keep the competition at bay, find practical ways to get ahead, and roll with improvements.

Elsewhere on this blog:

Boost Your Business Without Going Bust – 4 Scaling Tips for Startups

Competitive Advantages of Offshore Staff Leasing

Business 101: How to Widen Customer Network Using Social Media

Choosing Your Business Model: Shared Services Over Centralization

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Regardless of industry, specialty, or region, business owners know there is always room for improvement within the company. In the fast-paced and highly-competitive markets of today, businesses have to adapt to the surges of demand and supply, adopt the proper business model that propels the company forward.

There’s a variety of possible models to adopt, but two common and popular models stand out above the rest. Your business needs to know: how is shared services model better than centralization?

Shared Service In A Nutshell

In a shared services model, processes are coordinated between independent units and a supervising entity. This relationship is dynamic, with each unit accountable to its own output and efficiency. There’s focus on service excellence, cost-efficiency, performance, and continuous improvement. Customers are treated as customers, with emphasis on service and feedback.

Centralization, Streamlining And Efficiency

Centralization dedicates leadership to an oversight party or headquarters. Consequently, this model benefits the company more than the end user (customer). Usual focus is on operations and management, instead of customer service. Centralization is a traditional business model, and it’s proven advantageous if the goal is to run the company like a well-oiled machine.

The Advantage Of Shared Services Model

To put it simply, shared services offers the business the chance to maximize a dedicated and expert team of specialists to handle a specific operation/project, at a cost-effective price. Meanwhile, centralization is the integration of services to one location, with a clear designation of decision-making to the higher ups of the management. While both models offer a range of benefits, they also have their own unique advantages to offer.

In the shared services model, businesses can expect a strong emphasis on the quality of performance/output from the provider. In centralization, a standard procedure must be strictly followed. The whole structure of the team under the shared services model also make for a way that leaders have a shared responsibility and accountability to deliver the efficient and effective functions required of them.

In contrast, the decisions in the centralized model are made for the benefit of the company rather than the customers. Because the shared services model offers a more flexible and service-oriented approach to accomplish a task/function, the advantage is evident in excellent results and feedback.

Searching for effective solutions to outsourcing? Consider shared services and staff leasing!

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Why Project Outsourcing (Still) Points East: Take Your Market Research Calls to the Philippines

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While the global economic climate has succumbed to caution and slower growth, the Philippines remains a lucrative destination for project outsourcing needs, including the expanding industry of market research. With enough decision-making work on your hands, it’s time you consider taking on the world’s largest outsourcing market, one of Asia’s most English-proficient countries—ultimately meeting your market research call needs in the process.

A Large English-Speaking Talent Pool

To effectively gauge your customers’ reactions towards your product or service, you must have a certain understanding of their daily routine and how it relates to what you offer to them. Filipinos themselves are highly Westernized, which makes their calls feel more authentic. No customer would feel comfortable talking about their products to a stiff-sounding robot, which is why Filipinos, with their first-hand experiences of Western products, can very much relate to the experiences of your customers. Perhaps they can even throw in a pop culture reference or two (when appropriate, of course), to make your business feel more human.

Lower Costs

Despite the abundance of qualified talent, the Philippines is still known for being a cost-efficient, project outsourcing destination. In the realm of market research calls, that simply means your expenditures for customer support take a nosedive, while the development of your business can finally take a huge chunk of the company budget. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Intense Competition, Higher Quality

Open a Filipino classified ad or job website and you’d be hard pressed not to find a BPO company. According to the Oxford Business Group, it’s even become an $18 billion-dollar industry in 2014. Competition, in turn, has become rife as an abundance of outsourcing companies vie to give the best contact services possible to their offshore clients. You can expect to avoid paying top dollar for quality.

A Tech-Savvy Generation

The Philippines is no stranger to the newest technologies, especially in its young workforce. Developments in consumer electronics and telecommunication are immediately adopted and applied. This is seen in all IT industries: transitioning in-house tasks offshore is easier if you’re working with teams that easily adapt. Technical and specialized processes are competently handled; couple this with English-proficient professionals and you have the ideal talent pool.

Project outsourcing is good for business because it reduces operation costs. If you’re partnered with the right teams, then you’re also guaranteed efficient processes. If you’re considering locations to expand, there’s no better place to start than the Philippines.

Did you like this post? Contact us now for inquiries!

Elsewhere on this Blog:

When West Meets East: Outsourcing Services and the Corporate Cultural Gap

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