Live Like A Philippines Call Center Agent
I have been in the Philippines for about 6 years on and and have really began to adapted to the life of a Filipino which is crazy to me but tell you what you can sure learn allot and save allot. Pretty much most people that you will talk to will tell you that there life is good and they are happy but you will give some that are saying life could be better but not every often. Most agents will bring there rich lunch which is a cup of rice and then a little bit of meat, pork or chicken or they will get some thing like cup of noodles or a cheap store around where they are working. Going to the office and leaving the office most take the bus and a jeep which are both very cheap, about $2 dollars round trip. so over all for food and travel is less then $4 dollars a day. Most agents are making around 14 dollars day.
But then you got to under stand that most agents are living with there families like mom and dad, which you would say that’s nice but what they do is live with mom and dad and mom and dad want a part of all there kids pay checks that are leaving with them. This is pretty much most of the call center agents but not every one in the Philippines.
Call Center Philippines Sales Men
Here are some problems that you have when you a talking to sales men trying to sale call center services.
1. They have never been to the Philippines.
2. They have never operated a Philippines call center.
3. The person has not lived in the US for a long time and don’t under stand the US culture.
4. Most don’t have American management on site to under stand the gaps in both cultures.
Make sure that the company that you are working with has both experience in the States and the Philippines to bridge the gap that your client might get.
You can be very successfully with a Philippine call center but you need to make sure that you are working with the right company with the right tools.
Philippines Call center and Trust In The People That You Are Working With
There are some people here that will really take advantage of you in any way that they can. 99% of the time it’s all money, some times it could be true that you might owe them money for back pay or 13th month but most of the time it’s all bull shit. You need to make sure that you having an accounting company work with you that is really good a company that you can hold reliable in case some thing goes wrong, not some one that is an account or book keeper.
On another note never hire any a book keeper, outsource it some where here in the Philippines, most times it will cost you less and you will not have the hassle of contracts or labor problems in the end.
It’s very very important here that you follow all the rules because the Philippines is labor pro which means they are for the workers not your company! I have been in a couple battles with x agents but all has been taken cared but for the most part it could have went any way. Make sure that you get your self a copy of the labor laws that they have in the Philippines because it’s very different then most other country and make sure that you get a good lawyer that can help you incase some thing like this happens.
Next is place your self around good people both from the Philippines and other countries that might have to help you when in need, this will go a long way.
If you go through a case and it’s all settled at that point let it go! There are to many other thing to worry about then them.
This is not to scare any one away from outsourcing to a Philippines call center but to prepare you for what you might go through when you are here, again make sure that you follow all the rules and get things done correct and you will be fine and love it here.
In short don’t cut corners
I love the Philippines but made some mistakes when I started and want to make sure that no one has to go through it.
Also there are allot of great people here in the Philippines which many I call my best friends but be wise when you choose your friends here.
Philippines And Becoming One With The Culture
I have allot of friends that bank there head on the wall because the Culture here is so different then many other country that are not third world. I have realized at this point that it is never going to change and you are best if you just give into the way the Philippines is. If you have not been to the Philippines then here are some thing that happen that you don’t see in most first world countries.
1. 4 to 5 people on a motor bike.
2. Throughout garbage on the ground is ok.
3. A guy on a motor bike with 200 papers in between him.
4. Every one is always like, called Philippines time.
5. Washing a toaster.
6. Stop lights don’t matter at night.
7. There is no pound for dogs, the walk freely Cats too.
8.
I will put some more on later but this is what I got off the top of my head.
These are just some things that you can expect if you ever come to the Philippines but it’s best if you just go with the follow it will make it allot easier.
DNC Cost
I have been told that it cost 25,000 dollars to get a San number for the whole US, well here are you cost.
Hint: Use this option to renew based on your last subscription.
Philippines Holidays WTF!
Malacanang just announced that August 5th is going to be a non working holiday in Honer of the past President Cory Aquino’s funeral. I don’t want to knock on Cory because she did allot but doesn’t the Philippines already have way to many holidays? Now if you own a call center you are going to have to Pay your people one and a half more, I cant imagine what it would feel like if you had a 2000 or 3000 seat call center. If sure that all the call center agents are licking there chop’s for the extra pay on the 5th.
Inbound Call Center
When you are running a call center you want inbound work not outbound if you can get inbound work but most small call centers will never get the chance to run any inbound call center work because it is very had to find but some will get lucky. If you get luck and get an inbound account hold on to that shit as long as you can because they don’t come along often. Outbound call center work is all over the place but most times it’s shit, some thing like Direct TV, stay away from that. Inbound call center work is what the Philippines call center is the best at, the Philippines was made for customer services, it don’t get better in an other country. If you are looking to outsource your customer service you are an idiot if you don’t pick the Philippines. As far as outbound call centers it’s ok as long as you are paid hourly or paid in advance for your sales if commission based but if not it’s not worth your time. With inbound call center work make sure that you have PBX that is bullet proof or some type of system that is Ayava, it has to work well or you are going to shoot your self in the foot. Training the agents is not going to be that hard because the culture is already customer service oriented but you will need to make sure that they know they product that they are services to the T if not you will shoot your self in the foot again. If you get anything that is inbound work hold it like it’s your god dam baby and make sure you give that baby all your love.
Hosted Dialer Magnalogix
Well we got everything up and running for one agent at this stage of the game, there was some problems but it was the way that I set up Bria, it was wrong codec.
First day of testing went well but granted it was only one agent and we were using auto dial not click to dial the next number but they say it works better so we will give it a shot, had about 30 second wait time but other then that the call quality was good and did not run into any other issues but the real test is when we are doing three or more agents to see what happen. I will say the support has been very good and most accommodating to get everything working correctly.
Handling Your Call Center Outsoucing Agents
I have pounded my head into the wall many times because I have asked or explained to one of the agents or techs what to do or how to do it and then I leave and come back to see how it is going and again hitting the head on the wall.
Here is the deal the Philippines in a way is like programing a computer or telling it what to do and it will pretty much do 100% what you asked for its the same thing here, you need to explain in depth what you are asking for and really really make sure that they under stand what you want because most times even if they don’t know what you said and you said do you under stand they will say yes so you have to ask them a couple times to make sure they got it.
Don’t get me wrong not talking bad on the Philippines at all, I think that it’s the cloture gap or something that makes it difficult at times.
I read a story about a company in Australia pulling out because of Philippines bad customer server which I think it crazy, the Philippines has the because customer service, its just making sure that you have the girl agents and you train them correctly. Allot of things that I have seen is these large companies are outsourcing to big of groups at one time which makes it to hard to handle so you are going to get shitty training and everything will be done way to fast and that is not only the companies fault but also the call center for taking the deal.
When you are call center outsourcing start with something small and prove the concept works and slowly grow it from there.
Philippines Call Center? Who Can You Trust?
I have heard so many story’s about people setting up call centers because its one of the biggest things here in the Philippines and most business men think that they can do it and they probable can but they mix them self’s up with the wrong partners or consultants.
There is money in call center outsourcing but you have to make sure that you are working with the right person and have the right technology which at times in very hard if you don’t know what you are doing. Try to find the right partner is something that I can help you with because reading people here some times can be very difficult, best if to do back ground check and ask around to see if you can hear any bad or good things about that person before you get married.
Best if you can do it on your own with no partners if you need help on setting up the call center then follow the guide that I have written and it will get you started or pay a professional company to come in and set it up but remember that its going to cost you an arm and a leg. We have always operated on a very low set up cost because we set up everything which will save you allot of money, if you are a penny pincher.
Getting call center clients is going to be the hardest thing to do and that is why you need to set up a website and start to learn SEO or pay some one to do it for you, if you have cash and want to be number one on google then Pay per click is the way to go, its going to cost you any where from 10 to 100 dollars a day but it will get you up there and start to get you clients calling you looking for outsourcing. Also blog or pay some one to blog for you.
Don’t set your prices to low or buy shitty equipment at the end it will bit you in the ass, I have done it before it don’t work and like they say you get what you pay for! Try to price your call center outsourcing around 1,200 dollars per agent per month so you have some more for your customer to haggle because they will 
anything under a 1,000 dollars per month is not enough for your call center to operate correctly unless you are operating out of your house or something which I think is not the best way to do it at this point.
If you are starting and on a budget starting out of your house might be a way to start if you have a good size house and your compound will let you but from what I know most will not let you in Manila but if you are in the provance you might be able to get away with it but the problem that you are going to have is your internet and power so invest in a load balancing router and get to to good internet connection. Also get a generator something that cost maybe 400 dollars just to be safe in case the power goes out.
Best option is to seat lease in a call center that already has everything set up but its going to cost you a little bit more but much more professional.
Another way in finding client is social networking site which everyone is all ready on but you can start adding friends and plugging about your services that you are offering and link back to your web site, I don’t do this that much but I know allot of call centers that are doing it now. Places like facebook, Twitter and myspace.