Hiring Staff Is A Hit Or Miss
I have been hiring staff in the Philippines for about 6 years doing every possible interview style that you can think of and really at the end of the day you are going to get some good ones and some bad ones, I don’t care what type of style that you are going to use because there are some call center training schools that teach them on what to say when then are being interviewed. You are better off hiring 2 to 3 people person to make sure you get one good one because really only one of them is going to work for you and is going to be long term. Also if you are a smaller call center you are going to be worried about feeling the hours that you have contract with your client and if the 1 agent don’t show up you are going to be shit out of luck so if you have a client that is asking for just one ask do your best to push him to at least two. Or even if you wanted to if your a small call center and an agent don’t show up for his shift you can work the hours but up to the call center owner. Anyone thinks they have hiring down here in the Philippines please comment would love to get some more ideas.
USB, Analog Or Multimedia Headsets Whats Better
Been using all threes of these headsets for years and now really thinking what is the best ones that you can use because I have tried all of them and at the end of the day it comes down to your budget because you are going to get what you pay for as always. When I first started out here operating a call center I thought that analog was the best out there because that is what I was sold on and soft phones for computers were just starting to come out so I bought a bunch of dial pads and analog headsets costing some thing like $60 dollars each and a Diguim E1 card and a channel bank. One of the reasons that we used this type of set up was I was thinking is to have each station with a port with voice and then a port for internet but later on learned that this was something that was not needed and now I have about 100 dial pad’s and headsets sitting in my house that is pretty much junk. Now then we made our way into the USB faz’s because then I was hearing it was the way to go and I way able to buy USB Platonic headsets for the same cost of one of the analog headset’s so it worked out. Later on while using this headset’s I found out that they were very easy to break and only had a 6 months warranty which cost me thousands of dollars because I kept having to buy new ones every month and I tried a ton of different USB head sets which I have talked in my other post about what the best headset you can buy. This month been using multimedia headsets because they are allot cheaper some thing like $10 dollars a headset and have been working great which has been starting to make me think twice about getting the USB headset because they cost any where from $30 to $100 dollars depending on the brand that you buy.
For get about analog headset, they are total not worth it and they cost way more then both USB and multimedia headset’s.
I would suggest starting your new agents out on multimedia headsets for about a month and then once they are starting to look like they are long term then go and buy them one of these headsets and then make the agents buy them over the course of 6 months and then the headsets are not going to cost you a dime.
Philippines Call Center MANAGEMENT!
Please take note I have not edited this yet but will do tomorrow.
There are a shit load of call centers in there Philippines doing all types of project’s from inbound to outbound and many other things you would never think of outsourcing. When you are outsourcing to a call center here in the Philippines you have many things to consider when you are going to pick a company, quality, price and management. Being here in the Philippines for the last 7 years I have learned about everything that you can about working in a call center managing a call center and operating one. The last couple of years being hear I have gone through about everything that you could think of from dialer’s, soft phones, VOIP, managing agent, offices, getting around, lawyers and a shit load of other stuff that you are going to have to learn on your own, maybe, if you are not stupid.
Now here is the most important thing I would ever teach you on this site is management!!!!!
Any of these sites or companies that have the work from home bull shit is bull shit, there is now way to over see your staff because they are in another country at home with family, kid’s and a freaking roster in the back ground.
Is that some thing you would like to have your clients here in the back ground while they are talking to you customers?
You need foreign management this is the most important thing when you are outsourcing your business or operations to the Philippines, in the office they need some one that can look after your staff and make sure they are doing it the way that you would do in a first world country because this is a third would country which is very different from a first world country no matter what any one says and if they say its the same as the States or some other place they are full of shit, other then India and you don’t want to outsource there.
You don’t need some one with a masters in business management degree you need some one that thinks like you or brought up in a similar way that you were because here in the Philippines the way people are brought up is very different. So when you are dealing with your outsourced call center you need to have some one that you can work with and talk to about how your project is going that under stands what you want.
I’m not shitting on the Philippines like I have said in many other blogs I have wrote before the Philippines is by far the best place in the world that you could ever outsource to but you gotta know what you are doing and you are going to need allot of advice from people or website like this one before you make the jump.
The whole point about this blog is that you need American, British or Australian management that is going to over see your team in some why but they are going to have to be there in the same office they the call center agent is working in. There are many web sites that say that they have American management or what ever but most time it’s bull shit because what you are going to fly to the Philippines to make sure and even if you did you meet an American guy and everything is fine but what about when you leave that guy is out the back door as soon as you.
This is a hard thing for me to say but you should never trust a Filipino, I have only meet one in the 7 years I have been here and I loved him like a brother but for me to find a friend like that was dam near luck but they are out there. Everything in the call center world is business business business it’s one of the most cut throat business you could get in so in a way trust no one! Some one telling you that they are your best friend and they would do any thing for you is really hard to find but most time if they are Filipino they are just looking to work on a way to cheat you, it’s a doggy dog world here.
This whole article is changing from how you outsource to operating a call center sorry just so many thing’s following right now about the things I have been through I hope in a way that it helps you in some way.
Vicidial Hosting
I have been using Vicidial for about 4 to 5 years and I have to say holy shit because the difference from now to 5 years ago is such a huge difference going from banging my head on the wall at times to now if set up correctly works great with out any down time. Now here is the important thing about using Vicidial in your office or using it at a hosted solution is that you set it up correctly and if you are like many of use are going to give it a shot your self and see if you can get it working because now days it’s a cd install and then everything should work but there are many more parts to it then you would think. I would highly recommend that you have a pro install and set up everything for you on the dialer even if cost you a little bit of money. I have a friend I’ve been working with and installing Vicidial over the years, he just started his new company up this last year offering Vicidial installations, Vicidial hosting and Vicidial support. I will tell you the truth when we first started using and doing Vicidial installs we did run into some problems because we were newbies but now over the years we learned about everything that we could or I mean my friend Lito. Now at this stage of the game there is no reason to do an install on a machine in your office, host it some in the States. Companies are popping up all over the place offering all types of Vicdial hosting but again I’m going to punch you in the gut and remind you that you need a pro to have it installed and also having some one there to call or email if some thing may every happen.
Here is the company that I would recommend using is Voice Fidelity
What Type Of Headset Should I Buy For My Call Center In The Philippines
I have tried many types of headsets from Analog, USB and plain old shit headset but the best of that I have found is this Logitech Premium Notebook Headset the reason I like it was because it was nice and small and the agents would be able to take it home with them everyday. I got tired of pay for all of these costly headsets over and over the years and once I found these headset I decided that I was going to make the agents pay for them which worked out very well because I did not have to pay for them and they lasted longer because the agents took better care of them because they paid for them. I just took at 300 Peso out of every pay I gave them which was twice a month so really did not hurt them nor did they get up set most like it allot because they were able to take it home and use it.
I started do this about two years ago and most of the agents still have them and are in good working condition.
You can go for the Shit cdr king ones but they break pretty easy because it’s junk but they do the job if your a tight ass.
Free Screen Capture Software For Training Your Virtual Agents
A friend gave me a open source Screen capture software about a month ago that I used to make some instructional video’s that I made for my agents and also clients that works great called Cam Studio. It’s a very small down load and pretty much plug and play, so if you have some thing that you need to show or explain to your virtual agent then I would strongly suggest you using this free screen capture software.
If you know of some thing that you would think is better please comment.
What’s The Best Call Center VOIP I Can Use?
I have been doing the call center thing for many years now and have tried many different call center VOIP provider that are out there on the net but I have only found two that worked the best.
The first one is my friend Aaron he owns a TELCO provider called PYNK Global, they are very a very good VOIP provider to use and they have a very good rate, about 1.2 cent’s per minute calling to the States with 1 second billing but you might have to twist his arm behind your back to get the 1 second billing but sure if he heard it from me your ok. One thing with PYNK is that they only provide out going calls all over the would with great rates but do not supply DID or 800 numbers.
Next is APN, I have been using them for years and it has never missed a beat same as PYNK, there rate is around the same 1.2 cents a minute but they do provide DID’s and 800 numbers along with many other services related to VOIP or TELCO. One of the things I like about they is they are all around meaning about everything I need VOIP related they can offer so I don’t have to worry about paying so many companies, I only have to pay 1 but some of there other services are not cheap but the quality is A class.
I’m sure that there is allot of other great companies out there that I have not used so if you would like to post a comment below that would be great but other then that these are the best in my experience in a Philippines call center.
Don’t Do It Jesus Is Watching Or You’ll Go To Hell
A while ago a friend told me a story that was in a book he ready about a study they did in a gas station some where in the States. This study was about placing a sign of the ten commandments inside the store were everyone could see it and then they for a week they check the amount of things that had been stolen or had gone missing. After the week they noticed the amount of things that had been stolen or had gone missing had been reduced by a pretty big percentage then if they did not have the sign up. So in my call center in the Philippines I did they same thing and also had allot less things go missing and then we stopped using the sign for some reason and then BAM three laptop’s went stolen that month so I had some of the signs put back up and a camera system in case Jesus was not watching. I would really suggest having some type of Jesus in your office, could even be some thing new age that looked cool or hell a statute of Jesus why not.
I’m total serious about this and if you don’t believe me give it a try and see what is going to happen, it’s not like its going to cost allot of money. The Filipino’s are very religious and I mean so religious There are statutes all over the Philippines even in front of peoples houses, I’m sure my wife is going to be pissed when she sees this post but she’ll get over it.
Also a cheap way to have your agents think that they are being watch is getting some camera’s from cdr king for like 12 dollars each and then just set them up in your office all over and just run the cables in the roof and then places some sign’s around the office saying your being watched by the eye in the sky but really its just bull shit. If you have the money for a camera system it is some thing very good to have or if your on a budget them the above will work.
Jesus is watching you or what the eyes see they believe
Elastix Hosting For Your Philippines Call Center
Here is another great software that I have been using for years and I have loved it but had some trouble finding one that would work good but also a company with low level support in times of need and I will tell you what oboy did I find one. I loved the support that I got with Synapse Global every time I had an issue that I was not able to fix I would submit a ticket to them and they would reply back that it had been fixed but also it was not a problem the Elastix hosting it’s self but I needed a costume configuration done that was not a part of there service and they did it any ways. I was under some super pressure to make sure it was done before the lunch date of one of my new clients and they had it up and working 4 days before we went live. I would not suggest working with any other company then the, they also Trixbox hosting and allot of other services.
Great Cell Center Online Invoicing & Billing Software
About a 2 years ago I got really tried of using all of these invoice and billing software so I started looking for some thing online and better that I would be able to use in case my account was out of the office or if I did not have an accountant to put an invoice together and then keep track of it. When you have a client saying we want to wire the money to you today and your accountants not around to do it and you have to say sorry my accountant is sick can I send it to you tomorrow, it don’t look very good. I ran into that problem a couple of times so I started drawing out my plan for my own call center billing software some thing costume made but some how ran into Fresh Books and have loved if from the day I started using it. It was very easy to use and was cheap like $20.00 dollars a month or if you would like to try a free account then you also can. The free account is only good for one person and you can only have 3 clients on it but to try it out well worth the time. You can set up clients very easy and also have them on auto bill so you don’t even have to worry about sending the invoice off, you just set the date and the amount that needs to be sent every month and then you never have to touch it. If you get the paid version you can have it total branded to your company so who every you send an invoice to it looks like its coming from your company but if you have the free account you are going to have some Fresh Books on there. Also works with my types of merchant gate ways like Paypal and Authorize.Net
