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.
Home Call Center Outsourcing
I have talked allot of bad things how outsourcing your call center work to some one in the Philippines but I might have been wrong!
I have never done this before but I think that it might work provided you follow my steps.
1. You need two internet connections Globe and PLDT.
2. Load balancing router for your two internet connections, in case one has a problem you have a back up. Each connection is going to cost you $20 dollars a month. This is something that you are going to have to search for to find should not be hard to find.
3. Hosted predictive dialer this is a company that will provide the dialer, CRM, reporting and many other things. Best of all that the agent can work from home and you can look at what type of calls they are doing.
4.Mega Meeting, This is a great system that you will be able to see the agent working and talk to them Via chat. You will need to have the agent with a web cam for this to work right but in the Philippines a web cam cost about $20 dollars, just make sure the web cam don’t need any drivers.
That’s pretty much it but that problem is that the agent is going to be working at home, so there is no one to manage them which is one of the biggest problems but if you think that you can trust them then you are ok.
Also you are going to have to get them a computer that will fit your needs and will work with all the above!
When you are home call center outsourcing there is no tech, no management and American management.
Best is to start with a outsourcing company first and then move on to Home call center outsourcing.
Also remember that you are working with a person no a company, this is very different!
Just Because You are A Member Of CCAP Don’t Mean You Are A Good Philippines Call Center ATA Microsoft Certified
Allot of call center companies are places the CCAP logo on there website or ATA which means nothing more then they paid money to be apart of there company, any one with deep pockets can do this. When you are looking for an outsource company to work with make sure that you do your time studies on them every way that you can, just don’t pick one because they are big or because they are members of any origination, pick them because you did your research on them and there price.
Don’t start off with anything other 6 agents to start with, you have to test the waters first to see what happens and then go fro there, anything over 6 people is going to be over kill because it’s going to take time for the call center outsourcing company that you are working with to get everything working the way that you want it and its going to at least take a month before your campaign really starts working any company that tell you they are going to be able to get your team up and running in the first month is full of shit.
Allot of call centers will tell you what you want to hear so you are goign to have to give your best judgment on who is full of shit and who is real.
Don’t believe everything that you see on the call center outsourcing website, most is BS.
Microsoft Certified means nothing, all the agents that are hired here are very good with all Microsoft products.
You have to remember that any one can make a website and put anything that they want on it!
Some of these clubs do have there advantages but I don’t know if it’s worth it with the amount of money they want to become a member.
