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Philippines call centers becoming
The Philippines is becoming the number one place to outsource and India is now threatened.
Allot of call centers from the Philippines are being bought out by call centers in India and I think the reason is because they fill scared that in the next couple of years that the Philippines will pass India because of the better service and english.
In time you are going to see all the call centers in the Philippines owed by India because they are concerned that the day might come where no one will ever want to outsouce there.
Death of outsoucing with Obama
I just read an article about Obma and wanting to give companies in the states a tax break if there are not sending jobs over sea’s. I love Obama but this is somehting that could really affect us and many other call centers that are focusing on the US market. I will be voting for Mccain
Provincial Call Centers
First there was Makati, then Ortigas Center, then Libis, Alabang, Quezon City and now the provinces. Call Centers in the Philippines are just popping out like mushrooms, and during this growth, a lot of investors are now diverting their attentions to provinces to build their call center. At first, that may seem strange and impractical simply for the fact that building a call center in the province is something unheard of. I still remember the first time I told my folks that i was working in a call center, all of them had the same reaction.. dumbfounded, they don’t know what a call center is, and after all my efforts of trying to explain it to them in the simplest way that i can, they all came to the conclusion that i was a telephone operator. So its just shows how new the concept of the call center is to the people in the province back then. But now, you may be surprised on how many call centers are now operating from the provinces, and why wouldn’t they? If you take a close look at it, there is a lot of benefits in running a center from the province, first is operating cost, we all know that office spaces or rentals in the province is much cheaper compared to Manila, you could probably get up to fifty percent savings on office rental. Then provincial rate of salary is lower than that of Manila. If you are worried about the supply of manpower, keep in mind that forty to fifty percent of the applicants that are coming to Manila are actually from the provinces, imagine how attractive your company will be to them because instead of coming to the city for a job, you are there to give it them. You also don’t have to worry about other utilities like ISP provider, Electric, etc. you will definitely get it there.
Now, if you really want to maximize all of this, there is another key thing that you need to learn, and that is VoIP or Voice Over Internet Protocol.This will eliminate the needs for expensive equipments and long set ups. It will cut your cost dramatically without sacrificing efficiency and quality. Its saving money without cutting corners. I actually have first hand experience working with companies that uses VoIP technology and I would have to say that they are great. It can do whatever you need your telephony to do without the ridiculous cost.
I wouldnt be surprised if i see a call center being built in my province anytime soon.
rgs.
Call Center Buffet…. A smorgas board of job opportunities
“Hiring, Outbound Call Center Agents” “We are looking for Inbound Call Center Agents” “Start a better career now, apply for our CSR positions” just some of the recruitment ads that you would see almost everywhere, May it be in the newspapers, billboards, banners and flyers. Call centers are always on the prowl to look for new blood to support the huge need for call center staffs. And their effort is never in vain, because day by day, more and more applicants are being drawn in the call center industry. From fresh graduates, to people who decided to leave their practiced craft and move to the so called ‘sunshine industry of our country’ the world of the call center.
Why? Simple.., career opportunities and I mean lots of them. Call centers provide a lot of position for aspiring candidates, from entry level agents to managerial positions. There is also an equal battleground for candidates since most call centers don’t require a bachelor’s degree for entry level positions. Don’t get the wrong idea that it’s easy to be hired though because the hiring process is strict and tedious, they only want the best, and since you will be competing with other applicants, some are fresh grads, some already had call center experiences, competition will be tough. So make sure that you arm yourself with the right skills, and of course the right attitude.
Call Center Bloopers…Not really a laughing matter
It was just one of those days, got in to the office, opened my laptop and checked my emails, and as usual I get my to do list for the day. Then suddenly, one email caught my attention, its one of those send-to-many emails and the title was ‘Call Center Bloopers’. It’s actually a compilation of mistakes made by call center agents while on the phone. Mistakes that some may find funny and worth sharing but on my personal opinion, there is actually nothing funny about it, to give you an idea of what I’m talking about, here are some of them;
CSR:Thank you for calling Sprint now together with Nextel, to better resist you
CSR:Oh, no, you don’t have to worry, Mrs.Parker, we can call your husband to ask permission to charge the amount on his credit card. We can call him right now and do a threesome with him on the phone.”
CSR:I apologize for that very long hold, Mr.Sedillo, but thank you for that patiently waiting.”
And there is a LOT more of them. At first glance, yes they sound funny and we have to admit the fact that we people always get a laugh when we hear or see others make mistakes. But, if you come to think of it, there is nothing funny about them; It shows flaws of call center agents, it shows weakness in the Company’s training, its sounds so unprofessional and the company that the call center services definitely doesn’t appreciate them. The funny thing is how other people exert effort to compile these mistakes and post it on the web or propagate it through email. Hasn’t it occurred to them that they are in a way demoralizing overseas companies from outsourcing their services to us? Maybe if those overseas companies start looking at other countries to outsource their business to,, people who gets a laugh out of our agents mistakes might realize that the joke was actually on them.
Bottomline is, instead of populating the internet with all those ‘funny’ stuffs, why not start posting about how good our agents are and show everyone that we are at par with them when it comes to skills and communication efficiency. This might not provide laughter in the start, but it would definitely make us smile in the long run.
rgs
Technology
One of the things that I notices over the last couple of months with some of our newer clients is that most of them that are doing there own telemarketing are just using a phone and paper or excel. I think phone and excel works for you if its what you have to work with but it you though in some other tools or reports it may help the end result which is more sales or better services. The call center Technology is really advanced in the last couple of years, giving us the ability to do about anything that we want to.
Free coffee
For all agents that read this blog or just tell there friends about it get free coffee, all you have to do is come into the office for a short interview and while you are having your interview, you can enjoy your free coffee, some say the best in town. Just say I read your blog.
Free
American agents at a Philippines price
We are just getting ready to lunch our new service in the next couple of days that I wanted to give everyone a sneak peek.
There is allot of Americans, British, Australians here in the Philippines that really love it here or have families here and live a Philippines life last.
So what UI is putting together right now is Americans working here in the Philippines with you or your company weather is was inbound or outbound you would have some one work on your team. Its even possible to get some one working for you that is from your country, just need to know what type of skills that you need.
For get about the accent or possible language barrier!
Death of a Call Center
After being in the business for more than three years, a call center that i know so well decided to fold and close down the business. I was actually surprised when I first heard the news and thought it was just one of those closing-call-center-gossips but when my old colleagues who were working there asked me for a job, I knew right there and then that the news was true.
It was a call center located in the heart of Manila, my first ever call center. It’s what you may call my “portal” to the call center industry. I still remember my days there as an agent and as supervisor, my first conversation with an American over the phone, my first rejection, my first sale, my first ‘closer’ award and my first promotion. I actually thought that it would be my first and last call center but like what my mentor said, there is a bigger world out there… venture, and I just found myself out of Manila and into the corporate area of Ortigas. But anyway, going back to the topic, I honestly believed that that call center would do well and grow big since it is backed by two of the biggest business entities here in the Philippines but I guess I was wrong. From what I’ve found out, conflict after conflict from the owner and the backer slowly weakened what were once the strong pillars of the company. It was a domino effect, management slowly crumbled, people started leaving, campaigns started pulling out and then the inevitable happened, after more than three years of survival, the company that I thought was going to be great closed its doors and decided to leave the industry. It just proves that it’s not just about who is backing you up because at the end of the day, it all boils down to you and your people. Why worry about someone catching you when you can just avoid falling simply by taking the right steps.
Looking back on that event, I am proud to say that the organization that I am with right now is doing a great job. More power to you guys and keep up the good work.
-rgs
Call Center Crash Course, Does It Help?
During the early years of the call center industry, one of the most in-demand services is English proficiency training, since customer service and outbound telemarketing for the US that time was something relatively new to Filipinos and that for us to be able to cope with it, an excellent command of the English language is a must and we have to admit that those kind of training really helped a lot. Now, as years go by, because of the rapid growth of the industry and the huge demand of agents it entails, most BPO companies decided to do in-house training, fusing it with the company’s existing training procedure which actually help them save time and of course money. Because of this, the need for training services from third party companies had lessened dramatically. During its silence, a new breed of training centers came out, the call center training institutes that offers short term courses for people who wants to enter the call center industry, they provide basic trainings such as grammar, American culture, geography and a little bit of everything.
I would say it’s a good idea but If you would really want to be a competitive candidate for any call center, it would take more than a crash course to get you in, especially if you are competing with other candidates that already had call center experiences, I’ve done recruitment before for a call center in Ortigas and I would say that I’m not that impressed with applicants that boasts about their call center training, I’m not saying that they are terrible, all I’m trying to say is, if I want myself trained, I would definitely want to know what’s really important. What I’m pointing out is to go more in dept and focus on the important parts. If you want to train call center agents, train them on phone skills, phone ethics, build confidence, spontaneity and train them to think on their feet. Most of the applicants I interviewed before can’t even look straight at me and can’t even express themselves. Bottom line is, for people out there who are planning to take training courses for call center, look at what they have to offer, what’s their training program and what does it cover. For those who are doing training and are planning to do call center training, consider my words as pieces of advice, all of those came from first hand experiences.
-rgs
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