I just got done talking with a friend that owns a call center here and he talked about the CCAP seminar which he said was really good! He talked about the VP of etelecare and how he said the Philippines was very different from the States but they can still be trained on how to change there culture.
Here are some of his stories that he talked about in his seminar about Philippines call centers.
First he was walking into a mall here in the Philippines and when you are going to a mall the have guard office pat you down to make sure that you don’t have any guns on you and he got up set about it because in the States there is no guards patting you down, you just walk right in no problems. So being upset that he got padded down be went back out to have a smoke to clam him down but then remembering that he is going to have to go through it all again no matter what. That’s the first one, here in the Philippines every one is already us est to guards at the mall from when they were born so that’s the Philippines norm.
Next one
He is looking for a store so he asks his wife to ask the guard were it is at and he say its straight and then take a left and there it is. So he goes straight and takes a left but its not there, so his wife ask another guard and he says not it’s down on the next floor, you go straight and then take a left. So they go to the next floor and they go straight and then go left but the same thing no store, so his wife asks another guard and he says no no it’s on the 3rd floor then you go straight and then go left. So the finally founds it but it took him all that long to find this place which made him up set which is not customer services, that’s the Philippines Norm, if you where in the States most times the person would tell you where it is and then most times say tell you what I have some free time how about I show you, now that is customer service.
Next one
He gets to the store and he is looking for a serge protector for his 42″ LCD TV because he heard that the Philippines power can go up and down and he wanted to protect his 3,000 dollar tv. So he walks into the store and there are 9 guys just standing around pretty much doing nothing, he looks at one of the sergue protectors which there are 50 different kinds and he points at one and one of the sales guys comes over to him and says that it’s the best one that they have and he asked why? The sales rep said because it has a five minute delay if the power ever surges or shuts off, he asked why is this five minute delay so important and the sales rep could only tell him that it had a five minute delay and the parts are made in Japan. So now he is not sure what to buy so he goes to a TV stop and he sees some thing like what he is looking for and he said, hey I need some thing like that and he asks them if it has a five minute delay and the sales rep did not have any idea about what he was talking about and said all I know this is what we used, it’s called Panther. So he goes back to the other shop and tells the sales rep I want a Panther that is the best one but the rep says we don’t sale Panther but this one I was telling you about is the best and he says tell you what, if you buy this I will come and install it for you. Now the VP of etelecare says now that is customer service!
So now the sales rep has installed this at his house to his TV and everything is good to go, DONE but he has no real way to test it out to see what happens? So he calls the build admin and ask them about his TV and surge protector to see if it would work, the build admin just laughed at him and said sir, the whole build is set up with back up generators and surge protectors so no matter what if the power every surged or system would cover it.
Here is his point on this one, the sales rep did not ask him enough question to figure out why he needed this surge protector. When you are dealing with sales or customer service you need to define what the customer is asking and how you can help them, the Philippines norm is just sale and you need to know about the products that you are selling.
The seminar end good and he said that you need to train your people well on how that the States acted and what they want, kind out what they are looking for and why they need the product they are selling.
Who every did this seminar from what it sounds like they did a very good job, I would love to meet them.
I hope I got the story right.
CCAP sounds like the real deal, I will be at the nest one.
Class year end again and a lot of graduate students are looking for a job in order for them to enhance and establish their knowledge to their related course. Most of the time it does not happen for reasons, a lot of factors to consider like peer pressure, lifestyle and unconditional stability of life. Call Centers are popular in today’s society and other people think that when you become a call center agent it’s a “wow” thing, like you can earn lots of money because of the salary, the benefits you’ll get and the friends you will meet. I would say it’s a job for a reason for a good season, in other words there’s a limitation.
Living with bunch of struggling, happiness, competition, teamwork and sometimes disappointments, you can experience all of that in our call center world but we have to learn to love it. Being Focus and Positive these two main ingredients can put you on the level of success, just like other field of work. It’s not like you come in, have a sit, put your headset on, make a call, get a sale, cigarette break, make a call, get a sale, go home and just wait for the cut off and then do it again and again. Being a customer service agent needs flexibility and determination in order for you to get your goal.
Other establishing call center company had been into many issues of bankruptcies, but still some stayed to get along with this past faced existence of changing world. I remember these few lines which I learned from this field, if it’s got to be, it’s up to me. There’s a lot choices out there, but chances are so few. Everyday is a learning process for me. As a graduate marketing student, I would say I already applied my knowledge by interacting to people by means of communicating using telephone without me seeing them personally. Different nationality, accent, cost of living even their personal lives, I experienced knowing all of that.
Sometimes our demands in life change, we are very much confused to our needs and want and let ourselves ignore the availability of what is only there. Just like job, we want something for real for life, something equates to our abilities and strengths. In my call center world it’s more than that, what I’m trying to say is, you will learn things you never thought you would. This is not just English speaking plus confidence equals money, this is all about life, about existence.
The passion and style that call centers brings, can help us adapting the different changes happening inside and out of the country. Let’s say for pessimistic sake the disadvantages of being a call center agent. There’s you’re friendly local hold upper, destroying your sleeping pattern because of working late at night and the number one issue, being the number one customer of all bars especially if it’s pay day. Well, let me take back to what I said, we are living in the changing world then so be it.
Here is the list
1.India
2.China
3.Malaysia
4.Philippines
5.Hungary
6.Czech Republic
7.Russia
8.South Africa
9.Mexico
10.Poland
I did not know allot of these countries where on this list and I would have thought that Philippines would have been number two at least but I guess with allot of the manufacturing going on that’s why.
I think that you are going to see the Philippines move up this list in the next couple of years because allot of countries are getting tired of the accents of other countries but the Philippines call centers seem to be improving year by year and with a huge American influence it will make it even bigger.
I have been looking at other countries that in the future could be a place that would be cheaper and better then the Philippines but at this time I don’t see anything that is popping up right now or any time soon, I still think the Philippines has the best of everything that you need for outsourcing or call center type work.
On a last note, Malaysia at number three is crazy I did not even know if was outsourcing let along to be the number three on the list, I did do some reading online and it even said that the Philippines was cheaper in cost then there to do business.
I have to say that the Philippines has some of the best customer service, because every one is so nice and patient. Some times the agents get calls from clients that are not happy and very up set for something that is really not a big deal and the customer just wants to let it out on some one in the company, it’s amazing to see how the Philippine call center agent handles it. In most cases I would think some one from the States would not be as nice as the agents here.
This does not mean that the agents here are not good or the outbound sales, but what the Philippines is best for is “customer service”, it was made for it.
Hello all the readers, I just wanted to let you know that we are going to be re-designing Unique Interaction this month and I would like to get any feed back from everyone on what they would like the website to look like or suggestions.
This really don’t have much to dealing with call centers or BPO but it goes to show you that both India and Pakistan are getting more and more dangerous for outsourcing companies.
India still has some of the biggest call center in the world but I’m not sure what call centers are in Pakistan other then TRG.
I my eyes three is three things that are going to happen.
1. Outsourcing prices are going to drop in these countries.
2. Call centers from these countries will more to there call centers to other countries like the Philippines.
3. No one will outsourcing there any more.
The Philippines is become more and more stable and comfortable for both people working and outsourcing here.
