Philippines Call Center Norm CCAP
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 next one.
CALL CENTER AGENT LIFE IN THE PHILIPPINES
Working in a call center firm is very decisive much more to those operators. On the part of workers like me and anybody else we know that this is not a lifetime career for us but because of the sudden job popularity, people here are encouraged to work instead of working outside boarder. On the other hand, for those operators who are investing time, effort and patience to run a business like this, they need to provide everything to keep it effective, sensible and profitable of course.
More often than usual, call center contribute or supply larger amount of employment almost every quarter of the year. The main reason why entrepreneurs chose to outsource here in the Philippines, because both big and small business centers are into job seekers for the reason that employment here is somewhat available. Filipinos wants to broaden their skills and knowledge and that could only mean that we can do multi tasking job.
Call Center life here in the Philippines is measured as the practical work these days. When it comes to accessibility, Filipinos are highly capable because of being flexible. There are people working even part time for this kind of job while studying. Reasons why foreign countries want to outsource here because they believed on the talents , intelligence and lifestyles of some Asian countries especially here in the Philippines.
Everyday you will see numbers of applicants here in Ortigas looking for job, job that could possibly give them wondrous experiences. The moment you get into this kind of work you will see for yourself the different changes that could happen. Late at night hangouts, taking advantage of spiffs and commissions, new colleagues, and interesting working environment are some of those changes. For people spend their time to this kind of profession, some find it motivating for them for their personal growth.
Philippines Call Center Cost Going up?
Over the last year the cost to operate in the Philippines has gone up about 30% mostly because of the staff are requesting more pay, because the quality of employees in the Philippines is getting allot better in both sales and customer service. There are some call centers in the Philippines that are offering very low rates, but at the end of the day you are not going to get some one working for you that you are going to be happy with, like the cost for the higher level staff are not going to take the low wages that these call centers are asking for.
The quality of the agents here in Philippines compared to all other countries is much better, because of the influence of America over the last 100 years, the agents that are requesting more money is because they don’t have an accent, unlike some of the other agents other call centers are offering at packages like 700 or 900 dollars a month.
Two things that most companies are looking at when they are looking for a Philippines call center is the quality and price which one is more important to you?
I’m not talking about prices like $20 or even $12 dollars an hour, much lower than that compared to allot of the lager companies requesting that amount, and not even talking about the advances or the deposits.
One of the most important things when you are doing outsourcing, is making sure that the agents that are working for you have a good American accent and they understand what your customers are asking when they have a question.
You get what you pay for, Or if you do decide to work with a call center in the Philippines that has a very low rate then at least make sure you can pick your agent before they start.
Headset Fashion
About a month ago, I have been buying headsets for the agents so that they would really take care of them because they own them and they can take them home to use. I got some nice ones that would fit in a small case and I noticed today that some agents are making them look COOOOOOL.
CALL CENTER IN THE PHILIPPINES
Filipinos are a lot favored by foreign clients because of our neutral tone of voice or accent. Plus the fact, that we are more patient and very eager to recognize and understand the different effective telesales strategy.
One nice thing about call centers here in the Philippines, there is no discrimination. It doesn’t matter with regards to your gender, status in life, and even your height and weight. As long as you can explain well what you want to offer if you are on outbound sales, and you know how to give customer satisfaction if you are on the technical and inbound sales.
Call Center commission and spiffs that motivates the agents to work harder just like other company gives and supplying them with working materials like computer, headset, internet and air conditioned working environment. Not just that, the annual celebration of parties like for example, if it is Christmas season there are programs, games, bonuses and incentives that agents are very much awaited for.
Some companies also provide team building by doing it out of town for swimming or hiking, bar and restaurant hopping that helps their employees or agents to build healthy relationships between each other. They are conducting seminars on how to maintain proper telecommunication strategy, which helps them to develop more their skills.
Training centers are also available here in the Philippines, that help those who want to learn the fundamentals of call center job. I would say that the Philippines, is a more practical country compared to other countries by terms of employment availability, cultural adjustment and advanced technology know-how of the people here.
Call Center Agent Philippines life
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.
Mark Kobayashi-Hillary interview at e-Services Philippines
A good interview about the Philippines outsourcing done by INQUIRER.net reporter Lawrence Casiraya.
Unique Interaction a Philippine Call Center is re-designing it’s website
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.
Thanks for your support!
Call center Philippines Unique Interaction Team
