The Call Center Culture in the Philippines

Manila is very much alive by night. Were not talking about the Red light district. Rather, the lights are thrown by high-rise buildings hosting a number of call centers in major business districts in the Metro. Most of the clients of call centers in the Philippines are located in the United States and other developed countries, usually in the West, that is why the operating hours is usually at night.

Call center agents tend to be night owls. Thankfully, Philippine call centers offer lots of benefits to compensate for this. There are night differentials and even transportation allowance for agents traveling from different parts of the Manila so that they will not feel the brunt of transportation costs. You might say that employing call center agents may be costly. Yet, if the salary level is compared with those from developed countries, this is still way cheaper.

Call center agents tend to be young and independent-minded. Most of them are fresh graduates from the universities and colleges, except of course those who have been in the industry for three to five years now. Yet, these call center agents are able to assert their individuality and start developing a career early in their lives. In some cases, call center agents also support their families.

The holidays in the Philippines are not in conjunction with the all the holidays of other countries. Even if that is the case, customer service requires that the agents are in the office during holidays so that customers can still call about their most urgent concerns. Its not an easy job but call center agents in the Philippines has gotten used to it. After all, the difficulties are just part of the challenges that agents have to face in building their careers in the call center industry.

Filipino call center agents do have good phone call management skills. This can be attested to by a lot of callers who have talked to a Filipino agent. It is not easy to deal with rude or irate customers, yet Filipino agents manage to do that. What they do is to put themselves in the shoes of the customer and diagnose what they need. They offer the best solutions there is with a smile. That is one of the most important features of Filipino culture the ability to smile even in the most difficult situations.

Filipinos are also known all over the world for their hospitality. This trait is also translated in the way that Filipino call center agents deal with the people they talk to on the phone. They are courteous and always aware of the customers.

The call center industry in the Philippines has encouraged the economic mobility of young people. In fact, even at a young age, a number of call center agents are now in the process of buying their homes or their cars because of the success they meet at Philippine call centers. Of course, they will not arrive at such a success if they did not work hard for it first.

James Stinson is Owner and Founder of Global Sky Inc. He employs a team of 50 in a high quality call center facility based in the Philippines. For more info on outsourcing your project visit: http://www.global-sky.com

Empowering Philippine Call Center Agents

In the drive to improve performance and the bottom line, organizations, call centers include, tend to forget that their people are their best resource. It is good to bring in addition resources, motivate people to perform more or sell more. Without the necessary motivation, however, all of these will just fall on barren soil and will not yield richly.

The call center industry in the Philippines has been investing on its most important resource people. They are the ones on the frontlines: they answer calls from customers with different moods, they process requests, they provide their time and their skills for the benefit of the company they work for and for the customers that purchased the products and services of the company they represent.

The first empowerment that call center agents receive, of course is the basic training in handling calls and using the computer systems being used to provide service to customers.

Although Filipinos are generally considered to possess the strongest English skills in the region, the regional accent needs to be toned down so that customers from different parts of the world can understand them. In this case, most call centers have included accent neutralization training as part of their onboard training and orientation to call center agents. As time goes on, the agents can acclimatize themselves with the accent being used by customers. In some cases, the agents are even able to use the very accent of their customers.

The compensation for call center agents in the Philippines is commensurate to the kind of work that they do. Because most call centers conduct their operations at night, the call centers provide night differentials and transportation allowance. Some call centers even go as far as provide shuttle service for their agents. This way, their safety is ensured and the operations of the call center are not jeopardized.

Another way of empowering call center agents is the provision of fun learning activities both in the work setting and outside. Most Philippine call centers conduct out of town team building activities to strengthen the relationships among call center agents. This way, they develop stronger bond with each other and with the company. In the long run, this translates to stronger loyalty to the company and lesser turnover rates. When an agent stays longer in a company, he is able to develop his full potential and becomes more versatile in dealing with complex issues brought by customers.

Call center agents provide the backbone of the industry. Through their willingness to contribute to the companies they represent, the Philippine call center industry has grown to where it is now. Although the industry has accomplished a lot, it can do more by investing on its people and helping them become professionalized.

The most important part of the agent empowerment is the inculcation of the values of the company, which is of course centered towards the service provided to the customers. Philippine call centers exist to provide excellent service to customers and realize the goals and objectives set by the company.

James Stinson is Owner and Founder of Global Sky Inc. He employs a team of 50 in a high quality call center facility based in the Philippines. For more info on outsourcing your project visit: http://www.global-sky.com

Supporting Call Centers in the Philippines

The call center industry in the Philippines rests on a number of pillars supporting it, making it possible to rake in millions, if not billions, of revenues. After all, the industry can never exist in a vacuum. Through the support it is receiving both inside and outside the call centers, it is able to navigate through difficulties and rise to be one of the prime industries in the Philippines.

The call centers number one support comes from its agents who tirelessly render their services in order to provide services to different kinds of customers all over the world. In most cases, call center operations in the Philippines happen at night when most people in the Philippines are sleeping.

As they say, the worlds best businesses never sleep. Because most of the clients of call centers are located in the United States, Canada, and Europe among others, agents have to work during the graveyard shift in order to help the customers calling the centers. Even during Philippine and international holidays, agents render their services just to get the business going.

There are also non-voice personnel within the call centers including the email support teams, the IT personnel, the human resource people, together with the managers and senior officials of the company.

Non-voice personnel also provide important support to the call centers. Some customers prefer to write letters and not to talk on the phone. This is why a number of people in the customers are dedicated to answer queries directed via email and fax. As they say, there is something for everyone in the call centers.
The IT personnel in the call centers are also important part of the edifice of the industry. They design the computer systems and make sure that everyone in the call center is connected so that they can easily communicate important information that could be used by everyone in the center.

Business continuity in the call center industry is very important. In the event that there are very strong typhoons and even political issues that disrupt the operations of call centers, there should be contingencies and alternatives for the business to continue. These people are always on the lookout for hot issues that could suddenly erupt.

Human resource personnel, on the other hand, ensure that agents are well supported and provided with the salary and benefits they are entitled to. The HR department also ensures that there are enough agents hired to take care of the attrition rate and bring in fresh people to help the call centers deal with the volume of calls being received.

Lastly, the Philippine government also provides support to the call center industry. It encourages investors to bring their money to the Philippines and direct them to the call center industry, which has been experiencing a boom in the past five years or so. The government also highlights the importance of the industry among its citizens so that more professionals could be encouraged to enter the said industry.

James Stinson is Owner and Founder of Global Sky Inc. He employs a team of 50 in a high quality call center facility based in the Philippines. For more info on outsourcing your project visit: http://www.global-sky.com

Offshore Call Center: Destination Philippines

Developed countries have higher standards of living. It follows also that the salary level of employees there should be high as well. This is a marked difference in developing countries, where the standards of living are lower. In addition to that, there are currency differences, which make it possible for people in the developing countries to earn more if they receive dollars. In the Philippines a large percentage of the population has decided to work abroad so that they can earn more and help their families deal with the increasing cost of living.

Several years ago, however, the call center industry in the Philippines was born and started growing. Because of this, most Filipinos, especially those who belong to the younger generation, now have a choice to stay in the Philippines and be employed as part of the call center industry.

The boom in the call center industry in the Philippines also benefits foreign companies and multinational corporations. Due to their large scale, large corporations face increasing costs in their labor, as well as in their business processes. By offshoring some of their business processes such as call center operations to the Philippines, they can generate savings and earnings too. Philippines is the destination for most call centers worldwide because of the lower labor costs as well as the quality level of ICT and English skills.

Offshore call centers in the Philippines stand a chance to become large companies in the Philippines. In fact, the larger call centers have grown exponentially since they were established in the Philippines. The rate of growth is estimated to be at 100 percent. This percentage of growth is phenomenal indeed. They could hire as many as 100 new employees in a week. In addition to this, the revenues generated have exceeded USD 1 billion in the early parts of 2006. The outsourcing industry in the Philippines is still young yet it has bested other industries in the Philippines.
A number of call centers in the Philippines are locally owned, usually by telecommunications companies. There are also call centers whose main headquarters are located in the United States or other developed countries. Most companies that secure the services of Philippine call centers are located in the United States. This is partly because Philippine culture and language have been greatly influenced by the United States. Several call centers are from Australia due to its proximity and the apparent benefits of outsourcing to the Philippines. The call centers in the Philippines employ around 500 to 5000 employees with office buildings spread out across the business districts in Metro Manila.

For companies that are looking for outsourcing bids and contracts, Philippine call centers provide almost all of the business process outsourcing services worldwide. Such services include customer service, financial services, travel reservation services for hotels and airline companies, as well as technical support for telecoms and computer companies.

As Philippine call centers continue to grow, foreign companies are expected to troop to the Philippines for business process outsourcing.

James Stinson is Owner and Founder of Global Sky Inc. He employs a team of 50 in a high quality call center facility based in the Philippines. For more info on outsourcing your project visit: http://www.global-sky.com

Why Professionals Join Philippine Call Centers

As eight-to-five employees go out of their buildings and get a ride home, young Filipino professionals dressed in a combination of slacks and collared shirts or even jeans and shirts troop to the skyrise buildings in Makati or Ortigas. Armed with their spill-proof canisters and their good English language skills, they enter their offices with pride and dignity.

There are people who look with derision at the call center industry as well as at the professionals who choose to work for the industry. They think that those professionals who work for call centers are those who do not have a choice and those who opt for easy money.
Nothing could be further from the truth. A lot of call center agents are finding their place in the call center industry. The reason behind this is that call centers offer challenging jobs with good compensation and benefits. In most instances, call center jobs in the Philippines offer the highest starting salaries. Who wouldnt want to have a high starting salary?

When this happens, young professionals are able to build their lives early on. They get to earn a living, establish their savings and start realizing their dreams early in life. They do not have to wait for retirement in order to enjoy the things they love.
Call center agents also find a community in their places of work. They can easily establish friendly relationships that can help them manage stress and challenges better. In most cases, the friendship developed in these call centers spill over into their personal lives outside of the work context.

The call center industry in the Philippines helped in curbing the unemployment rate in the country. Previously, newly graduates from universities and colleges in Metro Manila and other parts of the Philippines found it difficult to look for a job that suits them well. But with the call center industry booming, more than 200,000 Filipinos have become employed in call centers in 2006.

This sharp growth is driving the Philippines to capture a greater segment of the global call center market. Although the Philippines is but second to India in the number of business process outsourcing companies, the gap is being bridged now and it is expected that by the year 2010, the Philippines shall have employed more than one million professionals in the call center industry.

Another good impact of the call center industry is the way that the industry is helping other industries such as coffee shops and restaurants among others to cater to the needs of these call center agents in different business districts in Metro Manila. Because of the availability of thousands of young professionals in the Philippines, the market is likely to grow in the next few years.

The industry will grow in the next few years. This means that more young Filipino professionals can use their skills and their talents in customer service for the benefits of companies abroad. On the other hand, call centers give these young professionals an option to help their families and help them establish their careers.

James Stinson is Owner and Founder of Global Sky Inc. He employs a team of 50 in a high quality call center facility based in the Philippines. For more info on outsourcing your project visit: http://www.global-sky.com

Good English Skills in Philippine Call Centers

Even as early as preschool, Filipinos already receive instruction in the English language. This continues well into grade school and high school. By the time they graduate from elementary, most students in the Philippines are already proficient of the English language and are able to express themselves and communicate in this language. Although Philippine English accent tend to be close to the American accent, there are regional influences, which make Philippine English accent distinct.

In the Philippines, there are more than 150 vernaculars. This is because the Philippines is an archipelago composed of around 7,100 islands. Good thing, however, there is a national language called Filipino. Together with Filipino, the English language is an official language, too. This is perhaps a legacy of the American occupation, which lasted for 50 years. Because of the American occupation in the Philippines, a number of Filipinos acquired the proficiency in the English language. More than a hundred years since the Americans arrived in the Philippines, the country is now one of the English-speaking countries in the world. This proficiency in the language is but one of the reasons why a number of multinational companies are off-shoring their business processes to the Philippines.

Accent, however, can be tweaked for call center purposes. Communication skills in the English language, however, are harder to acquire and nurture. Due to the educational system of the Philippines, these communication skills of Filipinos are enhanced early in their childhood. In addition to this, Filipinos are easily exposed to TV shows and movies from the United States and other countries. This also helps Filipinos in learning about the culture of Americans and other countries.

To further develop the English skills of Filipinos, the government, through its Department of Education and Commission on Higher Education, is always on the lookout on how the Filipinos English skills are faring. There are also a lot of projects and drives in high school and college campuses to further enhance the English language skills of students, who will soon become part of the workforce.

In addition to this, there are a number of call center academies in the Philippines. The purpose of these academies is to help Filipinos enhance their accents so that they can be easily understood by customers located in other parts of the world while at the same time, being able to understand different accents from al over the world.

As a testimony to the English language proficiency of Filipinos, a lot of Koreans and other Asians come to the Philippines to learn English and expose themselves to the culture of the nation. In fact, another growing industry is online English tutorials. The boom of this industry is no less than the result of the good English proficiency of Filipinos.

With the continuous development of the call center industry in the Philippines, the country needs to ensure that the skills of its citizens are at par with the rest of the world. Yet, English language skills is but one side of the coin. Excellent customer service is the other side of the coin.

James Stinson is Owner and Founder of Global Sky Inc. He employs a team of 50 in a high quality call center facility based in the Philippines. For more info on outsourcing your project visit: http://www.global-sky.com

Training Philippine Call Center Agents

Getting into call centers in the Philippines requires confidence, College education, good English communication skills, and customer service skills. These capabilities are all gauge and examined in the recruitment process in Philippine call centers. Although this process is not easy, those who are truly good can enter the call centers and start a financially-rewarding career.

Getting into call centers, however, is but a step in the process. It is also equally important to develop oneself and improve the skills that the agent already has. This way, he will be able to face the challenges and the rigors of the job of the call center agent. After all, there are a number of things that a call center agent should master in order to provide customer service satisfactorily.

Accent Training. Even if Filipinos have good English communication skills, there are still traces of regional accent in their oral English. The goal of accent training therefore is two-fold, one is to neutralize the Filipino regional accent so that other nationalities could understand Philippine call center agents better. The other reason for accent training is to help a call center agent understand the accent of the customers that they will be serving.

The United States has a variety of accents the Black American accent, the Southern and the Northern accents. For ears that are untrained, some of these accents would be difficult to understand causing the agent to ask the customer to repeat his questions or requests again. If this happens a lot of times, it would be annoying for the customer. So call centers in the Philippines have to make sure that their agents can understand their customers well. Customers in Australia also have a different kind of accent, which closely resembles the British accent. As such, the agents should be able to approximate, if not totally copy the accent of Aussies.

Computer System Training. Depending on the account being handled by a call center, the agent also need to learn how to manipulate the customer relationship management software being used. Since most Philippine call center agents have skills in using the computer, this training would be much easier to implement. Part of this training is to help the agent know the kinds of technical requests he need to make in order to help the customers whose calls are routed to the call center.

The training of Philippine call center agents usually last for 4-6 weeks. The first two weeks is usually dedicated to accent training and the remainder is for product and services training and system training. Along the way, the trainees will be made to listen to actual calls in the center and make them evaluate the call in terms of its strengths and weaknesses and how they can apply their training to the particular situation depicted in the calls they listened to.

Part of the assessment in the training is for the trainees to handle actual calls. This is usually done on the last few days of the training in preparation for the agents to accept live calls. An effective training program will enable a Philippine call center agent to deal with customers and provide the service that they deserve.

James Stinson is Owner and Founder of Global Sky Inc. He employs a team of 50 in a high quality call center facility based in the Philippines. For more info on outsourcing your project visit: http://www.global-sky.com

Recruitment of Philippine Call Center Agents: An Inside Look

To facilitate the needs of the corporations that secure the services of Philippine call centers, they need a large number of employees. Yet, call centers cannot simply hire anyone with good English skills. Decidedly, English skills are important but this should also be coupled with a lot of other things such as ICT skills, and good customer service. In this regard, Philippine call centers have dynamic human resource management personnel to facilitate the recruitment, training, and even retention of Philippine call center agents.

There is a significant time difference between the Philippines and the home countries of the companies and corporations that they are serving. There is a three to four-hour difference between the Philippines and Australia. On the other hand, the time difference between the United States and the Philippines is between 11-13 hours. As such, call center agents in the Philippines should be willing to work on the graveyard shifts. Because of this work hazard, call center agents receive night shift differentials on top of their basic salary.

The willingness to work on a night shift is only a part of the requirements of being a call center in the Philippines. There are several qualifications being looked for in a call center agent. For one, a college education is necessary for full time call center agents. College level students have the option to apply as part-time agents to help them with their education costs. Since the medium of instruction in the Philippines is English and Filipino, these young professionals applying at call centers do have good English communication skills although there may be some exceptions.

Another criteria for recruitment is problem-solving skills. Since customer service is basically a problem-solving process, prospective agents should be able to demonstrate this important skill. Good thing, most University and College graduates do have excellent English skills as well as the skills needed in solving problems. Moreover, the naturally-hospitable culture of Filipinos enables them to provide excellent customer service. Philippine call center agents therefore have a natural advantage in providing customer service to people of different nationalities.

Applicants to call centers undergo an examination that seeks to gauge the level of their English communication, problem-solving, and customer service skills. If they pass this examination, they are scheduled for an oral examination or interview. The applicant should be able to articulate himself clearly in terms of accent and the meaning that he wants to communicate. He should also be confident in expressing himself. Phone skills are also evaluated through simulated phone calls, together with a typing test since this is also an important part of the job.

The final interview will be the ultimate assessment of the applicant. More often than not, the final interview is where the candidate gets assigned to the account most suitable to his capabilities. He may be put to a sales, customer care, or technical support accounts. These types of accounts are usually present in different departments of a large call center.

James Stinson is Owner and Founder of Global Sky Inc. He employs a team of 50 in a high quality call center facility based in the Philippines. For more info on outsourcing your project visit: http://www.global-sky.com

Business Process Outsourcing and the Philippines

As of now, the Philippines is considered as second only to India in providing business process outsourcing services in the world. The Philippines, however, is quickly catching up to bridge the gap. As the need for cost-cutting measures of developed countries continue to diversify and increase, the Philippines is set to take the lead in the outsourcing industry. In fact, the government is very busy in attracting investors from different areas of the world to bring in capital flows into the Philippines. This way, the call center industry, including the rest of the business process outsourcing in the Philippines, will further develop and help companies worldwide provide great customer service.

In the Philippines, around ten percent of the population has decided to work abroad. This is because they encounter a dearth of job opportunities in the Philippines. In order to provide for their families, they have to brave loneliness and a foreign culture. Good thing, however, Filipinos, in general can easily adapt to the culture of other people.

This cultural adaptability of Filipinos is one of the strengths that they possess in providing good customer services in different parts of the world. The influence of the United States on the Philippines can be easily seen because of the occupation of the former on the country for fifty years. The BPO industry in the Philippines has also grown to provide services to other nationalities such as Spanish, French, and even German. There is a growing number of call centers that provide services to these nationalities.

In addition to the cultural adaptability of Filipinos, they do have good literacy and communication skills, which are essential in providing customer service to people from other nationalities. Although the educational system in the Philippines is facing a number of issues, it is able to develop the skills of Filipinos across different age groups all over the country.

These skills and capabilities of Filipinos have contributed to the growth of the call center industry in the Philippines. It is a relatively young industry, which started growing in the year 2001. The industry now employs around 200,000 employees all over the country and this is expected to grow to a million employees by the year 2010. As the industry continues to grow, more and more jobs are being created, making it possible for more Filipinos to have jobs, earn, and save their money while being the country.

The tradeoff in working for a call center is the time of working, which is, most of the time, on the graveyard shift. Yet, call center professionals and those who are willing to work for the industry do not mind the work hours so long as they have a job to support themselves and their families. Compared to working abroad and working in a call center in the Philippines, the latter is a better choice because then, call center professionals do not need to endure loneliness and homesickness. As the industry continues to grow, the Philippines will be able to take the first place in providing business process outsourcing services in the world.

James Stinson is Owner and Founder of Global Sky Inc. He employs a team of 50 in a high quality call center facility based in the Philippines. For more info on outsourcing your project visit: http://www.global-sky.com

The Preferred Florist List - Important in Today's Internet World

What makes a good florist? A good florist should not only know the ins-and-outs of the flower industry, he must also know the business side of it. Our company specializes in both. We care for your needs so we choose only the best to work with us.

The best florists therefore have a Preferred Florist List, developed over years of experience and tens of thousands of long distance floral delivery, that allows us to choose exemplary florists nationwide to make your flower-ordering easy as one two three.

Our preferred florist list includes the best of the best, most professional florists in the country. We've developed relationships with these florists for many years and we can personally guarantee that they are top-quality. The shops included in our Preferred Florist List have a big following, have a wide selection of flowers and they diligently rotate for supreme flower freshness.

When you call a florist you found on the internet, the shop is aware that you might be in another state and most probably won't be able to see the flowers. This is why we tell people to Trust their Feelings to Us. The members or a Preferred Florist List are guaranteed to take all your needs into consideration. They follow the strictest and highest quality standards as well as timely delivery of the freshest flowers, and have been tested many times in the past.

A professional florists also knows the concerns of our consumers. They start by helping you through the process of deciding what you want. They guide you along as you choose the perfect arrangement suited for your budget. Being a real florists, they have a good idea of which flowers go best with what, what types and colors of flowers work well for a particular occasion, how much they are and what flowers are in season. Most importantly, however, they will have a keen sense of the feelings and emotions you might want to convey through the flowers.

The Preferred Florist List allows them to come up with the best florist that can help you select the floral arrangement that can truly express your deepest emotions. Indeed, this sort of service isn't just something you can simply get out from picking out a florist from an online floral directory or the yellow pages.

Their employees also should undergo extensive training in flower and floral arrangement their our own flower shop. All inquiries and orders are handled through them. Their shop can be considered a haven in this busy world of hours, with its bright, cheerful environment and friendly assistants to answer your concerns.

They know every floral order to be an important emotional statement, and should proud of the exemplary service they give, using the "Golden Preferred Florist List".

They only want the best for your customers so they constantly strive to make their services more efficient and your experience easier and more comfortable. They should have round the clock customer service to serve you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And also offer money-back guarantees and unconditional replacements.

Their interest lies in finding out how they can serve our clients in the best way possible. Our aim is to expand their reputation as the best floral service, one satisfied customer at a time.

Jonathon Boundy is the webmaster for inbloom flowers online - an internet marketer of flowers and promoter of the popular website http://www.inbloom.com

The Essentials of Good Customer Service

For some people, customer service seems to be an insurmountable job. For Filipinos working as contact center agents, however, customer service easily becomes second nature. This is because the culture of Filipinos is generally hospitable and they treat visitors (or customers) with utmost respect and with the best treatment that they can.

The following principles are usually followed by contact center agents in the Philippines whether they are talking with fellow Filipinos or customers located in other countries.

Getting the name and the account number of the customer is of utmost importance so that the personal touch can be established easily. By calling the customer by name, the agent is able to establish rapport with the customer, making him more comfortable in talking about the problems that they may have. Technical problems do occur in phone conversations so it is also a good idea to ask for the number of the customer if no caller id is available so that the agent can call the customer back in case of a cut line.

Contact center agents also provide their names to the customers they are talking to so that they know who the person they are talking to. This also enhances the accountability and responsibility of the agent serving the customer.

Apology is given for any inconvenience experienced by the customer. Sincerity is important, however. Without it, we do apologize line becomes nothing more than just a scripted attempt to appease and patronize the customer. When a contact center agent says sorry, he had better mean it because the customer can detect an insincere apology.

When a customer reports a problem, the contact center agent should be able to ask the right questions to provide a good diagnosis of the problem and the right solutions could be put forward. The agent should also repeat the problem or query of the customer to ensure that he has understood the concerns of the customer.

Before hanging up, the problem of the customer should be solved; otherwise the customer service process has not been given adequately to the customer. The easiest and simplest solutions should be provided first to the customer. If that does not work, then alternative solutions should be put forward to the customer until everything shall have been covered.

The contact center should always remember to extend courtesy and politeness to the customer no matter what the mood of the customer is. If a customer is difficult to deal with, it is very easy to be frustrated and lash out at the customer. The agent might not openly curse or berate the customer but the tone of the voice and the words used will betray the true feelings he has. The key to this would be to smile often. Even if nobody is seeing the agent, a smile on the face translates to the smile at the voice. With such amiable personality, the complaints of the customer will be defused. So even if the customer is annoying, contact center agents should keep in mind that it is them who make it possible for contact center agents to have their jobs.

Contact centers in the Philippines make use of the strengths of their agents. Through these, they are able to make waves in the offshore contact center business.

James Stinson is Owner and Founder of Global Sky Inc. He employs a team of 50 in a high quality call center facility based in the Philippines. For more info on outsourcing your project visit: http://www.global-sky.com

Virtual Call Centers vs. Philippine Call Centers

Due to the increasing popularity of home-based jobs, there is a new breed of call center agents that do not have call centers. These agents work in the comfort of their homes, sometimes even inside their bedrooms, accepting calls from callers from the United States and sometimes elsewhere all over the world.

This works best for the agents. After all, they get to manage their own time, they do not have to go to an office since all work is done at the comfort of their home. They do not have to drive to work or suffer the rigors of commuting.

On the part of the company employing them, there are also obvious benefits. They do not have to purchase new computers, phone lines, and other kinds of equipment needed for the additional employee. In addition to that, they can do away with extra paper work and relational issues that may be present at the workplace. The company also generates savings because the home-based employee will not consume electricity, as well as other consumables in the office.

Before companies, however, decide to hire a home-based call center agents, there should be a thorough assessment of the impacts and the adverse effects of making such a move, especially in the workflow, in supervision, and in monitoring calls, and the employees as well.

Call centers in the Philippines have made significant progress in the area of monitoring their employees and ensuring that their call center agents are performing according to the standards of the company and based on the service level agreement that they have entered into with the company that secured their services.

Virtual call center agents may generate savings, but monitoring their attendance, the quality of their service, and the security of the information that passes through them may be compromised. Security particularly is an important concern in the call centers. If information leaks outside the call centers premises and servers, then this poses a risk on the part of the customers calling the customer service number as well as to the company employing such virtual call center agents. Apparently, such danger is not present in the Philippine call centers.

Philippine call centers have proven their worth since they first made their appearance in the country. They have been consistent in meeting their targets, as well as the agreements they entered into, whether this be in terms of sales, service, and technical support. Increasingly, there are also call centers now catering to English learners online and through the phone.

Virtual call centers are still a novelty at this stage. In the future, the issues faced by such kind of call centers may be addressed and the process will be improved. As technology continues to develop, such arrangement may even be implemented in the Philippines. However, at this stage, given the needs of companies all over the world and the demands of the call center industry in general, call centers with physical buildings and actual offices are still the best choice.

James Stinson is Owner and Founder of Global Sky Inc. He employs a team of 50 in a high quality call center facility based in the Philippines. For more info on outsourcing your project visit: http://www.global-sky.com

Philippine Call Center Prospects for Growth

The Call Centers in the Philippines and the entire Outsourcing industry has very good prospects in the next few years. In fact, the outsourcing industry has been considered as the sunshine industry in the whole Philippines. This trend will continue as multinational corporations and even small and medium enterprises in the United States and other countries of the world outsource basic services to the Philippines.

One of the reasons why these companies continue to use the services of Philippine companies is the obvious advantage of the huge number of English-speaking young professionals in the country. The Philippines enjoy a high level of literacy and University education is popular among youth in the country. The technological infrastructure in the country is also sufficient for the needs and purposes of the companies that outsource their business processes in the Philippines.

Relatively, if a call center is operated in the Philippines instead of in the home country of the company, the cost savings generated in the labor alone would amount to fifty percent! This is a very big amount of savings, which could help companies in prioritizing their spending in the most optimum way. This is one of the strongest points in the operations of offshore call centers in the Philippines. Services offered by call centers in the Philippines include technical support, customer service, lead generation and sales, the integration of business to business operations, as well as telemarketing. The staff of Philippine call centers are dedicated and focused to achieve the service level agreed upon by the Philippine call center and the foreign company using their services.

If a call center becomes located in a city in the provinces north or south of Metro Manila, there are also more savings generated because living allowance in the provinces is definitely cheaper than in Metro Manila. This trend was even bolstered by the support of the government through the establishment of special economic zones, which minimizes the taxes of call centers.

For the year 2007, the outsourcing industry in the Philippines is expected to rake in 12 billion US dollars in revenues. This is definitely a great improvement from the $8.4 billion revenues in 2004. As the industry becomes more mature and more players enter the market, the share of Philippine call centers in the outsourcing industry will even become greater. As such, by the year 2010, less than 300,000 jobs shall have been created.

The Philippines is competing with India in the top spot for the destination of choice of call centers and other offshore outsourcing services. Yet, as the business trends continue to become more dynamic, in the near future, more outsourcing deals will be struck up with businesses from the United States, Australia, United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries. Such trend works two ways. It will benefit the Philippines because there will be more jobs and the boom in the industry will contribute to economic development. On the other hand, Philippine call centers will be able to contribute more to the efforts of companies and organizations to save costs while at the same time delivering excellent and quality service to their customers.

James Stinson is Owner and Founder of Global Sky Inc. He employs a team of 50 in a high quality call center facility based in the Philippines. For more info on outsourcing your project visit: http://www.global-sky.com

The Call Center Industry in the Philippines

Due to the cheaper labor costs in the Philippines, it is considered as a preferred business location for call centers and other business process outsourcing companies all over the world. In fact, since year 2000, the call center industry has been growing very fast in the Philippines, mirroring the global trend in the growth of contact centers all over the world.
The Board of Investments of the Philippines has put the growth rate of the call center sector to 100 percent per year since the year 2000. According to the Asian Call Center Review, in the year 2003, the Philipppines had 72 call centers, which was greater than the number in India during that time.

Right now, around 250,000 people are working in BPO companies all over the Philippines. Although the concentration of call center offices are in Metro Manila, the trend is now spilling over to major cities all over the country such as Davao, Cebu, and Baguio. The cost of labor in the cities in the provinces is even cheaper compared to that in Metro Manila because of lower standards of living. As such, when call centers are located in these cities, BPO companies are able to derive more cost savings.

The revenues generated by the call centers in the Philippines in the year 2006 are estimated to be at around 3.8 billion US dollars. This shows a tremendous growth compared to 24 million US dollars in the year 2000. The government of the Philippines is expecting to target half of the world market share in call center services by the end of 2008. As such, the government is stimulating investments in the call center sector, thereby providing every support it can give just so the industry will become more dynamic and responsive to the changing needs of the market. The support of the government to this industry is crucial as it contributes 12 percent of the total Gross National Product, thus helping the county sustain its economic development goals and financial targets year after year.

This boom in the call center industry is powered by the good English skills of Filipinos. Most of the employees working at call centers are usually fresh from college. Through the call centers, young professionals in the Philippines can start developing their careers and contribute to the development of the Philippines. The industry helps the country curb its unemployment rate while young professionals find a way for them to achieve upward mobility.

The call center industry is indeed a very dynamic sector in the economy of the Philippines. Not only that, because of the proven effectiveness of these call centers and the customer service skills of Filipinos born out of their hospitality, it is expected that the industry will grow in the next few years. Most probably, by the year 2010, the revenues generated from the industry shall have reached 12 billion US dollars with a million Filipinos working for call centers across the nation. Since the skills of Filipinos in ICT, including their English skills, are still one of the best all over the world, this trend in the industry will continue unabated in the next few years.

James Stinson is Owner and Founder of Global Sky Inc. He employs a team of 50 in a high quality call center facility based in the Philippines. For more info on outsourcing your project visit: http://www.global-sky.com

The 5 W's of World Class Customer Service Training

The preamble to the United States Constitution begins, 'We, the people.' I feel strongly that we, the people, are what make the difference in life, both personally and professionally.

The interaction anyone has at any level with your company, your employees, including you, gives a customer-- whether current, potential, or internal or external--an opportunity to make a judgment about you, your company, all companies like yours in the industry.

With continued focus on customer satisfaction, customer retention, and lifetime value of the customer, it is no surprise that contact center operations continue to increase in importance as the primary hub of a customer's experience. For the customer, the person on the other end of the phone is the company. The contact center is still the most common way that customers get in touch with businesses. In fact, Gartner reports 92% of all contact is still through the center. And its been reported that 70% to 90% of what happens with customers is driven by human nature, having nothing to do with technology. State of the art technology is certainly a necessity today, but it is meant to enable human endeavors, not to disable them.

I often talk about taking customer service and kicking it up a notch. In the food industry, the word lagniappe is often used. Its definition is a small present given to a customer with a purchase. For example, when you go to the bakery and buy a dozen donuts or bagels, you oftentimes get a free one or a baker's dozen. That is what customer service should be about--giving the customer more than they expect! Let us bring lagniappe into the contact center.

If were going to speak about world class customer service, Here's my working definition so were all on the same page.

Customer service is those activities provided by a company's employees that enhance the ability of a customer to realize the full potential value of a product or service before and after the sale is made, thereby leading to satisfaction and repurchase.

Let's look at the first W which is Why?

The state of customer service today is not good, be it over the phone or self service. Because 92% of people feel their call experience is important in shaping the image of a company, this reinforces the importance of branding the image of your companies.

In a Mobius Management Systems Survey, here's what happened because of poor customer service:

60% cancelled accounts with banks
36% changed insurance providers
40% changed telephone companies
35% changed credit card providers
375 changed Internet service providers

Are you one of these statistics? I certainly am.

In a study done by Purdue University/BenchmarkPortal, in answer to (1) how did agents satisfy your needs and handle the call, and (2) based on any negative experience, would you stop using this company in the future? the findings reveal a strong correlation between the participants age and the tendency to stop using the company after a bad experience.

What does this mean? Younger participants were less tolerant and more likely to move to the competition. People over 65 were found to be more demanding than those in middle age.

What can you do? Give younger callers a wow experience--maintain their loyalty. People over 36 probably have more of an emotional bank account with the company they are dealing with. Maybe they had some good experiences and therefore are more willing to forgive.

In a recent study (CRM Magazine/PeopleSoft Web Seminar on How Usability Helps to Drive a Profitable Contact Center), the number of applications required for agents to access customer inquiries were:

3.7% just 1
81.5% 2 to 5
7.4% 5 to 10
7.4% more than 10

As you can see, the majority of applications are 2 to 5. The goal? Link every point of contact to one central location for a customer-centric, synchronized approach satisfying customer experiences with every interaction.

It's important to point out that today's pressures on employees are different than in the past. They are asked to handle more customers, more volume, more complex and/or complicated calls. After all if we could handle our issues with self service, we probably would not call. But if we tried self service and it didn't work, then were upset and its an escalated call from the get go.

They are also asked to provide more information, do it faster and be available and accessible. But they also are tasked with lowering costs, generating revenue, incorporating new technologies, ensuring closure and commitment, delivering great service and when? Yesterday, of course.

The #2 W is Who should receive customer service skills training?

We encourage front line agents/representatives, supervisors, team leads, senior reps, managers, assistant managers, internal customers and other departments--anyone who is a touch point so that they can learn to speak the same language, and more importantly, not be in an adversarial position, but rather, together serve the external customer or end user.

The #3 W is Where should the training take place? Offsite vs. onsite has advantages and disadvantages for each. Certainly it is most cost effective to have training on site. However, distractions are rampant as is the participant's availability to a manager or project

Offsite is more costly. However, there are no distractions and the participants are not available to other departments, managers, or any issues. I further believe there is psychic value in taking people away from their work stations and off site to acknowledge the tough jobs they have.

The #4 W is What should be included in any training? The following modules provide a robust, powerful, and succinct training curriculum:

Quality Customer Service
Rapport Building
Customer Expectations
Language Skills
Perception Shifting
Conflict Resolution
Anger Management
E-Mail Protocol
Stress Reduction
Empathetic Responsiveness
Change Management
Communication and Listening Skills
Interaction/Role Play
Service with a Smile

Further suggested is university certification to up the ante. Ultimately, the more professionally you treat your employees, the more professionally they will treat your customers.

The #5 W is When. We urge training not only for new hires but monthly, ongoingly, consistently, whenever change occurs, when stressors increase, and as needed.

We further recommend that each employee receive a minimum of 24 hours per year of ongoing training, spread over time for the most optimal absorption/retention. We deliver our trainings in two four hour sessions per day and deliver 6 days per employee. If there has been no ongoing training, we do four sessions once a month for four months and then one three months later, and then another three months later. Or, every other month providing sessions for the entire 12 month period. All training is customized, in real time, and can address whatever challenges are presented when they occur.

Together we can raise the bar in the area of world class customer service. Take great care of your employees and they will take great care of your customers. Everyone wins.

Rosanne D'Ausilio, Ph.D., customer service expert, provides needs analyses, customer service training; authors Wake Up Your Call Center, Customer Service & the Human Experience, Lay Your Cards on the Table, Kick Your Customer Service Up A Notch; a tips newsletter at http://www.HumanTechTips.com

Performance of Call Centers

Call centers in the Philippines are always on the go in ensuring that they deliver excellent performance. This has led to the tremendous growth of the call center industry in the Philippines. In fact, the Philippines is now considered as the destination of choice of offshore call centers all over the world. This is not only because of the cheaper labor costs but also because of the excellent English and ICT skills of the labor force of the Philippines.

Filipino call center agents possess strong potentials in delivering excellent customer service. Such potentials, however, need to be augmented by training and by effective monitoring of the performance of individual call center agents, as well as that of the whole call center. To enable call center managements in the Philippines to do this, several factors have been identified for monitoring.

One of such factors is the time spent by a caller on the queue. If the number of callers at any given time is greater than the number of call center agents, then there will be a queue. If a caller spends a long time in the queue, there is a big chance that he will drop the call and be irate the next time he calls. The number of calls dropped while on the queue also contributes negatively to the level of service of the call center. The service level percentage (SL%) refers to the percentage of calls at any given time such as a day, week, or month.

Call center agents are also monitored for the time they spend in addressing the customers concern. This is usually called the average handling time (AHT), which includes the length of time spent in talking with the client (average talk time or ATT), the time spent for wrap-up such as sending requests for back-office support and the time that the customer was put on hold.

To effectively monitor the workload that an agent can handle, the number of calls per hour is also monitored. There are also times that the call center agent is not answering calls. This is when he is doing some After Call Work (ACW) encoding comments and sending requests or when he is on a restroom break. First Call Resolution is the aim of call centers for most calls that they receive. If this were done, then it means that customers become more satisfied with the service that they receive.

The metrics mentioned above are regularly monitored by call center management since they provide an indication of the level of service being given by the call center. In addition, the quality of the calls is also ensured through the Quality Assurance (QA) Team. Call center agents are supposed to display good attitude at work according to prescribed company code of conduct. In some instances, there are also spiels that agents have to follow. If they deviate from the prescribed conduct or if they intentionally say anything that insults or abuses a customer on the phone, then the quality of their call will be assessed negatively. The aim of Philippine call centers is excellent performance and happy customers.

James Stinson is Owner and Founder of Global Sky Inc. He employs a team of 50 in a high quality call center facility based in the Philippines. For more info on outsourcing your project visit: http://www.global-sky.com

Telemarketing and Philippine Call Centers

More and more Filipinos are going to other countries to look for work and earn for themselves and for their families. It is estimated that around eight million Filipinos are abroad. However, due to the increasing popularity of outsourcing and the Call Center industry in the Philippines, more young professionals are choosing to work in the Philippines and be with their loved ones. One of the tasks that Filipino call centers do is telemarketing. In fact, when the call center industry was starting out in the Philippines, most of the call centers then were engaged in telemarketing.
The primary task of telemarketing is to promote a product or a new promo through the phone to prospective buyers of the product or service. In some instances, telemarketing also involves web conferencing if the customer agrees to do so. In some instances, telemarketing is done through the music or voice over being played while a person is waiting for a phone operator to become available.

Generally speaking, telemarketing can either be directed to businesses or to consumers. In any given call center, there are different purposes why an agent would call a prospective customer. One of these is lead generation, which is simply another term for gathering information that will be relevant to the company and to the product or service being sold. This is a tricky task, however, since there are customers who are very much concerned with their privacy. Nonetheless, Philippine call centers have taken pains to study the privacy regulations and precautions of the countries that they provide service to.

Another aspect of telemarketing that Philippine call centers engage in is sales. Filipino call center agents are chosen from a pool of qualified applicants, a lot of them are newly graduates from universities and colleges all over the Philippines who are eager to start on their career paths. When they have undergone the accent and the training and the call center training, they are also trained in the process of closing sales that are legitimate and that will truly answer the needs of customers.

Some of the calls made by Filipino call center agents are outbound. They call prospective customers who have already indicated some interest in certain products and services and they call to follow up on those interests. On top of that, there are also inbound telemarketing sales. Usually, inbound calls are received in response to some advertisement or marketing campaigns launched by the company. These campaigns usually take the form of take-one brochures at public stations or brochures handed out by marketing agents. Inbound calls tend to be easier to handle because most customers are decidedly interested in purchasing the product or service being offered by the company.

Since the boom of the call center industry in the Philippines, a number of companies and organizations worldwide have contacted the services of Philippine call centers for their telemarketing needs. The Philippines has already captured 20% of the call center market in the world and it is expected to grow in the next few years because of the preference being given to the Philippines by companies outsourcing their telemarketing needs

James Stinson is Owner and Founder of Global Sky Inc. He employs a team of 50 in a high quality call center facility based in the Philippines. For more info on outsourcing your project visit: http://www.global-sky.com

Technical Tools for Philippine Call Centers

In the quest to effectively manage calls, maximize the workload of call center agents, and the desire to help customers solve their issues and concerns, several technical tools and refinements have been devised by call centers in the Philippines. These tools serve the agents, as well as the management in dealing with the thousands of calls being routed to the call centers on a daily basis.

Philippine call centers are now using software that predicts the length of time that an agent spends in helping a customer. For outbound calls, the system then makes a call even before the agent completes the call. This way, another customer will be served right after the agent concludes the call with a customer. The logic behind this Predictive Dialing is that not every call made will be connected. Some lines will be busy, some calls will not be answered, and still others will be disconnected. By dialing more calls than the number of agents, predictive dialing software makes provision for the calls that are dropped along the way.

Credit card holders enjoy different features and level of service. As such, when Platinum card holders make a call, they are automatically sent to agents specializing in the Platinum card. This example illustrates that call centers in the Philippines do use prioritization of their calls. This is accomplished through the IVR or through the number dialed by the elite customer. Those who are also calling for the second time after abandoning a call are put on the priority of call queue.

In addition to this, call center management in the Philippines, are increasingly recognizing the importance of specialized agents. In any given account, there are different levels of service that should be provided, and there are different expertise called for depending on the nature of the call. As such, the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) has been designed. Through this system, callers are able to choose from a set of menu what kind of service they are looking for. Depending on the choice they make, they will be routed automatically to the department or agent that can best help them. For simple queries and tasks, customers are sent to generalists who lack in-depth training on different aspects of a product. But if their concern is a little too difficult for a generalist, the customer is routed to a different person.

Lastly, telephone and computer software have been integrated so that the computer program is able to detect the number input by the caller on the telephone and determine if the customer has entered the correct PIN. This way, service can proceed immediately, thereby contributing to more efficiency and effectiveness. This also helps lower the average talk time and average handling time of the agent.

These tools for call centers have been designed to help customers and agents to enjoy the best service there is. For agents, however, these tools can only do so much and there is still no substitute for genuine and honest concern and willingness to help the customer.

James Stinson is Owner and Founder of Global Sky Inc. He employs a team of 50 in a high quality call center facility based in the Philippines. For more info on outsourcing your project visit: http://www.global-sky.com

What is a Call Center?

When you call queries about any product such as soap, food, or when you want to check your phone or credit card balance or even make a complaint about a service you received, your call will be directed to a contact center, which most likely will be located in the Philippines or another country providing such kind of services. But what are call centers really?

To put it simply, a call center is a place that houses a number of employees for the purpose of providing customer service over the phone. The services the employees provide may be trouble shooting product problems or addressing complaints and grievances or simply answering questions about products and services.

A call center is established by a company essentially to provide different kinds of support and give important information to their customers concerning the companys products and services. There are different kinds of calls being made or received in a call center. Outgoing calls are usually made for the purposes of marketing products and services over the phone. In addition, the collection of credit card and other types of debts are also made in a call center.

A call center may house, not only phone customer service officers. When the center also employs people who take charge of responding to letters via snail mail and email as well as with faxes, then it is called a contact center.

When you visit a call center office, you will see a wide space inside the building filled with computers and workstations divided into cubicles. Each cubicle has a telephone and desktop computer. The agent working in each cubicle is armed with the usual headset and microphone connected to the phone. The phone is in turn connected to the computer as the phone also generates important data that will help the agent perform his or her job. The phones and the computers are connected in a network. Thankfully, computer telephony integration technology has been developed. This technology puts together the best in telephone systems and the computer.

The call center is usually equipped with state of the art computer access and high-speed internet bundled with a phone line so that calls made in the home country are routed to a different country.
Increasingly, large businesses are no longer the only ones outsourcing their call centers. A number of medium-scale and even small-scale businesses are offshoring their call center services for the purposes of cost savings.

Usually, call center operations are centralized in order for the company to maximize its performance and generate labor cost savings. By centralizing operations, the business is also able to ensure that standards are followed and the processes followed for each customer are the same across the board.
To ensure that the level of customer service is excellent, quality control is established for call centers. This is also a way of ensuring that contact center agents are doing their job according to what has been agreed upon. Given the obvious benefits of offshoring contact center operations, more and more companies are outsourcing call centers to the Philippines.

James Stinson is Owner and Founder of Global Sky Inc. He employs a team of 50 in a high quality call center facility based in the Philippines. For more info on outsourcing your project visit: http://www.global-sky.com

Training Contact Center Agents for Good Customer Service

There are a huge number of frustrated customers in the world today. Granted that there are power interruptions, unavoidable circumstances, and even terrorism and sabotage these may compromise the delivery of services promised to the customers. What is inexcusable, however, is when customer service fails to deliver! Instead of helping customers deal with their issues, they might become even more irate because of the customer service that they receive.

Customer service, which comes in different forms and settings, is very important for any company. It may be in the way that customers receive smiles in a store, or the way that they are treated on the phone. It might even be as simple as providing relevant information when they are shopping. It might be a little easier to provide customer service face to face. On the phone, however, things may become a little more difficult. For one, there is neither eye contact nor body language to be read; there are also no visual clues as to the real state of mind of the customer. Instead, the contact center agent answering the phone has to depend solely on verbal clues that the customer may present.

In this regard, contact center agents should be trained effectively in dealing with customers that are calling in with their concerns and complaints. What then, makes good customer service training?

The vision, mission and goals of the company being served should be inculcated well in every contact center agent. If this were done, every contact center agent will know the reasons for existence of the company, why they are serving customers and how their service works. When these become owned by the contact center agent, then their loyalty to the company will be better and they will deal with every customer with care and concern.

They say that intention should always come with capability. Even with the best of intentions, a contact center agent may not be able to deliver excellent customer service. Why? The simple reason is that he may not be equipped to provide such customer service. When this is the case, no matter how willing an agent might be to provide good customer service, he simply could not. Even if he is willing, if he is not able to successfully navigate through complex computer programs or understand the nitty-gritty details of the customers needs, then good intentions will amount to nothing.

This is why the technical aspect of excellent customer service should be taught to contact center agents. This includes the manipulation and effective use of the computer and the Internet. The nature of the business as well as the service being provided should also be known by the contact center agent be heart and by mind. Such knowledge and skills should complement with the intention of the agent to provide excellent customer service.

If you are looking for a place where contact center agents provide excellent service and if you want your customers to be satisfied with the level of service they receive, then you should consider contact centers in the Philippines. Filipino contact centers are not only teachable, they also have the intention of providing help to customers whenever and wherever they can.

James Stinson is Owner and Founder of Global Sky Inc. He employs a team of 50 in a high quality call center facility based in the Philippines. For more info on outsourcing your project visit: http://www.global-sky.com

Irate Customers and Contact Centers

There are a number of reasons why customers who call contact centers become irate. The number one reason of course is dissatisfaction with the product or service that they receive. But these problems may be easily remedied with good customer service. Without these, the customer may transform into a phone monster because of a rude phone officer or because of inappropriate handling.

Customer service officers from the Philippines have been dealing with a number of irate customers since contact centers became popular. Hence, the contact center agents have put forward several suggestions as to the proper way of dealing with irate customers while at the same time helping them with whatever concerns that they may have.

The foremost rule to remember is to always be cool even in the face of an irate customer. By showing that the situation is manageable, the contact center agent shows confidence. This confidence will also be a way of saying to the customer that everything is under control. If the agent suddenly goes into panic mode and starts speaking very quickly, out of sync, the customer will also know that the agent does not know what to do. The initial response would be to request for a supervisor or anyone who is able to deal with the situation.

Also, contact center agents need to possess the ability to look past the negative words and shouts of the customer and cut through to the issue at hand. Is it a matter of bad product or a difficulty? Is it because of a promise made and not fulfilled by another customer service officer? There may be sometimes that the customer is wrong. However, the agent should be willing to do everything in his power to help the customer no matter how obnoxious he or she may be.

There should also be a way for customers to talk to and contact customer service. For call center agents in the Philippines, they do not seek to be elusive. Although some contact center agents may claim that they are located in the country of their clients. However, if this is not true, why claim it to be so? It would only complicate matters. Being elusive is not a good sign of customer service. If a company becomes elusive, then customers may even suspect that something fishy is going on.

Contact center agents in the Philippines also embark in an effort to look at the specific aspects of a complaint. A complaint can never be solved unless the customer service officer can look at the needs of the customer and suggest different ways of dealing with it. This also calls for clear language and without the confusing words so often used in sales and marketing.
In resolving complaints, it is necessarily for customer service agents to ask probing questions and make the complainant talk about their experience. There is no other way in understanding the customers complaints. After such reasons shall have been understood, then the contact center agent can proceed in enumerating possible solutions to the problem.

James Stinson is Owner and Founder of Global Sky Inc. He employs a team of 50 in a high quality call center facility based in the Philippines. For more info on outsourcing your project visit: http://www.global-sky.com

Getting Value for Your Money: Freelancer or Affiliate Company

Outsourcing has changed the landscape of business all over the world. Through the Internet, it is now easier to get a freelancer or an affiliate company abroad to fulfill the different needs of your company from writing marketing copies, creating company logos or the actual website of the company.

You just need to make a choice between a freelancer and an affiliate company to do the jobs you need. Affiliate companies are usually located overseas and tend to be composed of at least five employees. You do not blindly choose between the two. There are several considerations you have to think through before awarding the project to a freelancer or an affiliate company.

Determine your budget
Before contacting freelancers or affiliate companies who can work on your project, you need to determine how much budget you have as this may make an impact on whether it is best for you to contact a freelancer. The benefit of hiring a freelancer is that he usually works by himself and because of this the price may be negotiated through the interview and the negotiation phase. Affiliate companies, on the other hand, have more costs to think about as compared with freelancers. They will have to pay their staff as well as the other fixed costs they will entail.

The drawback in hiring a freelancer, however, is the possibility of delays and late submissions. If this happens, then the schedule of the project will be severely affected. Affiliate companies, however, offer stability and may assign more than one contractor to work on your project.

Resources Needed
Another important consideration is the resources that may be needed for your project. Will your contractors be telecommuting or will they need to work on site? For on site kinds of job, an affiliate company would be more reliable because of their capability to assign more than one personnel to work on your project. A freelancer on the other hand may be more flexible in terms of visiting the site, especially, if the project becomes his priority.

Establish the Kinds of Skills Needed for the Project
In determining the nature of the project, the list of skills also needs to be listed down so that the contractor will be able to fulfill every requirements of the project. If an affiliate company will be contacted, they will be able to offer a wider range of skills and expertise while a freelancer may only offer a limited range of skills. This is one of the limitations of a freelancer. Furthermore, if the freelancer that you will contact is highly skilled and is capable to deal with a greater degree of complexity and problems, chances are his rates will also be more expensive.

Other Considerations
Technical skills, however, are only half of the picture. Another thing needed is the sensitivity and flexibility of your chosen contractor in completing your requirements. Without such flexibility, it might be more difficult for you to maximize the skills of the freelancer. Also, an affiliate company can be more easily traced and made accountable. You just need to ensure that the affiliate company or the freelancer that you will contact has good track record.

James Stinson is Owner and Founder of Global Sky Inc. He employs a team of 50 in a high quality call center facility based in the Philippines. For more info on outsourcing your project visit: http://www.global-sky.com

Honesty and Good Phone Customer Service

Customer service on the phone is more challenging than a face to face encounter. Whenever a customer feels unhappy about the product or the service being provided to him, the only clue that the phone officer will get would be the tone of the voice of the customer and the words that he uses. If the phone officer does not listen well, the customer will remain angry and might never use the product or the service again.

Although there are regional accents and language and cultural barriers that have to be surmounted, customer service officers on the phone from the Philippines as well as from other parts of the world would do well to listen to the following tips and advice. Honesty is still the best policy.

It is very easy to make promises on the phone. It is also easy to deceive the customers into the best option there is for the sake of gaining financial or social advantage. However, if there is no honesty, then soon enough, the customer will find out about it and they will be very unhappy with the service.

In troubleshooting problems such as rebooking of flights or hotel accommodation, incorrect credit card finance charge, customer service officers on the phone should not make promises they could not keep. If a promise to call back has been made then it should be done because customers will be expecting that. Otherwise, it will only create more damage than what has already been done.

If a customers request cannot be done, he should know that and the customer service officer should look for other alternative, which would be acceptable to the customer. That is how honesty works, it puts both parties on a level footing and they would know what to expect from each other. That way, there will be lesser phone calls and lesser headaches and ulcers. Tend to each customer and do not pass them from department to department.

Weve all experienced it before sitting on a couch with the phone on our ears waiting for what seemed like eternity before a phone officer answers. But when somebody answers, we are told we have to be transferred to another department and the cycle begins all over again.

On the part of phone officers, they have to ask the customers first about the nature of their inquiry and pass them directly to a person who can help them. Transferring them from department to department would be time-consuming and irritating. On the other hand, customers should also be careful with the number options that they press so that they could go directly to the department that can answer their queries. This will save time and energy for both parties.

Phone customer service is tough. No doubt about it. But given honesty and sensitivity, it will become an enriching experience for both the customer and the company. Without both, then a meaningful relationship cannot be established and a cycle of discontent and complaints will just be in place.

James Stinson is Owner and Founder of Global Sky Inc. He employs a team of 50 in a high quality call center facility based in the Philippines. For more info on outsourcing your project visit: http://www.global-sky.com

The Truth About Call Centers

Even though call centers are helping developing countries such as the Philippines stay competitive in the global economy, there have been a lot of criticisms directed against call centers in general. Critics say that the work atmosphere of call centers tends to dehumanize the employees. This is because the employees have to work on graveyard shift in servicing clients overseas, particularly in the United States. In this case, call center agents in the Philippines has to stay up from 8 pm to 5am to deal with the 12-hour time difference with the United States. They say that such work situation provides health and safety hazards for those working so late.

To deal with the transportation issue late at night, call centers have instituted a kind of shuttle service where people can go to and be transported to the call center office. This way, safety hazards are minimized. For Westerners, the salary level given to call center agents may seem small. However, in the standards of the country such as the Philippines, such rates are considered as one of the highest starting salaries in the market. In fact, a lot of young professionals are opting to work for call centers while finishing their masters degrees.

Although call centers in the Philippines are strict with time, the time of agents in the toilet is respected to prevent them from contracting any disease. Moreover, they are provided with medical insurance so that in case of illnesses, they can easily be treated.

Another criticism concerns the level of salary being given to call center agents. The amount of money being paid to them is not enough to cover the hazards they have to face. Another issue is the way in which the time of the agents in going to the toilets is limited. In some cases, agents spend 15-minute breaks once in the morning and once in the afternoon and the total time that they can spend in going to the toilet is 10 minutes for the whole day. In worst cases, the agents might develop some kidney trouble if they are not given enough time in the toilets.

Customers have also complained regarding the level of proficiency of call center agents. They say that some of the agents are not very helpful with their concerns and that they tend to lack the technical skill and knowledge in helping them out. What is even alarming is that some agents appear to be apathetic in the face of very irate customers.

Call centers in the Philippines recognize these criticisms directed against call centers. As such, what they do is to ensure that their agents are remunerated well. They are provided with hazard pay and transportation allowance to deal with the graveyard shift. In fact, in most call centers in the Philippines there are sleeping quarters where agents can rest and refresh themselves before or after their shifts.

Employee development programs are also instituted in the Philippine call centers so that the agents do not remain where they are. Refresher trainings are provided to them, and time for recreation is also provided to ensure that there is a good work-life balance in the lives of call center agents. The job is stressful at times and recreation is needed so that the agents sensitivity to the customers is at par with company expectations.

James Stinson is Owner and Founder of Global Sky Inc. He employs a team of 50 in a high quality call center facility based in the Philippines. For more info on outsourcing your project visit: http://www.global-sky.com

Fixing The Gap So That You And The Customer Wins!

The CMO Council is promoting their newest research findings - a report entitled "Profitability from Customer Affinity".

In an email promotion, they start the document with this finding from the research: "56% of vendors view themselves as being extremely customer-centric, but only 12% of customers agree. Despite an increased focus on customer engagement, most B2B technology companies continue to fall short of meeting customer expectations and commitments."

What a gap!

The various business gaps are all too often taken for granted.

There is a gap between sales and marketing. This shows up as all those leads generated by marketing have a checked pattern of concise follow up.

In the trade show world, there is a statistic that 80% of trade shows leads are never followed up.

Many marketing departments just waste their precious dollars with little or no results demonstrated.

Why? The biggest reason is the lack of accountability within an organization.

Some one who is at the top of the organization should be asking the tough questions.

Your department - marketing - spent so much on these lead generation activities - what is the return on that investment?

If your management is not asking the questions, possibly you can start creating the metrics to show them what happen (the good, the bad and the ugly) on the last marketing campaign.

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