Looking to open Small Call Center to grow my company

Hello mitch.sibulo -> Do not hesitate to share some informations directly on the forum. It could help other members as well.

Thank you,
Aurélie

Looking for a place to start up your company with? Look no more! We, in solution tac can help you build your company starting from scratch. We can work as your service provider, providing anything and everything you need as a company. We have place, we have facilities and we have workers ready!
We have places here in Cebu Philippines which is fully organized. It already has 10 units of computer, internet connection, phone line, desk, chairs, office cabinets and the room is fully air-conditioned. All computers are new. Internet connection is from 3mbps to 5 mbps, but if you need higher speed we can also upgrade the said connection.
Rental fee is really affordable and negotiable.
Solution tac can also help you in legal processing. We can help you registered your company for you to be legally operating here and so to avoid any penalties or worst for closure of your business. We can provide you personnel who can help you process everything while you are already operating.
We can act as your HR personnel too! We can provide you best agents that would be an asset of your growing company.
You can start up anytime you want for all the said facilities are available and are ready to use.
Just send me and email to solutionstac@gmail.com or add me on your skype account(solutions.tac)..
Hope to hear from you soon.

Johnny5 wrote:

I've hired people in Manila for 1,000/day and my turnover was high... people would change jobs all the time...

Start small and grow from there

J

Great advice, keep overhead LOW always when starting a business. I've seen to many people, even friends go out a blow 50-100K on a business when they had no clients and never made a penny beforehand. Remember as long as the money is in your pocket it's still yours. Use it wisely.

Hey Johnny what kind of service were you offering at the time in Makati? Don't you think that over paying employee's keeps enough money in their bank to quit their jobs? I know I hate working, and from what I know about Pinoys they don't like working either. That being said giving employees to much income seems like it would result in them leaving to either go home and relax and enjoy life, or go start their own company. Your thoughts?

[Moderated: Please post in Housing section]

xle wrote:

[Moderated: Please post in Housing section]

Thank you Xle. Sadly I already have a place rented in taytay, and mapped out the 2-3 hour drive, from my house to Caloocan City. I appreciate the offer but will have to decline for now.

    Cheers.

Ok. No problem expat fever. cheers!

hello sir,

I am willing to work in ur call center i want to go to philipines
if u intrested for worker pls send me mail in my id my mail id is anil_shukla1973@yahoo.co.in so i can send u my resume

thanks
with regards
anil shukla
+91840882293

Hello anil 1973 -> Do not hesitate to post an advert in the Jobs in the Philippines section.

Thank you,
Aurélie

Hi anil shukla > you should please post your advert in the jobs in Philippines section.

Thank you.

First that you gotta consider is the place. Where are you setting it up? here in Manila, most of the agents are kind of HARD HEADED. remember, and always remember, you let go of one, sometimes they all go in group. experienced agents are definitely worth it, yet the disadvantage is they will demand so much more than what you give them. If you are going for a telesales, you can definitely go with non experience agents and train them. Get rid of the agents that are lacking in SALES SKILLS. If its an inbound and only customer service, you will definitely want someone that has great communication skills and can actually DRIVE the conversation. setting up a center is just really easy... many clients too especially in OUTBOUND. but the issues are always going to be THE AGENTS.

[Moderated: Please register yourself into Business directory]

I just got back to the USA after travel in the Philippines.  I was wondering why are so many prospective business start-ups are so centered around Makati.  Why not go towards the outskirts of Manila NCR and start where people will gladly work, the property values are a lot lower and living is a lot easier.

I have been on a bus from Cavite, at that time I was on it I observed many just going to work, and they went far on this bus everyday.

My suggestions are Cavite or Antipolo areas.  Just my two-cents

Economic Zone   
means u can have a business in these zones if u are a foreigner

same as IT park in cebu

Thatawesomeguy wrote:

Economic Zone   
means u can have a business in these zones if u are a foreigner

same as IT park in cebu

I see...  Never thought of that little legality issue.

So what if a dual citizen were to own a 1/3 of the company and the rest as a foreign interest?

no idea    never looked into that one

im sure the info is on their site  somewhere

HI we have callcenter now wherein we have 11 agents doing phone calls.

We are very interested in doing business with you.


thanks

Hi. I am Ana, Spanish CSR and I'v done the business of Call Center here in the Philippines but for only a few months. First thing.....make sure you know the client by researching on them because many times, they do not pay you on a hourly rate but on a quota rate which is difficult bec. you need to pay the people you hire. It has happened to me. Plus if you need to do sales or outbound calls, you need to have your List of phone numbers that you purchase but most of the time, if you avail of this list from someone who you don't know, this List is pretty useless.  Calling the Us is difficult for sales and marketing bec. you only get Voicemails and so you get nowhere.  Though I have to admit that many have succeeded bec. they were able to get good accounts and know people who are in the business.  So good Luck.

Hello.

Please note that this is an old thread. ( 2009 ).

Thanks

Karen

Thanks for the reply.. yup i really need good clients to do business with. do you know anymore that we can talk to..

means you can help me get a good clients to work with..

thanks..

Hi arnold_ACCT

Please note that Karen form part of the expat-blog team!

Thank you,

David.

[Moderated: Please register yourself into the Business directory]

[Moderated: No free advertisement pls]

Tatiana, i am hiring. How can you help out. Pls call me at 0917.853.7985 or you email me at ralph.reyes@levelonecs.com

I think you're crazy for trying to get into the call center business right now.  I work (supposedly) as CMO for one and I see the kind of leads we get....and (trust me) we have VERY high Google visibility.

Only about a very very very very small percentage of people who make call center inquiries know really what's involved in setting up and running one (NB: this is notwithstanding whether it's an inbound our outbound campaign).  The significance of that is that they therefore think that price is everything.

So that means that you, as the call center owner, have to (a) keep your prices down, or (b) sell quality.

If you keep your prices down you WILL NOT be able to recruit quality operators.  These young Filipinos who can speak good English are perfectly well aware what that skill is worth in the call center industry.  All except the very, very biggest and best call centers have an appreciable turnover problem.  They understand or soon learn how to 'climb the ladder' just like anybody anywhere else.

Plus, the agent cost is only one of several costs involved.  You've also got software, infrastructure, benefits, legal, management and administration, etc.

If, by some stroke of luck, you've got those at what appears to be an acceptable and sustainable level, you've still got to contend with (a) turnover of employees and (b) client turnover.

Big companies in the US and elsewhere expect to pay for quality but they also expect to get quality.  The ones who will 'bite' on a USP based on low price are the very same ones with crappy campaigns for crappy products for which you more than likely will not be able to really deliver the numbers for them.

And that's not taking into account the shysters who will want you to work on PFP (commission only).  Believe me...people will try to scam you.  Reputable companies just don't do that PFP stuff (we certainly don'y).

IMHO the only niche you might be successful in would be if you have some sort of privileged access to a client....who has a very finite and limited requirement in terms of numbers of agents, agent ability and technology....and if your center is out in the 'boonies' where the agents either can't or don't want to migrate to a larger metropolitan area where they'd have more upward mobility potential.

But the fact is that in Manila most agents are always shopping around.

As I see it, there's a very delicate line that call centers have to walk.  Are they growing, declining or stable?

It's not necessarily easy to grow beyond a certain size.  There are all sorts of things that need to be done/expanded/upgraded/improved on as a company grows.  If you, as the business owner, attempt to do that it's an up-front investment for you (with also a certain lead time too) and once you get it all accomplished....is the potential client(s) still going to be there?

And once you get that expanded infrastructure built, now you've committed to a higher and constant overhead.

If you're think you can just snag a few clients, get into the business and just count your money(profits) each month..well, that'll work only as long as nothing unexpected happens. But that's why so many small call centers go out of business every month in the Philippines (and Manila).  That's very often the exact reason these supposedly 'good deals' on facilities come from....i.e. somebody else thought they were going just open a call center and get rich...but the reality was otherwise.

If you operate in Manila you're going to operate in the same basic cost/expense environment as everybody else and....it's tough...UNLESS you can hang on long enough to find some dependable clients with solid clients with money to pay for quality and unless you can build a long term relationship with them.

Another reason I think you're asking for more headaches that it's worth if you're trying to get into the call center business is that we haven't really begun to see the real shit hit the fan in the US (or global) economy yet.   When the US dollar 'tanks', as it will very soon, there's going to be turmoil everywhere. 

When that happens, companies are going to be pulled in two directions.  One one hand they're going to be attracted to the stability of the Filipino worker but, on the other hand, they're going to be very nervous and sensitive about quality and they're not going to want to waste money on sweat-shops that will (a) not reflect well on their brand image (the people who answer your phones do create an impression of your brand, right?).

I think that if a person wanted to take advantage of the qualities of the Filipino worker, they would be smarter to pick some aspect of the internet marketing outsourcing industry.

That could be article writing, graphics, website building, coding, social media management tasks, or several other things.

When you look at the big IM outsourcing sites (Odesk.com or freelancer.com ... for example) you'll see that a LOT of those people are in the Philippines.  That business is smaller, you get repeat business, it's profitable, and it's more fun.

Regards,
Art

hey can you call me now

Hello Art, great post by the way. I wonder if my friend Chris Ducker, do you know him he's a call center owner here in Cebu City, wonder if he is having the same turnover problem among his employees, I bet he does. Where are you located?

One option here for Resident Expats is to get with a licensed broker and sell Condos and homes, the recent changes in the laws make it possible for guys like me to sell condos and homes as a "Sales Consultant" you must work under and be accredited by  a licensed broker meaning you are documented under that broker. You are paid with commissions based on sales usually around 3%, the company I am working with is in Manila and my broker resides there, we have condos and homes here in Cebu City. You are not an employee of the company and you work for commissions no salary, I mentioned Resident above because a foreigner that is on a visitors visa (2 month) is not allowed to work you must have your 13A residency completed and that runs around 11,000 Pesos if you do it yourself, hire someone for around 25,000 Pesos.

Hi Charles:

Yeah, I know who he is...that's about it.  Do you work for him?

I notice you play bass guitar?  I used to play bass too.  Really loved it.

As for the real estate thing....I don't know.  Is that something you do?

As far as what I'll be doing in the future, there's a lot of things up in the air for me right now. Time will tell.  I can tell you that my experience in the Philippines has been very eye-opening.

Regards,
Art

No I don't work for Chris he's just a friend, I do online website work and advertising and also sell condos and homes here.

Michael

Tell me your impressions of the Philippines now and how it was presented to you before you came here. I'm referencing "Eye Opening" It seems a lot of what is written online about retiring in the Philippines makes it look so nice here, paradise, you know what I mean, none of he reality of living here is mentioned. Like the frequent power outages, slums garbage lying about the streets, raw sewage running under the sidewalks, beggars begging for coins on the streets, high crime rate, don't get caught in a back street and loose your shirt. Many dirt and mud roads outside of the main roads. If you plan to live in a nice home on the beach you may think it is paradise until the city comes along and builds a beach resort right on your beach, that happened to a friend of mine he failed to lease the water front of which you can't own but you can lease it. Buy land and find out 10 people own the same plot of land you just bought... What else is negative about the Philippines can't recall now more later. I like it here and plan to stay for a while but may move to Europe or somewhere else after my wife finishes here college here in Cebu in another year and a half. I am starting a new band and I am still actively playing the bass guitar. Michael

I wish you luck in your venture. I am writing this for selfish reason, I am a American born and raised in Southern California. In the event you need some full time help, in a management type capacity and you want a expat, I am your guy. Contact me.

Madhatter, where do you live in the Philippines?

Hi there! Just message me if you want to outsource your dcall center business here in the phils...

Hi,
My name is Delena Spinelli and I am from the US. I'm looking for a job while here in the Philippines. I have 20 years in office and customer service.

PH. 09496950841

Regards,
Delena Spinelli

Hi,

I can help you with people you need. I am a professional headhunter.

Please send me email on my personal email address:  rscaoile@gmail.com

You may need other things like business registration, etc., let me help you.

Looking forward to your reply.

Best regards,


Rebecca S. Caoile

+639093982337
+639178943360

Look into call centers they are always hiring support people.
Michael

CharlesHarman wrote:

Look into call centers they are always hiring support people.
Michael

how old are you Charles???...

Hi
I live in Malaybalay, Bukidnon on Mindanao

I'm two years older than you born April 1946, ever come to Cebu look me up will buy you a beer.

Michael