When it comes to share my opinion about any topic I always want to share something that I had face then if not it wouldn't make sense for me to write somebody else story but anyways let's get start. I started in sales 7 years ago and I always enjoy it however I have learned that persistence is not applicable for every buyer and most important if you are doing telemarketing if you want to sale you need to create value, relationship and urgency and ask for the sale after you see there is some interest otherwise after many rejections you'll be wasting your time.
I am in the Business Process Outsourcing industry and I have seeing all type of rejections.
1-Not interesting.
2-Not at this time.
3-Call me back in 10 minutes.
4-Call me back next week.
5-Call me back in 6 months.
Those are the most common rejections but at the beginning back in 2014 I took those rejections so serious that I didn't realize I was wasting my time in something that will never move on from a no to yes. I spent one year following up with a client, I was calling him every 2 weeks as per his request. I had faith that one day we will start with the process, every time I spoke with him was busy,didn't have news,etc.
I realized that not only I was wasting my time but I was putting all my faith and attention that one day will get that business but also didn't realized that I could put all my effort to look for more sources to bring more sales to the company.
-SEO
-Social media
-Adds
-Email marketing
-Networking
What I learned is that it doesn't matter how responsible you are with follow ups you have, you need to identify when to continue or not, it's good to be persistence and never give up on your dreams what they are clients that are not ready to use your services/products or simply you are not ready for them.
As the years are passing by I found that 24 hours a day isn't enough with all the activities that needs to be taking care of on a daily basis and even if you delegate there is always something that we have to do, could be at the office or could be at home.
By common sense entrepreneurs will have a vision and mission and will work hard to go ahead and get it but it doesn't mean we need to forget values or the sensibility. How many times have you call and office and you get an angry bored receptionist picking up the phone and say hello may I help you like if they don't want to be on the phone, I am mean seriously I am not taking bad against them but if I am a buyer I may look another option because I received a wrong first impression or what if you leave a message and you were never contacted back like if people don't care about if you need a service or want to establish a business relationship.
Long time ago I called an SEO firm willing to get some information maybe shopping for prices, and the owner of the company pick up to phone rushing but anyways I started asking about his services but miss understood the message and told me we are not looking to buy anything from you and hang up on me, I didn't care about it and call him back to clear up that I was not selling if not trying to buy from him but the smart guy came to me again and told me I don't need anything from you and hang up. Some times we lose businesses for not paying attention to our prospects or even ignoring what they need which is not only losing a sale but discourtesy.
The fact that time is value as gold is true but we need to slow down and use the courtesy if we don't want to affect our brand/company.
For years Ip PBX was the only robust phone system for call center operations like Motorola, Dell,Pizza Hut, etc. Allowing companies to have all type of feature available to deliver the best customer experience to the callers but when it comes to expense the limited is the sky, starting when you reach the users limit then you need to buy additional PBX or add-ons.
For years with have been using at First Choice Solutions www.firstchoicesolutionsbpo.com ,Vonage business solutions which is a cloud platform where we can easily add or remove users and have unlimited features at affordable rates. The great part of using a cloud base is that either when you need to scale up or add new services you don't need to worry about paying for expensive equipment or buying updated versions.
The best part of using a cloud base service is that you can use it anywhere either you're traveling to another country or when you are at home and is available for smart phones, tablets,laptop and desktop.
Both of them are very important however it is important to have the clear concept for each of them.
Business development is equal to build relationship with others and sales is equal to get cash in exchange of a service/product but why both are very important?
Sales cures all a phrase used by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is nothing else but the true, there is no business in the world that will survive with no sales.
1- There is no reason to have a business if it doesn't pay off.
2-Nothing is free.
3- Efforts made will not have a reward.
In my point of view the only way you can have a profitable business with no sales is having a website, software or app that goes viral so you can sale adds to companies so then you just need to worry about having traffic in your site otherwise you'll be kicking yourself for nothing.
Business development is building relationship with people who has influence in the market place but is not limited to that if not that there is also a chance to have those influencers working for you for a peace of your business equity or just a commission. Business development will take more time, work and effort but in the long term can bring good results.
Author
Miguel Rivas
Founder - First Choice Solutions BPO
When outsourcing we have just 2 options.
Find a freelancer or an agencies.
Why would you take an agencies?
When I outsource my work in most of the cases I look for an agency that I know they have a good reputation and I can trust they'll get the stuff done. In the other hand when I look for a freelancer then I am just looking for the best rate.
Either I can look in a freelance platform or post on craiglist I know I'll get an offer in minutes and probably the job done very fast vs knocking agencies doors and find the best option.
When it comes to outsourcing for me what it matters is the first impression, if the agency takes hours to response back to me they are gone, if they don't know what they are talking about they are gone, if they rude they are gone,
On the other hand why not taking a freelancer? For me a freelancer can get the job done however nobody is taking care of the time he takes to deliver a project vs agencies who will take control and can have a milestone establish.
Don't sacrify quality for a couple of dollars, an agency can do everything to keep high quality standards vs freelance who can be fast but quality may change.
Contributor
Miguel Rivas
CEO - First Choice Solutions
Life isn't overnight you only live once, you live day by day. You never know what is going happened tomorrow or where are you going to be in the next 5 years, fine you can plan what to do but we don't own the future, we don't own anything because guess what once we are done with life and either we go to heaven or go to the hell whatever you have made is going to belong to somebody else.
At my early age 23 years old I have been watching inspirational/motivational movies and videos even read books about success but all I can tell is that success cannot be control but the only thing that we can control in life is effort. Write a book can take years, develop a product may take a day or 2 and it doesn't matter what industry you are marketing but it matters you are creating urgency to consumers to buy from you and for that you need to go extra mile to go and get it.
First Choice Solutions BPO was created to help USA and Canadian companies to reduce the overhead, operation cost and help companies to interact with consumers/customers, I know success doesn't come overnight I know it may take years or it may take months to become a recognize brand but I'll tell you what my passion is to connect university/college students with a job opportunity and can contribute with the country development where I belong to (El Salvador).
Many things have been going on with El Salvador but I am sure you will not find in the world hard workers than us and is not because I am Salvadorean is because I know for sure if I don't have I will take a bus and if there is not bus to get to work I'll walk and if it is raining and I don't have an umbrella I know I can get sick by walking on the street inside of the storm but I know there is a family waiting for my support and I know the opportunity can be easily taken from somebody else if I miss to work.
First Choice Solutions will help you out to reach all your goals and be treat as if you are working with an in-house operator.
Most of insurance agents works at their own pace, either could be from home or at their office. The game plan is to drive new businesses on a daily basis and make undefined amount of calls to get the conversion rate that has been establish from their team leader or if their work independently the goal they set. However, they have to handle current policies for their existing clients base, filling out paperwork.
First Choice Solutions BPO has interviewing many insurance agents and the answer was that they spend most of the time filling out paperwork or re-filling paper work than making an actual sale.
First Choice Solutions specialize in the time consuming activities at a lower labor cost with the same quality of service that can be deliver in your in-house operation.
Visit us www.firstchoicesolutionsbpo.com we can help you out to reach your sales goals or lead with those activities that keep your focus away from your core value activities.
When marketing a product/service B2B we all create a strategy to boost our sales and create profitability but how we ever stop for a second to see the different between each other?
Demand Generation:
Can be use with inbound and outbound marketing to promote a service/product and it is one of the most expensive one, can be done with direct mail.
Demand generation is letting your niche know about your existence on which you'll use videos, events,blogs,white papers.
Lead Generation:
We are basically trying to get consumers contact information and might be offering a free service(white papers) so in exchange they can provide an email, at the end of the day if you have a product/service you can reach out to them later or even sell their data to another party interesting in getting their data.
At the end of the day what matter is conversion rate and as much as contacts you can get more probabilities to close deals you'll be getting.
-Job opportunity -Closed a deal -Get a new job tittle
We have to have our goals very clear and have the ability to change the mindset of the person that we are pitching.
Remember to keep it short and simple and that catch the person's attention, make sure to answer all the questions.
Once you get the job done make sure to send the elevator back:
If somebody pitches you with a great idea that can bring value to your business help them out, we all start from the ground and when the chance comes out to help others don't miss out the chance to help.
Enterprises with great client/customer relationship are able to grow their business and stayed in business for a long-term but for those that don't pill pack their things back home sooner that expect it.
Build trust takes hard work and a lot of time. People most of the time looks for transparency,consistency and to be treated as a king.
If a client/customer trust you can be for different circumstances:-Price-Unique and helpful product-There is an urgency for them to buy from you
82% out 100% is the percentage that a satisfy client will give you a great reputation if you treat them the way you will like to treat. In the other hand if you miss to deliver a package, miss a promise,etc. You'll be jumping on the media as the irresponsale company.
Customers are the number one reason of a business no matter what circumstances you are facing, we need to meet client expectations.
Providing the right tools, training, equipment and technologies will allow your sales/customer service team to deliver the information-answers in a timely manner and will avoid 2-4 call backs regarding the same issue.
Transparency is priceless, let's pretend you are in the e-commerce business and you keep misleading customers on their shipment don't wait months to see a social media campaign against your business, honesty is most appreciated than false expectations.
You cannot rely your problems to a third party vendor in this case the shipment company because at the end if you unsatisfied customers we bet 100% they will not come back.
·Prohibits solicitors from calling residences before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., local time.
·Requires solicitors maintain a company-specific "do-not-call" (DNC) list of consumers who asked not to be called; the DNC request must be honored for 5 years.
·Requires solicitors provide their name, the name of the person or entity on whose behalf the call is being made, and a telephone number or address at which that person or entity may be contacted.
·Prohibits solicitations to residences that use an artificial voice or a recording.[2]
·Prohibits any call made using automated telephone equipment or an artificial or prerecorded voice to an emergency line (e.g., "911"), a hospital emergency number, a physician's office, a hospital/health care facility/elderly room, a cellular telephone, or any service for which the recipient is charged for the call.[3]
·Prohibits autodialed calls that engage two or more lines of a multi-line business.
·Prohibits unsolicited advertising faxes.
·In the event of a violation of the TCPA, a subscriber may sue for up to $1,500 for each violation or to recover actual monetary loss, whichever is higher. In addition, the subscriber may seek an injunction.
When the need of quit your job coming up to your head and start by you own there are some advises you should consider.
You will definitely need all the resources to develop your project starting with a laptop/PC , marketing budget, payroll, etc.
There are two ways that you might want to consider to begin the new venture:
Reduce your needs to 0
-You might want to raise money from the begining, but success doesn't come out overnight so you might want to keep money on the pocket before you start your business.
-You can be the only sole in your business so you don't have overhead and operational cost to pay every month. Example: Personal coach, trainer or sales consultant.
Outsource
Raise capital from outside the box:
-Angel Investors
-Family members
-Friend
Once the capital is there you'll do everything it takes to do the proof of concept of your product/service to the consumers, clients, media and why not the world.
Leading with all those core activities you don't want to miss out consumers/clients communications-engagement, a multichannel firm can help you with social media customer service (email, browser chat, social media chat and phone support) and the most important part is to get a cost effective service with the same quality that can be delivered in-house or and onshore firm and avoid to pay overhead.
Verticals: call center companies in El Salvador, nearshore call center services, bpo el salvador, Insurance inbound calls, Direct mail response, el salvador call center
Inside sales team
What is insidesales? Simple, a guy or team outside of your office making phone calls under your name to produce revenue for your organization and for them to buy their donut, pay bills and get cash while you're handling your in-house operation. It soundscomplicated?Yes but is not it actually started on the 1950s by a company name Dial America Marketing, Inc.
An inside sales team member just need internet connection, phone system, lead list, order form and they are good to go to generate sales.
Many people think that is the worst idea , however it will drive more sales with inbound/outbound calls than you, dealing with many task all day long and allowing just 20%-35% of your time to boost revenue.
First Choice Solutions understand that sales cures all and they follow that vision.
In today’s busy world we’ve become a people obsessed with productivity and “work hacks.”
Getting more done in less time lets us to get ahead, and even gives us more availability to do the things we love outside of work. The problem we run into is that it is easy to get motivated, but hard to stay disciplined.
Most of us look at productivity in the wrong way: task management tools are shiny at first and then go unused. Being chained to your desk is as unhealthy as it is unproductive.
At Help Scout we hold the belief that “achievement isn’t about doing everything, it’s about doing the right things.” Productivity is about saying no.
Focus and consistency are the bread-and-butter of being truly productive. Let’s take a look at the science behind how the brain works in the synthesis state, and what changes you can make for the better.
Productivity Explained in 3 Minutes
Click play to learn:
Why worrying about having “more willpower” is a fool’s game.
How world class experts stay productive… and what they do differently.
The reason why better energy management = a more productive you.
Big pitfalls that lead to busywork and procrastination.
Watch and enjoy.
Once you’ve done that, if you want to know more just scroll down: a dozen studies and far more explanation await.
Abandon All Willpower, Ye Who Enter Here
The first thing to acknowledge in the pursuit of getting more done is the mountain of evidence that suggests willpower alone will not be enough to stay productive.
According to research by Janet Polivy, our brain fears big projects and often fails to commit to long-term goals because we’re susceptible to “abandoning ship” at the first sign of distress.
Think of the last time you went on a failed diet.
You stocked your fridge with the healthiest foods & planned to exercise every day… until the first day you slipped up. After that, it was back to your old ways.
To make matters worse, research by Kenneth McGraw was able to show that the biggest wall to success was often just getting started. Additional research in this area suggests that we’re prone to procrastinating on large projects because we visualize the worst parts; the perfect way to delay getting started.
According to researcher John Bargh, your brain will attempt to simulate real productive work by avoiding big projects and focusing on small, mindless tasks to fill your time.
Big project due tomorrow? Better reorganize my movie collection!
Perhaps worst of all, numerous studies on the concept of ego-depletion have provided some evidence that suggests our willpower is a limited resource that can be used up in it’s entirety. The more you fight it, the more gas you burn. An empty tank leads to empty motivation.
With all of that stacked against us, what can we possibly do to be more productive?
In order to figure this out, one of our best bets is to observe the habits of consistently productive people.
The Habits of Productive People
If I were to ask to describe the practice regiments of world-class musicians, you’d probably envision a shut-in artist who plays all day long and then tucks in their instrument at night.
Amazingly though, research by Anders Ericsson that examined the practice sessions of elite violinists clearly showed that the best performers were not spending more time on the violin, but rather were being more productive during their practice sessions.
Better yet, the most elite players were getting more sleep on average than everyone else.
How is that possible?
Subsequent research by Anders reveals the answer: the best players were engaging in more deliberate practice. You’ve heard the term, but beyond the hype, what is it all about?
It’s nothing more than spending time on the hardest tasks, and being better at managing your energy levels.
Think of it this way: If you were trying to get better at basketball, you’d be much better off practicing specific drills for two hours rather than shooting hoops all day long.
Since deliberate practice requires you to spend more brainpower than busy work, how can you implement it without draining your willpower?
The first answer is an inconvenient truth: the best way to overcome your fear of spending a lot of energy on a big project is to simply get started.
The Zeigarnik Effect is a construct that psychologists have observed in numerous studies on suspense. One such study gave participants brain-buster puzzles to complete, but not enough time to complete them. The surprising thing was, even when participants were asked to stop, over 90% of them went on to complete the puzzles anyway.
According to the lead researcher:
It seems to be human nature to finish what we start and, if it is not finished, we experience dissonance.
It’s the same thing that happens when we become engaged in a story in a book, movie or TV show: we want to see how it ends.
You can use this knowledge to your advantage by just getting started on that next big project; in the most basic sense, don’t focus your motivation on doing Activity X. Instead, focus on making Activity X easier to do.
Start the night before. Is your to-do list already written up? Is your place of work ready for you to get started? Break down barriers of friction before relying on willpower.
On Working Like an Expert
A multitude of research has shown us that discipline is best maintained through habits, not through willpower.
According to Tony Schwartz, CEO of The Energy Project, most people hold their productivity back by not rigidly scheduling work & rest breaks throughout the day.
Since most of us are worried about willpower, we don’t push ourselves to maximum output: instead of “giving our all” for brief sessions, we distribute our effort throughout the day, leading us back to busywork to fill our time.
What should we do instead?
Schwartz often cites a research study conducted by the Federal Aviation Administration that revealed how short breaks between longer working sessions resulted in a 16% improvement in awareness & focus.
Research from Peretz Lavie on ultradian rhythms matches up with these findings: longer productive sessions (of 90 minutes) followed by short breaks (of no more than 15-20 minutes) sync more closely with our natural energy cycles and allow us to maintain a better focus and higher energy level throughout the day.
Both of these studies on energy management match up with the practice schedules of the violinists: the most common regimen for the cream of the crop players was a 90-minute block of intense practice followed by a 15-minute break.
The moral of the story is that it’s hard to be productive while trying to maintain high energy levels through your entire day.
It’s much easier to work intensely when you know that a break is just around the corner, not at the end of the day. Instead of trying to conserve energy for hours, break big projects down into smaller chunks and plan a recovery period right after.
For projects done on your own time, try scheduling blocks of 90-minute work sessions with a planned cool down time of 15 minutes directly afterwards. When you know a break is on the horizon, you won’t try to pace yourself with your work, and will be more inclined to dive into the difficult stuff.
While great for tackling the toughest parts of large projects, this technique doesn’t really address many problems related to discipline, an important part of staying productive for more than just a day or two.
The Art of Staying Disciplined
One segment of the population known for struggling with discipline are those who are addicted to hard drugs.
Given their disposition for being unable to commit to many things, you might be surprised to find that during an experiment testing the ability of drug addicts to write & submit a 5 paragraph essay on time, those who wrote down when & where they would complete the essay were far more likely to turn it in.
These findings have some interesting correlation with those related to discipline in other people: in a study examining the ability of average people to stick with a strict dieting plan, researchers found that those participants who rigorously monitored what they were eating were able to maintain far higher levels of self-control when it came to maintaining their diet.
Last but not least, Dan Ariely and colleagues conducted a study involving college students and found that students who imposed strict deadlines on themselves for assignments performed far better (and more consistently) than those who didn’t.
These findings were especially interesting because Ariely noted that students who gave themselves too generous of a deadline often suffered from the same problems as students who set zero deadlines: when you allot yourself too much time to complete a task, you can end up creating a mountain out of a molehill.
Since we now know that tracking our progress is a key component of productivity, how can we implement this practice into our daily routine?
One method is to use an Accountability Chart to track what work you’ve completed during your 90-minute productive sessions, similar to how the dieters tracked their food consumption.
To easily implement one, simply create two-columns on a piece of paper, Google Docs spreadsheet, or even a whiteboard.
Column 1 will list the time-span of one of your productivity sessions.
Column 2 will list what tasks you’ve accomplished in that limited time-span.
Don’t include any columns for your 15-minute breaks, as those times are for your own sake and means to replenish your willpower.
This works well for 2 specific reasons:
Dr. Kentaro Fujita argues that tracking your progress in this way is helpful because you’ll be exposed to the work you’ve actually accomplished, and not the (inaccurate) assumption of work you might construe in your head.
Forcing yourself to write down the fact that you spent 2 hours on YouTube isn’t about shaming, it’s about awareness; you’ll be less likely to do it again.
Progress tracking is also a known strategy for stopping yourself from engaging in robotic behavior (also known as ‘busywork’), a habit thatresearcher John Bargh describes as the #1 enemy of goal striving.
Productivity & Multitasking
With a work schedule, an energy management strategy and a task-tracking system in place, the last challenge we have to face is that of multitasking.
According to a 1999 study, we have a tendency to view multitasking as effective, even when it isn’t
However, researcher Zhen Wang was able to show that on average, multitaskers are actually less likely to be productive, yet they feel more emotionally satisfied with their work—creating an illusion of productivity.
We were absolutely shocked. We all lost our bets. It turns out multitaskers are terrible at every aspect of multitasking.
When working on the computer, the best thing you can do is turn on Airplane Mode; no need for temptation when you can’t even access the web. If you’re unable, help yourself with tools like and StayFocusd to block distracting sites.
The next best strategy is to create an evening planning ritual where you select a few priority tasks to accomplish the next day.
The reason this method works far better than planning your daily tasks in the morning is because research from the Kellogg Schoolhas shown that we miscalculate the amount of focus we’ll be able to maintain in the future. We strongly believe that we’ll be able to quickly plan our day the next morning, but when tomorrow rolls we stumble off track.
You can create an evening planning ritual with a simple pen & paper or use an online tool like TeuxDeux each night. List only priority tasks (the “big 5”) for the day.
Instead of listing, “Work on research project,” as a daily goal, try something like, “Finish introduction,” or, “Find additional sources,” as a task you can actually complete.
The Instant Replay
Too long, didn’t read:
Willpower alone is not enough: Your productivity shouldn’t be reliant on your sheer force of will alone. Mental toughness will go a long way, but in order to stay disciplined you’re better off relying on systems.
Give yourself the ability to go “all-in”: Working harder on the stuff that matters is going to drain you mentally & physically. Don’t be afraid of giving yourself multiple breaks throughout the day. It’s better to “chunk” productivity sessions into 90 minute periods (in order to keep yourself sharp and to alleviate the stress of pacing your energy throughout the entire day.
If it’s not worth measuring, it’s not worth doing: Tracking has been proven to be the best way to stay diligent about your progress. Create an accountability chart to list what productive things you’ve gotten done throughout the day. You’ll see how much you’re really accomplishing.
Multitasking is your enemy: Treat it as such. Block out unwanted distractions and as Ron Swanson would say, “Never half-ass two things, whole-ass one thing.” Plan your day the night before so you won’t get consumed with the wonderful distractions of the internet when you start your day.
If you want to read more about this increbile tips please visit them at www.sparringmind.com
