As your business grows, office tasks and responsibilities grow even more. Most of the office tasks sap time, energy and money. In order to focus more on the core aspects of the business that promote its existence and profitability, a company or business should highly consider using outsourced office services to handle major office tasks. This way, they can save time, energy and money.

Here are some of the top office tasks you should consider outsourcing;

1: Data Entry

A lot of data handling is required in virtually every organization. Data entry is quite laborious and time consuming. In order to channel more time to the core aspects of the business, it is best to outsource data entry tasks to outsourcing service providers who are specialized in handling data entry. Whether it is Microsoft Word or Excel data entry, you will be better off outsourcing a huge part of your data entry task. Other aspects include data processing, transcription, and typing.

2: Accounting and Bookkeeping

Also, you should consider hiring outsourced office services for your accounting and bookkeeping tasks. It is highly important to ensure accurate record keeping and financial analysis in every organization. However, this task can be both laborious and time-consuming, thereby taking your attention away from the core aspects that help to build the image of your company. Therefore, whether it is your billing system, QuickBooks operation, simple accounts payable or other forms of accounting and bookkeeping, you will be better off hiring a knowledgeable third party to handle the task. You will save money, time and energy by doing so.

3: Virtual Assistance

You need assistance with tons of office tasks, ranging from fax to email and phone handling, including instant messaging. The 21st century businesses are increasingly leveraging virtual assistants through outsourcing services to handle varieties of office tasks. You will be amazed at how prompt, fast and effective these tasks will be handled by leveraging the help of a virtual assistant through a reliable outsourcing service.

4: Content Creation

Content has become one of the major ways to spread the news about a business and what it offers. And, a company or business needs steady streams of thought-provoking and engaging contents on their blogs, websites and social platforms in order to attract their target audience. However, content writing is time-consuming and requires expertise. This is why you should highly consider using the services of freelance writers to handle this important aspect of your business promotion. Google and other search engines will not hesitate to display your company website first to visitors once it can find fresh, relevant and informative contents on your web platforms.

5: Social Media marketing

No business can survive in the 21st century and beyond without a meaningful social presence. And, to make lasting impact on both your existing and potential customers through popular social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Google+, you need an expert social media marketer to handle this office task for you.

Other demanding, yet needful office tasks you should consider outsourcing to outsourced office services include online marketing and advertising, research, graphic design, and website design.

Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! inspires entrepreneurs build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.

Outsource companies are increasingly thriving because of their increased relevancy to organizations and businesses of different sizes. Not all business activities can be carried out in-house and majority of business owners and managers are aware of that. As a result, outsourcing has continued to grow in popularity. Through this strategic approach, companies are able to get more accomplished through a third-party.

Outsource Companies – Function

When a business or company decides to leverage outsourcing services, it helps them to channel the skills in-house to the more urgent aspects that help in branding the business and keeping it at a favorable competitive edge. Outsourcing is also a great way to save more on business running cost, especially in the aspect of staffing. To ensure both parties (the outsourcer and the outsourcing company) are committed to the project, a contract should be signed to this effect. This way, there will be less room for defaulting since this will attract some kind of penalty.

Outsourced Companies – Types of Jobs Involved

These days, virtually every business task can be outsourced. However, the most popularly outsourced business tasks include help-desk, telemarketing, BOP, information technology (IT), market research, ghostwriting, web design and development, recruitment, computer graphics, and engineering.

A lot of companies have discovered that by contracting outsourced companies to accomplish these tasks, they are able get the jobs done more professionally and with less cost. However, to ensure this desirable outcome, companies and businesses must be thorough in choosing an outsourcing vendor. The best bait is to hire an outsourcing service provider with proven successful track record in the business aspect that needs to be outsourced. Do not just settle for any outsourcing provider that comes your way, do a thorough assessment and research to be sure you will end up with the best possible outcome with your chosen outsourcing service provider.

Benefits

As you already know, there are tons of benefits that accrue from outsourcing, which is the reason most companies are drifting to this solution. Some of the benefits that a company or business stands to gain by contracting outsourcing services include the following;

• Cost saving – this is perhaps the top in the list of benefits that come with contracting outsource companies.

• Access to improved technology – reliable outsourcing providers use the best and most up-to-date technology in performing their clients’ tasks. Some companies, especially small businesses may not afford such top technologies in-house.
• Competitive advantage – by outsourcing certain business tasks such as some aspects of manufacturing, a company is able to complete production faster and present the product to the market before its competitors enter the market with their own products. And, the cost saving advantage will also help the company to reduce price and attract more customers without veering off desirable profit margin.

• Access to professional and skilled staff – a company is able to access highly qualified and skilled personnel that it may not have been able to afford in-house by leveraging outsourcing services. Most outsourcing providers and their staff are experts in their various outsourcing fields.

Indeed, using outsource companies to execute some business tasks provides greater benefits.

Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! inspires entrepreneurs build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.

Telemarketing is one of the effective forms of generating lead. And, contracting telemarketing outsourcing services can make the whole process even more worthwhile and rewarding. However, in order to ensure that your telemarketing outsourcing does not end up being a costlier and less effective exercise, there are essential steps to take before outsourcing your telemarketing.

Step #1: Interview as Many Providers as Possible

You should not just settle for any telemarketing provider that comes your way. Take your time to research the top providers and get to interview as many as possible and narrow your choice eventually to the best. Ensure you are asking the right questions such as ‘do you have a telemarketing plan?’ In fact, you should demand to see their telemarketing plan and ask them to create one specifically for your type of business. Adopt due diligence to help you hire the best telemarketing service provider.

Step #2: Make Your Sales and Marketing Goals/Strategy Clear

Even if you do not have a marketing strategy as a small business (which is usually the case), you should at least have insight into your target audience and what they need. While some telemarketing outsourcing providers will promise to help you in this aspect, they will end up doing trial and error that can land your business into trouble. So, you should be the one setting the pace concerning the needs of your target audience and the marketing strategy in place to meet your audience’s need.

Step #3: Choose a Supplier with Care

Ensure that the telemarketing service provider that you intend to hire is a specialist in telemarketing. You should look out for a provider with relatively quality selling skills as well as the ability to strike an engaging sales conversation by creating a rapport with a prospect. In fact, you should interview the provider in view or whosoever that will be assigned to handle your telemarketing. This way, you can be sure of what to expect. Check their portfolio for previous projects and request to speak with previous or present clients to gauge their level of satisfaction. Being profound in hiring telemarketing outsourcing services will ultimately reward you with the best possible outcome. 

Step #4: Keep Your Expectations Realistic

A lot of companies and businesses tend to have unrealistic expectations from telemarketers. Companies should realize that new prospects and contacts have to be nurtured overtime. You should not expect faster and higher closure rates that are obtainable with networking referrals since this tactic is equivalent to leads purchase. Give the telemarketer time to nurture the generated contacts to maturity. This way, you will eventually build loyal patrons when their hearts are completely won.

Indeed, hiring telemarketing outsourcing services can be rewarding in so many ways such as cost reduction, efficient telemarketing, loyal patronage, and access to talented telemarketers.  However, ensure you adopt the right process in hiring the best provider, and try as much as possible to keep your expectation realistic. This way you can get the best that outsourcing has to offer.

Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! inspires entrepreneurs build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.

More and more companies are taking advantage of outsourced service providers to meet their business running needs. Outsourcing companies meet diverse business needs for organizations – from handling marketing to manning call centers, offering administrative services, marketing and tons of other business processes. However, a company may decide to keep back some sensitive aspects; for instance, while a company may decide to outsource payroll processing, it will usually handle the actual payroll costs reconciliation and remittance submission to the government in-house. Contracting outsourcing service providers offers tons of benefits and this article will focus on top 3 of those benefits.

1: Operational Costs Reduction

Reducing operational costs is perhaps the mainstay for most companies when it comes to the benefits of using outsourcing services. The main source of cost savings that come from outsourcing is largely linked to a reduction in the number of people employed to work physically in a company. Some of the positions that most companies prefer to outsource include supervisory and data processing positions. So, as less number of people are employed, the company saves money in payroll costs. Also, savings in terms of operational costs through using outsourced service providers is achieved through reduction in office space, heating, and overhead costs that a company incurs on its staff. All these help a company to achieve significant cost saving.

Now, when entering an outsourcing contract negotiation, majority of the organizations take cognizance of quality and performance metrics. These are benchmarks linked to compensation and will usually encourage companies to attain the desired performance levels. In overall, a company should strive to achieve a highly motivated outsourcing contract aimed at meeting its outsourcing requirements satisfactorily. The truth is, a highly motivated outsourcing provider will surpass an organization’s expectations positively. Such motivations come from quality remuneration negotiation, and flexibility in terms of allowing the outsourcing outfit some level of control and flexibility in performing the outsourced task.

2: Productivity and Output Improvements

Also, top in the list of benefits that come with using outsourced service providers is productivity/output improvements. The credit to this benefit is given to the focused work environment that comes with outsourcing. Unlike the in-house employees that tend to handle multiple tasks, the outsourcing service providers usually only focus on one aspect of business operation. Typically, they are well trained in the aspect they are handling, which in turn results in increased efficiency and productivity level.

3: Opportunity for a Company to Focus on its Core Competencies

Often, the core competencies upon which a company is built are neglected as employees and even owners get engrossed with the operational aspects. So, by outsourcing some of its operations, a company is able to re-channel time, skills and devotion to those core competencies that define an organization and give it a competing edge. The truth is, most companies don’t even get to know that the essence of its existence is being neglected until the business tasks that are veiling their knowledge are outsourced.

Indeed, outsourced service providers provide valuable benefits to any organization or business.

Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! inspires entrepreneurs build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.

In recent years, outsourcing call center services have become increasingly popular just like other types of outsourcing. Outsourcing call center is simply a process whereby a company or business leverages technical assistance outside of its structure to offer support and help to its customers. Just like other forms of outsourcing, the major goal behind call center outsourcing is to minimize expenses that come with customer care service without neglecting the needs of customers.

Is Call Center Outsourcing Really Beneficial?

Obviously, the increased popularity of call center outsourcing is an indication that some benefits accrue from the process and would include the following;

Minimized Expenses

Whether it is call center outsourcing or other forms of outsourcing, the major goal behind outsourcing is to save cost and increase profit margin. A company saves a lot of money by letting a third party use its business premises to offer customer assistance to their clients. This is because the outsourcing company will take responsibility of paying for office space, overhead costs and other expenses that come with call centers. Ultimately, a company that outsources its customer help desk will plough back the money saved into growing and expanding the business.

Increased Access to Expertise

Sometimes, a company may not have sufficient resources to recruit real professionals for technical support and assistance. This is particularly true about small and medium-scale businesses, especially the ones that are just getting started. So, by contracting qualified outsourcing call center services, a small business or a company with limited resources is able to access professional technical support that they may not have been able to afford in-house. Customers are the life blood of any business – no customer, no sales, hence no income. Therefore, one of the best ways to ensure that a company does not jeopardize its customers’ patronage is to offer quality customer support through outsourcing.

24/7 Customer Support

Most outsourcing call center services offer round-the-clock customer support in the 7 days of the week. So, a company that leverages customer support or call center outsourcing is able to provide support for its customers even outside of normal business operating hours. This type of benefit that comes from help desk outsourcing particularly helps companies to gain competitive edge, especially if the competitors do not offer round-the-clock customer support. In essence, consumers will be automatically drawn to the one who provides support and technical assistance just any time. However, if getting 24/7 customer support is your main purpose for outsourcing call center, ensure that the outsourcing service provider will meet this need.

Customer Complaints are Resolved Faster

Since the call center service provider has no other task but to respond to the complaints of the customers, complaints are resolved faster. This in turn promotes increased customer satisfaction. On the other hand, in-house customer support team is often charged with other responsibilities that result in divided attention to the needs of customers. This explains why busy tones, call-waiting, and un-answered calls were the order of the day prior to the advent of call center outsourcing.

However, in order to get the best from outsourcing call center services, insist on hiring only the most competent provider.

Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! inspires entrepreneurs build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.

The best way to ensure your customers and clients are completely satisfied is to step up to the 21st century customer service that is completely innovative. Top customer service outsourcing companies are leveraging such innovative customer care systems to keep their clients’ customers consistently satisfied. The pioneering, 21st century customer care systems can range from traditional phone call to real-time chat, voicing, email management, website queries or orders, fax, interactive voice response(IVR) menus, call routing, mobile SMS, automated call backs, multimedia queuing, and more. The best part is that the top customer care outsourcing providers usually provide 24/7 service, so that your clients are attended to even at odd hours.

That’s not all, you are also provided with choices of operations when you hire top-notch customer service providers. For instance, some customer service centers have all agents working under one roof, while others recruit work-from-home agents who log in remotely. You can also choose on-shore call center outsourcing or the off-shore version. You can choose between small or big high-performing centers (in terms of size), and will find agents who work with in-house servers, or the ones working with land lines. On the other hand, others may rely on voice over internet protocol (VoIP) as well as cloud-based applications. Obviously, the choices are versatile and extensive.

Today’s successful customer service outsourcing providers are poised to ‘right the wrongs’ of the past. The agents have been trained on how to communicate effectively with the clients’ customers and know how to personalize every single call in such way that customers will have no doubt they are speaking with the company, and that there is high priority in ensuring their issues are resolved.

Conduct a Risk-Benefit Analysis

While the 21st century customer service outsourcing companies are doing great job in satisfying their clients’ customers, you should not hurry into outsourcing your customer care. First, you need to carry out a risk-benefit analysis to determine if outsourcing will best suit your customer service need. So, evaluate the culture and service needs of your company, including your current staff skills in regards to customer service as well as available resources. After proper cost-benefit analysis, you can decide on relinquishing control to a skilled third party who will handle your customer care.

Examine Your Customers’ Experience Thoroughly

Examining your customers’ experience is another essential consideration as you seek to outsource your customer service. For instance, are your customers getting personal touch and attention from your in-house customer care team? For small businesses, personal touch has always been seen as their hallmark, but this is not so with a lot of small businesses. Except you sit back as the CEO or owner to take a hard and long look at the type of experience your customers are getting, you may conclude all is going well. Sometimes, tons of your customers must have migrated to your competitor long before you realize what is happening. This type of massive departure is usually linked to unsatisfactory customer care service. The truth is, a good number of smaller enterprises do not have specially trained staff that are dedicated to just customer service. These enterprises will usually appoint just any less-busy employee to attend to a customer’s complaint, whether or not the person has the required skill.

So, the best route for most businesses is to resort to customer service outsourcing companies.

Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! inspires entrepreneurs build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.

Outsourcing customer service has grown increasingly popular because of the numerous advantages such as cost savings. In this practice, a company allows a third party to handle its customer service calls. A good number of companies find this practice to be both cost-effective and convenient versus hiring employees to do the job on site. Some of the popular call center outsourcing destinations include India and the Philippines.

Features of Outsourced Customer Service

Typically, customer service or call service centers feature rows of cubicles and are equipped with computers and telephones. These call centers usually operate 24/7 and typically operate shift duties. The customer service providers make outbound and inbound calls from their cubicles.

The calls that customer service outsourcing representatives receive from the clients or customers of the outsourced company is known as inbound phone calls. On the other hand, the calls made to the company’s clients or customers (outgoing calls) on behalf of the company are known as outbound phone calls. When you opt for customer service outsourcing, you will be provided with a telephone number for your customer communications. The outsourcing providers will take customer calls on behalf of the company on the contact numbers provided. The outsourcing customer service providers provide valuable information about the client’s company to its customers and help resolve any problem that the clients/customers may have. They make and receive calls with the company’s name and ultimately represent the company.

Benefits

Customer Satisfaction and Sustained Loyalty

The reason for making outbound calls on behalf of a company may include following up on previous service issues. Customer service has become one of the most important business functions that help keep a company in a competitive mode in the present day’s marketplace. It is important to contact customers to find out how they view the company’s products and/or services, and whether or not they are satisfied with such products and/or services. It is a great way to help keep up customer loyalty.

Increased Sales

Also, outsourcing customer service offers businesses some marketing benefits. For instance, companies hire call center outsourcing services for marketing purposes, to contact customers and let them know about new products and special offers, which ultimately helps to boost sales significantly.

24/7 Customer Service

Another great benefit that comes with outsourcing customer service is that businesses are able to provide round-the-clock customer service throughout the week and year. So, as customers are able to call at their own convenience and get help even during off-business hours and odd hours, they are most likely to increase their patronage, become loyal customers and even refer others to the business. And, the company also achieves extra benefits such as avoiding overtime costs as well as extra-training costs that would have come with hiring customer service employees in-house.

Finally, there are additional services from multimedia call centers such as ecommerce activities (e.g. order taking and resolving customer queries) and email/website support.

Indeed, there are tons of benefits that come with outsourcing customer service.

Daven Michaels is a New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of premiere global outsourcing company, 123Employee. The company employs hundreds of young bright individuals on three continents. His International event, Beyond Marketing Live! inspires entrepreneurs build & grow their business with revolutionary new theories and systems allowing them to design the business and personal lifestyle of their dreams.

Are you interacting with your Facebook friends like you should? Are you letting friends just sit there without reaching out and connecting? If you aren’t, your not alone. Most Facebook users don’t spend enough time interacting with their friends, fans or group members enough. When you neglect reaching out and networking, your profile and everyone that’s a part of it becomes a superficial and two dimensional social friendships.

Networking takes time, but that is how the strength of Facebook comes to light. This is where outsourcing your social networking tasks can help. I know that you are too busy to constantly stay in touch with your friends, but if you neglect this powerful marketing tool your missing out on what big companies already know…networking with real people builds trust and sales on the Internet. Outsourced reps trained in social networking can give you the relief you need to stay on top of busy tasks like this.

Are you already paying for social networking duties from an in house employee or virtual assistant? Add up the costs and see how much outsourcing can save you. Virtual assistants trained in Internet marketing can cost a small fortune, but you can’t deny the power of having an online presence and spreading the message of your business or service. Outsourcing helps grow your business globally for as little as $5.00 an hour and you only pay for what you need. This is the kind of partnership your company cannot do without.

Taking your Facebook interactivity to the next level will create the results you need for big strides in sales, opt-ins or customer service. Imagine the money you could be saving with Internet trained overseas reps. No matter how the Internet changes, interacting with your prospects is here to stay. This has been a staple of business forever…the Internet is finally catching up. Are you going to be apart of it?

Daven Michaels is an award-winning outsourcer and author of the book, ‘Outsource This!’ Daven has been honored more than any other individual or outsourcing organization. You can get more information on outsourcing by visiting www.123Employee.com

I was bad at disco, I was really bad at rap…here’s your chance to see me be a total doofus in this video where I attempt to be ‘gangnam.’

(Hint: I’m the one in the hat).

if you must know, here’s how it all went down….

My VP, Beejal, came to me while I was in a stupor and said he wanted to do a Gangnam Style video featuring yours truly and the 123Employee staff. In my glazed and dazed fog, I said, “sure, whatever.”

I then proceeded to forget about.

Well…guess who quickly remembered?

A few days later when I landed in the Philippines, jet lagged and ripe, I walked into my office, and Beejal says, “Hey, bud, it’s all set. The entire staff’s onboard and we shoot the video in 5 hours!”

The Mountain Dew I was drinking shot out of my nose.

If you want to pee your pants, take pot shots at me, make fun of me behind my back (and who doesn’t?), then clickety click here…

Now, because you’re privy to one of the ‘unmentionable’ moments in my life, do me a big one. After you watch the video, show some love and leave a comment. (I’m know I’m opening up a can of worms here).

Enjoy.

Daven “PSY” Michaels

PS: Parental Warning Advisory. Keep children at a safe distance when viewing this video. And please don’t try this at home. I’m a trained professional.

As we’ve discussed before, marketing online is a tricky endeavor. It’s extremely difficult to gage the perceptivity and desires of your potential customer base when first starting out. How do you know what truly interests them? Or what’s attractive to them? Where exactly is the best place to start?

All are great questions, and in complete honesty, the only way to truly know is to dive in and try. Sure, you can conduct market research, but the catch is – the market is always changing, and peoples’ preferences are in constant fluctuation. Something that is popular now, won’t be six months from now. So, it’s near impossible to develop a fool-proof plan when first entering the realm of online marketing.

So what can you, the first time online entrepreneur, do to ensure some sort of initial Internet success? The answer is very simple; follow the Rule of Reciprocation.

The Rule of Reciprocation

The fundamentals behind the Rule of Reciprocation are straight-forward and easy to follow. In a nutshell, the rule represents the ideal of giving. By giving you in turn receive. And in this model, by giving a piece of yourself and your business, you in turn receive support and build popularity. In a sense, you are creating a scale of market equilibrium and symbiosis, which requires both sides to provide valued assets. You contribute a part of your character and a piece of your business, and customers give their encouragement as well as their money.

So now the questions becomes – what exactly can you and should you give? Well, the options are boundless because it truly depends on what your business is all about. In the end, what you give will be completely unique, just like the company you built. But there are always a few good places to start.

Most importantly, you can give your knowledge, which is the one thing you can be certain people want. After all, that’s why you created your business; to provide a service you understand through and through to the masses. By being literate and competent in your product you attract curious clients, and by sharing what you know you reel them in and keep them interested. So share your knowledge, and use any and all avenues possible to get customers amped on your business.

In other words, get imaginative and don’t be stingy. If you wrote a book, give it out. Develop unique videos and audio’s and share them with all interested parties. Create pod casts and blast them all over the web. Do everything and anything to stir attention and garner support, but be sure to include a personalized touch. Remember, you want to stand out, not just your product or service. You are the key item that makes your business different than the hundreds of competitors out there providing the same amenity. So make yourself known to the public. Set up an open attendance webinar to introduce your business and get people excited for your product or service. The only way to become a known fixture is to put yourself out there – put yourself on the Web and in time you will hook a substantial customer base.

Never Procrastinate

And now that you know what to do, it’s time to get to it. Don’t waste precious moments over analyzing the if’s, and’s and but’s; jump right in. The time is now. Take the first step, whatever it may be, to get your business personalized and running. Whether it’s a baby step or a huge leap into the seemingly unknown, just do it. Set up your first webinar, write the first paragraph to your book, create your first podcast, and get the ball rolling. The time is now. And remember—the more you give, the more you get.

So you see; reciprocity is a beautiful thing and a fundamental beginning to any marketing venture. When you give something to the people, people will eventually give you something you desire, whether it’s their knowledge, a business relationship or a purchasing partnership. In the end it all balances out, and you’ll find yourself at the start of a flourishing online business presence. Get out there and enjoy

Daven Michaels is an award-winning outsourcer and author of the book, ‘Outsource This!’ Daven has been honored more than any other individual or outsourcing organization. You can get more information on outsourcing by visiting www.123Employee.com