A small business can beat the double dip recession by reducing the consumption of resources, and optimizing time and money by outsourcing business functions and incorporating efficient systems.

1. Answering services

Many small businesses have downsized to maintain profit margins in the recession. However, downsizing should not affect the quality of customer service. Phone answering services make sure all calls are attended by trained personnel, basic questions and issues are addressed by them and only callers needing special information are directed to business experts. This allows small and mid sized businesses to devote more time and employee hours on revenue generation while keeping track of incoming calls that could be business leads.

2. Business VOIP

Small businesses can cut down costs drastically by replacing traditional PBX phone systems with partial or complete VOIP phone systems. Small and mid sized businesses can save on the costs of calling long distance customers, partners and suppliers,  and free up resources as only one network needs to be managed for voice and data transmission by using VOIP communication tools and conferencing technologies. Small business VOIP systems are scalable, easy to maintain, user-friendly and reliable.

3. Collection agencies

In lean times, many customers hold on to payments to maintain cash flow. Their gain is your loss. Bad debts can squeeze the life out of small or mid sized businesses as they rely on immediate payments to maintain daily operations. Collecting payments is a delicate task that takes up valuable time and resources. Small businesses can outsource the job to professional collection agencies to receive timely payments without hurting customer relationships.

These measures are relatively inexpensive and offer both short-term and long-term benefits for the business. A smart business implements timely solutions to overcome problems, and converts the solutions into opportunities of growth and profit.

A business that hopes to expand cannot afford to be complacent and content with its existing customer base. By limiting customer outreach, businesses limit future potential income. To help with growth and sustain revenues, businesses should add to their prospect list every day. This can be achieved through effective marketing strategies that generate more qualified sales leads and conversions.

As a small business owner, you should explore several different options to expand your customer base. Businesses have successfully tried one or all of these strategies to generate leads.

1) Customer oriented marketing

There are way too many businesses out there offering products similar to yours. To make your marketing material – newspaper ad, brochure, newsletter, email, direct mail, internet ad – stand out from the crowd, you need a headline that grabs the customer’s attention instantly. How do you do this? You do this by addressing the customer’s need. A headline such as “No more bad debts” is more noticeable than “Collection Agency“. By focusing on the customer’s immediate problem, you stand a better chance of attracting attention.

2) Measure effectiveness and weed out wasteful efforts

A business usually employs more than one marketing effort to promote its products and services. But how do you know what works best? You know this by measuring the results of each marketing effort individually. Marketing involves money, time and effort, all of which are wasted for unproductive marketing tactics. For example, a web design company may find that 90% of qualified web design leads are generated through search engine optimization and pay per click advertising online. It makes sense to cutout other strategies and focus only on what delivers the best results.

3) Use your website to attract leads

Your business website is a great opportunity to influence customers. The appearance of the website should appeal to prospects and the content should convince them of your commitment to solve their problems. The web design quote should guide customers to enter the desired information in minimal number of clicks. Contact numbers, email addresses, fax numbers and inquiry forms should be clearly displayed. A user-friendly website wins customer’s favor and leads to repeat visits and recommendations.

4) Cross marketing for increased value to customers

Cross marketing is tying up with another business that sells products and services that complement what you sell. By doing this, you offer customers a complete set of services that meet all their needs and increase your own chances of making a sale. For example, website designers can build a relationship with copywriters. A green consulting firm can tie up with a company that sells energy-efficient equipment. These symbiotic relationships offer customers one-stop solutions and cost savings – an irresistible combination.

5) Address customer’s needs through questions

The goal of any marketing piece is to generate sales leads by getting customers interested in your products or services. One strategy that works well is to ask customers about their problem and provide a solution. A direct question that hits the nail on the head gets noticed immediately. For example, a question such as “Is loss of teeth making you lose your smile?” will have greater impact than “Do you need a dentist?”

Each of the above mentioned strategies work to increase sales leads. Analyze your marketing techniques and incorporate the suggestions to fill gaps. The effort will be worth the results.

The 6 best business process functions that can be outsourced to increase efficiencies and thereby  improve profit margins are:

1. Accounting

Manage your finances, maximize tax deductions, file taxes, get business and investment advice, and develop effective budgets and cash flow projects – all through the services of a Certified Public Accountant (CPA)

2. Tax Preparation

A tax preparation service can reduce tax liabilities by ensuring compliance to tax rules and timelines. They help businesses save tax wherever possible – sale or purchase of business, e-commerce transactions, disputes, and so on.

3. Website Design

A business or e-commerce website design is crucial in keeping customers engaged and encouraging repeat visits. Professionals can help with incorporating customer friendly features and functions while coming up with website development pricing for customers.

4. Search engine optimization

SEO companies help businesses achieve high organic ranking through keyword rich content, effective seo link building strategies, complying with google search engine optimization practices and search engine algorithms. They offer a variety of  packages at affordable search engine optimization pricing.

5. Internet Marketing 

Internet marketing is an effective, targeted, self-qualifying measurable way of building a brand image. Search engine marketing, social media marketing and pay-per-click advertising are all part of internet marketing. Internet marketers keep an eye on latest internet trends to take advantage of new and innovative marketing avenues.

6. Payroll

The complex task of payroll processing can be taken over by experts familiar with changing local, state and federal taxation rules, forms and processes. They enhance employee experienceand reduce payroll services cost via facilities such as direct deposit, web monitoring tools, timely pays and effective HR functions.

Businesses that outsource non-core business functions buy time and resources to focus on business growth and profit. Effects of business process outsourcing can be far reaching. The benefits will be realized even after the recession has blown over. However, it is vital that businesses do a stringent quality check on providers before partnering with them.

Cost savings is usually the main reason a small or mid sized business chooses to outsource operations as opposed to developing a skill bank in-house. Along with low operational costs, outsourcing providers offer multiple benefits in the deal – telemarketing support, detailed analysis for customer service improvement, and more. The process tag of telemarketing outsourcing includes some costs that management should factor into its decision on outsourced versus in-house telemarketing services. Some of these costs are described below.

Wage costs

One cost that offsets low costs of telemarketing outsourcing is the outsourced wage costs that are paid out to the telemarketing companies. Unless the outsourced telemarketing provider is located offshore where labor costs are cheap, this cost is comparable to the payroll costs of employed personnel.

Equipment costs

Small or mid sized businesses that outsource telemarketing seasonally may prefer telemarketing outsourcing over incurring the costs of telemarketing equipment and software. However, if telemarketing is a year round need the value derived from the equipment justifies the cost.

Recruiting costs

Recruiting personnel involves the investment of management’s time and money paid out to personnel and job agencies. Telemarketing companies see high turnover and the costs of recruitment can get inflated.

Training costs

Training telemarketers is an important part of readying them for the job. As telemarketers interact with your customers, the quality of their conversations has a long lasting effect on relationships. Telemarketers need to be trained on various aspects such as conversing according to customer type, accepting rejection with equanimity, product knowledge, using scripts and engaging customers professionally. It is the management’s job to ensure trainings are:

• updated
• delivered on time
• delivered frequently
• structured with up-to-date training techniques

Obviously, designing a training program is time consuming and costly for a business. In the case of an outsourced telemarketing service, the staff is fully trained. It may need additional training to align with your business goals and products, but the learning curve is minimal. As telemarketing services serve more than one client, the costs of trainings and updation get distributed.

Legal costs

Telemarketing lead generation is strictly regulated by federal and state laws. For a business that has operations in multiple states, ensuring adherence becomes a complex task as rules vary at federal and state levels. A business would need to allocate funds for the legal effort involved in assuring compliance to Do-Not-Call lists and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Third party telemarketing providers are well-versed in the legalities surrounding telemarketing in their area, relieving businesses from the worry.

Cost of space

An in-house telemarketing call center needs space to operate. Outsourcing allows businesses to use outbound telemarketing services without worrying about this aspect. Though space costs are part of the fees a business pays to outsourcing firms, it is spread across clients and is therefore low. The space may also be cheaper than that accessible to the business. The business gets the opportunity to expand other profit generating divisions to maximize profits.

Opportunity costs

This is the most crucial cost that telemarketing outsourcing saves a business. Nothing can hurt a business more than losing potential customers simply because the telemarketer staff fell short of demand. A business protects itself from this eventuality by tapping into the resources of a third party telemarketing provider. Providers can up-scale and down-scale staff according to the business need.

All these costs add up into substantial savings for a business. Telemarketing outsourcing is not just about the money saved. It is also about the value the provider brings to your business with its services. Analyze the costs and make an informed choice in selecting a telemarketing service.

Customer Service calls are treated like nuances by most people. They can come at a bad time or maybe you just do not want to spend any time knowing about a product you are not interested in. However, customer service call center services are a valued asset for business marketers. Call center services can qualify sales leads and shorten the sales cycle considerably. Apart from that, call center companies and answering services can alleviate the pressure off business owners and executives by handling customer service calls, secretarial services, order placements and even provide technical support.

Though a call center call may be annoying to a disinterested audience, it is an excellent opportunity for an interested customer to get more information on the product or service being promoted, get better deals and contact information. A substantial percentage of such customer service calls result in additional sales, which is why this technique is popular in the business community.

Call center services and answering service companies understand that one size does not fit all. They offer customized services so that their trained personnel can provide better service to the small or mid sized business’ customers.  Businesses can provide technical trainings to call center services personnel, provide scripts for receiving customer calls, give them access to a database that contains pertinent information to help call center agent answer questions with confidence, instruct personnel daily, and keep them updated on expected and unexpected call spikes and customer issues during the day.

Remember, outsourced call center services and phone answering services is a reflection on your business. The better you train and educate them as per your requirements, the better for your customers and therefore, your small business.

Outbound Telemarketing services is one of the most successful marketing strategies small and mid sized businesses use to promote their solutions and qualify sales leads. Studies indicate that the success rate of outbound telemarketing is proportional to the quality of training received by staff. Many businesses choose to outsource telemarketing services as the task of hiring and training telemarketing staff is daunting. Businesses that prefer to develop in-house telemarketing should ensure staff is adequately trained on skills that make them effective.

Telemarketing services is not everybody’s calling. There are certain characteristics that telemarketers should either have naturally or imbibe through trainings to produce desired results. The management team should set goals aligned to these characteristics and measure performance of individuals accordingly.

Some skills all telemarketers should be trained on are described below.

1. Conversing professionally

Communication skills are first evaluated during the hiring interview. Candidates should be strong in grammar and speech. Trainings refine this education by teaching telemarketers how to talk professionally and appropriately in accordance to customer types. Older professional business clients may expect a serious and pertinent kind of exchange while others may be more casual.

2. Adherence to telemarketing regulations

Telemarketing rules vary at federal and state levels, and change frequently. It is the management’s responsibility to ensure telemarketing staff is aware of current rules and the importance of adhering to them. Any violation, however inadvertent, can lead to costly repercussions for your business.

3. Product expertise

Telemarketers should have working knowledge of products to answer customer’s questions with confidence. In-house staff usually has this advantage over outsourced staff. Management should ensure product trainings occur frequently so that turnover, which is high in the telemarketing industry, does not affect the quality of customer support. New entrants should be brought up to scratch before they begin interacting with customers.

4. Using a script intelligently

Telemarketing scripts are vital to success. Planning a conversation and outlining important points helps telemarketers guide conversations and stay focused. The important thing is to not let the script overcome the natural flow of conversation with the customer. The script is only a guide not a notice to be read out.

5. Leading to a sale or commitment gradually

Sales or commitment to some action cannot be expected from the customer immediately. A telemarketing call follows a gradual flow – the customer agrees to hear you out, gets engaged in conversation, you describe the offer and advantages to the customer, and lastly provide the information for the customer to act. A telemarketer who jumps to the sale straightaway is likely to get snubbed instantly.

6. Accepting rejections

Winning and losing is part of the game. Telemarketing companies will often face rejection, snubs and even rude language. However, this is not personal. Good telemarketing agents understand this and get on with the job. Trainings should prepare telemarketers for such responses so they can handle them calmly. If some telemarketers cannot handle losses, they probably need to be replaced.

7. Changing conversation styles with audience

Conversation styles in telemarketing vary with the type of audience, product or service being promoted. Business-to-business sale conversations are far more complex than customer service calls. Trainings are crucial in making the transition smooth for the telemarketers. Without adequate training, telemarketers can make serious blunders that will lose you your customer and negatively impact the confidence of the telemarketer.

When comparing in-house with outsourced telemarketing services, consider all the factors that come into the equation. Costs and services are important as are training and management. Inadequate trainings or inefficient management of in-house telemarketers will only lead to a substandard telemarketing experience that will impact your customer relationships and repute. Weigh your options carefully and make an informed choices.

Call centers are a powerful instrument that can impact customer relationships and bottom lines dramatically. However, you need to understand what call centers can and cannot do to get the most out of it for your business and consumers. Call centers are often perceived in a wrong light because of the many myths dogging them. Some of these are discussed below:

1. Call centers are meant for customer service.

If selling means badgering customers with calls and pushing products that have little or no relevance, then yes, selling undermines customer service. If your call center agents are tutored to push customers towards costly upgraded applications rather than resolving open issues, you are doing your customers a great disservice. However, if call center agents hear out the customer’s problem, work on it and guide the customer’s attention towards products that will help improve their financial health, surely selling is the best customer service you can render to your customers.

2. Customers are wary of buying from call centers.

This myth is the result of conflicting interests. Businesses often find themselves in conflict with call center outsourcing - trying to hold on to customers. The business managers belittle call centers directly and indirectly by making statements such as “the products are too complex to be supported by call centers.” or “the customers feel underserved because of the remoteness of call centers.” or “The turnover rate is too high to assure committed services.”

The truth of the matter is that if businesses treat call center agents with the same professionalism as their employees, they would have everything to gain – lower turnover, commitment, loyalty, high service scores and improved customer relationships. Customers want information and services that will help them financially, professionally and personally. As long as they get it from a well-informed and credible source, they won’t differentiate between the various channels.

3. Call centers have automated performance metrics tracking.

Contrary to expectations, the performance metrics that can be measured through statistics and automated systems in outsourced call center services have nothing to do with the quality of service rendered to customers. Many “customer oriented” businesses measure metrics such as average response time, average handling time, wait times (minimum and maximum), and average calls per hour to assess employees performance.  The limit for call times in call centers is 2 minutes. The only conclusion that can be drawn from this data is how much time the call center agent spends on calls and nothing else.

A business that aims to improve sales, customer satisfaction and referral rates needs to measure performance on different metrics – number of sales, callbacks, referrals, escalations, customer feedback. However, most call center companies don’t have the necessary framework to capture this data automatically. Very often, call center agents keep track of such information on paper. To measure the true effectiveness of call centers, these metrics should be captured as part of the main process rather than secondary.

Businesses that preach “customer delight” but measure call lengths are hardly sending their call center sice reps the right message. This counterproductive stand compels call centers to meet targets, often resulting in compromises on service quality. The quality of the customer call and not the duration is the important metric.

4. Call centers are call centers only.

Call centers are customer service centers of excellence that handle thousands of customer calls every day. Even in the internet age, customers look for contact with people to discuss urgent or critical issues. Call centers have hi-tech technology, processes and experienced personnel to resolve critical customer issues with professionalism and tact. The atmosphere is charged; the actions and conversations result oriented. New strategies are deployed and performances measured by recording employee competence and customer feedback. To think of call centers as simple phone answering services is undermining their potential and performance.

To maximize the potential of call centers, personnel should be trained not just in technical aspects but also communication skills and customer relationship building. Most businesses train personnel on using stock phrases, product jargon and glib talk to impress customers. Very few take the trouble to clarify goals, build capability and motivate personnel – three elements that can make ordinary call center employees perform extraordinarily.

Call centers are important links that strengthen customer relationship management. Businesses should understand that call centers are about customers, not metrics. Call centers are versatile in their approach as customer interactions must always align with prevailing economic situations. It is the business’ responsibility to train call center personnel accordingly. Every customer-employee interaction is an immediate or potential sales opportunity. With the expansion of businesses across geographies, call centers play an ever important role delivering consistent customer experiences remotely.

An increasing number of small and mid sized businesses are outsourcing payroll processing to outsourced payroll services companies. The reasons behind this trend isn’t t just to relieve administrative burden on small business owners. More importantly, payroll outsourcing ensures reduced costs, timely paychecks for employees and compliance with tax laws.

Payroll preparation is a complex task that involves compliance with local, state and federal laws, accurate tax calculations and timely submission of tax. It is a challenge for businesses to keep up with the constantly changing laws that govern payroll calculations. The top five reasons why businesses of all sizes should consider payroll outsourcing are:

1. Reduced Payroll Costs

Businesses can save valuable dollars by outsourcing payroll services. Small and mid sized businesses can appreciate the financial savings of offloading administrative and payroll responsibilities to payroll services companies. Small and mid sized businesses should evaluate the cumulative cost of having in-house personnel work on payroll, printing and sending out checks, developing tax documents, and maintaining business records. Payroll preparation services can do the same in less time reducing your payroll services cost. They are equipped with effective payroll software that can process monhtly transactions as well as established business practices to increase business efficiency.

2. Increased productivity

With a payroll service provider taking care of the administrative and payroll processing tasks, small and mid sized businesses can focus on their core business activities. Small business owners and entrepreneurs are usually hard pressed for time and resources. With payroll outsourcing, they can buy more time to build and manage the business.

3. Transfer accountability

Payroll processing requires adherence to a multitude of laws and regulations that change frequently. The IRS penalizes almost 40% of small businesses every year for incorrect calculations or late submissions of payroll tax. By outsourcing payroll functions, businesses offload the responsibility for legal compliance, precise calculations, and timely filing of tax onto payroll preparation services. Payroll companies have the necessary expertise, tools and volume to process payroll quickly and accurately. In fact, many providers offer a guarantee with their services.

4. Compliance with legal obligations

Payroll preparation companies use technology and expertise to make sure payroll paperwork is completed correctly and in accordance to legislation and tax obligations of that state or country. Rules associated with payroll vary across national and international boundaries. Professional payroll services ensure businesses file tax within deadlines, and make timely and accurate deposits.

5. High quality services

Payroll preparation services are professionals in their field and have the support of technology, tools, expertise and volume to get work done effectively and efficiently. Delays and mistakes in paychecks are minimized or eliminated. Payroll providers improve the employee’s experience with the company by giving employees access to a professional self-service online reporting website to view paycheck sheets, and the convenience of direct deposit into their bank accounts.

The business decision to outsource payroll services is not just based on convenience or necessity but also saving costs. Smart businesses recognize the advantage of diverting in-house staff into higher-value productive pursuits rather than taking on payroll processing which requires specialized skills and updated knowledge of rules and regulations.

Climate change is compelling governments and large organizations the world over to take the threat of global warming seriously. Though many environmental experts believe it is too late to undo the harm already done to the planet, it may be possible to control the consequences by taking some remedial steps.

The IT (Information Technology) industry has been a major player in building the economies of nations and making the world a truly global entity. During the recession it has been the main platform of doing business, allowing companies to sustain profits and grow in spite of economically unhealthy conditions. Web conferencing, VOIP systems, and e-commerce shopping carts have allowed businesses to maintain operations and communications while minimizing costs of travel, transportation, retail store management, and other functions. Technology has also been instrumental in conserving natural resources by bringing down fuel consumption. However, the IT industry now needs to take on greater responsibility by inculcating green practices and principles within its own bodies.

Green computing is an earth friendly strategy that aims at building sustainable IT. It focuses on the design, manufacture, usage, and disposal of computers, computer parts, hardware, and computer storage devices in a way that minimizes their effect on the environment. This can be possible by using biodegradable or recyclable materials for hardware parts, creating energy efficient equipment, and disposing materials that are toxic to the environment in a safe and responsible manner.

An increasing number of industries are taking to greening their offices, business practices and solutions. Though the underlying cause may be more based on economies rather than social and environmental responsibility, the move is encouraging. Many non-profit organizations and consortiums such as the Climate Savers Computing Initiative (CSCI) and Green Computing Impact Organization, Inc. (GCIO) have made substantial progress in educating industries on green concepts and helped them implement green practices within their organizations.

Green storage has become the buzzword in the IT storage industry. Solution providers are vying to come up with energy efficient storage devices that promise power savings. With the increasing energy costs, even small power savings can make a substantial impact on bottom lines. Businesses are also looking at green architecture that will increase ventilation and lower heat generation of equipment, leading to lower cooling costs.

Many IT companies have hired green consulting services to help them make their business functions less energy draining, and their practices and personnel more environmentally aware. These consulting services help businesses lower their carbon footprint through cost-effective and innovative channels that maximize ROI.

Cloud computing is offering utility-oriented IT services to users worldwide. The main cloud providers include Amazon, Google, IBM and Microsoft. They offer on a pay-as-you-go utilty oriented IT services to users worldwide.  However, cloud data centers consume huge amounts of energy, contributing to high operational costs and carbon footprints to the environment. For cloud computing to be efficient, the individual servers in these data centers need to be doing more work than they would be doing if not in a cloud infrastructure. 

Green Cloud Computing  is the need of the hour so we can not only save energy for the environment but also build sustainable IT businesses by reducing the operational costs.

Cost savings is usually the main reason a business chooses to outsource telemarketing services as opposed to developing a skill bank in-house. Along with low operational costs, telemarketing companies offer multiple benefits in the deal – professional marketing support, detailed analysis for customer service improvement, and more.

The process tag of telemarketing outsourcing includes some costs that businsses should factor into its decision making process on  in-house vs. outsourced telemarketing services. Some of these costs are described below.

Wage costs

One cost that offsets low costs of telemarketing outsourcing is the outsourced wage costs that are paid out to the telemarketing companies. Unless the outsourcing telemarketing provider is located offshore where labor costs are cheap, this cost is comparable to the payroll costs of employed personnel.

Equipment costs

A business that uses professional telemarketing services seasonally may prefer outsourcing over incurring the costs of telemarketing equipment. However, if telemarketing is a year round business need the value derived from the equipment justifies the cost.

Recruiting costs

Recruiting personnel involves the investment of management’s time and money paid out to personnel and job agencies. Telemarketing jobs see high turnover and the costs of recruitment can get inflated.

Training costs

Training telemarketing call center agents is an important part of readying them for the job. As telemarketers interact with your customers, the quality of their conversations has a long lasting effect on customer relationships. Telemarketing agents need to be trained on various aspects such as conversing based on specific issues, accepting rejection with equanimity, product knowledge, using scripts and engaging customers professionally. It is the management’s job to ensure telemarketing training is:

1. updated
2. delivered on time
3. delivered frequently
4. structured with up-to-date call center techniques

Obviously, designing a training program is time consuming and costly for a business. In the case of an outsourced telemarketing service, the staff is fully trained. It may need additional training to align with your business goals and products, but the learning curve is minimal. As telemarketing services firms serve more than one client, the costs of trainings get distributed.

Legal costs

Outbound telemarketing services is strictly regulated by federal and state laws. For a business that has operations in multiple states, ensuring adherence becomes a complex task as rules vary at federal and state levels. A business would need to allocate funds for the legal effort involved in assuring compliance to Do-Not-Call lists and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Telemarketing lead generation firms are well-versed in the legalities surrounding telemarketing in their area, relieving businesses from the worry.

Cost of Office space

An in-house telemarketing service needs space to operate. Outsourcing allows businesses to use telemarketing services without worrying about this aspect. Though space costs are part of the fees a business pays to outsourcing firms, it is spread across clients and is therefore low. The space may also be cheaper than that accessible to the business. The business gets the opportunity to expand other profit generating divisions to maximize profits.

Opportunity cost

This is the most significant cost that telemarketing outsourcing saves a business. Nothing can hurt a business more than losing potential customers simply because the telemarketng service fell short of suppoting the customer demand. A business protects itself from this eventuality by tapping into the resources of a outsourced telemarketing company. Providers can up-scale and down-scale staff according to the business need.

All these costs add up into substantial savings for a business. Outsourcing is not just about the money saved. It is also about the value the provider brings to your business with its services. Analyze the costs and make an informed choice in selecting a telemarketing service.