Businesses are operating in the most difficult economic climate of modern times. Following a decade shaped by the effects of the 2008 financial crash, the pandemic has transformed everything again, leaving many businesses reeling in a new world where trade is very different. Although the world may have changed, some things, like the rationale for outsourcing, remain as true as ever.

“The pressures businesses face in this changed landscape remain familiar. Shareholders, concerned about the value and return on their investment, are looking to companies to return a healthy profit. Customers are ever more demanding, expecting high service levels as a standard. However, they also want lower prices, perhaps facing their own pressures from the pandemic or looking at the prices of competitors. And those competitors are ready to step in, eager to grow their own customer base. There have never been any guarantees in business, but COVID-19 has made many threats even more ominous,” says Ralf Ellspermann, CEO of PITON-Global, a leading BPO specialising in high-performance call centre services in the Philippines.

“No business can survive without customers, so call centre services are critical. And while customers will make some allowances for the pandemic’s challenges, there will be a limit to their patience. Businesses have to ensure that their services can meet, and ideally exceed, customer expectations,” says Ellspermann.

This is true of both their front- and back-office support functions. Direct contact with customers, whether through customer support channels or sales, are important because of the impressions they form. If customers feel a business’s basic processes are unreliable or failing, they are unlikely to remain customers for long, no matter how well the support team resolves those complaints.

In-house operations are expensive. It takes considerable time and resources to establish and equip the necessary real estate, followed by the HR and management resources required to find and train staff. And, even when established, these services become costly overheads. Some savings are available through onshore outsourcing, where those overheads will be shared between the provider’s clients. But even they do not come close to the savings offered by call centres in the Philippines.

There is a large and well-established BPO industry in the Philippines. Today it represents 7% of the nation’s GDP and comprises over 800 providers. The nation has established itself as a world leader in outsourcing; more businesses outsource call centre services to the Philippines than anywhere else in the world. The sector can bring a range of expertise and experience to the table; if you get your requirements right, it can surpass the quality of in-house or domestically outsourced operations while still providing significant savings. And there are several advantages call centre services in the Philippines can offer over other outsourcing destinations.

The Philippines has an extraordinary level of English fluency—four times more people speak English there than in Australia. Coupled with the historic links and cultural affinity to the West, this means agents working in call centres in the Philippines often speak with no accent and can quickly build a rapport with Australian customers.

“The size of the contact centre industry in the Philippines also makes it a competitive market. To survive as a call centre, you have to invest in your staff and infrastructure but also keep your prices competitive,” says Ellspermann. Coupled with the country’s lower labour costs, it is entirely possible to maintain service levels while paying about half the cost of an onshore outsourced service.

“In challenging times, businesses must focus on what makes them distinctive. By outsourcing contact centre services to us here in the Philippines, they can focus on their core competencies rather than managing routine processes,” says Ellspermann.

While the instinct to protect customers is understandable, successful businesses will focus on the product that attracts them. Using call centre services in the Philippines allows them to do just that, all while improving the bottom line.

Over the past few decades, one innovation that has emerged has been outsourcing business processes such as telemarketing to offshore locations. There are many reasons for doing this, but the biggest revolves around the most essential business equation.

“This equation is where price and quality intersect. No matter what goods and/or services you sell, you are trying to achieve the highest quality at the most competitive price. From a back-end, internal business perspective, you are trying to create the best quality processes at the most affordable cost to your bottom line,” says Ralf Ellspermann, CEO of PITON-Global, an award-winning telemarketing outsourcing provider in the Philippines.

The concept itself is simple enough, but the process to execute it is quite complex. The question here is, how do companies in Australia cut costs while still maintaining a high-performance telemarketing team that helps them acquire more customers?

“Telemarketing is a fundamental business function, as it plays a key role in your sales and marketing efforts. Telemarketing is often a multi-touch process where you work with leads over the phone to nurture them towards becoming a customer,” says Ellspermann.

Sales and marketing work hand in hand, and telemarketing is one of those tasks that crosses into both departments. These are critical functions, because sales and marketing are the bloodline that feeds your whole company.

“Telemarketing can be a costly process, too, which is why outsourcing is a great option for this business process. Why? Telemarketing is not a high percentage game. It is one of those sales activities that requires a lot of little actions, handling a lot of rejection, and moving unflappably towards your business goals,” says Ellspermann.

“There are overhead costs for all business operations, but paying your in-house sales staff in Australia to fail over 90% of the time—as happens with telemarketing—can quickly add up,” he adds.

You also have to consider that most businesses operate on a global scale, and having “normal business hours” means that a large part of your customer base is unavailable unless you have a 24-hour call centre. You can reasonably guess what this means for your operational costs—it isn’t cheap.

For all these reasons, outsourcing emerges as a great option. With that said, we have all heard of poor call centre experiences in various parts of the world. So, how do companies save money while having a 24-hour call-centre facility and team and without sacrificing quality?

The answer is the Philippines.

The Philippines has spent the better part of the last two decades building the best and most elite telemarketing outsourcing industry in the world. The poor experiences you’ve heard of or had with other vendors in other countries stem from poor facilities, language barriers, and unreliable infrastructure.

None of these are issues for PITON-Global in the Philippines. With a growing economy, an educated and multi-lingual workforce, and state-of-the-art facilities powered by a reliable grid, you cannot get a better outsourcing experience.

We have seen companies like PITON-Global drive innovation and excellence, which has raised the level of competition nationally and resulted in a better outcome for everyone.

Companies in Australia are looking for ways to build their business while managing their costs. High-performance customer acquisition outsourcing is one way to do this, and now more than ever, the answer to your telemarketing needs is located in the Philippines.

Business outreach and brand awareness is all about creating value out of your assets. In the case of businesses and their products/services, marketing enhances the good aspects of their products/services and shows this to their target consumer. It further adds a reputation to their product/service which consumers will pay more for, just based on the brand.

Often, businesses will use forms of media to attract attention to their brand, but also create a positive experience for their target demographic. This positive experience will then be related to their brand, and the consumer will be willing to pay more for that intrinsic value of the brand, as it reminds them of the positive experience.

Business outreach and brand awareness is all about psychology, and understanding how a consumer thinks, reacts and behaves in the market is all a part of it. It is important for a business to understand these behaviours, to truly understand the consumer for their marketing to be successful.

The short answer is – yes! Digital marketing is so vital for so many reasons. The following will list the main reasons why your business needs digital marketing.

Everything is going digital

Over the last decade or so, more and more goods and services have been redesigned or reorganised so that they can be delivered digitally. Everything from takeaway food to hiring a skip bin is done via online methods now because the internet is so convenient to use.

Your competitors are doing it

You don’t want to fall behind your competitors – do you? You need digital marketing to stay ahead of your competitors in the digital space.

Its more targeted

Digital marketing continues to grow because of how highly targetable it is. Because of user data on populations, you can target your ads to make sure you only spend money sending them to the right audience.