For the first million years of human existence, world per capita GPD did not rise above $140. From 1500 to 1900, multiplied five times to $680. Today the per capita GPD is over $6500.

This increase in production across the globe is thanks in part to globalization. The Romans built roads. The Europeans built ships. And the Americans built airplanes.

It became impossible for nations to isolate themselves. Economies thrived, tariffs dropped, and trade flowed. But what does this mean for you?

It means you can save money by outsourcing to cheaper locations on the other side of the globe.

Where is the best place to outsource your IT and customer service? It’s not India like you might have assumed. It’s the Philippines.

Here’s why.

Why Call Centers Anyways?

If you’re a Millennial like me, you’d rather text your friends than call them. Phone anxiety is commonly talked about on the web. And it would seem this phenomenon is a mostly Millennial problem.

But when it comes to customer service, we’d actually rather talk to a real person. Close to 60% of us want a quick answer and a robot won’t ever do that for us. And filling out a form and waiting for someone to respond is way too slow.

This is in part due to the fact we have our phones with us everywhere. We don’t need to walk to wherever the landline is and stand in one spot for a call. While we’re on hold, we can do other things.

Businesses have seen an increase in the number of calls as well. And they’ve seen that answering these calls is more successful at closing a sale than answering a message.

Personalization?

Another factor influencing this decision is personalization. Customers want to feel like a human being is in control on the other end. Maybe this is due to our mass experience with roboscammers and fake businesses. But it’s certainly a thing we all want.

And this is counter to the idea that digital transformation is merely about clicks and views. Those kinds of metrics don’t measure human interaction and connection. Only a conversation can evaluate these things.

But the problem with conversation is you can’t track it in real-time. All you have are customer satisfaction surveys. But metrics aren’t everything.

Sure, voice makes it difficult to optimize, but it gives you the opportunity to appeal to the very real and complex emotional aspects of your customers. And without that connection, you miss a whole world of opportunity.

Consider The Costs

Call center representatives make an average of $30k a year in the United States. Depending on how large your customer base is, you’re looking at at least one hundred call-center employees.

That’s $300,000 a year for customer support.

In the Philippines, because the economy isn’t as strong, an average call center employee makes $16k a year. That’s nearly half of what you’d pay for employees in the United States.

Ask yourself, what’s a reasonable budget for customer service? If it’s lower than $300,000 a year, you might want to consider outsourcing.

Consider The Flexibility and Efficiency

Call centers are more efficient overseas. Why? Because outsourcing companies take on more than one client at a time.

A call center will cover its costs by taking clients from multiple regions. This creates an overlap between peak times and low times. Thus, an outsourced call center can offer their services for even less than a dedicated call center.

You won’t have to personally fire people when demand drops. And when demand increases, you won’t have to re-hire or overwork your call-center employees. And neither will the call center.

Call Centers Are Often Specialized

You might be worried that an outsourced call center will be too general for your needs. You’re wondering if the call center employees will be able to answer all the questions your customers have.

But specialized call centers exist. And again, they are able to take on multiple clients at once. Thus you won’t need to train the call center employees on your niche or market.

You’ll Look Like an International Company

Your number is local. You started out as a local company. But you’ve grown beyond your region.

When customers call, they aren’t going to get the back room customer service anymore. And a global company shouldn’t still be answering calls out of the backroom anyway.

A global company has to answer calls around the clock. If you have customers in China, London, and Chicago, you need someone on call all the time. Do your employees have the time to do this? Likely not.

If you can’t be a 24-hour company, you’ll miss closing the sale on half of your leads in the purchase decision phase. Are you willing to sacrifice fifty percent of potential earnings just because you don’t want to outsource to a call center?

Outsourced Call Centers Handle Data and Metrics

How much time do you currently spend on marketing metrics and data collection? Are you spending hours optimizing your customer care and marketing tools?

What if you could spend that time on selling your product or actually marketing? You’d jump for it, right?

A call center takes care of your customer interaction metrics. They optimize their own services so you don’t have to. And they take the cost of the technology necessary to collect the data and optimize.

Is There Any Reason Not To Outsource Customer Service?

Outsourcing to the Philippines will save you time and money. You’ll become a global company and you’ll increase your sales.

Is there any reason not to outsource your customer service? If not, get outsourcing today.