Tag: DMAI

The Concept of Analytics

I start just about all my Power Point presentation trying to get a sense of where the audience is with their comprehension of analytics.

Per Wikipedia, the definition of analytics is simply the discovery and communication of meaningful patterns in data.

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While most people have an idea of what analytics is: data, analysis, metrics, and business intelligence are just the start… it is an abstract concept that is difficult to summarize in a sentence or two.

Most business leaders know that they need more analytics based decision making in their operations, however few have figured out how to obtain it as analytics software or engaging high priced consultants doesn’t suffice.

This approach is more about empowering analytical thinking then it is teaching a technological skill. I have found that being able to harness the power of analytics is as much an art as it is a science. In the end, analytics is about three things; finding data, analyzing it and communicating the results.

Over the next several blog posts, I will take the core slides of my standard Introduction to Analytics Power Point and share the content here.

When I think of analytics and what it can do to empower people, companies and ideas, I always think of this quote:

“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure… than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”  – Theodore Roosevelt

Conversational English > That Elusive Skill Stopping So Many Call Center Careers From Getting Started

Learning a foreign language is tough for most of us. I took two years of Spanish in high school and didnt try very hard. I got average grades and really didnt pick up a lot. Then I spent six months in Japan, immersed in Japanese culture and picked up it very fast… didn’t learn how to write much, but my conversational Japanese became passable.

Three years into living in the Philippines and my Tagalog is ok, I can follow along most conversations but still struggle with pronunciation because most of my day is spent speaking English.

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Conversational expertise in a language is really hard if you don’t have the chance to speak the language everyday. And that brings us to the topic at hand. Conversational English as a requirement for call center employment.

There is such irony in the fact that so many Filipinos want to work in a call center because it means good, stable pay and benefits. But proportionally so few Filipinos really want to push themselves to learn how to master Conversational English. In a land deeply connected to the U.S. and awash in American culture… many Filipinos only speak English when forced too.

When they get into the application process for call center jobs, they fail because even though they understand English and have had years of English language study, they just havent spoken it enough to pass the interview.

So to all those who try and fail, to all those trainees who keep trying and to all the future applicants… the only way to secure that well paying job with good benefits is to practice. Force yourself to speak as much English as possible.   Always love Tagalog and keep speaking it, but practice, practice, practice…  English Only Please!

You Don’t Build A Business… You Build People

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It’s funny to me that I shared this on LinkedIn and someone had the thought to spin it into a negative thing. Someone sarcastically replied that this is false and that big bosses just use people to make money. I’m guessing he sees this as a way to get people to work harder, but it the end only the top people benefit. Or something like that.

When I saw this, I immediately thought about a training program we have just kicked off to address a significant challenge we have in both my business and in my industry. The call center industry in the Philippines is probably one of the most hyper competitive labor markets anywhere in the world today.

To be able to be successful you need to find people who are stick around. So looking at the best way to do that is to build them up. To train them, to empower them, to enchant them.

Being equal parts educator, analyst, entrepreneur… this concept is something I firmly believe in, I have the data to back it up and the success to prove it is working. So take that mister sarcasm… DMAIPH is a great example of this philosophy actually working.

Analytics Leadership – DMAIPH specializes in arming the Data-Driven Leader with the tools and techniques they need to build and empower an analytics centric organization. Analytics leadership requires a mastery of not just analytics skill, but also of nurturing an analytics culture. We have guided thousands of Filipino professionals to become better analytics leaders. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to discuss a uniquely tailored strategy to ensure you are the top of your game when it comes to Analytics Leadership.

Act Like a Recruiter, Think Like a Candidate!

I just saw this blog post title on LinkedIn and was really intrigued because one of the central points I made in a Recruitment Analytics training class recently and it was just that. It is a candidate driven job market right now in the BPO/Call Center industry here in the Philippines.

SO, I was hoping to glean some additional insights that I could blog about. However, it was just a link to a whitepaper. Which of course to get the white paper you have to sign up. And once you do that you get 2 pages and you have to then pay a fee to get the full whitepaper. I absolutely HATE this!

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Im all for finding creative ways to monetize social media and digital marketing. I’m of with paying for something if it seems to be of legitimate value, but when the call to action hides the whole story it is one of the biggest marketing turn offs ever.

I’d love to see some data to back up the lost opportunity here. How many people don’t subscribe because they are turned off as well. And then is that loss made up for in the ones who do hit purchase? For a recruiting white paper? I seriously doubt it.

Call me crazy, but the best way to make money off of people online is to be transparent and upfront with costs.  Because that builds trust, which builds relationships. Going after money right away just builds a transactional relationship that easily slips away.

Back to my original point… we have entered an era of candidate driven recruiting, meaning we have to go to them not wait for them to come to us. We have to make things personal and have to meet them on their turf if we want to be successful.

So find ways to attract candidates that attract candidates to other things. What’s trending? What’s selling? What’s the big item everyone wants for Christmas? Use that to attract attention.

Once you have their attention then think like they think. They have many choices on where to work. What makes your place special? Why should they pick you? Use that to convert their interest into action.

That’s how I do it in my companies. We are always look for the best and the brightest across our consulting, training and outsourcing lines of business.

HR & Recruitment Analytics – The recruitment and retention of top talent is the biggest challenge facing just about every organization. DMAIPH is a leading expert in empowering HR & Recruitment teams with analytics techniques to optimize their talent acquisition and management processes. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to learn how to get more analytics in your HR & Recruitment process so you can rise to the top in the ever quickening demand for top talent.

The Secrets of Money Ball Recruiting

http://youtu.be/6MStL5QIyCw

“There are rich call centers, with big budgets and huge recruitment teams. There are poor call centers with small budgets and just a few people. Then there is 50 feet of crap. And there is us.”

I conducted a Recruitment Analytics Training yesterday and shared one of my methodologies. Based on the movie (and book) Moneyball, I talked about how to be successful you need to find undervalued candidates who other call centers have passed on.

“If we try and play like Convergys in here (with our recruitment efforts), we will lose to Convergys out there (on the streets looking for talent)”.

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So we need to boil down the recruitment process to the one thing most important for our business in every single employee.

Some of my points:

  1. We spend too much time looking for trainable skills like Good English, Good Communicators and Good Interview Takers.
  2. We need to stop hiring job hoppers and people looking to move up without having paid their dues.
  3. The one skill set we cannot teach, that we need to start making our top priority… is dependability.
  4. Will they show up on time every day for work is the single biggest need we have.

So that’s the one personality trait we are placing at the top of our recruitment process. We need to probe and dig and research, to find out will they be someone who will show up for their shift everyday.

That’s our “get’s on base” metric like in MoneyBall.  We can’t help the customer if we are not at work ready to help the customer.

HR & Recruitment Analytics – The recruitment and retention of top talent is the biggest challenge facing just about every organization. DMAIPH is a leading expert in empowering HR & Recruitment teams with analytics techniques to optimize their talent acquisition and management processes. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to learn how to get more analytics in your HR & Recruitment process so you can rise to the top in the ever quickening demand for top talent.

What Is Strategy?

http://bakerstreetpublishing.com/decisioncoaching/2015/02/12/what-are-the-strategic-decisions-we-face/

I came across this perfectly timed blog post on LinkedIn. Tomorrow we will be having our first real leadership planning session in a while and we have a lot of topics on the agenda.

However, before we get into the nitty gritty, I will spend the first part of the meeting talking about strategy. And these concepts will form the core of that conversation.

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“Every business must have three things to be successful: good leadership, good strategic decision making, and the ability to execute. “

  • Good Leadership: To me this means inspiring and empowering team members to take the initiative, to be bold in problem solving and being able to balance client, customer, business and team member needs.
  • Strategic Decision-Making: Taking a logical and data-driven approach to decision-making is the best way to map out your business plan.
  • The Ability to Execute: Good leaders know how to implement decisions quickly and efficiently because they work in a sound framework of empowerment and intelligence.

Looking at closely at the data is key part of this. Good leaders do much more than just manage, and it’s important to constantly remind ourselves of this.

Analytics Leadership – DMAIPH specializes in arming the Data-Driven Leader with the tools and techniques they need to build and empower an analytics centric organization. Analytics leadership requires a mastery of not just analytics skill, but also of nurturing an analytics culture. We have guided thousands of Filipino professionals to become better analytics leaders. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to discuss a uniquely tailored strategy to ensure you are the top of your game when it comes to Analytics Leadership.

Five LinkedIn Tips To Grab Attention From A LinkedIn All-Star

By now its clear that LinkedIn is the best way to network for job openings, new clients and professional partnerships. There really is nothing else like it when it comes to linking you to new opportunities.

As I’ll be speaking to a half dozen audiences in the next few weeks on a range of analytics topics, the one point of advice I will give every attendee is to get the maximum out of LinkedIn.

Here are 5 tips that guide me in being a LinkedIn All-Star:

  1. Have a professional AND engaging profile picture. You can go a little casual here with dress, but you definitely need to maintain a professional appeal to people. Make sure you smile and look engaging. It’s a biased and unfair world, but looks really do matter. I’ll be honest, my blue eyes are a selling point so I make sure they standout. We all have our own eye catching features… don’t waste them.
  2. You need a catchy headline. Use the space at the top of your profile wisely. I use my tagline, making data-driven decisions. It needs to stick. Think of catchy logos, mottos and taglines and use something that is personal to you and shows your passion.
  3. Use the summary wisely. This is like your cover letter or professional objective. What you write here greatly impacts how much further a recruiter will read. Like the headline it has to speak to your passions and show a real person not just another job seeker. Keep it short and simple. 2-3 sentences that engage and enchant. I talk about training and analytics the merger of my passion and my top skill set.
  4. Get some great recommendations. Focus on finding advocates who will sell you based on solutions you have provided, problems you fixed or business that you generated. These recommendations are the only thing that’s proof you are good at what you say you are good at. Maximize their effectiveness like I did by asking people who can talk about what I did to make their lives better.
  5. Join lots of relevant groups. Groups are the best way to expand your network and connect with people who are doing the same things you want to do and/or can influence hiring decisions. LinkedIn is all about networking and posting and sharing on groups is the key to being noticed. Get and stay active.

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Here is the original article I based my five tips on. They are pretty universal, but you can always take the extra 10 seconds to share your source and give credit: http://www.ion-search.com/news/5-ways-to-ensure-that-your-linkedin-profile-grabs-a-recruiters-attention-social-hire/

Seven Tips For Marketing Graduates

Next week I will be speaking at a couple of different schools about marketing careers. As always I will focus on marketing analytics and how the most successful marketing efforts are data-driven.

With that in mind , here are my Seven Tips:

  1. Align Your Passions – Find ways to do what you love and all the hard or boring stuff will be much easier to deal with. Build on your passion and everything else will follow.
  2. Show Up Every Day – Can’t see it enough. The business needs you, the customers need you and your team mates need you.
  3. Build Your Network – Always be in a networking mindset. Think how this next person can help you achieve something.
  4. Offer Solutions – Come to meeting with some ideas. Take time to write things down. Do your homework.
  5. Tell Stories – Being able to engage a group of people to take action is the single most important skill that no one really teachers marketers.
  6. Always Have Data – Never, ever, ever base your plan on gut. The data is out there, and if its not then you need to create it.
  7. It’s All About Making Money – In the end, marketing is all about increasing revenue. You need to make the company more money with you and your plan then without it. Its really that simple.

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So obviously, there is a whole lot more to it. But each of these tips are things that marketing professionals need to be thinking about every day.

And one more thing… if you don’t already have a network started on LinkedIn, you are already falling behind the pack.

What Makes DMAIPH a Successful Outsourcing Partner?

Updated on 10/31/16

Our top focus is keeping your customers happy! If an outsourcing company like DMAIPH is doing things right, its seamless. Your customers will get the exact same level of service if they talk to someone in your corporate office as they would if they talk with our team in the Philippines.

We are not just some vendor providing service… WE ARE YOUR COMPANY.

We have already proven this with an online auction site based in Boston, a pharmaceutical sales consulting business in Houston and a social media networking service from New Jersey among a half dozen others.

Here are some reasons to adopt an outsourcing partnership with DMAIPH:

  1. Lower costs: With no overhead, our partners save as much as 50% by outsourcing!
  2. Time savings in hiring and training staff: Hiring the wrong person can and will cost your company money in the long run. Let us take that risk away from you.
  3. Well trained workforce to handle customer needs and concerns. We train based on your requirements.
  4. No need to invest in and maintain high end infrastructure and technology. We got that covered.
  5. Feedback: You will get information from your outsourced contact center about where your programs have troubles. What’s working, what’s not? By being 6,000 miles away we have a different perspective then those in your own office.

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Contact us today for a free consultation. DMAIPH has been providing outsourcing solutions to U.S. based small and medium sized business for over 3 years.  Our offices in the Philippines are set up with state of the art technology and staffed with top local talent.

Analytics Outsourcing – DMAIPH has successful set up Filipino analytics teams for over a dozen U.S. based businesses. Offering both virtual and office based teams that specialize in problem solving using data, new technology and analytics techniques is our strength. Finding and empowering analytics talent is increasingly challenging, but we have it down to a science. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to learn more about how to set up an analytics-centric team in the Philippines.

Time Consuming Tasks, Your Small Business Should Outsource

Many entrepreneurs and small business owners reject outsourcing because of the perceived extra cost.

However, they fail to calculate the value of opportunities lost because they sank too much time into energy-sapping tasks best left to others.

DMAIPH has a team of top talent that can take on several of the things you are doing that eat up way to much of your precious time.

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We specialize in:

  • Graphics Design
  • Social Media
  • Market Research
  • Competitor Intelligence
  • Customer Feedback
  • Data Mining
  • Basic Analytics
  • Administrative Support

We can also build you a business dashboard using the free and easy to use Tableau Public (www.tableaupublic.com) business intelligence tool. Our team of analysts will also show you how to use Tableau Public to make more data-driven decisions in your business.

Contact us today for a free consultation. DMAIPH has been providing outsourcing solutions to U.S. based small and medium sized business for over 5 years.  Our offices in the Philippines are set up with state of the art technology and staffed with top local talent.

Analytics Outsourcing – DMAIPH has successful set up Filipino analytics teams for over a dozen U.S. based businesses. Offering both virtual and office based teams that specialize in problem solving using data, new technology and analytics techniques is our strength. Finding and empowering analytics talent is increasingly challenging, but we have it down to a science. Contact DMAIPH now at analytics@dmaiph.com or connect with me directly to learn more about how to set up an analytics-centric team in the Philippines.