Using Overseas Talent in the Home Services Business

Whether you're worried about overflow, covering late shifts, or just need additional support, hiring overseas talent can be a great and cost-saving move. But what should you look for when trying to find that talent? What matters most? 

Based on my own experiences, I've found there's a few key elements to consider when thinking about moving your call center overseas.

What is Overseas Talent?

Overseas talent refers to employees who work for a US-based business but reside outside of the United States. This approach has become a popular option for businesses looking to optimize costs.

You'll typically see those hires coming out of India, South America, and the Philippines--especially the past two, as their time zones most line up with the United States.

How We Use Overseas Talent

In my business, overseas talent plays major part, especially in call center operations. While we also employ them for administrative and data entry roles, the primary focus is as a CSR, either for overflow or late-night coverage.

Here’s how we integrate overseas talent into our operations:

Cost-Effective After-Hours and Overflow Management

Overseas employees are fantastic for handling after-hours and overflow calls. For example, if a customer calls at 9 p.m., they are likely to be helped by one of our overseas team members. During the day, call volumes are unpredictable, often fluctuating between periods of high and low activity.

Our overseas talent helps manage these surges, ensuring that every call is picked up, and that helps keep up customer satisfaction and capture all potential calls while making sure we're not missing a thing.

Hiring for Time Zone Compatibility

One of the most important factors in our success has been hiring based on time zones. We hire our daytime overflow staff from South America, aligning their working hours with our peak daytime hours in the U.S.

That makes sure we get the best talent available during their normal working hours, reflecting that typical U.S. work schedule. For nighttime shifts we look to the Philippines, since that lines up time-zone wise.

Detailed Job Descriptions and Communication

Given the time zone differences and literal distance, we emphasize clear, detailed job descriptions. This minimizes ambiguity and helps employees fully understand their responsibilities.

These detailed job descriptions help overseas staff determine if they are a good fit for the role, reducing problems and misunderstandings that arise from that distance or language/culture difference.

Voice Memos for Screening

One thing I do is require applicants to submit a voice memo explaining why they want to work for us.

This process serves two purposes: it demonstrates the applicant's commitment and effort, and it allows us to assess their English fluency and accent.

Fluent English speakers often have prior experience in call centers for Fortune 500 companies, making them familiar with U.S. business practices and culture. It makes a big difference on the customer satisfaction end of things.

How to Motivate that Talent

Once we hire the right candidates, the next challenge is to keep them motivated and ensure they perform well. Here are some strategies we've implemented:

Standard Operating Procedures

I always make sure to provide comprehensive SOPs to our overseas employees. These documents outline their duties in detail, reducing ambiguity and smoothing out operations.

Clear SOPs help employees understand exactly what is expected of them, which (in theory) makes them better at their job.

Providing Essential Tools

In regions like the Philippines, power outages are common. Nature of the beast. To help this, we provide our employees with generators after 30 days of employment. This not only ensures they have a stable power supply for work but also demonstrates our commitment to their well-being.

After all, we want them to do their best and to enjoy the experience.

Time to Hire?

Using overseas talent has been a game-changer for our home service business. By focusing on strategic hiring, clear communication, and employee support, we've created a system that benefits both our business and our overseas employees.

It's smoothed the whole process out in the best ways and I'm glad we did it.

Jack Carr, CEO of Rapid HVAC
‍‍https://rapidhvactn.com

Get more Owned and Operated on YouTube, on Twitter, or with our weekly newsletter.