Hi, and welcome to another episode of the Outsource Accelerator podcast. My name is Derek Gallimore, and this is Episode no. 185.
So today I have Dean Pascoe back, of Boomering.PH. We initially spoke to Dean in Episode 180, so I recommend you go and listen to that episode if you want to know more about Dean’s own journey in outsourcing. He’s been outsourcing for 12 years now and also his lessons that he has learned along the way there. So really good episode. This is a free-standing episode though and you don’t need to go back.
In today’s episode, we talk to Dean, more about Boomering.PH, which is his company, that he’s the president of. This isn’t an informational, it is really about deep diving into different outsourcing service providers to help you out there really understand the value that these operations offer people in business. So, we talk maybe more about business, more about how to outsource the niche, the outsourcing supplier itself. Really good episode and I’m sure you will enjoy.
If you want to keep in touch with Dean or know any more about this episode then go to our show notes which is @outsourceaccelerator.com/185. Enjoy!
Hi, and welcome back everybody. Today I’m joined again by Dean Pascoe of Boomering.PH, super excited to have Dean back. We spoke to Dean previously about his journey into outsourcing and his journey personally into living in the Philippines. Today Dean now owns and runs, and his president of Boomering.PH, which is an outsourcing supplier and I want to hear about what they offer I supposed by proxy of Dean’s own personal expertise and experience within the sector.
Hi Dean, thanks and welcome back.
Dean: Good day, Derek. Excited to be back.
Derek: Yes, thanks for coming back. And I just want to maybe if you could just introduce yourself for those maybe who haven’t listened to the previous episode with you.
Dean: Okay. It’s Dean from Boomering, Inc. I’m presently in the Philippines and have been living here for about five years and have been involved in outsourcing for, that’s close to 12 years.
Derek: Fantastic! So, today I want to deep dive into Boomering and we talk to a number of outsourcing suppliers and you know we are not getting paid for this it’s really just I want to deep dive into the services that outsourcing provide and sort of highlight the value that there is in there for clients. So, thanks so much for coming on board, and I supposed initially what is the elevator pitch for Boomering and where do you see yourself filling in within the huge number of different kind of BPO products are out there?
Dean: Okay, Derek. I guess, I’ll classed Boomering as a boutique BPO. I have worked for a few BPO’s prior to this and I wanted to take their latent ability to not be ajar and bring the all the good points from each of those businesses into what I am creating in Boomering. I think it’s very important to have a foreigner on the floor at all times. So, I’ve got Australian expats for Australians to talk to, and I’ve got American expats for Americans to talk to because we do run on two shifts and we do operate 24/5 at the moment.
Derek: Nice! And it’s pretty cool, isn’t it? It’s sort of understated there, that kind of cultural bridge just so that people can talk to account managers, and there’s some kind of an interface that makes things easier.
Dean: It makes clients feel more comfortable and there’s nothing like someone from your home country walk you through along the way and sharing those experiences with you.
Derek: Yes, you know what I preached a lot is that there’s huge value in this BPO operations and as I touched on the last episode with you, you have 12 years of expertise in the outsourcing industry, which cannot be understated and so you manage as well. Not only that but the staff that you are hiring are also no doubt seasoned in outsourcing, so they are bringing a certain amount of expertise as well. I’m trying to stress to people that are getting into outsourcing that you can’t just walk into this, there’s a lot to learn and if you don’t seek advice from experienced people then there’s kind of a lot of hurdles along the way. What did you learn over your 12 years of experience that allows you to streamline all these, what are some of the key kind of integration items that you talk about with new clients?
Dean: I guess a lot of the time, I can’t believe it how often this happens. We actually talk a client into lease seats. So, people come with grand ideas and so without the SOP, or without the knowledge of how its going to integrate back into their business, and in truth Boomering keeps everything simple. We offer clients an SOP system, that’s paid for and provided by Boomering. We offer a staff member from Boomering to help those clients write the standard operating procedures in every aspect of the outsourcing. And what I always try and do is I never want to go and burn a client’s capital, so we took it down to a service where we can learn, grow, get the procedures right, and then we can wrap up.
Derek: Because people very commonly in the West, they are not use to SOPs, which is the standard operating procedures, usually unless it’s a big company. Most people in the West, their kind of operating by the seat of their pants. It doesn’t really work the same way better because people need structures, and processes.
Dean: Correct. Everyone gets, their set tasks, and their wheel that they become experts in. In the West, we write notes when we first take up a job and keep the personal notes. But what we don’t realized that it was an expensive task every time you are rehiring, retraining, etcetera. And the ability to have a system that has your SOPs, you know, limits the training, limits questions even, to go up the ladder, to management, and everyone actually becomes more efficient.
Derek: Yes, yes, yes.
Dean: They get the ability to self-serve in a way. Right? But that’s all still in the control of the client, right? So, we might be hoping[?] them write the standard operating procedures but everything still gets run back through the client. They approve them and make sure it integrates with their business the right way.
Derek: Right and again this is the expertise that your clients are tapping into because they are not just getting a bum on a seat, they are getting your expertise, your industry insight and also it’s another input into this client’s operational functions.
Dean: Correct. So, we are all about integrating with the client and doing it the right way. And again, not to burn anyone’s capital, quickly will start-up slow, make those procedures right, and ramp up as they see the team is promoting value or becoming profitable.
Derek: Absolutely. I see this ring in your name that this imply that there’s a sort of call centre backbone to that. How many kind of call strengths that you find that you’re specializing in?
Dean: Boomering is currently probably about 30% accounting because a lot of my background was accounting, we’ve got probably about 20% sales, and in truth I’m very proud of our sales section. We’ve got one fantastic customer that started with just two sales people, they’ve got about 12 sales people, and then about eight different back office support staffs in their team. And that’s just one client. But then now they are selling about $150,000 a month in products.
Derek: Wow! And, that is something that you basically operate in and you have helped augment those, I supposed.
Dean: Yes, we’re involved in the client’s team as much or as little as the client requests, and we offer a lot of expertise on how to adapt to I guess cultural differences, we mitigate those. I guess, I don’t how you would explain but maybe inter-company politics. We got some clients that wants their two team to integrate seamlessly where we also got clients almost wants teams to play off with each other to make each other team’s better.
Derek: Right, right.
Dean: We have one sales team here, that is literally put up against their home company’s sales team…
Derek: Right.
Dean: And they’re almost making a game between them. But we’re in that mode of running into issues with a little bit of politics. What those clients have seen is a bit of, a better amount of work out of both teams.
Derek: How do you go getting involved in all these because if you are not careful, you can become actually integrated business partner with these businesses. Is that what you are interested in? Are you seat leasing or are you really getting on board with other people’s companies?
Dean: Okay. We offer two models, like I said. So, we are involved as little or as much as a client wants. Most of the time I offer an account manager, has only so many businesses that they watch over. And we are trying to give that personal touch. So, we are trying to be involved as much as that client wants. But the clients got to remember it’s still their business. So even my account managers are reporting back to them and helping in those ways.
Derek: And how is your pricing structure right there? Probably there are different pricing structures out there now, as there a BPO suppliers, do you have a different range or kind of a set menu?
Dean: So, 90% of my business is we charge a seat fee, and we have salaries on top of that with no mark-up. And any of the other facilities, whether it’s phones, etc. we charge a cost, we make no mark-up on it. So, it’s really solely seat fee based, per structure, of course that changes depending on the level of involvement.
Derek: And what is that involvement because people sort of again I think underappreciated what there is in a seat fee because you’re not only just providing the seats, and the infrastructure and the hardware, but there’s also the HR, the recruitment, the oversight?
Dean: Yes, and it’s all the personal touch feedback to those clients on how their teams are reacting to their Australian teams, how the Australian teams are reacting to our teams here. And the other part of it is that we were here to help out every time there is a question because outsourcing is an amazing way to bring value to your business but it’s not effortless. It’s not just a turn the key investment and we at Boomering want people to know that we don’t oversell. I am always telling businesses what to expect and to go slow.
Derek: Yes, it’s hard isn’t it? Because people expected this to be a turn key thing but business itself isn’t easy, isn’t it? And everything always needs tweaking, and I think some people sometimes come over here with unrealistic expectations. This is why I’m really a big proponent of outsourcing genre, which is proper outsourcing in facilities like yours. There seems to be sort of a resistance by some players and they want to get Upwork, they want to get people to work remotely from home, is that a difference of night and day to you in terms of the deliverables that people can expect from there?
Dean: I guess you always get what you paid for is a simple way to explain that. Yes, generally freelancing or Upwork is cheaper but there’s nothing like a structured environment, and the involvement of the feeling that you are involved in a team. So, we have had clients that have tried their Upwork, or freelancing and had mixed results. But when they tried our integrated, full team into a full business, we can provide much better results because everything is in one spot. Everyone is integrated, and everyone is managed by the same HR. Everyone is reporting at the same time in a structured environment and you get much more out of your employees.
Derek: Yes. I’ve been trying to tell people there is no longevity really to remote working. There’s not sort of any organizational learning, it’s not really scalable, or a better longer term.
Dean: So, the other thing is like here in Boomering, we’ve got two internet fiber lines, if one drops out, the other one drops on. You’ve got UPS, power banks, and you’ve got fully generated rooms, and most freelancers can’t afford that. So, we’ve always got an uninterrupted work here.
Derek: Fantastic! Thank you so much Dean. If of course people want to reach out and contact you and discuss about Boomering, how can they do that?
Dean: I think you should reach out personally, my email is [email protected]
Derek: Fantastic. Thanks very much.
Dean: Thank you Derek.
Derek: That was Dean Pascoe of Boomering.PH. If you want to get in touch with Dean then go to our show notes which is at outsourceaccelerator.com/185. And of course, if you want to reach out and ask us about anything, then drop us an email to [email protected] . See you next time!
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