Activation Consultation 5.0 – Exponential Business Expansion

Hi and welcome to another episode of the Outsource Accelerator Podcast. My name is Derek Gallimore. And today this is episode sixty-seven. So today is a continuation of the Outsource Activation Consultation review. We are looking at module five. And this relates to global expansion of your business. We are talking big stuff. We have previously covered other aspects of the consultation program in episodes 52, 55, 58, 61 and 64. So if you want to go and check out the overall consultation program and the modules then do that check out those episodes. All of this information is available in the show notes.

I just want to stress that these podcasts are a glimpse into the insight we provide with the consultation program. However, I am not hard-selling it, I am not forcing you to buy this, what I want to do is share the benefits of outsourcing and insights of outsourcing with everyone. If you don’t want to pay for consultation that is absolutely fine. There is a huge amount of information available on our Website and of course in these podcasts and on our Facebook page. So, you know I’m giving you all the opportunity I can to get you started on your outsourcing journey. So, it’s super exciting for me and I believe it’s a win-win for everyone. But anyway, let’s look at today’s module.

So, the module today is module 5 of the Outsource Activation Consultation Program. There are many topics on it. There are four topics and there are two activities associated with this module. We look at topic number one is the extension of core products and services. Then topic number two is the international market reach and research. Then topic 3 is the development of a global online presence and topic 4 is the expansion of a new country or region. And then, of course, there are two activities with this module. It’s about listing your Moonshot ideas, and then the second activity is there are five exercises, that help you explore out competing your local competition. So, let’s get into it.

So, topic one is extension of core products and services. I preach very frequently now that outsourcing can save you money but it’s not about just the cash-saving. It’s about the opportunity that it buys for you to outgrow and out-innovate your competition. The fact that resources are significantly cheaper when you outsource means that you are buying an operational buffer. When you have access to cheaper resources it means that you can expand your business with less risk and less lumpy increments than any of your competitors. Of course, I don’t want you to run before you walk. It is important that when you start your outsourcing journey don’t look too far ahead. What is essential. First off is to get your back office and your operations running smoothly. Once you have done that then you can look further afield. Once you have your operations outsourced and running smoothly you will notice that it is less scary to take on more staff that is less scary to explore and try new ideas. And the reason for that it is because of the access to affordable, abundant human resource. So, once you have everything down pat you know once everything is running. And don’t rush that period you know make sure it is reliably run then you can look further afield. And this is where it gets super exciting. Why don’t you build teams, build a team of one two or three people and you know this can cost you something like one to five thousand dollars a month. And of course, this all depends on the size of your organization. But for one to five thousand dollars a month you can have a team dedicated to extending your core products and services. This is a sure-fire way of multiplying your topline revenues. One of the easiest ways in business to expand your business is to add a new product or service to your product or service offering. If you have clients that are happy with what you are producing then it is highly likely that they will buy other products or services from you. So, set about building new products and services. When the cost of exploring business is multitude less then you have the opportunity to explore. It is not quite so scary when the incremental salary is three hundred dollars a month.  You can afford to play again. You can afford to explore it. And so, we cover this in the fifth module of the outsource activation consultation. We show you how this can rock your world and it’s a little bit conceptual but once you see the power of outsourcing and once you see the opportunities and once you see the abundant skilled resource here in the Philippines that is going for next to nothing you will realize that actually you know you can build new business models. You can explore new markets. You can do other activities that just outstrip your competition and you can do that boldly and comfortably because of the cost, the incremental cost. And if this team fails then you know your burn rate is one two three four five thousand dollars a month. And again, it’s very specific to how big your business is but that is nothing like the overhead cost of Silicon Valley where people can be burning hundreds of thousands of dollars a month because of the cost of salaries. So, it’s a huge opportunity.

So, moving on to topic two is the international market reach and research. Now certainly 20 years ago to be an international company was quite a thing. It was a mark of achievement to say that you sell in multiple countries. Now today it is almost uncommon if you are based in just one country. Very commonly now companies work off the back of remote teams. So, you might have five staff based in three different countries but also the trade borders but also the technology is removing all borders and you know trade is becoming truly internationalized. This is certainly being helped by obviously technology and the Internet but then platforms on top of this such as Ali Baba and of course Amazon. So, the outsourcing actually helps you shift to more of an international perspective now that you have a team in the Philippines that say you’re sitting in the UK. Suddenly now you expand your horizons and you think well actually why am I just selling to the UK. You are now internationalized having you know half your team in the Philippines. And so, what really is the difference to sell to the U.S. or Canada or you know try something like Hong Kong. Of course, this really depends on your product on your service. If it’s a geographically contained product if you are making swimming pools then and you’re doing it from the UK then it’s probably a little bit harder to get that out of the country. However most things are service orientation. And you know so if you’re selling professional services if you’re selling any kind of any kind of service really or mostly If the majority of your service or product execution is from behind a monitor or a computer then generally that’s a hot pretty indicator that you can and should be able to sell this to literally anywhere, any market in the world. So, what is the opportunity there? The opportunity is to look into this opportunity. And when you have access to fantastic affordable human resource. Because of course now you’re outsourcing and your team is in place and you can add people easily, affordably and at small incremental cost. Then the first thing you do is build a team to look into the international opportunities. That team in inverted commerce might just be one research associate. You could probably get that guy for 400 to 500 US full-time and then you have a full-time market research up at your disposal within three months you should find markets. You should certainly be able to test them that time. Whether they’re a viable market. And then after that you can float a new team which can help take you into these new markets. So, we cover this in topic two of the outsource activation consultation package. Again, this is more conceptual in nature but it’s about getting your head around the blue ocean opportunities with your business. I want you to stop thinking about this as a localized business and think about it on the international platform. That is the internet that is outsourcing that is all of these means of distribution, we now have at our fingertips. Of course, if your product is not suitable then if we pick back at topic one it’s about the opportunity to explore new products that can be pushed further afield. What we commonly see is products actually being borne out of the outsourcing journey. So, let’s say for example that you paint houses that is relatively static you’re not really going to be able to export and sell that service overseas. However, with your centralized intelligence and your back office and your skills now in productizing this back in service you could actually start selling a backend operation to other painting services. This is what we very commonly see with entrepreneurs that begin their outsourcing journey as soon as they open their eyes to the huge potential of outsourcing. Immediately, I mean first of all they locked down their original business but then they are spurring new ideas new products and taking them to new markets very commonly that can be built off the back of the outsourcing concept which is basically a rocket fuel for a lot of these ideas.

So moving on topic three is a global online presence. So again, as I mentioned in topic two you need to reframe your thinking. You need to go global. Regardless of what you do there is an opportunity to take your product and your business global. Once you have begun outsourcing, Congratulations you are now an international business. It is super simple in the Philippines to provide 24/7 staffing and coverage. It is super simple to upgrade your business so that externally it’s perceived as a multinational conglomerate.  You can have a 24/7 call center you can have 24/7 customer service you can have a proactive 24/7 outbound sales team. Can you imagine what that can out strategize your immediate competitors. But actually, now the game is bigger because you are looking on a bigger scale and now you can focus on taking on bigger and bigger players on a global scale. So, reiterating the one of the original concepts of outsourcing, you know outsourcing is super powerful but it’s not about the money you save from running an identical team. It’s about sure you will save money by running a support team in the Philippines but it’s about the opportunities you buy yourself because of the cheaper resources available here. You buy yourself opportunity to explore new markets, you buy yourself opportunity to expand with less risk and lower incremental costs and you buy yourself the opportunity to outcompete your competitors and you buy yourself the opportunity to go global with a service offering commensurate with a global company. You can go 24/7. You can have all of the services under the sun because highly effective employees are available now to you at a very affordable rate. So again, this advice it really does vary depending on who you are where you’re sitting what your product is and how big your company is and maybe even how old your company is. You know a lot of the Silicon Valley startups today. All of them are expecting to become a Unicorn and all of them by default expect to be international in the next 18 months. So, you know it really does depend where you’re sitting. Now, I am certainly if I’m, if you are a Silicon Valley startup then I’m preaching to the converted. If you are maybe a more traditional family then I’m hoping that I am opening your eyes to the opportunities out there and this really is becoming one global marketplace quickly. And outsourcing helps you. It facilitates you and it reduces the risk in exploring these things. If you are the Silicon Valley startup listening to this then there is still so much relevant material. Why? Because from an international perspective you need to outsource your backend now. You need to take advantage of the 7 billion potential employees in the world and do not tie up you back backend from Silicon Valley. You want to hire your backend from the Philippines where it’s almost 90 percent cheaper. But also, they are experts in their field. So just ramping off this third topic of global online presence. You know it’s about finding the best resources from the most appropriate places. And it’s about having a global perspective of running your business both from the backend but then also the service provision and also the business opportunities facing your company.

And then topic number 4 of the fifth module is actually looking at the specifics of expanding into a new country or region. We help you with the process of expanding these processes. A lot of outsourcing is about the concept of creating a process and then replicating those processes. Once the process is identified you almost want to be able to plug new processes into those processes and expand the processes that are working. Replicate the processes that are that are working and maybe either enhance or ditch the processes that aren’t working. So, when it comes to expanding into a new country or region you simply replicate processes that you have been doing previously. But more than that the Philippines what you have to kind of understand is if you have a back office in the Philippines and it knows considerable amounts of your operational processes and how you run the company then actually to start in a new country or region is not that big a deal. Previously when you are sitting at home and you just had a team in your home office or wherever it is working on a problem. If you are told that you had to go and start up in the UK or US or Canada it would have been mind boggling. But now that you have already an international team sitting in the Philippines that know most of your processes then easily it’s just a case of creating a new hub localized in that geography that you are about to enter and conquer. So you almost flipped the pyramid upside down where the Philippines almost becomes the central nervous system and then the new market you’re entering into becomes the peripheral hub. Again, it depends on what service what product you’re offering what type of business you are. And again, if you are a part of the consultation program then we can look at your opportunities specifically. But what I do know is having a Philippine backend actually increases your expertise in all of this. If for example you’re sitting in the U.S. and you want to build a team in Hong Kong then there is a lot of Hong Kong expertise and experience sitting here in the Philippines. If instead you want to build a team in the UK then you recruit the skills you need that have also background in the UK the UK markets and even the UK industries that you’re about to get into. So, the Philippines is ironically one of the most internationalized destinations now. It is because they are sucking up all of the information and experience from all of the 20 25 years of BPO is that have been here. So, there is an internationalized opportunity here for you to expand into new markets.

So that is module 5 which is global expansion of your business and of course this is the outsource activation consultation program that I’m outlining here. And whether you take the program or not, I just want to share with you as much value as I can to encourage as many people on the outsourcing journey as possible. I hope you found this informative. What I just want to cover is the two activities that come as a part of the consultation program in module five. And you know activity 12 then is about getting you to list 10 Moonshot ideas. And it sounds simplistic but it’s actually an incredibly valuable exercise. And you know we take a little bit further but it’s not just about a list of 10 things. I want you to think about the craziest expansionary ideas you can think of for your business. And then we break that down a little bit more into 10 steps that could possibly happen for each 10 Moonshots. So, I want you to do this exercise and obviously you can do this at home you can do this without buying the consultation package. That’s absolutely fine. But it’s an incredibly valuable exercise to realize that when you have access to abundant affordable human resource that a lot of these moonshots either become infinitely more possible or the risk of trying them is infinitely less which means that there’s less friction to trying these things. And of course, more opportunity for them to succeed. So, it’s super exciting. Activity thirteen then is about exploring a list of five operational advantages and five strategic advantages that you can build in your Philippine back office that can help you out compete and outstretch strategize your competitors. So, I want you to list five operational advantages. Some of them might be. For example, customer service 24/7 service, sales functions, outbound sales functions, enhanced customer service. You know anything to do with the operational day to day stuff. You can even have research teams in the Philippines that look into lower cheaper delivery options, more efficient delivery. You know whatever you do these are operational advantages that you can look into. So, list five of those then next list five strategic advantages that you think you might be able to take advantage of as a result of having more abundant affordable staffing solutions. So strategic advantages might be for example free customer support, it might be more lead generation, it might be more aggressive customer acquisition strategies. There are abundant, endless ideas that can really strategically propel you forward. Of course, if as we’ve mentioned above it could be new product research it could be new market research it could be testing new markets. So, there is a huge amount of ideas and what I want you to do with this 13th activity is basically an exercise where you explore the strategic and operational advantages.

So just to recap that is fine. This is global expansion of your business of the outsource accelerator activation consultation program. The topics we covered today were an extension of or extending your core products and services. Topic 2 was that international market research and research, topic three was exploring your global online presence and topic four was about you know, how you functionally expand to a new country or region. Of course, a part of that is about new products, new services and basically the exponential expansion of your business. All things which are more easily accessible when you have access to cheaper more abundant highly qualified Staffing Solutions. Then of course we covered two activities which I encourage you to do at home. That is of course the list of 10 moonshot ideas. And then there is the listing of five operational and five strategic advantages.

So that’s it. That’s what we cover in module five of the activation consultation program. Of course, we dive deeper in the full consultation and you have us there to accompany you on the journey. So, if you are interested in the consultation program then please do get in touch. You can find out all the information and share notes and of course on our Website. If you want the show notes for this podcast. Then of course go to outsourceaccelerator.com/67. If you want any of the other previous episodes that of course is noted in the show notes as well. And if you want to know more about the consultation period go to those show notes or just go to our Website and check out the consultation program there. We will be back next week of course with the final module of this consultation program. See you next time.