As a consultant, business growth strategist and results multiplier, I constantly encounter clients and prospects making one, some or all of the following common marketing mistakes:

Mistake 1: Not testing all of your marketing ideas.
Corrective action: Test and measure all of your marketing.

Mistake 2: Small or medium-sized businesses who waste vast amounts of money on image and brand advertising.
Corrective action: Run only Direct Response Advertising. Invest in advertising that highlights powerful benefits, a strong offer, providing powerful reasons why people must buy your products or services, plus supported by a clear-call-to-action. Your advertising must sell your products or services or you are wasting your money.  

Mistake 3: Not articulating or demonstrating the differences that your business offers.
Corrective action: Develop a powerful Unique Selling Proposition and use it in all your marketing.

Mistake 4: Not understanding your customer and their needs and desires.
Corrective action: Clearly determine and address the real needs of your clients and prospects.

Mistake 5: Not making doing business with your company easy, appealing and even fun.
Corrective action: Make doing business with your business easy, appealing and fun.

 Mistake 6: Stopping marketing campaigns that are still working. Corrective action: Don’t stop marketing campaigns that are still working just because you are tired of them. I assure you that you clients or prospects have not seen them as much as you.

 Mistake 7: Not capturing prospects’ addresses, email addresses as well as pertinent and valuable contact information.

Corrective action: Capture everything on a prospect or client that you can in an organised and retrievable system.

 Mistake 8: Being stuck doing “what works.”

Corrective action: Always be open to new ideas, innovations and be willing to change.

 Mistake 9: Not knowing and leveraging the lifetime value of a client.

Corrective action: Always understand the lifetime value of your clients. This way you will understand and serve them better.

 Mistake 10: Not being strategic. 

Corrective action: You MUST have a detailed, strategic marketing plan with specific performance growth expectations.

 In your marketing you have the greatest upside leverage environment imaginable. Improve your marketing and you will improve your profits. 

Meet Cody Adams: Analyst 

“I am 22 years old and have always been a technically minded person. I enjoy learning new things. My interests are coding or anything computer-related as well as playing baseball in my spare time.”

What do you love most about your job?

I love the fast-paced working environment and that I learn something new almost every day which helps me to grow in my career. That, and the people I work with, makes me WANT to come to work every day.

How did you get into this position, and did you have any formal training or work experience?

I was working on one of our campaigns as a call centre agent when the MIBI team had announced they were opening up a CDP (Career Development Plan) initiative.  I had always wanted to do programming since school but I was not aware that it was part of the MIBI work stream. when I found out it was I jumped to apply, I was familiar with Python coding at the time but I had to learn SQL coding as part of the CDP program.  I got through the program and a position became available in the team, I applied for it, went through interviews and I was successful.

What challenges did you face along the way?

When I began studying the development program, I didn’t have internet at home. We were required to have certain online courses completed in order for us to even be eligible to apply for the program.  This was my biggest challenge as the only way I could get through the courses was if I come in before my shift or stay at work after my shift to study.  It was a tough few weeks but it was definitely worth it.

Does your company offer training for career advancement?

Yes they do

What career path options are available to you in this industry?

In this field it opens up many opportunities as long as you’re willing to put in the work.  I personally would like to venture into software and App development.  There are, however, many more paths to choose from such as Database Administrator, Data Scientist, Data Analytics, BI Analyst, etc.

Tell us about a typical day at work

On a typical day for me, I work an 8.5-hour day.  My objective is to automate as many of our manual processes as possible so that if somebody in my team was to not come to work, the show would still go on.  My colleagues are great to work with, we’ve all got a good relationship with each other and for the most part have good communication.  I try not to stress at work as it’s not a very productive state. As we all know, work can get pretty hectic sometimes, but when stresses run high in the cube we all buckle down and get things done.  We all work very well as a team.

Why would you recommend this industry to other young people?

I would recommend this industry to other young people because of the fast-paced working environment.  Changes can happen at any moment and you will need to adapt or sink so for me it teaches good work ethic and it’s good training on how to deal with high stress working environments.

What advice would you give others to deal with work challenges?

For me the most challenging part is time.  There is always something that needs to be done and there is not enough time in a day.  My advice is to find the best way for you as a person to manage your workload. Scope all projects realistically.  I have a list of things that needs to be done for the day and I systematically work through it.  This is important for me as at any moment someone can walk in and say: “hey I need this done”.  This can completely throw you off track, so I will scope the requirements of the task and I fit it into my list based on priority and provide the appropriate turnaround time.

What has been your proudest work moment in the BPO industry?

My proudest work moment would be the day I got employee of the month.  This was amazing because I was only in the team for 6 months and everybody thought that I worked hard enough to deserve this.

Do you have a role model or work mentor, and if so, how has he/she inspired and helped you to grow professionally?

Yes, my role model and mentor is my manager Raymond. When I started studying for the development program I had never even seen SQL, which is where we do most of our work on.  He taught and upskilled me, he is one of the reason’s I am as good as I am at what I do

How do you find balance between work and your private life?

My girlfriend actually works for WNS as well and we have our “How was your day?” discussions in the car on the drive home but once we get home we try not to talk about work.  Finding a balance between work and home is only difficult when you bring your stress home with you.  If you have things going on at work deal with it at work not when you should be enjoying life.

What is the NUMBER 1 tip that you have for young people considering a career in BPO ?

My number 1 tip would be to toughen up.  This is not the easiest of industries to work in but it is definitely character building. This industry is world-wide so if you work hard the benefits are endless.

Everyone has a dream to chase when it comes to careers
Very few of us actually live our dreams.
Some have the right education for it
Few find the right opportunities

Welcome to an industry that has open arms for every kind of qualification, skill set and experience.|
From someone straight out of school to a highly qualified professional there is a role for everyone!

All the industry looks for is the right attitude to work and a commitment to excel, because in the BPO industry you no longer work for just one region or company. You become a GLOBAL citizen the day you become part of this industry.

Business Process Outsourcing:

• Manages critical business processes for global brands
• Shapes the future of young, bright minds like you in South Africa and around the world

The BPO industry offers high-end solutions to global companies. It is an industry brimming with opportunities for a wide range of talent. You may be surprised to bump into doctors, lawyers, chartered accountants, MBAs and PhDs in the working environment.

Is a BPO career for you?
Yes, if you have:

• The enthusiasm to work in a team
• The drive to excel
• The will to learn
• The aspiration to grow fast
• The ‘can-do’ spirit to achieve goals

Hard work is part of getting ahead in any industry, so its important to chose a career path that you enjoy – and that suits your personality and personal skills set.

BPO is fast-paced, exciting, and is a growing industry in South Africa. It covers a wide range of careers. From contact centre sales and customer service to professional services in health, law, insurance, finance and more…there are career options for everyone!

The industry prides itself on fast-tracking careers for its talent. As a result, careers in the industry are taking off at a speed that is unmatched by most other industries.

If you enjoy a fast-paced competitive environment, outbound sales is a good option. If you are more of a caring and empathetic person, inbound customer care may suit you better. For those who don’t enjoy one-on-one communication, there are plenty of BPO back-office jobs that can provide job satisfaction!

Personal growth

A job in the BPO sector offers great personal growth opportunities:

• Business Process Management training
• Focuses on specializations
• Personality development
• Leadership skills

A career in BPO offers you the chance to :

• Impact the organisational life of global brands.
• steer the course of an organisation’s global journey.
• become part of the success of the companies you work for
• play a major role in the life of your client at a very young age.

Meet Ghadijah Du Toit: Sr Analyst MIBI at WNS SA (Pty) Ltd.

“I started with the WNS family in 2012 and held various roles from being an agent right through to a team leader. I have since moved into the data science team and absolutely love the environment. I lead across 6 international campaigns from a reporting front and find what I do extremely rewarding.”

What do you love most about your job?

Every single day holds new challenges and opportunities to learn. It has been just under a year since moving into the MI environment and not once have I left work without learning something new.

How did you get into this position, and did you have any formal training or work experience?

I started off on a developmental role within the cube and with a lot of perseverance and the willingness of everyone here to teach, I managed to land a permanent position as a Sr Analyst

What challenges did you face along the way?

Moving into the world of data science I had zero experience and needed to grasp an entire new world in a short period of time.

Does your company offer training for career advancement?

Yes, it does. I have gone through plenty of these opportunities

What career path options are available to you in this industry?

There are many from database developers, to reporting managers, analytics analysts, visualisation & dashboard experts, software designing, graphic designing

Tell us about a typical day at work

No day is ever the same. I work in a continuously changing environment, but this is required to ensure we always deliver the best outputs. The people I work with are simply phenomenal and well the stress and pressure is very different. I do think we are the most engaged department across WNS.

Would you recommend this industry to other young people?

It is challenging and opens a wide range of opportunities for you to grow in not only in your career but as a person.

What advice would you give others to deal with work challenges?

Take the leap. From the outside the data science team seemed to be a male-dominated environment and out of my reach. But we are now lead by a strong, ambitious, woman.  I am well on my way to growing into the position I set my sights on. Way beyond what I thought was possible 12 months ago!

What has been your proudest work moment in the BPO industry?

Publishing my first client dashboard.

Do you have a role model or work mentor, and if so, how has he/she inspired and helped you to grow professionally?

I do, he is the person I turn to when it seems the world does not understand me. He is also the person that took the leap of faith in me and always willing to push me further than I ever imagined.  He is the reason I have come this far in my career.

How do you find balance between work and your private life?

With great difficulty. Honestly, when the pressure is on I tend to work a little too much, but I have learned to draw the line.

What is the NUMBER 1 tip that you have for young people considering a career in BPO?

It is going to be challenging, it is going to be nothing like you have ever experienced before, but don’t give up.
The biggest leap is breaking into the industry, like everything else in life, you will need to work hard and be prepared to sacrifice to reach your goals and get to where you want to be within the organisation.

a. Is the company you are evaluating a ‘brand’ or just any other player in the market?

b. Will the organization offer you the right role and also allow you to grow considerably?

c. Will the work culture align with you as a professional?

There could surely be many more questions, but the above three usually feature as the top-most criteria.

WNS is a brand to reckon with in the outsourcing industry. It is a pioneer in taking the vertical-led approach to service delivery. Verticals imply the industries to which we offer solutions. WNS offers vertical-led solutions to various industries, including Banking and Financial Services, Healthcare, Insurance, Manufacturing, Media and Entertainment, Consulting and Professional Services, Retail & Consumer Packaged Goods, Telecom and Diversified Businesses, Shipping and Logistics, Travel and Leisure and Utilities.

WNS delivers an entire spectrum of business process management services such as customer care, finance and accounting, human resource solutions, research and analytics, technology solutions, and industry-specific back-office and front-office processes.

WNS has more than 38,000 professionals across 55 delivery centers worldwide including China, Costa Rica, India, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States. For more information on WNS, please visit www.wns.co

For more on what you can expect at WNS in terms of your career, please visit the pages on

Life@WNS and Career Growth.

Her experience has been gained in servicing the hospitality, retails, advertising, and media publishing industry verticals within business development, brand ambassador, marketing, public relations and project management roles.

Her enthusiasm and undying devotion to the industry is evident in her continuous efforts to offer services and products that equally enhance operational performance, and those that deliver on key skills development and job creation metrics, supporting BPO development in South Africa.

Hologram Consulting is 100% woman-owned. It is based in Cape Town in the Western Cape, South Africa.

Below are the 2019 options. If you intend going to university in 2020, look out for the Open Days (often around April and May) and for the online prospectuses of UJ and other universities to see what Degree options they offer.

NOTE: Any Science, Engineering, Technical Degrees and most Medical Degrees require Pure Mathematics plus Physical Science

Extended degrees take 4 years instead of 3 years.

* BA DEGREE: (Extended)

* ART:  BA: Communication Design, Digital Media Design, Industrial Design, Interior Design, Fashion Design, Visual Art.

* ECONOMICS:  (Extended).  Accounting, Business Management, Economics & Econometrics, Finance

* MANAGEMENT: B Com (Extended) BCom Information (Extended)

Management, Human Resource Management, Public Management & Governance, Tourism Development, Information Management. Bachelor of Commerce (Extended)

* HEALTH: Biokinetics, Diagonostic Radiography, Diagnostic Ultrasound, Nuclear Medicine, Radiation Therapy. (NOTE: Must have either Physical Sciences or Life Sciences.)  BA in Sport Psychology, Sport Communication,  Sport Development or Sport Management.

* EDUCATION: Primary School: BEd Degree (Foundation Phase) (4 years), Intermediate Phase, (Grade 4-7, BEd Degree in Senior Phase and Further Education and Training (Grade 8-12) – Language education (Afrikaans, or English or Isizulu (must be your home language) Sepedi (must be your home language)

* LAW:  BA Law, LLB.

* HUMANITIES: Bachelor of Social Work, Bachelor of Arts (3 years) Communication & Languages, School subject areas, Social Sciences, Community Development & Leadership, Development Studies, Film & Television Studies, Journalism, Language Practice, Politics & International Relations, Psychology, Strategic Communications in Corporate or Marketing

IMPORTANT NOTE:

* You need more than just one subject to qualify, so please check the requirements for each course you are interested in, at the university of your choice.

Job description: Call Centre Managers hire, train, prepare and motivate their staff members to provide excellent service to customers. They set objectives, analyze call centre metrics, ensure that the company and staff meet goals and provide reliable, efficient support for customers.

About call centre managers

If you thrive in fast-paced, customer-focused environments, are self-motivated and have great leadership skills, consider becoming a call centre manager.
As the manager of a call centre (also called a contact centre) you’ll be responsible for the daily running and management of the centre.
You’ll be responsible for meeting, and possibly setting, customer service targets as well as planning areas of improvement or development. Call centre managers ensure that calls and emails are answered by staff within agreed timescales and in an appropriate manner.
Call centre managers liaise with businesses for which they provide the first response, as well as the third parties who supply products to the centre. You’ll coordinate and motivate call centre staff and may manage staff recruitment.

What does an Inbound Call Centre manager do?
Duties vary according to the type of centre you work in but generally involve:

•  managing the daily running of the call centre, including sourcing equipment, effective resource planning and applying call centre strategies and operations
•  doing needs assessments, performance reviews and cost/benefit analyses
•  setting/meeting performance targets for speed, efficiency, sales and quality
•  ensuring all relevant communications and data are updated and recorded
•  advising clients on products and services available
•  liaising with supervisors, team leaders, operatives and third parties to gather information and resolve  issues
•  maintaining up-to-date knowledge of industry developments and involvement in networks
•  monitoring random calls to improve quality, minimise errors and track operative performance
•  coordinating staff recruitment, writing job adverts and liaising with HR staff
•  reviewing the performance of staff, identifying training needs and planning training sessions
•  recording statistics, user rates and the performance levels of the centre
•  preparing reports on these statistics, rates and performance levels
•  handling the most complex customer complaints or enquiries
•  organising shift patterns and the number of staff required to meet demand
•  coaching, motivating and retaining staff
•  coordinating bonus, reward and incentive schemes
•  forecasting and analysing data against budget figures on a weekly and/or monthly basis.

Are you…?

• professional
• positive
• confident
• organised
• team worker
• a good communicator
• prepared to work shifts if required

What to expect

• Jobs are often in large, open offices that may be noisy and fast paced. As technology advances, the virtual call centre is also developing, creating opportunities for staff to work from home. Product experts may be on call, creating new challenges for managerial staff. Call centres may be scaled up and down to accommodate seasonal fluctuation. It is the call centre manager’s responsibility to optimise the workforce during this time.
• Dress code tends to be smart, with a requirement to wear suits and formal clothing once on the management team, although call centre operatives tend to wear smart/casual clothes.
• You need to enjoy working in a fast-paced work environment as the majority of call centres are target driven and certain results are expected.

Skills

You’ll need to show:

• excellent communication skills
• a strong customer focus and a good telephone manner
• the ability to work well in teams
• leadership skills and the ability to motivate and develop staff
• a desire to help others work towards targets and develop their skills
• confidence and good business sense
• the ability to set, meet and exceed targets
• a focused and self-motivated approach to work
• the ability to manage change.

Working hours

Working hours regularly include unsocial hours, particularly in the early stages of a career. Some call centres operate usual office hours but others may be open up to 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Some centres target overseas clients in different time zones.

It is common to work additional hours or overtime at management level to allow representatives of the management team to be present on a rota basis throughout the call centre’s opening hours

Learning pathways: 

Entry without a degree is possible at call centre operative level, with the chance to work your way up to a management role. Some call centres may require their staff to have specialist knowledge or fluency in a foreign language.

Personal qualities and a pragmatic, common-sense attitude are likely to be more important than the subject and level of study.

3. SPECIALISED TRAINING ACADEMIES

• Ucademy offers recognised qualifications for BPO careers, including management.

Source: Graduate prospects, UK

About Telemarketing

• Do you love talking to people on the phone?
• Do you have a good, clear telephone voice?
• Are you persuasive?
• Could you sell honey to bees?

If you said YES, YES, YES and YES – You might consider becoming a Telemarketer!

A telemarketer is a kind of ‘sales’ person. They advertise the company by phoning other companies and/or private individuals to try and get them to buy the product or services of the company they work for.
They could be selling products, services or even asking for donations for a charity organisation.

Telemarketers can work in a call centre or by themselves for a small company or organisation.
Most Telemarketers earn a basic salary and commission. The harder you sell, the more you earn.

What does a Telemarketer do?

• sells orders for products or services over the telephone
• makes ‘cold’ calls (phones people they don’t know) to sell products or services
• answers incoming calls from prospective customers
• presents prepared sales talks by reading from scripts that describe products or services to clients
• contact businesses or private individuals by telephone sell products or services or ask for donations
• describes products or services and prices
• answers questions from customers
• collects customer information eg name, address and payment method etc
• records the order details
• deals with complaints or doubts to safeguard the company’s reputation
• researches to find telephone numbers of potential customers  (eg telephone directory or other databases)
• follows up on orders
• maintains records of contacts, orders etc

Are you . . . ?

• enthusiastic?
• a good ‘sales’ person?
• persuasive?
• a people’s person?
• positive?
• target driven?
• a person with a good, clear speaking voice?
• able to communicate well on the telephone?
• hard working?
• able to sit for long periods at a time on the phone?
• able to handle rejection – and not take it personally?

How do I become a Telemarketer?

You don’t need a specific qualification to become a Telemarketer but you will need a good ‘head-for-sales’.  You will need to be target driven. A strong sense of marketing, sales and confidence will help a lot.

If you have a qualification in sales and marketing – you should jump ahead of the rest. Telemarketing may be your stepping stone to a career in marketing or sales. If you work hard, you could be promoted in the company to more senior positions.

Suggestion:

Start your ‘sales’ career in a call centre. You may even get some training. Once you have the confidence and know how to sell, look for a telemarketing job. Look for a product or service you believe in, as it’s so much easier to sell something you really love.

If you really love sports, then try and look for a telemarketing job in sports or a sporting company.
If you like make-up, then try and look for a job in cosmetics.

PATH 1

• In-service training

PATH 2

Learnership – Contact Centre Support Level 2
Learnership – Contact Centre and BPO Support Level 3
Learnership – Contact Centre Operations NQF Level 4

Job description: Provides expert response to complex customer enquiries according to agreed key performance indicators.

About Call Centre Operators

Inbound Call Centre Operators must have excellent communication and problem-solving skills and be able to assist clients with a positive and professional image.

It is important for telemarketing staff to have excellent communication skills and to be confident and knowledgeable about their products.

Becoming an Inbound Call Centre Operator is an in-house learning experience and requires dedication.  Working hours are flexible and can involve shift times i.e. day shifts and then night shifts on a rotating schedule.

Call Centre Operators are usually monitored to ensure that they meet employer standards for speed, accuracy and customer handling, – mainly to keep the profits up.

What does an Inbound Call Centre Operator do?

• Responds to customer calls or emails
• Provides expert responses to a range of questions and enquiries, from basic to complex
• Provides information about company policies, products and services telephonically and via electronic communication
• Resolves customer problems
• Marketing and other sales work
• Assists with customer service
• Assists help desk or technical support
• Places orders
• Fills out applications for services
• Files complaints
• Keeps up to date with company products and services
• Assists the employer in building and maintaining good client relationships.
• Deals with highly confidential information in a secure environment.

Are you . . . ?

• professional
• positive
• confident
• a person with a clear speaking voice
• a good communicator
• interested in sales
• prepared to work shifts if required

Occupation Code : (422201)

How do I become an Inbound Call Centre Operator?

Training is usually received on the job but if you feel you want to jump ahead of the rest, there are courses that you can do.

PATH 1
In-Service training

PATH 2
Learnership – Contact Centre Support Level 2
Learnership – Contact Centre and BPO Support Level 3
Learnership – Contact Centre Operations NQF Level 4

PATH 3
COLLEGES OFFERING TRAINING

• UCADEMY
• BOSTON COLLEGE:  (Countrywide)  Call Agent/Operators course