John Jonas discusses strategies for hiring expensive Filipino specialists. Tola starts below asking rate, then raises pay after three months if they prove themselves. Giuseppe pays salespeople 2-3 times standard BPO rates because losing one costs over $10,000, and offers benefits like health insurance and paid leave to keep people.
Questions this episode answers
Episode 12, hosted by John Jonas.
November 20, 2021.
Offer $0.50–$1.00 per hour below the job seeker’s asking price, then after three months raise pay to $1–$2 per hour above their asking price if they prove themselves.
About 2–3 times what BPOs offer, because losing a sales rep could cost him over $10,000 in lost revenue while replacing them.
Chapters
Hello, and welcome to the Secret Sauce of Outsourcing Podcast, the podcast that's dedicated to making you better at outsourcing your work. My name is John Jonas, and this is episode 12 thoughts on hiring the most expensive ofs so, a couple weeks ago, I sent an email to my newsletter about how a guy on my mailing list hires the most expensive OFS he can find. He does not go in and find the cheapest, and he says he hires the most expensive because they generally have more experience. They're just better and more skilled at what they're doing. And. And so he has seven people, and they're all not cheap. And so I sent that and asked, what is your strategy when you hire an ofs? And so I got some really good feedback on it. So Tola told me that he doesn't hire the most expensive VA at all. He doesn't believe that the salary set on a job seeker's profile page proves anything. So what he does instead is to offer them 50 cents to $1 lower per hour than their asking price. And then after three months, after they've proven themselves, he gives them one to two dollars per than their asking price. So that's quite a different way to do it from what I said in my newsletter. Then I got an email from Giuseppe, who says he doesn't automatically hire the most expensive OFS either. What he does depends on two different things. The offer he makes depends on two things. So, number one, here's what he says about it. He says, how well defined are the roles and responsibilities? If I need someone to jump in and figure it out, or if I need them to tell me how we're going to do it, I set the rate higher because I need someone who could bring experience and independent thought to the table. If there's an exact process doc and instructions that they can follow to the letter, the rate is lower. So that's his number one qualification, is am I defining how this job is to be done, or are you defining how this job is to be done? Because if I need you to do it, then I'm probably going to pay more, so I get higher, so I get better experience. And then his number two is sensitivity of continuity. If this person were to leave, how much would it affect our operation? As a result, I pay very well for salespeople, about two to three times what BPOs offer because losing a sales rep would cost me over $10,000 in lost revenue during the time it would take to replace them. So that's what. That's what Giuseppe says about it, which is really interesting. I hadn't thought about that. Like the pain to replace someone in a specific role where it's more costing it costs more to replace someone in a specific role than in other roles. Giuseppe also continues. Also, for what it's worth, I've learned that I can get way more mileage out of benefits than I can get out of salary. Health insurance, two weeks of vacation, two weeks off for Christmas, 14 bank holidays reimbursements for going to a hotel during typhoons, a family leave policy in case they need to prioritize their family over work. My main sales guy just took two weeks of paternity leave and his wife said to him, you can't quit this job. Which is really interesting because people in the Philippines quitting their job over paternity leave or over family emergencies is a super common thing that I've talked about before. So how do you handle your salary when you hire an ofs? Or how do you handle raises or benefits? Things like that? I would love to hear about it. If you want to leave me a comment or or email me John at onlinejobs phone.
