- August 26, 2019
- Posted by: Phillip W. Duff
- Categories: Agencies, Buyers, Nearshore call Centers, Opinions, Reduce labor cost, Technology
Most of you reading this article are familiar with what Lighthouse has been doing in Jamaica but let me better explain the value of my programs. My program gives you everything you need like protection from unknowns in a foreign country, taxes in a foreign country, HR and IT, but does not make you buy things you don’t need like Technology, Quality control agents and extra costs.
The Unknown
The Lighthouse program allows you to:
Pay in the USA in USD
Pay no corporate tax in Jamaica
Pay no payroll tax in Jamaica
Pay no entitlements (NIS, NHT,..) in Jamaica
Avoid banking in Jamaica and currency fluctuations
Avoid HR lawsuits and filings
Avoid data security issues
Avoid everything associated with doing business in a foreign country
Technology
In most cases my clients have a full call center set up in the US and are just looking for cheaper and better labor. They are not looking for much more the clear objective is to “use nearshore labor to reduce costs and increase production”. Yet most of my competitors are selling you technology along with the staff so they can charge you more. In almost every case the client does not need added dialer costs, or more compliance/QA agents, they don’t need analytical software, they don’t need anything but great agents.
My clients already have processes, technology and hardware to do the job and the best solution is to just mirror that program. The client spent lots of time and effort to build his agency in just a certain way, who am I to change that. If all you need is agents that’s what I give you, Great Agents.
In addition many of the other vendors are co mingling your staff with other staff on the same large collection floor creating a possible compliance nightmare. If the agent next to yours is dishonest he can harvest lots of credit card numbers and personal data with just a glance. My program makes sure your internet and staff are secure behind a firewall and a closed biometric controlled door.
Added Costs
All these extra technology costs allow my competitors to charge 25-40% higher rates than I charge. They are making more money off the technology than the agents which blurs their focus. I try to help my clients get what they need and don’t focus on the cross sell. In fact I don’t cross sell anything except more agents.
One of my competitors charges $12.50 per hour for 10 agents and also requires a small percentage of the gross collections. They co mingle the 10 agents on a large floor with over 100 seats. They have roaming managers that may be managing 3 different clients agents or as many as 30 staff per manager. They work from their dialer which is an open source dialer (free to everyone). So this equals $20k monthly paid by the client for the 10 agents, plus the percentage.
I charge $10 per hour for 10 agents that are not commingled and are securely firewalled in. I charge no production percentage, my monthly cost is $16K. That is $4000 less per month or $48K a year. But even more importantly it is 2.5 agents more for the same $20K. 2.5 more agents equals 25% more production.
Yes without the added costs you can have 25% more agents and 25% more production.
What do you need?
If you need quality experienced debt collection agents at 1/3 the costs of the US, I am your man. If you need a whole call center set up in Jamaica I can help you find the right vendor for you either way. Jamaica is the new collection hub of the USA come get on the boat now.
