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Chandu Nair

RECENTLY, we were invited by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce to make a presentation on `How to win BPO business in the US?'

Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) — is still in its infancy and is not exactly mainstream.

Having been in the area of knowledge services in India, specifically specialist business and market research and content for over 15 years, we knew that the US was a different ball game. So we had set about by trying to understand it a little better.

The context

For starters, while the US population is less than a third of India's; its land area is nearly three times India's. In business terms, it is more striking. In the US, a company is classified as a small enterprise if it employs 100-500 people or its turnover (revenues) is between $1million and $28.5 million (that is, between Rs 4.4 crore and Rs 125 crore). In fact, just one company, a client that is an IT major, earned (revenue) $89 billion in 2003. That is about 16 per cent of India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Clearly, there is a difference in the way we think and do business.

In the business of knowledge services, India is but a drop in the ocean. We guesstimate that market research together with consulting and databases is around $500 million. In comparison, this is over $130 billion in the US, or 260 times the size of the Indian market.

Despite differences, there has been a significant shift in how India and Indians are perceived today compared to, say, five years ago. The software industry has done a good job of showcasing India's competence, our ability to scale up, go global and be process oriented. Two major environmental factors are playing a key role. One, technology, particularly in telecom and the Internet. It has made remote operations far less risky. Two, business pressures have made outsourcing and off-shoring a key component of business strategies.

The contrasting work cultures

By and large, Americans dislike playing games. Their focus is "What's in it for me?" Honesty and transparency help greatly. Americans handle meetings and presentations quite differently. They need to be clear on the agenda of the meeting and like presentations to be short and straight. They hate too much text and are more visual-oriented and therefore prefer graphs and diagrams. They prefer one point in a slide. KISS (Keep it Short and Simple) is the operating credo in the US.

This is quite different from how we operate in India where, for instance, meetings are convened with no clear stated agenda. We understood that there was a difference in our working styles, and that we needed to reorient ourselves.

What pleasantly surprises an Indian business, particularly one operating in the overseas markets, such as the US, for the first time, is how much can be taken for granted there.

As Dr Samar Das, now living in the US for over a decade, wryly observed , "In the US, the systems and infrastructure are geared in such a way that an ordinary guy can perform extraordinarily. While in India, the systems and infrastructure seem to ensure that an extraordinary guy can end up performing ordinarily."

The `take out' for us was that we needed to create stability amid uncertainty.. So, we needed to have world-class infrastructure, in terms of power and Internet connectivity.

Initial sales pitch

Today, there is really no need to sell India. There is, however, a need to sell Chennai. Unlike Mumbai, Delhi or Bangalore, awareness about Chennai is significantly lower.

Plus, in this kind of service business, one needs to sell oneself as a competent, knowledgeable individual in order to create an initial sense of comfort to the prospective client. Once that happens, one can `sell' the company and what it has to offer.

We also figured that it just would not do to be a Jack-of-all-trades. American companies look at areas of specialisation, and tend to pigeon-hole you. Or, worse, ignore you, if they think of you as a generalist. So it is better you to pick your position!

How did we do it?

We looked at it from two sides. First, from the marketing back-end in India. The team in Chennai started by building a prospect database, taking the e-mail route first, followed by several reminders, then making telephone calls and sending faxes.

Our business associates in the US focus on developing relationships with clients. Apart from that, we ensure a presence in key conferences and events, and make several trips to make the first pitch to clients. A key lesson here is: You just don't get a second chance to make a first impression!

Initially, we offered to do pilots either free or at cost to help build confidence. This is a business which is in its nascent stage and so there is a whole lot of concept selling involved, including assisting of the setting up of off-shoring processes for the client.

We started off with lower risk (from the clients' point of view) assignments. Once assignments were commissioned, we ensured that we exceeded their expectations in delivery, both on dead lines and quality. When that happened, our clients started speaking for us. Here we learnt the next big lesson — referrals are the best bet!

Our experience

Today, we have over a dozen overseas clients and only three have visited us so far. Our company stands on three pillars:

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