I want to start a call center business. What would I consider?

A business can be summed up as follows:
Market (who are you selling to or in other words, who wants to buy what you want to sell - irrespective of this being a product or a service - where and for how much?)
+
Product / Service
+
Revenue Model (financials i.e. how much does it cost you to run the business (your neighborhood bar in this case) and deliver the value you intend to and how much can you charge, to how many people you can serve ==> throw this is in a simple equation on a spreadsheet). This would also give you an idea as to how much start capital you need till you start seeing breakeven...that's where you credit score kicks in and you may want to take a loan...if you have family and friends or investors, go to them...they know you better than what your credit score reflects...see if they can be convinced that their investment in your efforts are not risky and that you can guarantee a certain rate of interest payable in future.

Based on the above understanding, you can now can make a serious decision on whether:
1) you want to be IN THIS "Call center" business or not;
2) it makes financial sense to be in the "Call center" business;
3) it can "breakeven" and make money within a short/relevant period of time before you grow frustrated
4) if this is a full time business opportunity or a sideshow that generates decent "extra" money.
5) Why you are doing this - i.e. starting a "Call center" business - makes sense or does that answer to the question "why?" need a relook? is this because you have expertise in this area, or you have money to invest etc...

That was the first stage of decision making and the most important part. Once you seriously know "Why?" you are in this, rest all is administrative and easy.

Get a relationship with a CPA to help you get a good handle on your costs then you can go and mark up the service fees for your margin.

Starting a business without any prior business or domain knowledge is not a bad thing by itself, just that the chances of failure are many.

What is your financial health and budget for renting or buying an office? Is this going to be a -strategically speaking - real estate play or service business play? What term are you looking to sign up the lease (if renting) with the landlord? Be extra careful on the lease front, business people from Sam Walton (kicked out of his first succesful variety store by landlord who did not renew the contract) to regular johnnys who have had bad locations with long leases slammed on them...This is the key expense where you would need a long term investor partner to be on your team after payroll & inventory.

Buy or lease equipment of such stuff for your business would be based on your specific financial modeling and short/long term plans.

Lease if:
Low on cash 2: write the lease of as expense each month 3: you have a short term lease with your landlord

Buy if:
You have cash on hand 2: you want to use depreciation on capital investment method for accounting and if this is a large amount 3; long term lease on hand through the break even time required and also if you are confident that your location is the perfect one.

The following points are useful for you to note:

Next, go to the website of your local state government, if you are in the USA, else to a legal counsel or account (CPA) to help with the basic decision making and advise on:
1. Formation of the company: name, capital structure, accounting formats/software, financial year etc.
2. Deciding on sole proprietor, partnership, S Corp, LLC or C Corp
3. Financial health required i.e. cash flow analysis, financial projections, financing needs and loans etc.

Then comes the execution part:
1. Marketing ==> advertising ==> budget and reaching out to your market/audience constantly. This is where you get a website. I know a company www.bizdevsystems.com click on eBusiness that provides great deals for new businesses / start ups with package deals including custom websites onwards, business phone and DSL Internet , credit/debit card and check processing services.
2. Sales ==> Getting big projects ==>cold calling, meetings, deal closures
3. Business Development ==> partnerships, networking, swapping warm leads with other non-competing allies outside of your business / market area for a referral fee / affiliate commission.
4. eCommerce and eBusiness: an online angle to your business, to generate revenues online as well as take your offline business online in some way or the other. This is another level of utilising the web through marketing.

Last comes in HR / Production / Operations: Looks like you are experts in this area already. Just keep these in mind:
1. to grow your company, you HAVE to hire new people, trust them (even if you are burnt multiple times...keep hiring), train them and try to get out of "you" out of the business and let it run on a systematic daily reports oriented effort...i.e most companies that are run by entrepreneurs / founders die when the founder leaves because the founder(s) was/were the company...therefore, on the operations front, put in an IT system in tandem with a Culture in place that can run the show on its own without your interference in the business decision making, revenue generation, order fulfilment and customer support. Also it is absolutely must that you get a T1 or higher internet with VoIP service for communications.

All in all, always remember that the seed you are planting already knows how large it can get, the one who plants may not be so aware of which seed he/she is planting...you have to design this business model /seed before you launch.

Good luck with your venture...nothing ventured, nothing gained...go for it...the learning would be fun after its been learnt...hindsight is 20/20...I can keep advising till the cows come home...having been there done that...for you, just do it :)

Sanjay Saggere
404-425-3021
sanjay@bizdevsystems.com
www.bizdevsystems.com click on eBusiness

Source(s):

1. For eBusiness eSsentials go to www.bizdevsystems.com click on eBusiness or email sales@bizdevsytems.com
2. For eCommerce / offline retail merchant accounts go to www.wynpay.com or email sales@wynpay.com
3. For phone & Internet VoIP services www.ebolo.com