I have been a huge fan of the site for a while and I have read many of the blogs. However, I don't recall any blogs related to the day to day management of BPO's. I would like to compile a list of BPO hacks (simular to life hacks for BPO agents). Please share YOUR strategies or techniques adopted in order to manage your time and daily activities in a more efficient way, as a BPO agent.
For example:
1. What are the best camera brands and models to use? and Why
2. How to handle unexpected occupants?
3. The Best way to handle subject information while licensed in a "non-disclosure" state.
4. The easiest way to keep track of order payments.
5. Best and Worst times to take drive-by or interior photos.
6. Best and most economical data entry technique/software.
7. Best and worst BPO business practices.
8. Best way to build a BPO staff.
9. Best ways to handle BPO quality issues
10. Share your hacks/ideas/questions...........
Comments
Since you asking about BPO hacks and best methods, i figured i'll post my recent post about a little windows app to properly and quickly rename BPO photos faster and auto calculate the price opinion based on variables provided.
http://reopro.ning.com/forum/topics/software-i-developed-for-price-...
#5 early morning or during the day, in summer people are out in their yard after 5PM. In winter anytime they stay in the house ha ha
#4 I keep a notebook with address and order # and company name, when payment is deposited, I get a remittance e mail and I check them off. I also use that notebook as a log so I take it with me and do the drive by (another check mark) I have everything in one place.
I am very interested in the best soft ware for data entry...keep us posted
Camera? I use a little $120 Olympus with a 12 power zoom. You need at LEAST 5 power for long shots of house numbers.
Worst time of day? Between 7:30 to 8:30 AM people are out in cars leving for work. Between 5:20 and 6:30 people are arriving home from work.
Record keeping super easy. I made a folder named BPO ORDERS. Within it are sub folders. Each has the name of the company. I made a simple excel spread sheet showing address, interior or exterior, fee, ordering company, fee amount, date completed and date paid. As soon as I get an order the address, orde3ring company, int/ext and fee go in. Later as Im getting the MLS info tax info and comps, all goes into susb sub folders. For eample. Folder BOPorders/Farvv/address. I do the address this way: Main St, NE, 1234, CC (for clear cap, etc) then fee and mileage. So I can always look up by street name without having to look at the street numbers. After I load everything on the order into its folder, I complete the order on the site and then grab the subject folder and throw it into a TO BE PAID foler. As I am paid, I grab them and place them in a PAID folder. I update the excel sheet and there is everything I take the mileage immediately from using Bing or something to map it, At first I wasnt printing paper maps but had a problem when my G PS wasnt getting a signal, etc. When I get back to office I throw the paper map into a box. Usually there is a NOTE section on the map page from google, bing, mapquest etc. In comments I put the company and the trip miles including travel BACK to the office. This is in case I didnt get it on the excel sheet. At years end I have the running total of everything. Total fees paid, total miles driven for write off, etc.
AUto filling software?? I dont believe in it. I tried a major one and it left holes for me to fill anyway, causing the form to be proof read which took almost as much time as doing it from scratch but with no mistakes.
Handling people? Ive been shot at, (true) dog bitten, chased for blocks, chased for MILES, had shovels thrown at my car etc etc. Usually its a neighbor who comes out all pissy---not the subject. To stop a lot of questions I got cheap magnetic door signs that say AAA Appraisal Service with no phone number