High-Touch Offshore Staffing Model – with Dom Procter of Outsourced Staff

In this year’s first episode of Outsource Accelerator podcast, Derek Gallimore spoke to Dom Procter. Dom is the CEO and Founder of Outsourced Staff, a BPO company based in Australia. 

The conversation delved into developing an outsourcing firm and Dom’s extensive experience in the business. Additionally, they explored Dom’s keen interest in automation and AI.

Dom’s journey as an entrepreneur

Dom shared his journey as an entrepreneur, starting from his teens when he joined his family’s engineering business.

“I’m an engineer by trade fixing laptops, desktops, servers, printers, plotters, anything that was technical, I would be out there fixing it,” he stated.

At 20, Dom transitioned to managing a technical support call center with a team of 12 in Australia and a sizable group of 30 to 50 engineers providing on-site support. 

After leaving the family business, Dom ventured into software development and IT support, leading him into outsourcing.

He expanded his business globally, establishing teams across Eastern Europe, India, Canada, the US, and the Philippines. 

“Through outsourcing and having our teams, we became more profitable, allowing us to sell the business at a higher price,” he noted.

Overcoming staffing challenges through outsourcing

Dom openly talked about the difficulties of hiring employees in Australia.

“Employing staff in Australia has always been tough. Our salaries are very high. The experience can be low, and getting good staff that want to stay with you is challenging,” he explained.

To overcome these challenges, Dom succeeded in outsourcing to the Philippines.

“If we paid a good salary in the Philippines, we would get an excellent staff, and we would get loyalty, commitment, and people that would stay for years, ” he elaborated.

Further, the Outsourced Staff CEO specialized in helping agencies, especially those in software development and support. He became an expert by leading teams in those particular fields.

Understanding the client’s business goals and outsourcing needs

Dom discussed the importance of ensuring compatibility between his company and potential clients. 

“We want to understand that there’s a good fit between us and them. Do we understand the business? Do we know what they want to achieve and their outsourcing goals?”

The CEO also described their approach as straightforward, focusing on task transfer. 

“Our approach is very simple. It’s just task transfer. It’s either you as the boss or a teammate of that particular company. You need to transfer your task to another person. The key here is clearly documented processes and procedures,” he noted.

Regarding scaling strategies, Dom described adopting a “train the trainer” strategy. “I’m involved in understanding every person or every client’s business initially. If I understand it, then I can educate my team on that.”

Despite having previously managed hundreds of staff in the Philippines, Dom clarified that their focus was on something other than reaching the scale of larger companies. 

“We’re not looking to grow to the size of Accenture. I’ve had hundreds of staff in the Philippines before, and that’s great. But we want to help small to medium-sized Australian and New Zealand businesses,” he expressed.

Outsourced Staff pricing structure

Dom discussed the transparency of the Outsourced Staff pricing structure.  “We’re very transparent, so we have the staff salaries, and then we have our service fee on top, and we give the client a fixed pricing monthly,”  he explained.

This fixed pricing model allowed Dom to present a range of candidates to clients within specified budget brackets for various roles. 

He highlighted the significance of prioritizing attitude over technical skills during hiring. 

“[Client] may employ based on attitude versus technical ability because attitude can’t be taught, but technical skills can be,” he noted.

For instance: “[Client] might get someone at the lower end and someone that the higher end and someone in the middle, and look, the guy at the lower end, he was just awesome.

He had the best attitude. He really wanted the job. He was willing to work, and we know technically, we can get him there. So choose that person, ” he added.

Moreover, he outlined their support by extending a 30 to 60-day implementation period for every client engagement. 

“We extend 30 to 60 days for every client to assist with implementation. Then after that, if they would like to engage us as consulting, we just charge a consulting fee,” Dom mentioned.

For further information about Outsourced Staff, you may reach Dom Procter by Linkedin, or you can email him at [email protected]