It’s important to acknowledge that a small business is always short on staff. With so much to do, you’re always in a dilemma on whether to hire someone to handle that extra task or just take a shortcut and outsource it.
Now, there’s more to outsourcing than just taking a shortcut. If you’re outsourcing to specialists and agencies, you’re often getting the assistance of whole teams for a mere fraction of the cost of maintaining one in-house.
Here are several departments that a small business can outsource and how you can benefit from every single one of these outsourcing decisions.
Virtual Assistant
Time is money. As a sole proprietor or a manager, you’ll constantly be strained on all sides. There are some tasks that you have to do yourself, so imagine how inefficient it is to postpone these tasks for something that anyone else could do.
So, what if you could leave all the tasks that you don’t have to do to someone else?
Even if you are a specialist or in a highly specific market, chances are that there are virtual assistants specializing in your line of work. For instance, someone in real estate could find a virtual assistant for real estate instead of having to rely on the services of a generalist.
Lastly, keep in mind that even if you could do it all on your own, chances are that you’re already working too much. You owe it to yourself and your family to try and establish a healthier work-life balance.
Accounting
While a small business, especially a sole proprietorship, can handle its accounts, this is never the smartest thing to do. You do not want to spend too much time on a task that someone could handle a lot more efficiently.
So, outsourcing your accounting sounds great from the start.
Keep in mind that outsourcing helps you get external help. This allows you to skip the hiring process. It’s also a lot easier to just find another accountant/agency to outsource to than to hire a new in-house accountant.
Seeing as how accounting is tied to your taxes and legal liability, the best way to stay on the safe side is to hire a professional. There are also so many deductions, returns, etc. that you can claim if you know that you are eligible. An accountant can inform you of this.
Lastly, an accountant is your cost-management counselor. Sure, sometimes it’s better to have one in-house since they’ll be better acquainted with your processes. However, sometimes you need an outsider’s perspective.
Marketing
Being good at marketing requires a full-time commitment over a long period. Just because you’ve researched this topic a bit and understand the principles of social media marketing and SEO doesn’t mean that you can handle it on your own.
First of all, marketing is evolving quickly, which is why you need to follow suit. You need to use the latest tools, update your strategy as soon as the algorithm updates, and put out both volume and quality.
In other words, you need outside help as soon as possible.
To get the results that you want, you’ll need an entire team. The cost of hiring marketing veterans, providing them with professional tools, and creating optimal working conditions will be incredibly expensive.
By outsourcing, you get this service for a mere fraction of the cost.
Lastly, you need an outsider’s perspective on your brand. Since you, yourself, are an insider, you’ll have a very obscure idea of how your business is perceived from the outside. A marketing expert is an outsider, and they’ll have a different approach.
Customer Service
Running an around-the-clock customer service in-house is simply not cost-effective. Nowadays, there are many agencies specializing in customer services, hiring remote teams from different time zones to handle this issue with simplicity and effectiveness.
Another thing worth considering here is scalability.
While a single person can handle customer service for a small business, the truth is that when your workload starts growing, it will be increasingly difficult to tackle this issue. This is why outsourcing is the way to go.
While no one can deny the importance of human contact in customer service, proper chatbots, scheduling protocols, and customer service tools are just as important. For your business, you want only best-in-class technology and processes.
Affording this without outsourcing is not a simple thing.
Lastly, good customer service is vital for increased customer loyalty.
Since 20% of your regular customers make about 80% of your profit, this is your top priority. Better customer loyalty results in more brand ambassadors (more reach) and greater customer retention (more revenue).
HR
First of all, your HR is there to ensure that your team is content, loyal, and protected. With the help of a competent HR team, your employees will be a lot happier, and your regulation compliances will always be up to date.
This last part is especially important.
HR technology is advancing at a rapid pace, and trying to keep up with it can be a costly ordeal.
Even a simple talent management system can revolutionize your business, but as a small business, can you afford to pay a premium plan for an HR tool (on top of your other expenses)? Not only that, but you also need an in-house specialist to operate it.
Outsourcing means paying for the services you need/use. A single HR specialist (which is likely how much a small business would be able to hire) would have their hands full. An agency that you’re outsourcing to will be able to handle this issue more easily.
The numbers alone suggest that you can reduce the cost of your HR by 20-30% if you decide to outsource, compared to handling it in-house.
Wrap Up
In the end, there are a few things that all of these outsourcing decisions have in common.
First, it saves your time and your staff by allowing you to focus on core tasks instead. Second, it gives you the prowess of whole teams without actually having to start in-house departments.
Lastly, it drastically increases the quality of service that your enterprise provides as a whole.