As a small business owner you need to wear many hats as you grow your company. In your early stages it’s common to take them on yourself as they don’t require your full attention. That said there comes a point where you simply can’t juggle them all. When that time comes you should definitely consider outsourcing.
The reason why outsourcing is great is it doesn’t require you to bring on a full-time employee. From recruiting to training bringing on employees is both time consuming and expensive. When you outsource, you can have more control over the exact amount of work you’re paying for.
Here are three departments that you may want to consider outsourcing if you’re strapped for time:
Bookkeeping
Regardless if you’re a natural accounting whiz bookkeeping takes a ton of time. It requires you to constantly be on top of every invoice and payment coming in and out of the business. That constant commitment can be very distracting for a business owner trying to scale their business.
That said you should definitely look to outsource your bookkeeping. To make things streamlined you should also set your outsourced accountant up on an online payments platform. These platforms allow you to manage all your finances securely and in the cloud. This way you can manage your hired help and access your books from anytime and anywhere.
Meeting Scheduling
Whether you’re meeting new clients or strengthening relationships with existing ones you’re meeting all the time. This requires a ton of time to be put into scheduling. It would be great to have a full time assistant but unfortunately that likely doesn’t fall into your budget.
Instead you can always look to find a part-time virtual assistant (VA) to help manage your scheduling. You should also look to use an online calendar application that allows you to access your schedule at anytime. Similar to the digital accounting solution this will allow you to intervene at anytime if necessary. In addition you can block out times that you need for other tasks so your VA can work around it.
Customer Support
Regardless the size of your operation, customers these days will always expect a high level of customer service. Depending on what kind of business you run, in-house customer service costs can get very expensive very quickly. Even some of the biggest enterprises in the world outsource their customer support. That said, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be doing the exact same thing.
First things first you need to find your digital solution. I suggest using ZenDesk for streamlined agent oversight. Then you should look offshores for a customer support solution that fits your specific business needs. These firms offer multiple support channels including email, live chat, phone, and even chat bots. The more options options you can give your customers the more they’ll appreciate your business.
Final Thoughts
Deciding when and where to outsource work is a very important skill for any business owner to have. Every business has their strengths and weaknesses. For the departments that need an extra hand you should always consider outsourcing before bringing in full-time staff. That all said, if you’re strapped for time you should consider outsourcing the three departments above.
Renzo Costarella
Renzo Costarella is an entrepreneur, avid learner, and startup enthusiast currently living in Silicon Valley. He consults for several startups in the Bay Area and is pursuing a few ideas of his own.