Kenny Imuere
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
If you are in business you will soon discover that time waits for no one and in general you are finding it difficult to complete the key task that will make your business a success. The phone or email spam is constantly interrupting you. You are constantly working on tasks that are not adding to the bottom line. Well, if you can identify with some of these issues then this article is for you.
I frequently work with business owner/managers who face these challenges on a daily basis. Well, you have two solutions; one is to employ somebody to carryout these tasks that are just consuming your time and energy, or the next option is to look at the outsourcing model, which I regularly recommend to my clients. This second option has drastically increased their productivity and they have become more effective at a fraction of the cost of employing somebody to do these tasks.
What is Outsourcing?
A precise definition of outsourcing has yet to be agreed upon. The term is used inconsistently. However, outsourcing is often viewed as involving thecontracting outof a business function - commonly one previously performed in-house - to an external provider. In this sense, two organizations may enter into acontractualagreement involving anexchangeofservicesandpayments. Of recent concern is the ability of businesses to outsource to suppliers outside the nation, sometimes referred to asoff shoringoroffshore outsourcing(which are odd terms because doing business with another country does not mean you have to go offshore (Definition Courtesy of en.wikipedia.org).
Outsourcing has a range of remarkable benefits for businesses both small and large. They include cost saving, increased capacity, knowledge, tax benefits, and improved quality.
In the past, outsourcing was a common practice for big companies and they tend to outsource their telephone or enquiry lines to a call centre which is at a fraction of the cost for them, instead of employing somebody in house. I can almost guarantee, that if you have a mobile phone and you call customer service after certain times, the call will be routed to a call centre. It may even be as far as India that you are calling. In the UK, for a few years now, most of BT (British Telecommunication) customer care lines are routed to India and this has in turn saved BT money and helping them to remain in profit.
I hear you say but that is BT? This outsourcing model is not only good for a PLC but a small one-man band can use these services as well. I work with a client that runs a training centre and she was constantly interrupted by phone calls of people enquiring about the courses on offer and this was having a great impact on her productivity. We outsourced the calls to a call centre and her productivity increased immensely.
Now as you read this article you are thinking I can't afford it? Let's work out the cost. How much are you worth an hour? Let's say $50. And how much time do you spend answering general enquiries? Let's say 3 days and you work 5 days a week. The total cost will be (3 x5x50 = $750 per week). I don't know your business or where you are located but I can almost guarantee that you can outsource the phone answering for a fraction of the cost. Above this, it is a well known fact that most people making a general enquiry will not leave a message on your voicemail or answering machine but if you outsource your calls to a good company, a warm voice will always pick up and help filter the call and if it is a warm prospect they will then send you the details or connect you with the call so that you can progress the call. Even some telephone answering services actually offer a package to book appoints for you as well.
The business functions that you can outsource are increasing daily. For instance, you can outsource HR (human resources), bookkeeping, marketing, payroll, IT (information technology), typing, including audio and it just goes on.
The general rule that I use with my clients is that they should consider outsourcing any task they don't get pleasure from in their business. I encourage you to do some research and you will be amazed at all the things you can outsource and begin to enjoy working on the business again.
Photo Credit to Let's Outsource
Kennedy Imuere is theDirector ofSBC Marketing Ltd, a professional Speaker, Trainer, Author, Mentor and Business & Marketing Consultant in the UK.
