It is easy to say that you need to, or should be, outsourcing 11 different roles — but often, small business owners don’t have the budget to outsource all of them. Rather than follow what everyone else recommends, it is important that you highlight the areas you need support in and focus on those. It is estimated that around a third of small businesses outsource some of the operations, and in fact, there are entrepreneurs that will outsource everything apart from the high paying work. Outsourcing means that you would hand off tasks to someone that isn’t within your business. There are common areas to outsource, and there are ones that will only help specific businesses.
By Team Savant
Image: Charanjeet Dhiman
Accounting
Accounting is the most common thing that is outsourced - after all, not everyone knows a financial expert, and there are many benefits to using an accountant. It is faster and more convenient to outsource your accounting, and while they are handling your finances, you can make more money working on projects within your business.
IT Management
Business IT services being outsourced is one of the fastest-growing industries right now. Outsourcing your IT offers more than just someone to fix the network if you have issues. They can offer backup and restore support, bespoke packages, cyber security, 24/7 on-call, and email and file hosting.
On-demand IT support can help you avoid the dreaded downtime.
Admin
If you spend a long time on repetitive admin tasks, it is more beneficial for you to outsource them. The time you spend on these tasks could be the time that you spend earning money doing client work, following up leads and more.
Depending on the industry that you work in, you can find a virtual assistant that works within your niche.
This can be one of the more expensive outsourcing options, but VA’s are highly skilled in many areas, from data and research to booking travel and more.
Customer Services
Customer service can make or break you, and if you are slow to respond - or simply don’t respond at all, those bad reviews will quickly pile up. Instead, find a solution like automated chat response and outsource the customer services to a team.
You will need to create a template of what your customer services should look like, but after that, you can let them take care of the rest.
Research
Research can be a very time-consuming task, and to do it well, you’ll need to dedicate a lot of time to this task. There are many options for outsourcing research. If you have a VA with a research background, this can double up; if not, you can hire a firm or a freelancer who specialises in research.
Before you outsource any tasks, it is important to look at how much time you spend on tasks, which ones are repetitive, and what the cost and value would be for you.
How much profit could you make if you could spend more time working in and on your business than handling small tasks? Here are some other areas that can see your business grow: 5 Services You Shouldn't Skip Out On When Running A Small Business.