You have worked hard and managed to get your business off the ground. Congrats.
It is a big thing to do, especially in these challenging and uncertain times. But, if you want your business to keep on growing, you should outsource some aspects of it.
Odds are, your initial response will be to stand against this option. Many people see delegating their duties and outsourcing their work as letting go of some aspect of their business and as losing control. But, that is not true.
When you outsource a portion of your workload to a professional, what you are actually doing is saving time, energy, and other valuable resources. Resources that would be better used focusing on your job and making it grow even further.
Here is a list of services to outsource as your business grows.
Payroll and taxes
Unless you have a bookkeeping business or are an accountant yourself, odds are you don’t enjoy dealing with payroll and taxes. That is why outsourcing this service should be a no-brainer.
Hire a bookkeeper that you will be meeting up with regularly – once a month or once a week – depending on the volume of your work and your stream of income.
This solution is much more cost-effective than having an in-house accountant deal with your taxes and payroll since you will be paying a fixed amount each month based on your current needs instead of paying for a full-time employee.
Outsourcing your taxes might not save you too much money, but it will spare you a lot of headaches.
Fleet management
If you have several cars and vehicles at your disposal, consider the services of a fleet management company.
A fleet management company is in charge of choosing whether to buy or lease new vehicles for your business.
They can also do preventive maintenance on your cars, thus making them last longer and saving you a significant sum of money in the long run. This approach also lowers vehicle repair costs in general while letting you and your business be more efficient and productive.
Finally, a fleet manager can offer you professional advice when it comes to the best way to get the most out of your cars, the best routes to take, the best ways to keep your employees as effective on the road as they can be, and so much more.
Social media
These days, a brand or a business that doesn’t have a solid social media presence might as well not exist at all. Luckily, this is one more thing that you can outsource.
When it comes to social media of today, merely offering your product or services is not enough. You should be posting interesting content that engages visitors to your website and interacting with them – replying to their comments, answering their questions, etc. – or you could simply outsource that task to someone who knows what they are doing.
One more bit of advice – do not try to be omnipresent on social media. Instead, focus on a couple of social media outlets and provide good, engaging content.
Customer support
Providing good support is essential for customer satisfaction and retention, which is exactly why you should outsource it as well.
No matter the central aspect of your business, customers prefer a personalized approach and a little bit of human touch. Have someone to answer their technical questions, deal with refunds, missing orders, and more.
Choosing the exemplary service to handle your customer support needs can be a bit tricky, though. A report from Global Call Center Project says that roughly one-quarter of all call center support people worldwide have a college degree, with the highest percentage of highly educated people working from India and France.
Shop around and find a customer service provider that understands your business and can provide your customers with valuable info.
Also, make sure that your customer support representative regularly updates you on issues that your customers face with your service or product. That way, you will see where the most severe problems are and be able to work on solving them.
IT support
As your business grows, so will your need for better, more reliable IT equipment.
Outsourcing your IT maintenance and acquisition needs means that you will always have the best and the most appropriate devices for your needs.
An IT support professional will make sure that there are no performance issues with your devices. They will also keep your tech safe from viruses, malware, and security threats while ensuring that the entire system runs as smoothly as possible and doing regular backups.
Having an IT pro by your side can save you money in yet another way since they will be able to tell you when your equipment needs to be replaced or upgraded, thus helping your business scale organically.
Data entry and research
Some business experts say that data is the most valuable asset to growing your business.
Exact data helps you understand current trends and your customers’ needs, so you can focus your attention on things that are important instead of wasting energy and time.
You can outsource competition research, pricing information, research of who your key demographic is, and much more. That way, you will know what pricing to choose and whom to market your products and services to stay relevant in the current fluctuating market.
Once you have all that data in hand, someone has to enter and process it all. Once again, this is yet another thing that you can outsource.
Conclusion
Outsourcing can do much more for growing your business than simply reducing your workload.
It is also a guaranteed way to have the right experts for your needs. This saves your valuable time and leads to increased productivity.
At a much lower cost than it would be if you choose to have all these services done in-house, you will be able to focus on your core business, while freeing up capital and reducing overall labor costs.
With specialized people handling certain aspects of your work, you will have more time and energy to focus on growing your business even further.