Small Businesses' Most Commonly Outsourced Services and Tasks

To outsource the task, It's only natural for business owners to keep an eye out for the bottom line. The desire spurs a need to reduce the costs of operations in many departments. For this reason, any plan geared toward achieving cost-effectiveness laterally demands a strategy for outsourcing various business processes. Small business ownership is all about seeing the bigger picture to lead large conceptual movements. This is difficult when you're bogged down with the details - even worse, repetitive tasks.

Time and money should instead be used to delegate authority. You want to outsource customer service, web design, sales and marketing, and human resources.‍

Benefits of Outsourcing‍

A third-party business process specialist maintains a roster of skilled workers that can be accessed upon demand by the face behind the business. Subsequently, not only do you have a direct connection to experienced talent, but the pool of talent exponentially increases. The low-cost commitment of hiring, say a virtual assistant, beats additional equipment, office furnishings, or insurance costs related to bringing someone in physically.‍

Commonly Outsourced Business Processes‍

That's a snapshot of what comes with taking outsourcing seriously. Here are some of the most commonly outsourced services across the spectrum of businesses. This list is bound to give you plenty of ideas to implement in your organization.‍

Web Design and Development Work‍

Absent a full-time, highly skilled graphic design artist and coding expert in-house and the budget to justify the expense. Project managers often create budget-friendly development blueprints by outsourcing the work to a virtual assistant. That VA is responsible for page design and layout, theme selection, HTML, site copy, and site maintenance. They will also ensure that copy on every page is intentional, serving an intended purpose.‍

Information Technology‍

You're a business with one goal in mind - grow the business. No one said you had to be an IT expert. Perhaps you've adopted a brand new customer relationship management (CRM) application and don't have the time to learn the ins and outs of the program. The simple solution is to just outsource the task. Income-producing activity is your priority, not tweaking app settings or obsessing over design elements. It's not uncommon for managers to give virtual users access to the back-end of the chosen platform.‍

Call Center for Customer Service‍

Fill gaps in managing a customer service team by outsourcing like many of the well-known companies. On top of cost savings, you need VAs to quantify key performance metrics involved in customer service. The outsourced service provider lends value to the organization further by monitoring agents for quality assurance purposes. Take the road less traveled and experience traditional growth issues such as large salaries and complex training programs. An experienced team that already knows what they're doing is indispensable.‍

Social Media Marketing‍

Social currency matters just as much as real currency. Many of your customers are on social media and not understanding how to use the platform to communicate with those demographics effectively presents a significant challenge. It's no wonder why companies opt to delegate social media to those with a much greater knowledge of how to provide contextual value. What does this mean? This means that every platform is different and requires a different voice. Breaking through the noise is difficult but not impossible for an outsourced social media marketing practitioner.‍

Human Resources‍

You're the small business owner, but put yourself in the shoes of your human resource manager. Could they be involved in more income-producing tasks instead of focusing on the daily activities? Could hiring a virtual assistant free them up for more important things? The answer is yes and so much more. Businesses commonly seek out the services of outsourced human resource professionals because they maintain legal, contractual, and performance reports, all of which aids in building and scaling out performance management processes.‍

Sales Strategy‍

Oh yes, a VA can help create and institute a sales strategy that drives growth. Just like HR, the business development team could use a break in terms of their workload. Try outsourcing marketing outreach campaigns that involve cold-calling, prospecting, and lead generating and realize incremental increases in revenue and after-tax earnings. The bottom line is that it takes an enormous amount of time to build rapport and maintain relationships with customers. Without the ability to outsource, managers must routinely leave money on the table.‍

SEO and Content Marketing‍

Content is king within any sales strategy, which makes written content in particular that much more vital. Many firms would instead outsource this type of work because adapting and expressing an organization's mission statement demands a somewhat specific skill set. Combine that with the fact that SEO mechanics are numerous and complex, and it quickly becomes apparent why most would instead delegate the task. Unless you or someone in the business is intimately familiar with sitemaps, backlinks, keywords, and metadata, then have a third-party get involved.‍

VAs and Email Marketing Management‍

Here's a fact about email marketing management: for every dollar, you spend on email marketing, you can expect up to $40 in return. Constructing copy for email works differently than copy for web pages, articles, or press releases. The nuances involved call for a sales-heavy strategy; that is, email is meant for selling more directly than delivering value through informative and educational content. It's also crucial that they comprehend typical applications and build effective email campaigns that inspire clicks.‍

A Better Way to Accounting‍

Having a complete, outsourced accounting department on-call works wonders for lots of businesses. Many opt to leave bookkeeping, income, and payroll to third-parties simply because they don't have the time to crunch the numbers. Expense reports aren't going to look over themselves, which is what an outsourced professional can handle with relative ease. Outsourced accounting pros can take on several duties in the field, including accounts receivable, financial forecasting, financial statement preparations, and tax filings. When you own a business, you are stuck in a state of being 'swamped,' so it seems.

Business outsourcing isn't just for the big guys. Small business owners have also come to rely on the practice to mitigate many operational challenges. The main benefit is the preservation of precious time and money. Essential team members get to delegate some authority, and they're freed up to create as much value as they can without needing to worry if all of the tasks that need to be done are getting done.‍

Here's a quick list of the most commonly outsourced services:‍

1. Web Design and Development Work
2. Information Technology
3. Customer Service
4. Social Media Marketing
5. Human Resources
6. Sales
7. Search Engine Optimization
8. Email Marketing
9. Accounting

What's the most common service on the list? It's difficult to say, but there's a vast need for seo optimization small business services other than web design. Make outsourcing a part of your overall operational strategy to upscale the business.