Do you outsource?

[getincomesmart]

Hey guys,

Just wondering how many of you are outsourcing aspects of your business.

Whether it's things like:
- Customer Service
- Design / Programming
- SEO / Marketing
- Content Marketing

If you don't outsource - why not?

 

[HazelC]

I outsource my admin work and my design work. Why? Because they are my week points.

I could spend 4hrs invoicing my clients. This would cost me 4hrs of my time (roughly £100) or I could pay a Virtual PA to do it for me in one hour at £25.

By not outsourcing I am loosing money

 

[VirtualVIP]

I outsource my SEO as it is an area I know nothing about. I would rather focus on what I do best and outsource tasks I don't.

I have no issue with outsourcing as I know the job is getting done better than I could manage myself.

 

[getincomesmart]

I outsource my SEO as it is an area I know nothing about. I would rather focus on what I do best and outsource tasks I don't.

I have no issue with outsourcing as I know the job is getting done better than I could manage myself.

How well is that SEO working out for you?

 

[VirtualVIP]

Literally just started so early days!

 

[alexfrent56]

I don't know if I am the right person to answer this question, but I run an offshore cloud based accounting and bookkeeping firm and have many small businesses from U.K., Australia as my clients. I also outsource some of the work related to my website like - designing, maintenance and SEO

 

[needmoretime]

If you undertake something you have very little or no experience with then this could ultimately be doing more damage than good to your company. The experience in which your clients will have with your company will determine whether they have a positive or negative lasting impression of you, you cannot afford to screw it up...

Let's put it this way ... Would you hire a divorce lawyer to plan your wedding?

 

[eastvantage]

I think the question right now is not "Do you outsource?" but, "What do you outsource?".

EU is one of the biggest outsourcing clients in the Philippines. EU mostly seek for IT and Accounting outsourcing.

 

[Ashley_Price]

I don't currently, but in the past we have outsourced stuff we didn't want to do or weren't comfortable (or lacked experience in), the main one being doing the Payroll, which was a huge weight off our shoulders.

 

[estwig]

I outsource/sub-contract almost everything, just spend my time talking a good job to generate the business.

 

[TJ Bakewell]

Dont outsource SEO. Keep that in the UK, But as for design and programming I would definitely outsource that.

 

[BRIDGREGORY]

I do outsource the work that I can not do effectively myself. This tends to be one off jobs that can easily be checked.

Whilst I would happily outsource logo design, ebook cover etc I would be less confident outsourcing customer satisfaction, or any work where it is difficult to measure the quality of the work done.

I think it vital to be able to measue the efectiveness of the work outsourced, provided of course that you don't spend longer checking it than it would have taken to do it for yourself.

 

[boring-friday]

mostly marketing,basic web design and admin. Normally learn how to do something fairly well myself, find a cheap VA who knows the basics and spend a while teaching them how to do it properly then its cheap for however long I like.
Works well for SEO/web design, have VA's I'm paying 600$ that would cost me 10,000$+ if I outsourced to a UK company

 

[Emma Fryer]

From the other side of the coin - people outsource their telephone answering to us and it means they don't spend their days dealing with cold callers. Have their phone professionally answered when they are out and about. Bookings, quotes and enquiries logged and or sent out.

 

[am:pm graphics]

We usually get a few calls a week asking if we'd outsource design work but we always say no as we prefer to complete the work in house. Good customer service and care are really important to us and I think it would be very difficult to manage the process and ensure a high level of service if we outsourced design.

 

[Gecko001]

I have outsourced work in the past. I no longer do it. Mainly because of cost, but also because I have found that I actually do not need to do it, if I get my act together properly.

 

[TLMartin]

I outsource graphical development and design work now... as they are my weak areas, and I've ben so happy to find someone to work with on this who I know is reliable and on the same wavelength and ethos as myself

 

[cjd]

Outsource anything non-core. For us that means accounting, HR, logistics and distribution, payroll, legal stuff, some design work.

Never, ever outsource customer service.

 

[Gecko001]

Outsource anything non-core. For us that means accounting, HR, logistics and distribution, payroll, legal stuff, some design work.

Never, ever outsource customer service.

Actually when I said above I do not outsource anything now but used do it, I actually do outsource accountancy and legal services. I suppose I meant non-core as described above. I used to outsource things that were semi-core, to coin a term, I suppose.

 

[Digital Resellers]

Great Question, I guess im the company a lot of digital agencies outsource too

Digital agencies do this for many reasons but the #1 reason - cost cutting. To pay an SEO expert a salary is sometimes to much so outsourcing individual campaigns is a great way to save money but also having the ability to offer your clients/customers more services at a very low cost.

 

[SmartWeb Studio Ltd]

We're outsourcing accounting, but that would be it. I do not believe in a best quality unless you have full control over all processes.

 

[Suzanne Smith-Byrne]

At some point in my business I will outsource but as my budget is not that big at the moment and I am a start-up, I do plan to.

 

[Gecko001]

One aspect of outsourcing that nobody has mentioned, is confidentiality. In some businesses that is very important. Can you rely upon confidentiality when outsourcing?

Also, some clients will look upon outsourcing core work with suspicion. Confidentiality problems could one of their concerns, but also, they might see you as a middle man just taking a large cut and not give you repeat business.

 

[PaulBappoo]

We are an outsourcer (doing software and web development, SEO and design) and we also outsource. Primarily we do that to cover temporary gaps in resource availability and knowledge. So for example, if we have a largeish job come in and we are super busy, I will add a couple of freelance outsourcers to the team to allow us to handle it. The key for me is careful specification of the expected result and careful monitoring to ensure it happens to expected standards. This means you dont get the full face value of the low cost resources, because you need to put a bit more effort into the management, but if one avoids the temptation to be greedy, it can work well.

 

[WikiWill]

Yes, by outsourcing you can gain expertise without the long term commitments. It can also be a way to save time for low value areas of your business.