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World renowned business and sales consultant, Steve Jensen shares 11 ways to achieve success from outsourcing.
In this day and age of being so time poor, many of us are trying to undertake as many business activities as we can to try and save ourselves money. Working with different businesses from all around the world, I’m learning this strategy isn’t working as well as we all may hope. Business operators are not necessarily saving themselves money or time by learning how to do all tasks themselves.
Here’s the truth. We are good at certain things, and we are experts at others.
It’s important to learn new skills, but it’s even more important to understand where our limitations are.
For example, unless you are qualified in financial management, you probably hire a financial expert to do your bookkeeping and accounting (something I strongly recommend you do, by the way). Similarly, you should also have a good solicitor on your team. Ideally, you can find one via referral, from someone who has actually used them. (A solicitor is one of those experts you need on your team, but who you hope you won’t have to use too often!)
Most business owners won’t do their own accounting or business soliciting, so why then do we think we can or should develop our own websites or design our own social media campaigns? After all, they too are business activities requiring a succinct skill-set in order to be successful.
Outsourcing is beneficial for businesses of all sizes. It has the potential to save you the stress of having to learn something new and prevent you from doing it incorrectly.
I regularly see people trying to do everything themselves with regards to social media, marketing, sales, copywriting and the like. What often happens is they get a poor result and have to invest more time, money, energy and other resources in trying to fix it all—which becomes a very expensive exercise.
Most of us feel time-poor at some point, but we fail to see that by trying to do everything ourselves, we are wasting a lot of time (and often getting less results too), so here are 11 ways where you’re likely to get a return on your outsourcing investment. When done correctly, outsourcing will reduce time wastage, and provide you with more time to do the things that you’re best at (which is also good for business).
1. Refine your online presence
Having a great website and landing pages (squeeze pages) are still as important as ever. Things change so dramatically and so frequently, it’s almost impossible to stay up-to-date with the skills required unless you’re a full-time designer. The good news is it’s no longer as expensive to get professional help with web and landing pages design. You just need to ensure you use someone who understands the latest and best way to design and develop websites that contains both quality content and compelling visuals that clearly represent your brand and its culture.
Creating your own website could save you some money in the short term, but in the long term your limitations in this area will show through. To ensure your brand’s image is concisely represented online, hire the best person or people you can afford to create and manage your web presence to attract and engage your desired leads, and make you money.
Landing pages (squeeze pages)
An important part of any website is the collection of landing or squeeze pages. These pages specifically relate to your marketing activities. For example, if you publish a blog, write an article, or have an advertisement distributed in the community, you’ll typically send the readers to specific landing or squeeze pages, which relate to each individual marketing activity. This enables you to track exactly where your leads are coming from. It also helps you identify which marketing activities generate the best response.
Creating effective landing and squeeze pages can require specialised expertise, so again, if you are as time-poor as many of us are, consider working with someone who has this skill-set, rather than trying to acquire the skills required yourself.
2. Capture your brand in pictures
Using stock images in your marketing is acceptable, but what’s even more engaging is using professionally photographed images of real people in your facility. Your prospects want to see what happens inside your four walls and see what it looks like to be part of your brand. People want to see who they’ll be working with, so show them.
For just a few hundred dollars, a professional photographer will capture compelling photographs to present your brand in a very persuasive light. This activity also enables you to showcase why you are superior to your competition and confirms your authority in the marketplace.
3. Invest in automation
These days, the most efficient businesses use automated systems. For example, when someone opts in or makes an enquiry on your website, they’ll automatically receive a personalised ‘thank you’ message from the system. You’ll receive a notification so you know you have a new lead and can take action accordingly. You should have auto responders set up so that whenever someone takes action on your web page, you are alerted and their effort is responded to. It’s a much better use of your time to deploy auto responders than having to manually react to every activity on your website. I’ve come across so many people who are saving so much time (and therefore money), after having experts help them automate their businesses.
4. Hire someone savvy in social media
Lead generation via social media is a minefield. Whether you’re working on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn or other social media platforms, they are all a science in themselves. I’ve done a lot of courses in this area myself, but even I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t have the time to become an expert and need someone to take care of this for me. Now I have an expert who takes care of these activities, and it’s really made an enormous difference. Knowing what to do with Facebook, which changes every few months; making sure ads gain traction; understanding if you should be doing ads versus engagement activities—all of these things take time to understand and master.
For this reason, the best use of time and resources is to find an expert who works in the platforms you want to have a presence on, and recruit their skills. Trust me, it will be a worthwhile investment when the leads start flowing in as a result.
5. Become an authority
By hiring expertise to teach you how to become an authority in the marketplace, you’ll be successfully positioned to increase your prices and stop entering into price wars with your competitors—forever! When you reposition yourself as the expert in your area, you’ll start inspiring people to buy. Your sales people will discover a new lease on life because your prospects will turn up ready and willing to buy—how good would that be?
6. Be precise and concise in your copy
When it comes to your marketing pieces, quality wordsmithing is critical. You must ensure you use the right words to get your message across. There is a science to effective copywriting, which ensures readers are captivated by your headlines and engaged by your body text.
It’s worth finding an expert in this area to look after your copywriting, proofreading and editing needs. When you publish poor grammar or accidental typos, your brand’s credibility can be questioned. It may seem like a small issue, in actuality inferior copywriting can have a negative impact. If it’s not something you can do and do well, don’t spend copious amounts of time trying to write your own copy. It’s too important to get your scripts, prompts, blogs, articles and marketing pieces right, rather than waste your precious time when an expert can whip it all up for you quickly, and in a way to deliver the results you desire.
7. Ensure your video content is king
In the next two years, video content will have changed the industry entirely. Using short, succinct, to-the-point videos that are produced quickly but professionally, will make a significant difference to the success of your business. You may have your own video camera and some basic editing skills, but be aware that like most of the activities we’re discussing here, doing this one poorly can also cost you more money in the long run. You are much better off investing in professionally and correctly produced media content. Experts in this field will ensure your videos truly reflect the quality of your brand.
We hope your enjoying the article. Part 2 (and the conclusion) of 11 Steps To Outsourcing Success is right here.