With all my posts about offering my services I have received a few messages questioning what exactly outsourcing is and how it all works with a VA, so I thought it might be worth writing a blog post about this.
So outsourcing is also known as Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). It is the process of contracting another individual or company, to handle business activities for you. It has become a common business practice that allows small and medium-sized businesses to gain services and skills they would usually find hard to develop, because of either financial or manpower restrictions, or even a combination of both. So in other words, you can grow your business as and when you need to, without any major investment.
It also allows your business to focus on core competencies and, more importantly, cut costs, improve efficiency and productivity, hassle-free.
As time has gone by over the last decade or so, business owners now realise that there are many reasons that companies, both big and small, outsource various jobs, but the most prominent advantage seems to be the fact that it saves money.
The Benefits!
Outsourcing allows companies to focus on other business issues while having the details taken care of by outside experts. A perfect example would be a new product; You understand that the best way to market you product is by word of mouth, but you know that marketing is not your strength, so you ask a marketing professional (or company), to take care of this, whilst you concentrate on preparing for the influx of inquiries and more importantly, the new income stream as a result.
What Can I Outsource?
The list of task you can outsource are ever-growing, and can be, but are definitely not limited to roles such as accounting, bookkeeping, sales and marketing, design and promotions, administrative and back office assistance, customer service, web development and much more.
Most freelancers or outsourcing providers will fall into one of the following categories, in regards to the services that they provide their clients. Some will even offer several of these, such as Virtual Assistants like myself; (and just FYI, I have highlighted the services which I specialise in at Virtual Solutions.)
Inbound Customer Service
Outbound Telemarketing
Web Design & Development
SEO and Online Marketing
PA / Admin Support
Virtual Assistant Services
Bookkeeping
HR Management
Marketing & Sales Support
Simply put, you can pretty much outsource anything these days and regardless of the area of business you might be thinking about outsourcing, it is definitely worth it!
You will have more time to focus on the bigger things, by giving away some of your business tasks that can easily be managed by someone remotely, and who has more expertise in that particular area than yourself (or your company).
It will lead to an overall increase in productivity, business growth and will save you money on recruitment and training costs. So why not give it a go?
If you have any questions at all, or you are considering outsourcing and need some assistance with Admin, Bookkeeping or HR, or maybe you just want some help identifying areas for growth in your business that you could potentially achieve by outsourcing, shoot me a message and I would be happy to help.
Emily