Most small businesses and startups tend to have tight finances. Think about it: a proprietor takes a facility or their savings to set up their dream enterprise.
As promising and fulfilling as this often is, it takes months for the business to stabilize and begin making a profit. Still, most businesses do not break even months after returning their first profit.
This makes one thing clear: the need to run a lean outfit. Being creative on hiring is often a great place to start when trying to bootstrap a business. Luckily, you can save business dollars by outsourcing numerous functions and, therefore, only paying for what you need.
Here are four functions that can be outsourced.
1. Digital Marketing
A business website was once a nice thing to have. Today, it’s a must-have. Clients are increasingly looking to the internet to find specific businesses in their area. This makes it imperative for businesses to have reliable website creation services.
Because this is not a recurring task, it makes business sense to outsource the job to someone who can actualize your business vision. This will not only save you money; it saves time as well.
2. Administrative Tasks
Administrative tasks are fundamental to a business but are not part of its core functions.
It, therefore, makes little sense for a proprietor to be spending a lot of time on these, other than activities geared toward growing the business.
Luckily, tasks like scheduling, travel arrangements, typing, data entry, and other administrative duties can be sufficiently outsourced to a remote virtual assistant.
3. Customer Services
This is a popular function to outsource, more so for companies that deal with customers online and on the phone rather than in person.
The customer service function can be outsourced to a call center agency, chat service, or remote customer service professional. In fact, BPOs in the Philippines has grown a lot and is continually providing technical and customer support to various businesses.
However, ensure to have a clear customer handling procedure manual alongside some training. This person will be representing and speaking to your customers on your behalf. It’s therefore important to ensure that they understand your mission, vision and have an in-depth understanding of your products and services.
4. Shipping and Logistics
Shipping and logistics can be very involved. An entire outfit will consist of a fleet of vehicles and drivers. These vehicles require insurance and regular maintenance.
For manufacturers and online retailers, outsourcing this function to focus on marketing makes a lot of sense. In a sense, you transfer the responsibility of running an entire logistics function to a third party specializing in it.
Final Word
These are just a few functions that you can have handled by a third party. Often, this option is cheaper and allows you to make cost savings that can be channeled towards scaling.
It also frees up your time, meaning you to focus on your core business. It’s a win-win.