Will outsourcing work for me?

Do you outsource at the moment?

I bet you do. Probably not with accounts or a virtual assistant, but many people actually outsource without realising it.

I do.

For example, Steve is my window cleaner and comes at the beginning of every month with his very long poles and cleans all my windows including the roof lights on the kitchen. Always on time and at a price that I consider to offer great value. It really isn’t worth my while doing it when he does such a good job and I do not need to worry about it.

This is outsourcing.

And what about that treat at the weekend? Did you get a cheeky takeaway on Saturday? Surely that is also outsourcing? If you, like 40% of people who responded on a recent LinkedIn poll I saw, said they get their weekly groceries delivered, then I guess you’re outsourcing there too.

So why are we reluctant to outsource the work that we do?

I have been working within the accounting profession since 2007 and some accountants will never outsource. Meanwhile, there are others who have truly embraced the outsourcing model and keep their team down to a bare minimum. They have managers in place to keep an eye on the work but never have to worry about holidays, sickness or even pandemics because everything is taken care of by another company. Their costs are fixed and they get a regular bill for the work carried out.

When you outsource you can be more efficient with your time and take on the work that you want to without getting sucked into the detail. Your clients get consistent service and at times like the present, your recruiting budget isn’t blown out of the water. You don’t have to live on Mars to understand that there is a huge talent shortage at the moment. Outsourcing can fill that gap for you!

So what do you look for when choosing an outsourcing partner.

First off you’ll notice that I’ve referred to them as a partner and this is exactly how you should work with outsourcing. Treat them as if you’d treat an employee. That means a fair onboarding period so that you can all understand how best to work together. Please don’t expect them to come in and just work magic, that never happens. Be wary of the differences in culture and maybe a time difference and also that we all work differently.

If you have solid processes in your business then you’ll fair better when choosing to outsource, no processes and a messy back office and you are going struggle and maybe even fail. So your first step may be to set up some decent internal processes.

Many outsourcing companies have smaller packages so that you can try them out first. Make sure that you search the whole market. It’s a bit like employing someone, not everyone will work out, so you may have to kiss a few frogs. What works for one practice may not work for another so do your due diligence and you’ll be sure to find the right partner to take over the work in your practice and save you adding another hire.

Outsourcing is just another way to help you to become efficient and can work wonders if you are struggling to enjoy life because you are always working. If you want to know more or just chat through your thought process then please get in touch.