The Pitfalls Of Outsourcing & How To Conquer Them

 Outsourcing is no longer just a great way to get ahead of the competition, lower your overhead, get access to better talent and boost your profit margins. Today outsourcing is critical for any small business who wants to survive and flourish. However, there are a few pitfalls to watch out for and a few quirks you will have to get used to in order to really make outsourcing work for you.

So what are some of the common pitfalls of outsourcing and how can you overcome them?

1. Shared Vision & Expectations

This is probably one of the most overlooked and commented on issues associated with outsourcing but ultimately one that can have the biggest impact on your organization. If your outsourcing team doesn’t not understand your vision, what you really expect to achieve and the end product you have in mind looks like how can you expect them to produce it? This leads to losses in the time it takes you to get to market and adds to expense when things have to be re-worked. Freelance contractors are not mind readers. So take the time to clearly articulate your expectations.

 2. Quantity VS Quality

Yes, trimming overhead may be one of the primary reasons you are considering outsourcing. However there is some point where common sense needs to kick in and tell you that being too cheap will just cost you more in the long run. Can you find a $1 an hour assistant that can do very basic data entry for you to a high enough standard? Probably. Though when it comes to more complex tasks you have to be realistic. Remember you are already saving a ton by outsourcing from not needing the extra office space to taxes to equipment. If you go too cheap and don’t hire right the first time you will find that you lose both money and time and simply have to go back and start from the beginning again with a higher priced provider anyway. So hire smart.

 3. Juggling Management

Hiring and managing a couple of assistants and the occasional design for a special project is one thing. Managing a large staff of outsourced contractors on a regular basis is something completely different. This can easily turn into a full time job by itself. So recognize when it is smarter to hire a manager or outsource everything to a remote team with one primary point of contact.

 4. Subcontracting

Subcontracting is quite common in the outsourcing world. You hire one freelancer who has a great reputation and skills, then they go and enroll the help of several others so that they can do a larger volume of business. There isn’t really anything wrong with this providing the quality is the same. However, you do need to keep in mind ownership and security issues and should make sure that any subcontractors that are used are held to your same policies and NDAs.

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