Wallace Murray: Chief strategy officer, Momentum Growth Ventures
Outsourcing the right tasks is a million-dollar decision because the potential returns are always greater than the potential costs.
Here are some key criteria to use when deciding to outsource.
- Get rid of your ego. Any task that can be done by a secretary, graphic designer, accountant, writer, web master, human resources, payroll, call centre, etc. can be outsourced. If you, as the owner, keep doing these tasks, you’re essentially saying no to leveraging your time and money to make more time and more money. Let others do things so that you can focus on growing and leading your business and your life.
- Your life away from the business is not spent on activities that lift your spirit. Errands, housecleaning, cooking, booking travel can be outsourced. The question to ask: why are you doing activities that others can do so that you can instead use your time on creating the best business and life that you can?
- If I outsource, it will get done faster. One of the biggest lessons in life and business is that once something is done, it multiplies its effects right away and creates much bigger outcomes. In business, it’s called future value of money and cost-benefit analysis. In life, it’s called free time, great physical health and leaving a legacy.
I would like to leave you with a question to ask yourself each day regarding one task: If I outsource this task, what will I do in its place to grow my business?
Let this question guide you in creating a business and life that is a model for others to emulate. After all, why else do you do what you do?
Barry Sharp: CEO, AMA Management Ltd.
We all have the same 168 hours every week. How we use them is what separates successful people from the rest. You’re almost certainly outsourcing some tasks already, such as legal, taxation and web hosting – so why not stretch yourself?
Which tasks should you consider outsourcing? The standard answer revolves around “What is your time worth?” But these two questions are more important:
- Is it core to my business?
- Are we excellent at it?
If you can answer “no” to both questions, put the task on a potential outsourcing list. You should never outsource core functions. They form part of your unique selling proposition and are a primary differentiator for your business. If you perform the task excellently, it is probably an additional differentiator for your customers.
Separate the items on the list into two categories:
- revenue-generating (sales and marketing); and
- everything else.
Some examples of non-core functions to consider for outsourcing:
- lead generation;
- customer followup and appreciation emails;
- pay-per-click campaign management;
- accounts receivable; and
- inventory management.
When you’ve considered revenue-generating tasks, turn to the other functions that incur costs or suck up your time.
Typically outsourced functions are:
- technology-related;
- bookkeeping, payroll and accounting;
- data entry; and
- social media.
Michele Soregaroli: Differentiation coach, Transformation Catalyst
Due to increasing access to high quality, low-cost skills and technology, outsourcing has become a fundamental strategy, with the primary motivation being to improve operational effectiveness.
The best tasks to outsource are not strategically important for your business but can have a significant impact on operations. Keep tasks that you excel at and that are critical to your business’ success, and outsource those that achieve one or more of the following objectives: cost reduction, efficient use of resources, service improvement and specialized expertise.
Consider where your skills and time are best applied and be sure to hang onto those critical areas of your business. These are the ones where you are most needed and that give you a competitive advantage. Some of the most common tasks to outsource are bookkeeping, web development, marketing, payroll and administration.
For example, if you are a service business, it’s smart to keep the service delivery in-house where you can control quality and customer experience, whereas administration, web development and bookkeeping would have no impact on customer experience but could free up resources to develop and improve your service delivery.
Here are a few questions to get you started:
- Faster to market: what projects will get completed more quickly if outsourced?
- Better output: what additional skills or talent would improve your product?
- Additional hands: what projects need more time?
- Better use of resources: how should you apply your limited resources for best results?
Regardless of what you decide to outsource, explore your local business community to find ways to collaborate to build high-potential partnerships that support our communities, our businesses and our people.
