Best Business Advice: 5 Jobs a Small Business Owner Should Outsource

All small business owners need help. Some acknowledge they need help, but think they cannot afford it. Other SMB owners have trouble giving up control and choose to work insufferable hours to stay afloat. According to a SMB owner Gallop survey, “57% of small business owners say they work six or more days each week.” To be successful in the long run, you need to find a healthy balance between your productivity input and output.

We have been catering to small and midsize businesses for over 30 years and our best business adviceis to outsource non-income generating tasks to affordable contractors. Let’s take a look at 5 positions you should think about outsourcing to save time and money.    

Our Best Business Advice on Outsourcing 

1. Receptionist

A highly underrated role within all companies, especially within SMBs, is the receptionist. A receptionist is responsible for communicating with all customers and is often responsible for developing the first impressions of your company.

Pointblank, you shouldn’t be answering your own phones. It results in bad habits that you need to do your best to avoid. Answering your own lines: 

• • Decreases your revenue generating production time
• • Pulls your focus from VIP tasks and projects
• • Requires constant on-call attention to menial duties
• • Results in a less-polished professional image

Every call that comes into your business is a potentially lucrative transaction for you. You need to be prepared and ready to answer. Instead of having your cellphone in hand #247, outsource your calls to a professional virtual receptionist.

The best business call centers offer 24 hour answering, messaging and dispatching services. You can hire a team of experts to answer each incoming call for as little as $19.95 per month; $0.45 per call. You still receive all important calls and messages in real-time but you can make the executive decision to prioritize callbacks.          

2. Accountant

Some of the main business management obstacles or headaches SMB owners have fall under the financial umbrella. What Are the Biggest Accounting Challenges Small Businesses Face? CPA Practice Advisor reports:

1. 1.) Accounts receivable/collections
2. 2.) Cash flow
3. 3.) Managing paperwork
4. 4.) Closing the books each month
5. 5.) Managing payroll

“71 percent of small business [owners] outsource at least one accounting function,” because it saves them time, money and decreases the chance of accounting errors. Stop beating your head against your calculator and just outsource to an expert to make sure your accounting is done right the first time. You didn’t open your own business to become an accountant, did you? Focus on running your business and lets the certified professionals watch your back.

Learn more by reading: Top 7 Benefits of Outsourcing Your Bookkeeping Operations.

3. Marketeer

A popular, well-placed brand requires a highly skilled and knowledgeable marketer to pump out the work needed to attract new customers. A SMB owner shouldn’t be devoting more time trying to market their business than actually conducting and managing their business.

But sadly, most entrepreneurs manage their own marketing because of budget constraints. A 2016 small business case study shows us that, “Nearly half (47%) of small business owners handle marketing efforts on their own.”

When you hire a marketing expert or consultant, you’re able to benefit from their expertise and up-to-date knowledge in the field. This insider familiarity will save you an enormous amount of time spent trying to learn even the most basic marketing plans. Strategy is just the tip of the iceberg; you’ll also invest a considerable amount of time implementing the plan on a consistent basis.  

The best business advice to grow your business is to seek out a marketing contractor that fits within your budget. Sites like Fiverr, Guru and Upwork offer a stacked database of contractors that sell their services for as little as 5 bucks. Check the sites out and see if you can outsource a marketing task that takes you 10 hours (but will take a marketeer 2 hours). 

4. Lawyer

Entrepreneur Magazine shares that few businesses understand the range of contributions a business lawyer can bring to the table. “A good business attorney will provide vital assistance in almost every aspect of your business, from basic zoning compliance and copyright and trademark advice to formal business incorporation and lawsuits and liability.” 

FindLaw answers the common SMB question, “When Do I Need a Business Lawyer for My Small Business?” Their article breaks down the legal tasks that a business owner can handle on their own and what issues need the attention of a business attorney.  Legal help does require an investment but think about the money it will save you in the long run should a legal issue arise? If you’re turning to an attorney in retaliation to being sued, chances are, you’re too late. 

Get ahead of any future legal hiccups by outsourcing certain legal tasks to a qualified and licensed business attorney. To save a buck with contracts and other legal form required actions, look into outsourcing that work to a certified paralegal for discounted rates.       

5. Customer Service Agent

One of the most efficient and cost-effective solutions to providing 24-hour customer satisfaction is outsourcing to a virtual CS agent. Not only will you have complete phone coverage all day and every day, you’ll also gain access to a full team for a fraction of the cost of just one in-house employee. 

Who killed the 9-5 workday? Is an 8-hour time slot for customer service still accepted? What happens if I ignore customer communication outside of normal business hours? What are normal business hours in 2016? These are just some of the customer service questions we answered in our latest article, Why Customer Service is a 24/7/265 day job. Check it out to dive deeper into time management obstacles surrounding customer service.

Customer service agents are also highly trained in handling and using caller control with any of your disgruntled customers. You have a personal attachment that may cause you to be bias with some angry callers. But when you outsource your customer service department, you’re gaining a realistic look into your customer service satisfaction levels. This unbiased approach can result in changes to your policies and procedures that will directly affect your sales numbers.

Leave customer service to the experts by outsourcing to an award winning call center to handle your telecommunications. Click here to get an idea of how much a customer service call center will cost you.   

It Takes a Village! We hope you take our best business advice! 

We know that your business is your baby. It takes a qualified team of professionals to help a small business grow just like it takes a village to raise a child. The best business advice we can offer to keep your costs low but your production levels high is to outsource these 5 jobs to qualified contractors.  

If you want to discuss hiring our virtual receptionists, virtual schedulers, virtual assistants or service dispatchers, give us a call now at 1-800-785-6161 to speak with an account specialist.