Now before we get ahead of ourselves I have nothing against outsourcing to foreign countries, because it happens in the UK too. Only recently I have had to put right a Facebook Page that someone who didn’t know what they were doing had messed up, resulting in the client actually not having faith that the service would work for her. Doubling fans within a few days, providing a few help sheets, offering a personal service and “Value for money” went a long way and has put right that faith that would otherwise been lost.
I had a little rant about this in “Is your website working as hard as you do?” a while ago, which still stands today!
Sometimes by hiring via these outsourcing sites you are not only doing your business a disservice but the UK economy too. As a result you lose faith in approaching companies to produce work for you because of bad experiences you may well never have had if you had taken some steps to not only find the right person for the job but also do a little research before hand.
Top Tips to finding the right Consultant or Business:
1. Scour your Social Circle.
Ask your Facebook friends, Twitter followers and Forum buddies who they recommend to do the service for you.
2. Take note of who people recommend to you.
Draw up a list of those recommend – take some time to look at their websites, services and if they can help your business in the future too – not just for the task ahead. You will benefit from building a relationship with someone who can drive your business forward in more ways than one.
3. Draw up a shortlist.
Check out testimonials of those recommended to you, look at their Social Media practices, who and what are they up to? Draw up a list based on what you discover about them. Forget about the price – seriously if you find the right person to work with the price is not going to matter (this is where “Value for money” comes in).
4. Contact the shortlist.
Ask what they can offer, if they can provide testimonials, portfolio and other questions appropriate to your business and project.
5. Make a decision about what you know, not how much it costs.
The majority of businesses that are willing to help with offer assistance in any way they can, if that means breaking down the price to more manageable payments, or extending payment terms a little they will. Some even offer a free trial for services with no obligation, so why not take them up on it?
If you still want “Cheap” go for it – but it may end up costing you more in the long run 😉
If you want “Value for Money” there are plenty of Virtual Assistants, Consultants, Freelancers and businesses who are transparent, up front and willing to help – in fact there is one right here!
Great post Emma! I will take value for money over cheap any day of the week.
I too have nothing against outsourcing; indeed that’s the very foundation of our businesses but I get so tired of people wanting fantastic business support services for next to NOTHING.
Business owners need to ask themselves – would they rather pay slightly more for a specialist that
1. speaks their language (I’m not talking about English),
2. understands their requirements from the off,
3. adds value to the service as you have outlined (help sheets etc) I could go on go OR
Would they rather pay less money (initially)
1. to someone that doesn’t speak their language
2. doesn’t really understand the brief, gets it wrong and therefore makes them spend more money putting it right
3.doesn’t add value to their business.
I definitely know what I’d take. As a fellow Business Support colleague, I won’t deal with anyone who can’t see the value I will add to their business. They are welcome to the “cheap” labour (admin farms) that they see as money saving.
If you pay peanuts you get monkeys!