As an entrepreneur building a business, you will discover that there are many moving parts you have to put together to make things work. There will be many tasks to do daily and you need people with the right skills and experience on your payroll for those tasks to be done well and on time. As your business scales, you will need to recruit more people, move to a bigger office, and expand your operations.
Hiring skilled and experienced staff to run your operations full-time is expensive and will take a significant chunk of your business expenses. This may be a problem if you are not making consistent revenue and steadily growing your customer base. Many companies find themselves in this situation and if not managed properly, they will go out of business.
A possible solution to this is to outsource some tasks to reputable third-party service providers. Third-party service providers often have teams of experts that can handle other companies’ tasks for a fee usually smaller than the cost of hiring people in-house on a full-time contract with benefits.
To gain the needed benefits of outsourcing tasks, companies must work with the right third-party service provider. Before entering talks with any third party, business owners should do their due diligence to confirm their authenticity. They can use the Secretary of State API to verify that they are who they claim to be and avoid fraud. Without this due diligence, fraudsters can create a fake website and online presence and persuade a business to outsource a task to them, get paid in advance for their services, and not deliver. After this step, you can also do the following to ensure you choose the right service provider:
Read online reviews
Search for the name of the service provider online and read the reviews people have posted about them. Read reviews on different websites, social media platforms, and online forums. This will give you a good understanding of other companies’ experience while working with them. This process will let you know if they have the expertise your company needs.
Compare prices with competitors
It helps to assess multiple service providers before making a decision. Shortlist the ones that have good online reviews and request quotes for their services. Compare their prices and find the one that offers good value for the cost of their service.
Evaluate communication skills and scalability
Ideally, you want to work with a third-party company that you can easily communicate with. This will ensure you can easily share updates and quickly address issues that come up, keeping your business functioning smoothly. You should also verify that they can deal with more tasks when you decide to scale your operations.
Set expectations
While setting terms for the outsourcing contract, set clear expectations for the third-party company so they understand their deliverables. This includes availability, since some third-party companies will have active contracts with more clients than they can reasonably cater to. If you partner with such companies, they may slow your business down and affect your ability to serve your customers.
Discussing deliverables will prevent disputes and ensure the partnership is smooth and works well for both parties. The contract should have provisions for termination in case the service provider fails to meet the expectations laid out.
Start the contract with a trial
It will help to start the contract with the service provider with a trial to verify their level of expertise. This can be a 3-month trial after which you will decide to either proceed or terminate the contract. Ensure you make this condition clear in the contract to avoid a dispute or lawsuit if you choose to end your working relationship.
Ensure cybersecurity compliance
Given how prevalent technology is in the business world, it is highly likely that your company and third-party providers will regularly share files over the internet and be connected via a cloud computing platform. As a result, they have to maintain industry-standard levels of cybersecurity compliance. This will prevent your company from being prone to cyber threats by virtue of being linked to a vulnerable service provider.
Assess their tools
It will help if your company and the service provider use the same tools. This will ensure your employees can seamlessly receive and work on the files the service provider sends. You should also verify if they have updated versions of said tools, so they have access to the latest features, which may promote efficiency.
Endnote
Outsourcing business tasks to third-party service providers can help you save money, allowing you to invest in other areas of your company that will spur growth. However, it is important to let the tips listed above guide you into making an informed decision when choosing a suitable service provider. Working with the right company should feel seamless and keep operations running smoothly.
