Recently, the Justuno team has embarked on the journey of outsourcing tasks and using freelancers. Around the same time, Natalie Birch of Staff Outsourcing reached out with some helpful tips on outsourcing tasks. These tips outlined below have been helpful to us here at Justuno and should be to your business as well!
Outsourcing can be a great way to save time and money. By outsourcing different tasks, small and medium companies can focus on their core business, rather than to waste time on HR, content marketing or administrative work.
Outsourcing will also improve your work-life balance. All those things previously mentioned are usually done outside of normal working hours.
However, if you’re not careful, outsourcing can quickly spiral into huge problems and waste your money and time, making it completely pointless.
Perhaps you even tried it before, but it didn’t go too well. The person you hired didn’t deliver on time, the quality of the delivered work was poor and by the end of the contract, you decided to go back to the old ways.
But, with all the possible benefits, perhaps the new year is the ideal time to try and do it again. If you follow these 5 easy tips on how to handle outsourcing, you’ll cut down risk to the minimum and the results will be rewarding.
1. Don’t choose the cheapest bid
When using on-line hiring platforms like UpWork, Freelancer or PeoplePerHour, it’s tempting to hire the lowest bidder. Don’t do it!
You need a tech-savvy wonder kid to get your on-line store to the next level? Or are you searching for someone to write engaging product descriptions? Be prepared to pay a fair price! People who have set a reasonable price for an hour of their work know what they are worth and usually can back it up.
Like with many things in life, you get what you pay for.
Instead of focusing on the price of the bid, be more selective. Check out their profile and see what experience they have. Read the reviews other clients have given them.
Take the time to thoroughly read their application. Is it well written? Is it just a copy/paste application that they send out to all job postings? Does it seem that they understand the work described in the job posting and are interested in it?
If they sent you a portfolio, don’t just glance through it. If they didn’t, ask for it! Even if they don’t have a portfolio prepared, they’ll be able to send you examples of their previous work. This way you’ll be able to check if the quality of work they do is up to your standards.
All of this doesn’t mean that you have to hire the highest bidder. You will still be able to save plenty of money if you hire somewhere in the middle of the bidding range, without compromising on the quality of work.
2. Don’t be afraid to test them out
Don’t dismiss a freelancer just because they are new. If someone only recently started freelancing, that doesn’t mean they don’t have the skill set necessary to do the job properly.
A lot of great IT engineers are switching to freelancing because it offers them more freedom. And although they may be newbies on the hiring platform and don’t have any reviews yet, a lot of them have a lot of experience and are very good at what they do.
If you like someone’s application, but they’ve only recently started freelancing, give them a trial job!
Offer them a fair price for a small task that can be done quickly, but that will give you a chance to see how well you communicate and are they able to stick to set deadlines.
Don’t make it a big, time-consuming job. It should be something that gives you enough information about the freelancer’s abilities, but that has a quick turnaround time. For instance, if you’re hiring someone to write content for your e-commerce page, let them write a single product description.
Be sure to leave some time to spare. If the delivered work is subpar, you’ll still manage to get the job done.
Even if the person you’re considering for the job has a long track record, a trial job is a good idea. You will see how their voice fits with your projects, and eliminate the super busy freelancers who already have a ton of work and are not able to pay much attention to your needs.
3. Make a killer contract
The contract is here to protect both you and the freelancer.
Spend some time discussing what should be in it before you write one.
You can use free on-line resources like the ones at Freelancers Union as a starting point for your own freelance contract. Upgrade the free templates for your specific needs and be as detailed as possible.
For sure, the contract should clearly state the rates. Will the freelancer be payed by the hour, or does the complete project have a fixed price? If it’s payed by the hour, how will you check the hours worked and what are the minimum and maximum hours that can be done?
Defining things like these will minimize the chance of disputes once the work is finished.
Also, specify a payment schedule. Define a percentage that will be payed upfront and how often will you pay the rest. For bigger projects it’s always good to pay in three installments! Divide the budget so you pay a part before the work starts, a part after the first draft and the rest once you’re satisfied with the work.
You can also define a minimal number of revisions in the contract.
4. Keep honest and look for honesty
Good communication is essential for a successful business partnership.
Be honest in your demands and ask nothing less of your freelancer. Give them as many instructions as you can, eliminating possible errors. Set reasonable deadlines and don’t waste their time.
Share your experience: if the job similar to the one that they are doing has already been done, tell them about the problems that occurred and how they were handled.
If the freelancer tells you that they don’t have previous experience in a certain part of the project, don’t panic. If you give them a fair chance to prove themselves, people usually surprise you. With your guidance and a little bit of extra effort, they will surely deliver what they need to. And this way, you’re not only getting a job done, you’re building a partnership.
If something goes wrong, and you have to pull out of the deal, don’t just disappear. When you’re communicating exclusively over the computer, it’s easy to forget there is a real person on the other side. Let them know what is going on and ask them to understand.
5. Keep in touch
Don’t ever hire a freelancer and just wait for the deadline!
Together you should set small milestones along the way. Rather than to stress out that the final product didn’t turn out the way you wanted it to, you’ll keep track of the progress and be able to react as soon as something is not right.
Let’s say you’ve hired a customer service rep. On a daily basis, he handles hundreds of customer inquiries, and without your feedback, has no way of knowing if he’s doing a good job. And since he’s dealing with real people, it is crucial for him not to make the same mistakes over and over again.
If errors keep happening even after he’s got all the information he needs, go your separate ways. Although you may be hesitant to end the contract, in the long run, it’s better to admit that you’re not a good fit, than to waste your money and lead the freelancer on.
Don’t expect the freelancer to read your mind. Be communicative, let them know what needs more work, but also applaud a job well done.
If you keep track of the work progress, you’re saving yourself from any unexpected mishaps. If a freelancer has to pull out of the project for any reason, rather than hiring someone to do all the work from scratch, the new guy will just be able to continue with the work already done.
If you’re well prepared, outsourcing will give an opportunity to grow. It will help you and your team focus more on your core tasks, making you more productive. At the same time, if you apply some simple, common sense rules, you’ll surely find someone who fits well into your company and will prove beneficial to your business.
Are you planning to outsource some parts of your business in 2017? Do you have any other tips and suggestions from your previous experiences? Share your two cents with us in the comments!
Written By Natalie Birch
Natalie Birch is a young writer and content creator with a passion for reading. She is a part of content team at StaffOutsourcing.com where she has been involved in interesting projects involving content creation and social media. In her free time, Natalie enjoys reading and watching old Hollywood movies.