Nowadays you can pretty much outsource any task. Most companies outsource the likes of accounting and recruitment, but there are so many other tasks that can be beneficial to outsource. Here are seven business tasks that may not have realised you could outsource.
Answering the Phone
It can be frustrating having interrupt tasks to answer the phone. Whilst you can schedule certain calls, others such as general enquiries cannot be scheduled. Failing to answer phone could cause you to miss out on business or it could prevent you from receiving emergency information, so it’s important that the phone is always getting picked up. A great way to ensure that the phone is always answered – whilst also not having to deal with the inconvenience of being interrupted – is to outsource a virtual service to answer the phone for you. These phone answering companies will relay only the most important information to you. Some of these companies even operate 24/7 allowing you to have a constant point of contact (which could be useful when dealing with international calls).
Responding to Emails
Many companies struggle to get through all the emails they get sent each day. Time spent answering emails can often eat away at time that could be otherwise spent completing core tasks. Fortunately, just as there are companies that can answer phone calls for you, there are companies out there that can also reply to emails. Such companies can help to answer all the general enquiries, leaving you only the most important emails to answer.
Printing and Posting Letters
Many companies are trying to do away with physical newsletters in exchange for emails, yet some customers (especially older customers) still prefer to receive mail by post. Compared to emails, printing and posting newsletters can take up a lot of valuable time. Fortunately, there are companies out there that can take over the task of printing and posting mail for you. Not only can this save time, but is can also save money – whilst you have to pay for these services, it’s often cheaper than buying all the printing and postage supplies yourself. It could also save you having to invest in a printer.
Collecting Mail
Incoming physical mail can be as much of a nuisance as outgoing physical mail. For many companies trying to go paperless, physical mail can prevent this. Having to open letters can also be generally slower than having open emails. Outsourcing a virtual mailbox company could be a way to get around this. Such companies can collect mail for you and scan it do that you can read it digitally. Parcels meanwhile can still be relayed to you. Virtual mailbox services can have the other advantage of allowing you to supply a separate postal address to clients to your actual address – this could be important if you work from home and don’t feel comfortable giving your home address to clients.
Sending – and Chasing – Invoices
Forgetting to send customers invoices can be costly. There’s also the horrible job of chasing up invoices when a client still hasn’t paid you. Outsourcing an invoice processing service could allow you to free up this task – such companies can ensure that invoices are sent promptly and they can also take over the job of chasing up customers so that you get paid in a timely fashion.
Managing Suppliers
On the opposite end of the scale, there’s also the job of handling outgoing payments to suppliers. For companies with lots of different suppliers, this can be a complicated job. Forgetting to pay suppliers can damage relationships and some may even charge late payment fees. To help ensure that all suppliers are paid on time, you could consider outsourcing a supply chain management company to collect all supplier bills and help organise payment.
Firing Employees
Many of us are familiar with recruitment companies and their ability to help hire employees – but did you know that you can also outsource professionals to help dismiss staff? Such professionals can help to phrase dismissal emails and offer legal advice on how to sack difficult employees. It’s even possible to outsource professionals to do the firing for you.
