Services Your Business Needs to Outsource
Are you looking for ways to cut business costs and increase profit? Do you want to see your business grow as much as it possibly can? Then look no further. We have some ideas on six services your small business needs to outsource to save money.
- Business Bookkeeping Services
Although you could hire a bookkeeper, it will cost your business an average of $50,000 per year to keep one on staff. A better idea to save you money? Consider using an online business bookkeeping service. An online bookkeeping service gives you access to a dedicated accountant who can provide year-round tax advice, quarterly reviews, tax preparation, and so much more — often for $5,000 a year or less! Another great reason to outsource your bookkeeping is because you can often find a company that offers a specialized service that operates in your particular niche; examples include bookkeepers with expertise in the restaurant industry, the construction industry, and even the transportation industry! That’s right, we even found a trucker tax service.
- Social Media Marketing
Every small business needs social media marketing nowadays. Many small business owners try to do it themselves to cut costs. The problem? It takes time to learn how to market effectively and develop a strategy that works for your business. You end up spending energy, effort, and money that could be better spent by hiring a social media marketer.
Although professionals tend to charge between $50 and $500 an hour, they know how to create an effective marketing campaign to reach your target audience. That will help drive customers to your products or services — and free up your time to do more useful things for your business.
- Customer Service
It’s important for every business to offer customer service to help resolve any issues, process returns or exchanges, and ensure overall customer satisfaction. Customer service can also be easily outsourced.
There are online companies that provide support 24/7 if you need it. Although their rates may be comparable to what you’d pay an employee, you won’t need to offer benefits.
- Administrative Tasks
The truth is that you no longer need an administrative assistant or personal secretary anymore. Instead, you can hire a virtual assistant (VA) to take care of your administrative tasks, such as responding to emails, scheduling, and even social media posting. If a lot of your company’s customer service is done via social media, a virtual assistant can help with that, too.
The amount of money you can expect to spend on a virtual assistant will widely vary and ultimately depends on your own personal needs. Prices can range from $10 an hour to $75 per hour for experienced VAs. This is in comparison to $35,000 or more per year for the average administrative assistant.
- Manufacturing
In-house manufacturing is an expense that many businesses simply can’t afford. Not only does it require hiring employees, but you’d also need to find a warehouse to lease or buy. It can be a lot more affordable to hire a manufacturing company to handle your products for you. The long-term savings can be huge.
- IT Management
IT professionals generally earn $100,000 or more a year. That can be a huge expense if you’re looking to scale back. Many companies find outsourcing IT management tends to fit their budgets better.
Although you can expect to pay $40 to $130 or more when you outsource IT, the real money-saving benefit is that you won’t be hiring a full-time employee. If you have small IT projects or part-time IT work that needs to be done, this can be the route to go if you’re looking to cut costs.
These are just six services your business needs to outsource. Outsourcing these services will help you save money and see an increase in sales to help your company grow and evolve more quickly. Consider what services you provide in-house to determine if there’s anything else you can outsource for long-term savings.