Running a successful agency is no easy feat. Outsourcing tasks is often the best way to keep things under control. With a ton of work and clients to deal with, one can easily get overwhelmed without help and an effective system in place.
When you’re an agency business owner, time is always of the essence. You want to cover all your responsibilities to build and maintain a great reputation. Unfortunately, there isn’t always enough time.
As much as you want to grow your business and get more clients, minor tasks can keep you from doing it. Tasks such as scheduling client calls or responding to emails can take a lot of time. Though they are considered significant to your business, there are more valuable tasks that require your attention.
You can make better use of your time growing the business and doing your “CEO” responsibilities. One of the more effective ways of doing this is to start outsourcing tasks that you don’t need to do yourself.
While business owners tend to want to make everything perfect, you need to be smarter than that. You need to start taking minor tasks off your plate so you can focus on the more important ones.
That being said, below are three ways you can use the power of delegation by outsourcing tasks so you can become a more efficient leader.
- Getting leads through social media
There’s no question that social media has become a very powerful tool. Gone are the days when social media was merely about “reconnecting with old friends.” Instead, it has now become a marketing powerhouse, allowing businesses to reach more people and connect with them as no other medium has done before.
It’s not surprising then that you want to take advantage of its power. So you sit through hours of connecting with different people, hoping to generate as many leads as you possibly can. That’s perfectly understandable.
As an agency business owner, however, this isn’t the smartest decision. The hours you spend liking and commenting on other companies’ posts can be used for something far better. You can use it to craft new strategies or review monthly reports, perhaps.
The good news is there is an abundance of talent who can take on these responsibilities. By outsourcing social media lead generation to a freelancer, you’re going to free a lot of time up. This is time you can use for higher-value tasks.
More than the time you’ll save, you’ll also be outsourcing tasks to someone who is fully-equipped and qualified to do them. Maybe even more qualified than you are because of their skills and experience with social media marketing.
The point in all this is that you’ll be hitting two birds with one stone by outsourcing. That’s a win-win no matter how you look at it.
- Getting simpler, repetitive work done
Your clients are the lifeblood of your agency. Without them, there won’t be any profits coming in and the chances of your business surviving will be slim to none.
It only makes sense then to make clients a priority. The more clients you have and the happier they are, the better it is for the business.
While there are tasks that only you can do for a client, there are also some that can be considered minor and repetitive. Outsourcing tasks like generating monthly invoices and providing analytics reports gets them off your to-do list.
These tasks are mostly clerical and don’t require an agency business owner to complete. A competent virtual assistant should be able to handle them on your behalf.
Apart from these tasks, you can also have a virtual assistant do more. You can have them manage your emails, prepare your calendar, and schedule your meetings and interviews, among others.
Can you imagine the time you’ll save when you have someone taking care of all these? You’ll have more hours to spend growing the business. You can even allow yourself more personal time every now and then.
The best part? You never have to worry about outsourcing tasks because of the talent and experience available at your disposal through marketplaces like FreeeUp. You just have to be on top of the hiring process so you can find the right person for the role.
- Having customer service taken care of
Customer service is a very important aspect of any business. It promotes brand loyalty and makes your customers, in this case, your clients, come back for more. This is probably the reason why most business owners want to be heavily involved in it.
This is completely understandable considering what’s on the line. As an agency business owner, you want to foster your relationship with your clients. You want to give them a reason to continue to trust you and the services you offer.
As important as customer service is, you don’t necessarily have to be involved at every turn. It’s going to be impossible for you to run and grow an agency when you’re focused on answering their queries or fulfilling their requests.
Outsourcing customer service tasks to capable freelancers is a smart decision. Come up with a customer service SOP so you can easily onboard freelancers before handing over the reins. It doesn’t have to be anything elaborate. As long as it details what they need to do in particular situations, they should be able to figure things out given their skills and experience.
Answering emails and taking phone calls takes time, especially if there’s plenty of them. With a customer service representative doing these on your behalf, you’ll have more time to take your business to the next level.
To hire or not to hire?
If your agency is already an established one, chances are you have more than enough people to outsource tasks to. It all depends on their availability and bandwidth, given that they’re already doing work for some of your clients.
It’s always good to rely on your seasoned agency members. If they already have a lot on their plates, you may consider hiring additional freelancers to cover the tasks mentioned.
Consider as well their primary skillsets, however — you want to have people who specialize in these areas. That will get you much better results than asking someone to do something they’re not good at just because they’re already there. Hire freelance specialists if you need to, even if it’s only for a few hours of work a week.
What’s great about hiring freelancers today is that it isn’t as hard as it used to be. With the gig economy becoming a popular alternative to the 9-to-5, people with the skills and experience you’re looking for aren’t difficult to find. Your only concern is avoiding bad hires.
Be more organized when it comes to your requirements.
Be very specific with the kind of freelancer you’re looking for. Are you more comfortable working with a certain gender or age range? Do they have to work during your business hours? You need to ask about everything that’s important to you before you begin the hiring process.
Go through a meticulous onboarding process before work begins.
Onboarding ensures that outsourcing tasks goes smoothly. It prepares hires for the responsibilities you’ll be assigning them. It will also give them more confidence to do their tasks even without your assistance.
If you have all this figured out right from the get-go, outsourcing tasks will have a better chance of success across the board.
Final Thoughts
We all have 24 hours to spend in a day. As ideal as it is to tell someone to use them wisely, realistically speaking, it’s easier said than done. Moreso if you are an agency business owner who’s trying to get a business off the ground.
Outsourcing tasks provides a better way for agency owners to get more things done without working more hours. By getting help from experienced freelancers, you’re able to manage your time better. Instead of spending hours stuck on minor and repetitive tasks, you’ll be able to focus on the more important ones while leaving those other tasks in capable hands.
If you’re struggling to find a way to do it, the three ways mentioned should help you get a head start. You are, of course, free to outsource other tasks as you see fit depending on your priorities. There are so many experienced freelancers out there that you can find one for almost any task you can think of.
