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Archive for October, 2008

Should You Outsource That Next Project?

Taking liberty with Shakespeare’s famous quote: ‘to outsource or not to outsource – that is the question’. The answer depends on a variety of factors such as core skills, project length, specialization, costs and staffing flexibility. By evaluating your circumstances and determining project factors, you can answer the famous question – at least in business terms.

Just a quick definition for those who ask what is the difference between outsourcing and subcontracting? Typically, outsourcing is done offsite at the outsourcer’s facility under their management control while subcontracting is done on your site under your management control. Some of the same concerns and considerations apply when determining which direction to go. Outsourcing tends to be a longer term decision with the largest loss of control.

To help in your evaluation, start by reviewing the following questions. Your answers will help to determine which direction best suits the circumstances.

1. Is this activity/project a core process (what your company does as a business)?

2. Are specialized skills needed?

3. What is the duration?

4. Will confidential/proprietary information be disclosed?

5. Will the project result in new skills necessary for the ongoing business?

6. Could the project terminate early due to budgets/ other priorities?

7. Do I have the staff now or would I need to hire them?

8. Do I want close management of day-to-day activities?

There are some general guidelines relating to the decision to outsource or keep the activity ‘in-house’. Review these guidelines against the answers to the above questions to help with your decision.

Guideline 1: If the activity is a core process to your business, do not outsource. Consider the business of building cars. The assembly-line is core and you would not want to outsource this process, while computer training is not core and you would be able to outsource this without impacting your business integrity.

Guideline 2: If the project requires unique expertise for a limited length of time, do outsource. An example might be if you want to write an employee handbook ensuring all your policies are represented clearly and in legally correct terms. You would be better to outsource this to an experienced HR consulting firm. On the other-hand, if you just installed a new database technology requiring specialized technicians, you would be better to hire the skilled individuals since you will need them for an extended/ multi-year period to work on undetermined/multiple projects.

Guideline 3: If highly sensitive and confidential information will be revealed during the execution of the project, do not outsource. Example: if the project requires access to customer lists and future orders, do not outsource. Whereas revealing office locations or other public information would not compromise your business and could be outsourced.

Guideline 4: If you need the staff once the project is complete, do not outsource. This covers situations such as additional projects to work on or newly learned skills that are needed. However, projects that end with no ongoing need of the staff would require you to terminate employees, creating Human Resource issues, possible severance costs and legal issues. These short-term staff needs would best be outsourced since you can give termination notice (based on contractual agreements) and not have to deal with the outsourcer’s personnel.

Guideline 5: If the activity will last several years, do not outsource. The primary reason is price. Outsourcing typically costs more than if the work was done in-house since you are paying some ‘fixed costs and profit’ dollars as part of the cost to do the work. There will always be a need for accounting personnel and although this is not a core skill, the need is ongoing and should be kept in-house, as an example.

Guideline 6: If you require strict management control, do not outsource. Although you could have general oversight of the project deliverables, the day-to-day management is done by the outsourcer. This would impact project approach, employee moral, customer interaction (if any) and feedback. An example of recent outsourcing which may not have been a good idea is customer support for computer equipment sales by Dell. Dell could not control the interaction with their customers and there were numerous complaints about communication skills, product knowledge and general attitude of the outsourced technician. Many companies that outsourced support have taken back control.

As with most things in life, the decision is not always cut and dry. The project might be core or require revealing confidential information, but you do not have the management or staff available. Is the project critical enough to override these factors? If yes, outsourcing may be the correct solution. By weighing those factors most important to you, the answer ‘outsource or in-house’ may be just a little clearer.

Since 1994, GG-One Software has been providing solutions for managing certificates of insurance and documents. To learn more about their Fastrack software, visit the website at http://www.ggonesoftware.com

Should You Outsource That Next Project? / Author: Phyllis Recca

Sales Prospecting in Down Economies

Sales prospecting in down economies is no different than sales prospecting in up economies. It is still a behaviour, a discipline – doing what we have to do, even when we do not want to do it.

The only difference is that you may have to invest more time in sales prospecting in a down economy.

Sales prospecting can be time consuming in itself, but in a down economy, it is even more time consuming as sales prospects seem to be harder to find.

Therefore, more time invested in sales prospecting is required. If you did ten daily sales prospecting calls before, you may now have to do twenty to get the same results.

However, besides investing time, there is a better way to get the same or better results when it comes to sales prospecting. But first, you have to do your homework.

You need to know what our sales prospects should look like – you need to profile them so that you can take a targeted sales prospecting approach and not a shot gun approach.

It is the shot gun approach that is time consuming and does not get you the sales prospecting results you are looking for.

In a targeted sales strategy you need to define the criteria for three customer levels – A, B, and C.

The 80/20 rule states that 80% of your sales results come from 20% of your customers.

That 20% would be considered as your best customers. They are “A” or absolute customers, because they provide you with 80% of your revenues and without them, you would be out of business.

Answer this question: What criteria best describes you’re A customers? Is it profitability, loyalty, margin, volume, brand, relationship, etc.? Note your answers.

Then you need to proceed with the same question for the next level of sales prospecting – “B” beneficial customers. So, what is the sales criteria for your “B” level of customers ? How are they distinguished from A customers? Note your answers.

You can then proceed with what is the sales criteria for your next level of customers – “C” – convenient customers? How are they distinguished from B customers? Note your answers.

You may find that most of your prospecting activities are probably to “C” or convenient customers, as most sales people invest 80% of their sales prospecting time where they get 20% of the revenues.

So, let’s do the opposite and focus our sales prospecting activities on the A customers.

Once your sales criteria is defined for each level of customer, go to your sales data base and using the sales criteria identify your existing customers as A, B or C.

Separate the A customers and create their profile based on the information on hand. You will find that there is something different about them, compared to the B’s and C’s.

What is that difference? Now map that profile over to the market place for sales prospecting. Who are the A sales prospects out there that are not presently doing business with you?

Do the same with the B customers and identified the sales prospects for you B category in the marketplace. Also, look at your existing B customers who have potential to be come A’s.

Sales prospecting can be fun and most rewarding for sales results when you invest the time and plan your sales prospecting approach.

Bob Urichuck is an International Speaker, Trainer and Best-Selling Author. Learn personally from Bob in the areas of Sales, Motivation, Leadership and Team Skills. Bob presents a series of great ideas and strategies with combination of facts, humor, and practical concept in a high-energy and self-discovery process that you can apply right away to achieve results. Subscribe to Bob’s Free Newsletter, worth $297, visit http://www.BobU.com Now!

Sales Prospecting in Down Economies / Author: Bob Urichuck

The Benefits of Teak Furniture

If you are planning to buy outdoor furniture then you should definitely check out teak furniture. Even if you have not had teak in mind while shopping around for patio furniture you must have noticed that a lot of the higher quality furniture is made from teak. There are some valid reasons behind this, teak furniture is highly durable and sturdy, and moreover it comes in rich warm tones, which makes it very attractive.

The wood used in the production of teak furniture is sourced from a number of different countries, among them Thailand and Indonesia produce the best quality teak wood. The use of teak has not been limited to furniture, due to its strength and resilience it has also been used in shipbuilding and several other construction jobs. Teak has a long history; it was made popular around the world by the Indians and the Malaysians many centuries ago. In the 19th century, people from the Victorian Age started making teak furniture. In fact it has been the outdoor furniture of choice since those times.

Though teak furniture offers a wide range of benefits, the most attractive of them all is its durability. This is one factor which makes it highly suitable for use as patio furniture. Teak is grown and matured in Central Asia’s rainforests where it has to weather tough environmental changes. Growing in the rainforests teak wood becomes saturated with a high concentration of natural oils so that it can protect itself from moisture. These natural oils also help it fight off mold, insects, mildew and other types of fungi. Moreover teak continues to be saturated with these oils, even after it has grown old and died. So where other types of furniture suffer from rot and insects, teak fights them off naturally.

Now if the only benefit of teak was durability, then its use would have been limited for tougher requirements like park benches or in construction jobs. But this is not so, teak furniture is vouched for around the world because of its rich and warm appearance. It is usually medium to dark caramel in color, and also has swirls of other shades. After it has been designed and polished, it acquires a beautiful glow. So if you want furniture that lasts for years and looks as beautiful as it looked the day you bought it, then you would never go wrong with teak furniture.

Goldenteak.com specializes in high quality Teak Furniture at very reasonable prices. You will be pleased with the quality of our teak furniture and our fast reliable service.

The Benefits of Teak Furniture / Author: Kathleen Chester