19 Common Outsourcing Mistakes to Avoid

Outsourcing is a necessity for agencies that want to be ahead of their competitors. However, decision-makers can make mistakes when outsourcing their services to a white label agency. It is, therefore, important to understand the common mistakes to avoid when outsourcing. Read on to learn more about the different types of outsourcing mistakes and how you can avoid them.

Outsourcing services that should not be outsourced

It may seem enticing to send your work to a white label agency, however, you need to be careful when making such decisions. Tasks that need creative thinking and experience should be handled in-house.

Hence, the following tasks should be outsourced:

Social media marketing, SEO link building, and other aspects of your online marketing strategy
Software development
Data entry
Research and development
Graphic design

Not scrutinizing your staff sufficiently

Nothing is as worse as training staff and then disappearing on the next day. The best way to prevent this from happening is to hire an employee and then give them a difficult task before you train such staff. The task must be something they can handle if they are resourceful. For instance, you can ask the staff to set up a WordPress website and publish content on it. If you find a partner that can do this, then you know you’ve found someone that you can handle your outsourced tasks.

Not paying attention to the prerequisites

Outsourcing is not the solution to all forms of services. If you are struggling with a specific issue, then it’s not right to outsource such an issue. It is not advisable to outsource a problem. Although you may be tempted to pick a difficult aspect of your business and hand it over to a white label agency; this may not yield any solution. For you to outsource any of your services effectively, the service must be running smoothly.

Not considering the risks

Companies are usually driven by cost and quality of service to outsource to a white label agency. This is because companies assume that when they outsource, these two factors will be improved. This assumption is risky. Your decision to outsource your services must be done with the understanding that anything can happen. For instance, there could be a rise in cost, and service delivery may decline.

It is important to understand that there are risks associated with outsourcing. Ensure you assess the risk while you’re making your decision.

Not achieving internal consensus

Most service provider relationships lack internal consensus. If your whole team does not agree with your goals and outcomes, then your outsourcing program cannot be effective and an ineffective outsourcing program can make the outsourcing process challenging. It is, therefore, important to make your team (especially the senior executives) see things the way you see them.

Outsourcing for technical skills over communication expertise

The cohesion between a team depends on the level of communication that exists between the members. Hard skills are important, but effective virtual teams communicate effectively and extensively. Team members must be comfortable working together, deliver information effectively, and work on accomplishing the same goals.

Your virtual employees need to have skills like being able to pass a message across in a clear manner, discuss issues, and provide feedback amongst others. When you have these in mind, then you will realize that it is a mistake to choose an outsourcing partner based on their hard skills. Solid communication skill is an important factor when looking for a partner to outsource your services to.

Carrying out a one-sided recruitment

There tend to be different requirements for a particular position in different countries. For instance, the skills required from a senior candidate in the United States may be different from what is expected from candidates in Eastern Europe. Therefore, it is important to be in charge during the recruitment process. Being in charge of the hiring decision will ensure that you don’t end up with partners that are not a good fit for your business. The main point here is not to commit one of the commonest outsourcing mistakes; allowing the vendor to hire your team members without scrutinizing them by yourself. Most vendors only focus on the technical skills of the candidates. However, it is crucial to consider if a candidate suits the working culture of your organization.

Not paying attention to the retention rate of the vendor

High attrition makes you hire and train new employees every time. This affects the quality of the team’s productivity. Ideally, your initial hires should work on the outsourced tasks from the beginning to the end. This requires some sort of effort on the part of the vendor. A negative retention rate may be a result of not compensating employees adequately. Amenities such as a good workspace, comfort, and a positive atmosphere will increase the retention rate. So, it is important to know if the vendor can provide these things. Before you outsource your services to any agency, check the work environment of the potential partner by visiting their office.

Not figuring out your strategy before outsourcing

Partnering with a white label agency will help your business to grow provided you know what you’re expecting from the partnership. It is, therefore, important to have a strategy for every partnership. The white label agency you outsource to is there to help you implement a part of your business strategy that you need specialized expertise for. However, completely depending on a white label agency to determine your strategy is synonymous with handing over the control of your business to someone else. Before you outsource your services to a white label agency, you need to know what you want, why you want it, and what you need to do to get what you want.

Getting rid of an outsourcer from the process

Outsourcers are usually seen as extra workers, and no initiative is usually expected from them. This form of thinking often robs you of some great ideas that an outsourcer can give you. Allow the outsourcer to feel like an important member of your team and let them take the lead in fulfilling the outsourced task. If you still want to hire the outsourcer again, give them a chance to grow; this will be beneficial to both of you. This change of attitude will turn a simple outsourcer (that is only good for completing tasks) into a devoted partner that is interested in the future of your company.

Having wrong expectations from the white label agency

The white label agency you outsource to can also enhance your business growth by offering you their specialized expertise. However, they cannot drive your business’s growth. You should be in charge of driving your business growth by using your strategic planning. It is possible to develop a relationship of trust and dependence via a long-term partnership with the same white label partner. If this is the case, you can brainstorm with the agency’s team leader for some inputs. However, you still need to be in charge of decision-making. Don’t expect the white label agency to determine your business growth.

Not choosing an agency that specializes in white label services

The delivery of white label services is all about making specialized skills available to your organization. White label outsourcing has systems and processes that are distinct from other business models. An agency that does not specialize in white label services may not be able to handle the processes involved in the outsourcing. For instance, an agency that specializes in providing white label services will be able to tackle unexpected scaling needs. If the white label agency that you partner with does not have a system that can handle such a situation as a result of lack of specialization, your scaling needs will suffer; an event that can affect your relationship with your clients.

Outsourcing to multiple agencies

The best approach to outsourcing is to outsource to a specialized company for each type of service. However, depending on your outsourcing strategy, you need to consider cost-effectiveness after manageability. It takes time, reduces the pace of project development, and leads to a loss of focus on the outsourced service when you have to deal with many agencies.

Hence, it is ideal to outsource to 2 or 3 agencies in every service area, depending on the size of your company.

Lack of established survey systems

You can easily examine the atmosphere of your local team due to face-to-face meetings and daily chats. Companies usually hire HR consultants and therapists so that they can instill the right type of atmosphere in their workplace. In terms of outsourcing mistakes, companies usually know that there are issues when the quality of the service they outsourced starts declining. As a result, it is important to always measure how satisfied your remote employees are by using services like Survey Monkey. Also, it is important to ensure that there is open communication between you and the agency that you outsource to. You need to gather feedback from each of the team members instead of asking a team leader to submit surveys on the team’s behalf. The feedback process can also be anonymous.

Not awarding responsibility and rewarding good work

Every entrepreneur usually needs to hand over certain tasks to their employees. This can be a scary thing to do when you are outsourcing your services to an agency that you’ve not met. In this situation, you need to assign meaningful tasks and also educate the partner on the significance of the work and its role in your organization. You should also give raises and reward excellent work. A simple tip will help in building loyalty. Not doing so can make your employees or partners be lured away by organizations that appreciate and reward good work.

Choosing the cheapest offer

Going for the cheapest offer may end up being more expensive in the long run. There is always a catch when a white label agency offers its services cheaper than the market rates. An experienced company that specializes in offering white label services has no business with offering services that are cheaper than the market rates.

Although there may be regional differences in the market rates, the cheapest service is usually not the best. If the rate offered by the prospective agency is cheaper than those in the market, it may be a means of covering up lack of specialization or experience. In this case, the agency may not deliver.

Not providing guidance

Outsourcing can only be effective when a task is defined with guidelines, rules, and procedures. The problem that most companies have with outsourcing is that they don’t focus on creating comprehensive guidelines, rules, and procedures. If you already have guidelines for an internal process, then you need to assume that you will provide nothing less than double the documentation to the agency you outsource to. Many guidelines and practices are not written in most businesses. When outsourcing, ensure that you have everything in writing.

Lack of clear objectives

As stated earlier, a good relationship with an outsourced partner must start with clear communication. Your partner cannot deliver excellent work if you don’t provide the instruction and expectations for the task. Many businesses usually end up being disappointed by their outsourcing partners since there is no transparent communication right from the outset.Before you outsource your services to a white label agency, both of you need to agree on:

Means of reporting progress and how feedback will be given.
Payment plan and schedule.
Productivity and deadline schedules, and
Communication expectations.

Lack of exit strategy

What happens if the white label agency you outsource to is not what you thought it would be? Maybe you overestimated the cost they would save you or they are not able to deliver all you agreed on. It’s even possible they go out of business, thereby putting you at a serious disadvantage, and you will need to replace them as quickly as possible.

Whenever you are outsourcing to a white label agency, you need to have an exit strategy in case the partnership stops working. Outsourcing can be beneficial to your business when you outsource to the right partner with a clear goal. However, it is hard to find the right resources, especially when you want to outsource overseas.

Wrapping Up

When it comes to outsourcing your services to a white label agency, it is important to focus on your objectives and also take the right actions so that you don’t commit outsourcing mistakes. I hope the tips discussed in this guide will help you avoid the common outsourcing mistakes; thereby helping you get the most of your digital marketing budget.