Outsourcing is, at best, hit-and miss.
I’ve outsourced plenty of projects - for myself and other companies - from 24-hour inbound telephone support services, virtual assistant services, to link building, web design, programming, product development, transcription, copywriting, editing, ghost writing, fulfilment and shipping services… and probably a dozen more…
Unfortunately, the problem with finding the right provider is that it’s a hit-and-miss game.
Recently, after an unlucky speight of sucky providers, I started to wonder if it was something I was doing wrong… Had the outsourcing market changed, and I hadn’t kept up?
So I asked a few colleagues for some advice…
Between them, their advice was simple:
- In most cases, it is a hit-and-miss game trying to find the right provider…
- You get what you pay for. Pay well for high quality providers. Give them as much work as you can.
- Review their work for quality. It’s best to use third parties to assess quality - if you can.
- Give very clear instructions - detailed, step-by-step, written instructions that clearly describe the output required. In most cases, it’s helpful to have a video where you take someone through the exact processing steps involved in achieving the output. This makes the task easily replicatable later.
- Ask friends and colleagues for referrals to quality providers.
I’ve found that people will generally be happy to give you the name of a good virtual assistant or outsourcing provider if they know of one, and that provider has the capcity to take on more work.
It’s because it’s hard for virtual assistants… they need to receive a constant stream of new work, otherwise it’s not economical for them to keep taking on work in dribs-and-drabs - they either give up, or go get a “normal” job.
That’s why I want to help out the guys who I know are good at what they do.
Virtual Assistant Services
Virtual Assistance is something that you get what you pay for. I’ve used some of the providers mentioned in books like the Four Hour Work Week for Virtual Assistant and Office Admin tasks, and frankly they were crap.
I learned quickly it’s better to pay westerners more, and get a better result back, than to compromise on quality and use virtual assistants in developing countries.
Here are some Virtual Assistance providers I can recommend.
The Office Buddy - Virtual Assistant Services
The Office Buddy is based in Melbourne, Australia. I’ve known the owner for some time, and can recommend her to you without hesitation.
From The Office Buddy owner, Donna Tsitsis:
At The Office Buddy we can take care of all your office needs including Word Processing, Secretarial Services, Data Entry, Travel Arrangements, Event Planning, Project Management, Customer Service, Marketing Assistance, Slide Presentations, Filing & Sorting, eBay (Buying & Selling) Laminating & Photocopying, Scanning and Emails & Faxes.
If your needs are not in this list of services then feel free to send us an email and we will be in contact shortly to assist you further.
All work is completed off site and kept within the strictest confidentiality.
Plus, there’s no need to worry about the hassle of traditional employees - no annual leave, no sick leave, no meal breaks, no superannuation, no worries.
You can find out more about The Office Buddy’s virtual assistant services or contact Donna at the Office Buddy
Outsourcing
A lot of tasks, particularly processing and data-gathering tasks, can be completed fairly cheaply using labor from developing countries.
But quality management is the key.
Most outsourcing team managers are “Yes-men”. They’ll tell you that they can do anything, just to get the sale.
That’s when things go wrong…
Here’s some Outsourcing Providers I can recommend:
Outsource Success
Gavin Allinson owns Outsource Success. He essentially middle-man’s work, sending it out to offshore providers and managing the quality of output.
Gavin is university educated, a former consultant to Management Recruitment companies, a life coach to 3-time medal winning Olympic Athletes, and has represented Wales in International Rowing events.
I happen to know that James Brausch has tested and evaluated Outsource Success’s services. James Brausch found that of the hundreds of providers he has used, Outsource Success was one of the top rated providers (most output produced for the lowest cost).
This is how I came across Gavin and Outsource Success.
If you would like to find out more about Outsource Success, visit OutsourceSuccess.com
Popularity: 1%
