Is Your Social Media Beyond Repair?
No one likes to admit they broke things. In fact, many people will run for cover so that they do not get blamed for such actions.
When it comes to your company’s social media efforts, are you putting the right amount of time and energy into them or is it done with just a passing interest?
As more small businesses identify and understand just how beneficial social media can be to their company’s success, it is incumbent upon them to know when and be able to fix a social media program when it is broken.
Social Media Gaffes
For companies who are having issues with their social media campaigns, what are the right fixes?
Do they take the time to correct them? Do they put the problem on the backburner to deal with another day? Lastly, do they just throw their arms up in the air and abandon social networking altogether?
If your small business has seen its social media planning come up short of what your intended goals were in the first place, there are options available to right the ship.
Start by taking a look at the following:
- Frequency of social networking – In the event your company has set up a social media campaign, how often are you tending to it? If the answer is not that often, you’ve got a problem. If you’re going to take the time to set up Facebook and Twitter pages to name two, you’d better plan on actively working them. What’s the sense in the first place of having such venues if you’re attendance on them will be limited to begin with?
- Being too rigid in who can use the sites – While marketing/PR departments typically oversee a company’s Twitter or Facebook venue, that doesn’t mean others cannot utilize it. Yes, you should have some rules for engagement in place, but that does not mean contributions from other employees should be excluded. While it is fine to review any tweets, shares, etc. that go out, don’t discourage employees from participating.
- Not engaging customers – In the event you’re allowing and receiving comments to your social media pages, by all means respond to them. Nothing will discourage return customers more than if you allow them the opportunity to comment, yet you turn a deaf ear to those comments.
- Throwing in the towel – It happens all too often. A small business begins a social media campaign, doesn’t get the results it wants and abandons it. So, what exactly have they accomplished? To put it bluntly, nothing. By all means, stay upbeat and try different approaches if things are not working out. The worst possible scenario is to give up on the project, therefore eliminating a great way to be seen and heard. Like just about everything else in life, results do not come overnight. Have a long-term social media strategy and be prepared to stick it out. Developing solid relationships with both current and potential customers takes time, so don’t get discouraged if things are not clicking right away.
The best advice possible for a successful social media campaign is to be in it for the long haul, knowing that some things will work and others won’t.
One thing that will definitely work in your company’s favor is planning on being social for a long time to come.
About the Author: Dave Thomas is an expert writer on items like purchasing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs at Resource Nation.
Photo Credit: e-magic
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4 Small Tips for Big Credit Card Processing Savings
Credit card processors have been known to use cryptic statements, ambiguous fees and spotty customer service as props to anchor a wall between your business and lower fees.
The truth is that credit card processing isn’t as confusing as some processors would like you to believe. To prove that point, I’m going to outline four simple tips that will arm you with the knowledge to quickly and easily lower your business’s credit card processing fees.
1. Interchange: know the best rate before you shop
You don’t have to ask a processing rep what his rates are because you can see the lowest credit card processing rates before you even start shopping.
There’s a little something called interchange that’s essentially the wholesale price list for the credit card processing industry. The best part is that interchange rates are posted right online for all to see.
You don’t have to take my word for it — check out the interchange credit card processing rates for Visa and MasterCard right here.
Now that you know the best rates, your goal should be to pay as close to interchange as possible on every transaction, and the way to do that is by getting pass through pricing.
2. Get pass through pricing
You know all those pesky, expensive mid and non-qualified rates you see on your processing statement each month? Did you notice they’re not listed on the interchange fee schedules for Visa and MasterCard?
The reason is that Visa and MasterCard don’t charge qualified, mid-qualified and non-qualified rates. Your processor is charging these rates by using what’s referred to as a bundled pricing model. It’s named for the way that interchange fees are grouped into general pricing categories by processors.
Bundled pricing is expensive, and makes it tough to decipher statements to figure out where your money is actually going.
A huge step toward lowering your processing fees is to dump bundled pricing in exchange for interchange pass through pricing.
With interchange pass through you pay actual interchange fees, the processor’s markup is a fixed percentage added to the actual cost of a transaction, and mid and non-qualified surcharges are completely eliminated.
3. Just say no to cancellation fees
Contracts with hefty cancellation fees were the norm for credit card processors not too long ago, but times have changed.
Heightened competition has made it so processors need to be flexible to earn your business, and a cancellation fee is often waived without a fight.
If a processing rep tells you that your merchant account will have a cancellation fee, simply ask him to waive it. You’ll be surprised at how readily he agrees.
4. Match words to numbers, and scour the fine print
It’s one thing to be promised great rates and fees; it’s another to see them in writing. Review processing agreements with a fine tooth comb and make sure all rates and fees reflect what was discussed.
Keep in mind that many agreements have additional information that’s included by reference. Be sure to check the fine print for Web site addresses that contain additional information.
Keep a watchful eye
Finding a competitive credit card processing account is half the battle; keeping it is what counts. Be sure to check the first page of your monthly processing statement for updates and changes to your account.
Most statements have an “Important Announcements” section where processors will notify you of increases or changes in your rates and fees. If you notice that a fee is being increased, call the processor and request that it remain the same. Often times, catching the increase before it happens is enough to preserve the competitive rates you worked hard to obtain.
About the author: Ben Dwyer manages CardFellow.com, a Web site that saves businesses an average of 40% on credit card processing services by delivering multiple interchange plus quotes from leading processors instantly. Sign up for free today to start saving on your business’s credit card processing fees.
Photo Credit: Josh Kenzer
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Small Businesses Must Utilize Technology to Deliver a Personal Touch
In many ways, for small businesses that can utilize it, technology is the great equalizer between a start up and a larger company. It lowers the cost of lead and contact acquisition dramatically and allows a small business to reach a targeted audience quickly and efficiently. However, a small business needs to remember that technology is a tool to deliver personal service and not simply a tool to send sales pitches to more and more leads. While unsolicited email can generate leads, personal service and quality products build loyal and repeat customers.
The sales cycle for most business starts with finding an audience in the niche in which the business is operating. The business must then reach out to that audience. Larger businesses can use traditional advertising and let the potential customers come to them. But a small business is unlikely to have the resources to do this from the start. This is where technology can be extremely beneficial to a start up or young small business.
By using information technology, the small business owner can narrowly identify potential customers in their niche. Then, using email, the small business can contact these potential customers at little to no cost. This type of targeted and narrow advertising can be done in a way that appears very personal. But while sending unsolicited emails to potential clients is a great way to reach a focused, targeted audience, it is only the beginning.
To convert a lead or a contact into something more requires more than technology; it requires the personal touch to be continued through the sales cycle. Here again, technology can help. A small business owner can call and verify that the product or service is meeting expectations. A small business owner can personally follow up with an email survey to identify and address problems. In other words, a small business can deliver personal attention using technology that is impossible for a larger company to match. This personal touch can be the differentiator that allows the small business to wow their customers and convert contacts into advocates who will carry the sales message to their circle of influence.
About the Author: This guest post is contributed by Amy Gardner, who writes on the topic of small business credit cards resource . Amy welcomes your comments at her email id: amy.gardner20-AT-gmail.com
Photo Credit: the Comic Shop
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Small Biz Benefits from Mobile Apps
A new survey from the Small Business and Entrepreneurship (SBE) Council reveals that mobile apps may be the new BFF (best friend forever) of small business owners. By tapping into the power of apps for credit card processing, GPS navigation and contact management, merchants and service providers can save time and money that’s better spent on growing their business.
Time Savings and Efficiency
According to the survey, small businesses save an estimated 725.3 million hours annually by using mobile app technology. That figure roughly translates into $17.6 billion in savings.
Over 300 owners of companies with 20 employees or fewer participated in the SBE study. Thirty-one percent reported incorporating mobile apps into their daily business routines, and 51% felt the apps made their companies more competitive.
Not Going Anywhere
The small business owners indicated that mobile apps are here to stay — an opinion shared by the SBE Council. “It will no doubt grow when you look at the expanding use of smartphones and iPads and related tablets,” predicted its chief economist, Ray Keating.
There’s an App for That
In addition to apps for credit card processing, other apps that are popular with small businesses included travel planning, remote document access, banking and finance management, social media marketing and location-based services. When you’re on the road and need to stay in touch with your customers and employees, mobile apps allow you to do so in a much faster and more effective manner. There are even mobile apps that allow you to remotely connect to your home or work computer!
Business owners who are interested in apps for mobile credit card processing should talk with their merchant services provider to arrange for the necessary merchant account to support the process.
About the Author: Marc McDermott is the Online Marketing Manager at Merchant Express, a provider of transaction processing services and payment processing technologies with a specialized approach to online credit card processing, merchant bankcard processing and transaction processing services.
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The 3 Steps to Starting Your Email Marketing Off Right
Recently, Small Biz Bee posted 5 ways to bore your email marketing subscribers – what not to do. So the question is, what should you do to get results from your marketing emails?
The experts push for split testing and segmenting, and those are important – later. For now, if you only have a handful of subscribers and are still finalizing your initial set of messages, you need to start with the basics.
First, sight your goals
If you don’t have a clear destination, you’ll never get to it. Your message stream won’t be focused, your web forms may not match your follow ups and any inconsistencies may bruise your brand’s reputation.
“What are your goals?” is a broad, vague question. You may want to use these more focused questions to help you find your answers.
Once you’ve determined those goals at the end of a path ahead of you. What steps do you need to take to get there? List them out and scratch them off as you go. Stick to your path and eventually, you’ll get to your destination.
Then, decide how to track your progress
You can gather a whole lot of data on your campaign’s performance. Email service providers track opens, clicks, downloads and more, and Google Analytics provide even more depth.
In theory, this data shows you what to improve for better results in the future. But if you focus on all of it, you’ll be scrambling around tracking every upswing, downswing and flatline that appears, wasting energy instead of making decisive, effective improvements.
Instead, use those goals you’ve determined, you can figure out what you want to focus on tracking. This guide breaks it down.
This data can tell you a lot, especially if you have time to really break it down and make improvements based on the results you see, but it shouldn’t be your main focus – that should be somewhere else.
Focus your gaze on the people around you
It’s people who sign up for your emails, who buy from you, who link you up and talk you up when you wow them – or who, if you don’t impress, don’t.
So focus on them. If they reply to your email (you’re letting them, right?), respond. If customers ask for special treatment, give it to them (within reason).
If you have the time and manpower, link up with your supporters on Facebook or Twitter display your brand as more of a personality. (If not, focus on building relationships through email conversations.)
Once you get “there,” go further
That destination we mentioned earlier? I’ll tell you the secret to success. Don’t stop when you get there.
Reset your sights, perhaps on finding on ways to create emails efficiently or strategies to automate how your lists interact.
And by all means, make sure you go back to split test and segment. 
Photo Credit: Biscarotte
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Is Your Business Set Up To Flourish… Or Fail?
Great looking business cards? Well, maybe you shouldn’t hand them out just yet.
While conducting business seminars during my career at the Internal Revenue Service, I discovered that many new business owners had excellent products or services to offer potential customers, however, they needed professional help when it came to business planning and selecting an appropriate business structure.
The Importance of the Plan
To increase the possibilities of success, a strong business foundation should exist before operations begin.
Remember this: business success only occurs when preparation meets opportunity.
A business plan guides the business owner through the steps that are necessary to start the business and keep it on track.
The plan must include:
- Description of the business – What is being sold?
- Market analysis – Will people buy the product or service?
- Management – Are the business managers qualified?
- Operations – How will the work get done?
- Financial – What are capital, income and expenses projections?
The business plan will assist a new business in accomplishing the major tasks of financing the business, producing the product or service, and marketing the product or service. Of course, there are other critical business tasks, such as finding suppliers, hiring employees and developing an accounting system.
Pick the Proper Structure
As for the law, there are a number of legal structures that can be selected for a business. The most common are sole proprietorships, general and limited partnerships, C corporations, S corporations, and the Limited Liability Company (LLC).
Which is best? Well, that depends…
Each legal structure consists of organizational options that are appropriate for different business situations and which affect income tax and legal liability issues.
For someone working alone, a Sole Proprietorship is a business owned by individual person. It is the simplest legal structure. The individual person, the proprietor, has the right to all of the profits generated by the business (that’s the good news!), but is also responsible for taxes on income, business debt, and legal liability.
If multiple persons are involved – and hopefully work well together – a Partnership could be formed. This is a business owned by two or more individuals who enter into a formal agreement to contribute their funds and other resources to business and to share profits. Each partner pays income taxes personally. General partners make management decisions, actively participate in the business, and are personally liable for the financial obligations of the business. The liability of limited partners however, is limited and to the amount of their investment.
In a C corporation, shareholders (owners) transfer money, property, or both, for the corporation capital stock. A corporation is a legal structure in which the owners are not personally liable for the financial obligations of the business. They can lose only the money they invest. A corporation takes the same tax deductions as a sole proprietorship to determine taxable income. Special deductions are also allowed
The profit of a corporation is taxed to the corporation when earned and then is taxed to the shareholder when distributed as dividends. This is known as “double taxation” (ouch!)
An S corporation is exempt from federal income tax except for taxes paid on certain capital gains and passive income. Shareholders include on their personal tax returns their share of the corporation income, deduction, loss, and credit.
Finally, a limited liability company (LLC), is a very popular form of business organization. It provides some of the benefits of partnerships and corporations. As in a partnership, the company does not pay income tax. Each member pays income taxes personally. LLC members have the same limited liability as corporate shareholders and are not personally responsible for the debts of the company.
Well, since every business needs to have a foundation from which it can “flourish”, there may be a few things for you to think about before you start passing out those business cards…
About the Author: Lyndon Ford, Enrolled Agent, MBA is a former IRS Agent and host of the “Tax Trouble Help Show” which is broadcast on News/Talk 1400AM WDTK Detroit or internet streaming on WDTKAM.COM. The show can be heard “live” on Saturdays at 7:30AM EST and on replay, Sundays at 5:30PM EST. Podcasts of the show and information about and nationwide IRS tax trouble representation services we offer can be found at www.taxtroublehelp.com or call 877.249.1383. IRS audits, collections (liens, levies), and unfiled tax returns. In Tax Trouble? Don’t Worry…We Can Help!
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7 Things Businesses Should Know Before Opening A Business Banking Account
Anyone who is in business is usually trying to stay afloat in this recession and concerned about keeping costs to a minimum. Running your business income through your personal account may seem like a great idea, however, there are some things you should be aware of.
Income Taxes:
Keeping your business income and expenses separate is a must come tax-time. Being religious about keeping these separate will make life a lot easier down the road. If it isn’t a business expense, then you won’t use your business checking. Simple as that. Business is for business, personal for personal and never shall the two meet.
Figuring your profit and loss, balance sheets and tax returns will be a breeze, especially if you use accounting software such as Quicken to track your business checking account. Everything is automatically put into the right categories for you so you can examine monthly, where your biggest expenses are, and where you can minimize expenses.
Better Money Management:
Having a business account helps you budget, because if you don’t use it for personal reasons, there tends to be funds left over at the end of the month. You can transfer from business to personal when needed, and even that is a write-off. Everything that you run through your business will become a business income or expense and therefore much easier to see where your hard earned cash is going.
Professionalism:
The more you act like an established business, the more you will be perceived as a successful business. Having a business account will allow your clients to perceive you as a professional.
Having a business account, business cards and a professional answering service will give you a means of business credibility and representation, as well as give you the confidence to land more clients.
Business Account Uses:
When you open a business account, money can be allocated for investments, partnerships and make business payments, keeping your business credit optimum. If you have employees, paying salaries from a business account is mandatory, especially if you have a corporation, or LLC.
Business Account Benefits:
Business accounts at major banks offer benefits such as special discounts on business products, and special promotions. And, there are perks such as sub-accounts, direct and free connections to personal accounts, the ability to obtain better rate credit cards and financial rewards.
Type of Business Account:
Each financial institution is different, however, there are many choices that should be considered when opening an account. How many checks do you write, how much income is run through the account monthly? What is your average balance monthly? These are things that should determine what type of account you choose.
There are small business accounts, which offer new and smaller businesses a business account with no fees. Some accounts offer no fees if you keep a specific balance or a specific amount of checks are written, so make certain you look closely at the options.
Risks Involved:
The times when business is slow, finding yourself with insufficient funds can cost you a fortune with a business account. The fees are escalated, which makes matters worse, and your business associates could lose confidence.
Also, because you have a business, banks tend to see you as credible and offer you business loans, especially if your credit is worthy. These loans can escalate when times are slow, and end up costing you more than you make just paying them back.
Disadvantages:
Usually, interest-bearing accounts offer less interest on business checking than a savings account. And, there are fees associated with a business account that are not charged with a personal account or savings.
- Overdraft fees and interest rates are higher for businesses.
- If your credit is iffy, your ability to get a business account may be jeopardized.
- Opening a business account requires a lot of paperwork, and the approval process is sometimes tedious, and time consuming.
Conclusion:
Essentially, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages, and having a business account is sometimes a necessity in keeping your accounting straight, your tax information handy and to allow the clients you work with to see you as much more worthy when writing checks made out to your business, instead of you personally.
Business accounts lend credibility, especially to a new business.
About the Author: Ally is part of the team that manages How To Save Money, a personal finance blog that wrote about How To Save Money On Your Food Indulgences. Before joining BS, she was a Media Planner with McCann Worldgroup Philippines, Inc., with award-winning executions, including the Levi’s 501 “Live Unbuttoned” global campaign.
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A Quick Guide to ERP Outsourcing for SMBs
Once thought of as something only large enterprises do, outsourcingis nowa viable option for companies of all sizes who are looking for efficiencies or to offload non-coretasks. One such option is to outsource the hosting and management of your enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.
But what exactly is ERP outsourcing? What are its benefits? And what do you need to consider when looking at service providers?
Today, outsourcing isn’t just for large enterprises. We’ve seen a shift during the past few years as increasingly small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) look towards outsourcing because they can now benefit from the same services as large enterprises, and in many cases even more so.
What is ERP outsourcing?
In general,ERP outsourcing has three independent components:
- Application hosting
- Application management
- Help desk outsourcing
Application hosting is what people traditionally think of as“hosting”, i.e. the idea of purchasing space and resources from a data center to host one or more software systems. Application management is handing off the “tactical” maintenance of the applications within your system, such as applying patches and updates. And help desk outsourcing is where the service provider becomes the direct line of support for your end users.All three components can stand alone as individual services with unique benefits, but when bundled together, they work in harmony to enable further efficiencies.
While hosting is something that SMB’s may have considered, they may not have thought about outsourcing the maintenance of their ERP software or the associated end user support. With the downturn in the economy businesses of all sizes are looking at how they can improve efficiencies and make better use of their capital. With the convergence of less expensive hardware and new technologies, such as virtualization, with the increased complexity of enterprise software and the business environment, ERP outsourcing has become a relevant option for SMB’s.
What are some of the benefits of ERP outsourcing?
There are numerous benefits associated with outsourcing, however, for expediency we’ll focus on three key benefits:
- More effective use of capital
- Improved service delivery
- Ability to focus on core competencies
With outsourcing, capital expenses become operational expenses. Organizations exchange unpredictable IT expenses for a predictable, all-inclusive, monthly bill. No large up-front fees, no unplanned expenses, no surprises. Further, capital is freed up to be used on other strategic initiatives.
Companies can also expect improved service delivery backed by service level agreements (SLA’s). In paying your monthly bill, you’re paying for top-tier facilities, the latest technology, IT expertise, and application knowledge. This all translates into improved system performance, up-to-date applications and happier, more knowledgeable, end users.
Probably the most important benefit of ERP outsourcing is that it enables organizations to focus on their core competencies, rather than IT. Every business has finite financial and human resources, ERP outsourcing can free up resources so they can be invested in more strategic initiatives. This includes freeing up your current IT staff to focus on supporting those initiatives, instead of spending time on tasks that add little value to the bottom line.
What should you consider when looking at service providers?
Good service providers take the time to understand your business, develop solutions based on your specific requirements, back those solutions with SLA’s and provide regular account reviews. The best providers essentially become an extension of your IT department, seamlessly working with your organization.
We suggest considering these three attributes to start with:
- Top tier data centers
- Well defined services delivery methodology
- Application expertise
Selecting a data center can be challenging.Of course you want to look for the expected attributes, including redundant power supplies and data communications connections, environmental controls (e.g., air conditioning, fire suppression) and security devices. However, capabilities and quality range significantly, so if you are going to invest in hosting it would be sensible to select a Tier III or IV data center. The tier level designation ensures that the data center can provide a proven level of service based on their facilities, infrastructure and technical competency.
Next, simply providing hardware, software and support services,is not enough. A quality service provider follows established best practices based on a framework or methodology, such as the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), when delivering services. Ask for a review of their standard operating procedures (SOP’s). Having clearly documented processes provides confidence that the provider will be consistent in their service delivery.
Finally, if you’re outsourcing the application maintenance and/or end user support, it is critical that the provider knows the applications intimately. If they are tasked with making sure the software is up-to-date and performing optimally, they have to have a thorough understanding of the application’s architecture and administration. For effective end user support they must understand the applications at the detailed feature/functionality level to ensure they can adequately help users. And close ties to the software vendor is helpful, as getting timely communications on application issues and updates is helpful in providing proactive support and if necessary getting access to support and development resources beyond what is available through normal channels.
About the Author: Rashed Khan holds a MSc in Software Engineering and guest posts on business/technology related topics. Rashed is currently guest posting on behalf of Epicor who specialize in ERP Software.
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7 Must-Know Tips for Outsourcing Your Business
As an entrepreneur, you are probably more than familiar with having to juggle everything at the same time. Overseeing payroll, human resources, special projects, advertising, etc. – it can easily become costly and overwhelming. In an effort to save both time and money, however, many businesses outsource certain tasks.
For example, if your company’s business deals with e-commerce, you may not need to pay someone on-staff to answer your phone. Instead, outsourcing to a call center may be a better move. Or maybe you don’t have a web designer on staff but you need one to redesign your website. Rather than looking to hire one, you can have the project outsourced to fulfill your temporary needs.
In both examples, outsourcing is beneficial because you are able to manage your resources and handle issues or operations that you don’t necessarily know how to do (or just don’t want to do), and in most cases, you can save money. However, not doing your research can cause you to lose money, have high turnover and stifle your growth. Your outsourcing success rate really depends on your type of business, the quality of the provider, and the services you choose. If you observe the following tips, though, you can start heading in the right direction.
1. Determine Your Needs
Identify the work that isn’t a part of your core mission of business and then consider the following:
- Can someone external to your company do the work better than you can?
- Will outsourcing save you money?
- Will outsourcing enable you to put more of your resources and focus elsewhere?
Careful consideration of this step is vital to your success. If you are unable to be clear about what your needs are, how will you articulate those needs to an outsourcer? Again, make sure the work you outsource doesn’t entail lots of oversight, because if it does, it might have been better to just handle the job in-house.
2. Be Picky
When picking an outsourcer, request to see their previous work before you make a decision about whether or not to hire them. Are they fully equipped to handle the job? Say you outsourced your web design – do the designers have wireless Internet cards for their laptops if they suddenly have to travel during the work week? Are they available through email, phone, and several other means? A bad decision at this stage can cost you money down the line and compromise your entire operation.
Also, if they can’t show you something tangible for a previous work sample (if you’re outsourcing to a call center, for example), be sure to get some references. It also might be a good idea to check out their page at the Better Business Bureau.
3. Take One Project at a Time
So you identify a vendor and are presented with a two-year contract. Not so fast! Don’t sign any long-term contracts until you’ve seen that this provider has had success on smaller projects. If possible, test the outsourcer first by giving them a comparatively small task to accomplish. Their ability to handle this project well will prove whether they are a good match in the long run.
4. Brace Yourself for Challenges
As great as it would be to immediately hit the ground running with your new provider, realistically it will take some time to synchronize operations and build a professional relationship. In order for outsourcing to work, you and your staff are going to need to be patient and prepared for small missteps that may happen in the beginning. For example, if your provider is off-shore, there will be time-zone differences that can hamper proper communication. Setting up a realistic schedule that meets your needs may take some practice. If all parties are invested, though, a little practice and management of expectations will sort things out.
5. Be Aware of the Full Costs
Many companies outsource to save money, but outsourcing can get pricey too. Are your outsourcing projects going to require you to employ telecommuters or freelance staff who work remotely? If so, this could be costly depending on where the workers are based. What about equipment? Do the outsourcers have their own or are your fronting the bill? Make sure to get as much information as possible about the total costs – before it’s too late.
6. Are Your Expectations the Same?
Are all involved parties clear about what the end result should be? Miscommunication about benchmarks can cause a maelstrom of issues. Be clear about communicating what success looks like as well as when you expect to get there. If possible, provide the outsourcers with a concrete example of what you’d like their finished product to look like. For instance, perhaps you are outsourcing the redesign of your site. Is the vendor up to speed with the latest content management systems and development software? You should know what capabilities you want your site to have and ensure that your provider has already been able to provide that level of quality to other clients before giving them the job.
7. Prepare for Cultural Differences
If you are outsourcing abroad, you definitely need to be aware of the cultural differences that will arise. Outsourcing your calls, for example, would mean your provider would need to be attuned to the cultural and social customs of your business. If you’re outsourcing web design, you’ll want to make sure that the language your provider will be using fits your demographic. Customers are very observant and can tell very quickly if the message they are reading is of a low quality or poorly translated.
It is no secret that outsourcing has become the strategy of choice of the majority of American businesses. In 2008 alone, almost half of U.S. businesses took part in off-shore outsourcing. With some research and deliberation, outsourcing can be a valuable alternative for you too.
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