by Managing Editor Yoon Cannon | General, Build Your Dream Team
Did you know that nearly 60% of companies are outsourcing tasks to cut costs? Many small companies are falling behind.
They don’t have the ability to afford in-house specialists to keep up. This is due to fast pace technology making business more competitive. Outsourcing is the main key you might be missing for your company to thrive.
Today, IT and other professionals are very expensive to hire. Leaving small businesses in the dust if they can’t afford them.
The benefits of outsourcing are countless. You can outsource mundane tasks so your in-house team can focus on essential assignments that require time and effort. Outsourcing offers both big and small companies significant money-saving opportunities and the ability to stay ahead of the game.
Three Types of Outsourcing
There are three main types of outsourcing. There are many types of jobs and ways to outsource. The key is to find what is best for your company and your needs.
Outsourcing Professionals
This is the most common type of outsourcing. Many small companies cannot afford to outsource expensive specialists. This includes specialists in accounting, administrative, and legal work.
In most cases, you don’t need an in-house full-time professional to do these jobs. You can outsource work to a company or professional when necessary.
Outsourcing IT Experts
Not only are in-house IT experts costly, but they aren’t necessary all the time. The majority of the work they do can be done from anywhere.
Why not hire remotely a professional that has the expertise in the latest technologies.
From app development, system administration, and software design to maintaining your website. You can find less expensive IT experts around the globe that are a fraction of the price of hiring locally.
Outsourcing Copywriters and Marketers
When it comes to marketing, many small businesses turn to their in-house employees. Creating text and design for pamphlets, websites, social media, and blogs.
There is a lot more that goes into creating a quality marketing campaign than just writing text.
Today, with proper content, a company can go far. Outsourcing professionals in the field can help boost their image and put them in the limelight
Outsourcing Benefits and Risks
Did you know that 47% of companies choose to outsource work to reduce capacity issues? Paying for office space costs a lot more than hiring a freelance professional.
Benefits of Outsourcing
1. More specialized talent. – As a small company, it’s not always possible to hire professional talent. They tend to be costly to hire in-house. With outsourcing, you have access to professionals around the globe at a lower cost, depending on your specific needs.
2. Save Money. – A company may spend $1,252 per new employee training alone. This doesn’t include additional costs of office space and expenses such as sick pay, pension, and others. Also, you have more access to professionals with more experience and knowledge that cost less on average.
3. More transfer of knowledge. – A strong team made of experienced experts can cover everything across the board to keep your company up to date.
4. Higher performance. – Most outsourced professionals work per-project basis. Focusing only on the task at hand without distractions that an in-house employee may have. As a result, they deliver work faster and of a much higher quality.
5. Reduce expenditures on new technology. – Technology is always changing. The moment a company finally has the funds to invest, new technology is on the rise. By hiring experts already using the latest technology, the company doesn’t have to train in-house employees to implement it.
6. Improve in-house productivity. – Allow your employees to focus on the crucial tasks. Keep your business moving forward by outsourcing mundane tasks such as data entry.
Drawbacks of Outsourcing
As with everything else, there are always drawbacks. If you pay close attention, do your research whom you outsource to, and always read the fine print, you should be fine.
1. Loss of control. – If you assign work to an outsourcing company or freelancer, be aware. Without controlling the results, you may find yourself worse off than before. Outsourcing requires a bit of organization and work on your side to maintain quality and move forward.
2. Hidden costs. – If you choose to outsource work to a company, be diligent about what you are signing up for. There is often a small print that may incur more costs than hiring in-house. Always review the contracts carefully. Make sure you are aware of what you are paying for and which added costs might come up.
3. Security risk. – If what you plan to outsource requires sharing personal customer or employee data, it could pose a risk. Always consider what type of work you plan on outsourcing and hire trusted companies and freelancers.
4. Time difference. – Many outsourcing companies and freelancers may be working in a different time zone. This might make it challenging to sync with your schedules. However, with good time management, there are always ways around it.
5. Language barriers. – Remember that many outsourcing companies and freelancers are not native English speakers. This could pose a problem with the language barrier. However, if you do your research well, you can find fantastic professionals with perfect English.
6. Moral dilemmas. – One of the moral dilemmas may be denying someone from your team an opportunity to grow by outsourcing work. The possibility of stumping the growth of your community by not working with a local talent agency. Another issue is that some consumers frown upon outsourcing.
Bottom Line
In essence, the benefits of outsourcing for small businesses outweigh the drawbacks. This is because you need to keep up with the big guys if you wish to grow as a company. The best way is by having experts on your team that many small businesses can only afford in-house.
A small business requires a dream team to advance and keep up. Outsource as much as possible by finding companies, or freelancers on sites like PeopleByTheHour and UpWork. Even small businesses could build a dream team,save money, and keep up with the latest changes in technology.
Which tasks you feel could be outsourced in your company?
Question: Would you outsource to give your in-house team more time to focus on important tasks? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Hristina Nikolovska is the appointed Community Manager at WhatToBecome. Using her extensive background in digital marketing, as well as her social media and public relations experience, Hristina’s passion is helping others stay organized through clear communication and pushing for the realization of projects of every sort.
by Managing Editor Yoon Cannon | Marketing and Sales Blog Posts
High Ticket Sales Secrets ~
Selling high ticket products and services is a great way to speed your sales growth, but what do you do when your prospects or clients start to quibble your price?
Answer— you show them the true value of what you’re offering instead.
If your prospects are telling you they like your product or service, but that it’s too expensive, you probably haven’t sufficiently communicated the value of what you’re offering.
Here are nine different ways to help you 10X the value of your services or products, so that 100% of the right prospects buy.
Remember — price isn’t the only thing affecting a purchase decision.
1. Leverage the false economy principle.
The old adage of ‘you buy cheap, you buy twice’ can be a powerful one.
Promoting the quality of what you offer is a viable way of justifying charging higher than your competitors. And the same goes for services or software — the better the build, the less customers will need to spend on support and fixing issues.
You get what you pay for — and that holds true across the board, from selling million dollar Senior Living communities to selling $100,00 Elite coaching-mastermind groups.
When you’re selling high ticket products, highlight the longevity 
and the reliability of your product — “You can buy it for less elsewhere which might seem cheaper in the short run, but it ends up being most expensive in the long run because you’ll have to replace it over and over again.”
If you’re selling high end services, highlight the high return on investment of what you’re offering — “Let me show you how we get you results and even 10X the ROI.” Now how’s that for a powerful sales statement?
2. Win them with awesome ‘gotta-have’ features.
Another way to convince prospects is to highlight the features they get with you that they can’t get anywhere else. It’s a simple, yet effective way to communicate value in a way that’s easy to understand.
This comparison guide from Pipedrive is a really comprehensive (and honest) look at CRM features:
By pitting Pipedrive’s features against that of its major competitors (Salesforce and Zoho), they are letting prospects decide for themselves what service they need based on the essential features.
Feature-led selling is a great way to get someone to buy, especially if they have a non-negotiable feature they can get from you that they can’t get from anyone else!
Speak to your loyal customers and users and ask them what cool feature or service you could add that would transform their experience with you.
It may give you an idea of how to 10X your value. Keep constantly updating and renewing your product and service offering to ensure that you are are the best and most complete offering on the market.
3. Highlight experiential value.
Is there something that you can offer that no one else does right now? Have you got any features in development that are going to change the game? Are you going above and beyond and offering people a VIP customer experience?
This is all about showing your customers value by highlighting your uniqueness, as well as making a big deal about your stellar customer experience.
Speed of delivery – In some cases, customers are often willing to pay more if they can have the product sooner. Just think about the popularity of Amazon Prime — people will actually pay a monthly fee just to get their products quicker when they need them. Same goes for services — the ability to get started on a cleaning or service contract sooner can be worth its weight in gold for busy customers.
Personalization — People love products that they can customize and call their own — always offer this as an option if you can. Dropshipping and print-on-demand shipping models are a cost-effective way of offering mass personalization options and variants to your customers, without the need for a bespoke workshop.
For someone selling services, a bespoke contract might be a way to fulfill this same need — or just invest in great customer service and email marketing to personalize their interactions with you and your brand.
Emails can be a great way to remind people they are due another visit to you, or even wish them happy birthday from you and your team!
4. Harness social status.
In Europe where the roads are more narrow and the gas is more expensive, they love small city cars. Car brands Skoda, SEAT, and Audi are all owned by Volkswagen and many of their cars share the same components. And yet, the small Audis sell at a higher price due to the perceived value and status of having those four rings on the hood.
Why?
Social status — people love to buy into products and services that make them look & feel good in front of other people.
This is where you want to embrace the ‘soft sell’ and display customer reviews in prominent positions both offline and online.
You will also want to use language in your sales literature that sets you up as the premium or ‘go to’ supplier in your area.
Highlighting other big hitters or locally respected people and brands who have come to you already is a great way to increase your social credibility.
5. Let your customers sell you for you.
Go one up on reviews: in-depth case studies and testimonials are another great way of bringing your value or the value of your products to life. Invest in some user-generated content to put sales messages into the hands of your customers.
Why not shoot a customer happiness video to showcase your biggest advocates?
Platforms such as Feefo and Trust Pilot are reasonably easy to implement on websites and provide an easy to understand rating system for customers. Creating a community of happy customers will help with social proof, but you will also need to address your branded literature to ensure an aura of quality and value pervades your brand. Some standout customer quotes and stories should be your go-to value propositions when talking to an unsure prospect.
6. Tell a story.
[bctt tweet=”Features and benefits appeal to logic. Storytelling appeals to emotions.” username=”yooncannon”]
Spend time looking at how luxury brands market and sell their products — they often fall back on age-old techniques like storytelling to help communicate the social status of their brand.
Keep this in mind when creating sales literature like brochures, flyers, leaflets, and landing pages.
Sometimes appealing to people’s imagination and sense of wonder works better than being practical about it. (It’s why beauty salons and spas invest so much time and money in creating an ‘out of this world’ impression and experience).
[bctt tweet=”A good story transforms your brand message from ‘boiled chicken’ to going viral. ” username=”yooncannon”]
Storytelling isn’t just for eCommerce. It also catapults service based business like agencies, brokers, consulting firms, law firms – even home builders and more.
What is your story? What emotional felt need does it tap into your customers?
[bctt tweet=”“Effective storytelling ignites a revolution behind your brand.”” username=”yooncannon”]
7. Pile on the prestige.
People love buying into history and provenance. Make a big deal about your origins, and always highlight the human story behind your materials, suppliers, and vision.
For service-led businesses …
Highlight the prestige of your education or experience, or mention any significant awards and mentors who’ve helped you along the way. Showing that you’ve ‘been in the game’ for awhile can help convince people you are a serious contender.
8. Give value to the community.
Ethical buying is important to vast swathes of the population — tap into ethical consumer trends by communicating your ethical credentials during the sales pipeline. Encouraging your customers to pay more for a good cause e.g. responsibly sourced materials or responsible labor practices is a great sales tactic when price rears its head.
Even service businesses can leverage this strategy by having an awesome corporate social responsibility program, or using ethical supplies and suppliers.
Seek out partnerships with charitable organizations and certified bodies to add legitimacy to the causes you support. It’s not cool to use causes as a cheap way of getting more sales — you need to actually be committed and engaged.
9. Talk & write like you mean it.
Producing content to show you’ve got your finger on the pulse will help demonstrate the value in buying from you. People are much more likely to buy from suppliers and service providers who they follow and engage with on social media.
Ensure that you are ready to engage with customers across a diverse range of channels, whether they choose to call or tweet you.
You can show your customers you understand and care about the same things they do. So if for example you’re selling men’s watches, consider writing some content around men’s lifestyle and fashion to show you connect with your audience in a meaningful way.
Part of connecting with your audience is using an appropriate tone of voice and a brand that resonates with that audience. Sometimes, a stand-out content or ad campaign can grab the attention of customers and have them buy into you as a business. So, there you have it! Now be sure to take the time to implement these 9 steps into your business … OR
If you’d rather speed the process, you can get my help with a
HIGH TICKET SELLING QUICK START LASER COACHING Session, so you can position your high ticket offer to truly make it irresistible!
LIMITED TIME OFFER for a ONE TIME SESSION. Grab it while you can!
💬 QUESTION: What is one question about high ticket selling we didn’t cover in this article? Share your comments below:
Contributing Writer, Victoria Greene is a branding consultant and freelance writer. On her blog, VictoriaEcommerce, she shares tips on e-commerce and how companies can improve the way they represent their brand. She is passionate about using her experience to help brands improve their reach.
