Grow Your New Business with the Help of These Professional Services
Once a business is well established, some processes that were learning experiences in the very beginning can be completed in-house. However, there are some things which startups are ill-equipped to deal with and so it makes sense that they employ professional service providers to take on necessary tasks so that things run on an even keel until such time that management can focus on training up from within the ranks or hiring personnel to take charge of those operations. If you are in the midst of starting a new business, take time to look at just why some professional services are best outsourced.
Can You Afford Not to Outsource Some Services?
If you employ a bare-bones staff, one of the things you cannot afford to do is take them off tasks they are really just becoming familiar with. No matter how much experience they have with their profession, it is always a new learning experience when working for a new company. Whether that company has been in business for forty years or is just starting out like yours, they will be learning a new way of doing things and so being taken off-task to do other jobs can be detrimental to the flow of business. That being said, don’t expect your office staff to do janitorial or maintenance jobs because there is other work that also needs doing. It is cheap enough to hire commercial cleaning services which will keep your company shipshape while allowing your staff to do what they were hired for.
Why Would You Need Professional Cleaning Services Anyway?
Now, you may be wondering why you would want to employ a cleaning service in the first place. Remember that every picture tells a story and you will almost certainly be meeting with new clients, after all, at this point most will be new to you! Keeping everything in order and sparkling clean will paint a picture of a company that cares about the image they portray and a company that is well organized with everything in order. They will trust that you can deliver products or services with the same amount of care you give your own company.
Accounting Is a Must
In the beginning, you may not have the wherewithal to employ a full-time accountant, but don’t expect a bookkeeper to be able to provide the same level of knowledge as a CPA. While they may be perfectly capable of balancing your books, what happens at tax time? A great deal of the coursework they study is on tax laws, both federal and the state, county and city in which they are practicing in. By hiring an outside CPA, you can be assured you are within legal compliance and your bookkeeper can communicate directly with that firm if needed. If you want to stay out of the scrutiny of the IRS, hire a Certified Public Accountant. This really is a must have professional service.
Web Development Services
Then there are web development services which are especially important for startups. Most people find new products, information and services online and that is where you can expect the majority of your business to come from, especially in the very beginning. While you, or someone on your staff, may have some experience setting up a personal website, this is in no way the same as designing and building a professional web presence. Yes, you can have them build a user-friendly WordPress website that you can administer once built, but as for developing a high-quality professional site, leave it to the pros!
Marketing – Local and Online
Whether you intend to conduct any business online isn’t really an issue. However, you do need to market your startup online because it is the easiest way to reach the broadest audience, local or global. As alluded earlier, most people do find most businesses online with a quick Internet search and it takes a talented marketer to bring your company to the top of the SERPS, Search Engine Results Pages. With a combination of organic and paid marketing strategies, a professional marketing firm can help you quickly establish your presence so that when new searches are conducted, your business will rank highly enough to be quickly visible.
Learning from and Working with Business Consultants
Although you may know your product or service inside and out, have you ever started a business before? Most startups, unless offshoots of other companies, can benefit greatly by hiring a business consultant. This is a person or team that specializes in planning and strategizing everything from production to marketing, to help you maximize profitability in every department and process within your organization. A business consultant has the knowledge and skills necessary to see the whole picture in order to help you build a working business model. From marketing to operations, a business consultant oversees it all.
The ‘Hiring’ Process Made Simple
One thing to keep in mind is that you really need to investigate and scrutinize every professional you are considering. Just because someone has the credentials doesn’t mean they have the ability or the will to do what you need done. Take time to check references and talk to other businesses they have consulted. If you don’t feel that instant rapport, move on to the next person on the list. It is imperative that you are able to communicate comfortably with your consultant, more so than with any other professional you contract. They will, after all, be making suggestions you may not be thrilled with and this requires a good working relationship with exceptional channels of communication. Yes, you need a consultant, but no, you don’t have to take the first one that comes along.
With the right help in the very beginning, you can grow your business to the point of hiring this type of professional full-time in-house. However, unless you contract professional services in the beginning, it may take years (if at all!) to build the financial resources enabling you to do so. It is most often cheaper to contract outside professional services than to hire a professional with a benefits package, so choose wisely and before you know it you will have the resources to do just that.
