Businesses and their managers often have one thing in common: action cycles.
Management focuses all of its attention on a small number of issues, and the other projects – important, but not urgent – are pushed off to the side by your organization. Of course, eventually these delayed projects must be prioritized, as now they have not only become important AND urgent, but could also harm your business if they are neglected any longer.
Outsource to speed up business development
All SMEs have a limited amount of internal resources, a fact that has never been truer than in the last decade. The fast-paced market, customers with poorly defined expectations, and new technologies can be overwhelming. There are more and more parameters to consider when deploying your marketing plan, while in the recent past the means at your disposal were traditional and often predictable (even repetitive).
So how can you adapt? My observations in the field, based on working with several hundred SMEs, allow me to provide you with the very simple solution: outsource.
You may say this is nothing new, but it is very effective advice. Think about it for a minute: can you seriously manage to do everything in-house, all the time, and in a professional manner, with good returns on investment?
Seek out solid expertise rather than trying to do everything in-house
We can’t blame you, constantly having to put out fires, all while doing everything possible to achieve your annual, quarterly, or even weekly goals. But really, at this pace, to put things off until tomorrow all the time is to make a choice: either suffer the negative consequences of these delays, or simply find a competent external resource to expedite your next big project.
It is unrealistic to believe that you can accomplish all the tasks necessary to your success, with the level of excellence needed to yield the best results. Carrying out too many projects in-house can be counterproductive, and your company’s impact in your market may fall well short of its potential as a result.
Set yourself apart! Your customers and prospects are always looking for the best value
I have dozens of meetings each year with business leaders whose websites do not reflect their market offering. Do you really think a prospect will select you for a service or buy your product if it is not on your site or not listed on Google, Yahoo or Bing? And all this because you use a Web development agency that updates or programs your site, but knows nothing about digital performance?
Your site is not adapted to mobile devices and, lo and behold, your future client decides to browse your competitor’s “responsive design” website… and then contacts them. You have not updated the presentation for your sales team for a long time, but a new aggressive competitor is already approaching your existing customers. You have a brand identity that is rather old-fashioned, poorly adapted to your offering of ultra-modern products. How often do we see campaigns where the message is unclear? How often is the content written to present the company rather than to understand the needs of its target audience? I even saw a technology company canvass clients with a very ordinary website. Are you trying to stand out, but lack the marketing tools to do so? Outsource.
Find a partner to help you grow your business
Production, finance, human resources, procurement, innovation and finally entering into the market all eventually require your company’s full attention. That’s the nature of business.
Leaders can always hope to be able to plan out enough time for everything, but the vast majority of SMEs (those that do not have a marketing department with 50+ employees, in contrast to very large companies) should seriously consider delegating more tasks to professionals, clearly defining their expectations.
All leaders have an action cycle. Proactive leaders establish measures and find ways of doing things to improve their operations rather than sitting back and watching the situation deteriorate. Take control and find the right partner to increase your sales and profits!
