Chuck Sink, Chuck Sink Link

Some business functions just need to be outsourced. Payroll for example. Do you really want to figure out and manage tax withholdings and make IRS payments for each and every employee in your firm every pay day? How about your building’s maintenance and property management. Do you and your employees have all the skills, equipment and time to handle it?

What services can you hire out and forget about? For what services do you need to play a key role to implement? Think of it this way: What business services do you need only a phone number for, and what services do you need familiar names and trusted relationships to make work?

There’s a temptation for business owners to simply budget for and spend money on an important area of their business and consider it taken care of. When you really think about it, there aren’t too many professional services or valuable products that don’t require your time and attention as a company leader. You need to be highly involved with your legal team and your tax accountant. You’ll work closely with your architect/designer if planning new work space for your team.

For some other key services there’s a temptation to simply let the paid vendor handle it. Two examples come to mind: Information Technology (IT) and Marketing Communications. There’s an interesting twist in why I chose these two examples.

An IT Managed Service Provider firm recently had me review their marketing materials. The owner clearly explained to me the intense level of customization needed for each client’s unique operation as well as the different security and monitoring needs every client has. He went on to show me a purchased, automated marketing program designed and written just for IT managed services firms like his. This program was a pre-packaged set of emails, post cards and sales scripts for a 1-year campaign. It wasn’t working for him. Is there any irony here?

Is there a temptation to simply “outsource” a critically unique aspect of your business such as how you communicate with the market? Should you defer your unique selling proposition and differentiating value to a canned approached designed for your competition to use? Perhaps marketing services call for more than a “proven formulaic method.”

The bottom line is this: You don’t outsource your marketing! You hire experienced consultants who become trusted partners.

Chuck Sink is president of Chuck Sink Link in Contoocook,N.H.