Successful small business owners can get caught in a trap: their business grows to the point that they cannot do it all alone, yet cannot afford to hire staff employees. This is a conundrum in which many entrepreneurs find themselves when they are growing their business, but fail to generate the increased sales numbers that can help them expand. What is a small business owner to do?
Getting help doesn’t mean you have to hire employees. That is what outsourcing is for! Here are a few ways you can acquire excellent talent, save money, and remain flexible in your growth – all without hiring full or event part-time staff members.
Commissioned Sales People
Sales is the number one marketing priority for many small business owners. You can post a plethora of advertisements and marketing materials, but when it comes to getting money in your register, you often must have a live person interacting with a customer. Sales people may be on-location in your store or in the “field” where they make contacts to other customers outside your place of business.
Why not organize a set of experienced salespeople to work on commission? Agree to pay them a high commission, say up to 50% or so, on each sale. That saves you valuable marketing dollars by letting them do the lead generation and presentations, and you reap the benefits of greater sales numbers.
Essential Non-Income Personnel
Many employees of a business are not part of the revenue generating system, including accountants, administrators, legal staff, and others.
However, it is easy to outsource your essential business administration functions. Hire a bookkeeping service to do your monthly books and a CPA to help file taxes each year. Hire a janitorial service to clean your office once or twice a week. Even freelance administrative assistants are available to do the few administrative tasks you have each week.
Labor
If you operate a manufacturing or product assembly business, you know that labor is essential for getting the work done. However, you can easily contract through a temporary agency that can provide you with pre-screened and skilled labor when you need it. This also helps avoid layoffs during non-peak times of the year. Let the temp agencies help you with this important staffing task.
By being creative, you can find ways to procure the help you need – without having to bear the overhead of employees.
