The 7 Jobs You Should Be Outsourcing Now

No matter its size, every business has those administrative tasks that are at once important, not urgent, and really, really boring.

You have two options when it comes to these task. You could:

1. bump them down the to-do list indefinitely, or
2. drop the work you actually enjoy — and get paid to do — and do the admin tasks yourself.

At Weploy, we face these challenges ourselves — but we’ve found a few ways to make our lives a little easier. Here are seven jobs we outsource each month in order to cut down on the amount of admin we have to handle in house:

1. Marketing Administration

The marketing team and I have a million things to do at any one time, and we found that some of the research and administrative tasks were slowing us down. So, we hired a temp worker to come in every other week to compile all the relevant events our target audience attends, share social and blog posts from key industry players, download and file relevant market reports, and conduct influencer research to source potential collaborators for our content marketing.

2. Monthly Reporting

As the marketing and sales teams grew larger and more complex, the need for regular reporting to the rest of the business became urgent. Once we had set up the general structure of the reports and established where to find the relevant data, we didn’t want to use our own valuable time pulling it all together every month. Instead, we bring in a temp worker for a day or two to gather the data and create a powerpoint that is presented to the leadership team.

3. CRM Management

The head of growth and the sales team were discussing managing pipelines and targets, and the usual complains arose about how much time it was taking to add data to the customer relationship management (CRM) system. The answer was simple: Bring in a temp worker every week to research and enter leads into the database.

In the first four weeks, we saw a sizable uptick in the number of meetings scheduled with leads, thanks to the extra time the sales team now had on its hands. More importantly for the business, the size of the contact database increased dramatically, and the forecast accuracy improved significantly.

4. Making Outbound Calls

This one led to some very satisfying results. We had a list of warm leads and needed someone to reach out to them and set up meetings with our cofounder. Our prospects really appreciated the personalized approach of the temp worker we brought in to do the job. In fact, she was so good we had to bring her on as a permanent hire to help us manage our own onboarding process!

5. Answering Inbound Calls

When Weploy first started, it was all hands on deck. That meant our cofounder, Tony, had to answer customer inquiries. However, the increase in inquiries after big events was more than he could handle while maintaining his regular workday.

Tony hired a temp worker during these predictable surges to ensure we were able to continue providing a high level of service without taking his attention away from growing the business. Having the same worker come back each time created even greater efficiency, because he knew how to answer recurring questions and direct leads to the right people internally.

6. Schedule Management and Travel Booking

With executives spread between two offices, engaging with prospects, and working with existing customers, our team has to do a lot of travel and book a lot of meetings. For a long time, trying to get everyone in one place was a massive headache.

One of our top finance team members was initially tasked with managing schedules and booking interstate flights. She brought in a temp to help her, and the amount of time she saved as a result was a surprise to everyone. This also meant our finance exec could go back to what she did best, and the leadership team could focus on what really mattered to the business.

7. Data Entry and Processing

Even in the early days, we had a lot of spreadsheets — spreadsheets for finance, spreadsheets for sales, spreadsheets for the love of spreadsheets!

Maintaining spreadsheets is a vital task, but it’s a major productivity killer for our business line managers. We brought in a temp worker on an as-needed, semi-regular basis to update key spreadsheets and carry out basic data analysis. This particular temp turned out to be an absolute data superstar, having previously managed multibillion-dollar construction projects back in her home country, and she ended up helping us further streamline our processes.

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Every business and every job has its share of administrative tasks and processes that need be done regularly. If you can identify what these are and outsource them, you are well on your way to getting the absolute most out of your workday. You may even be able to free up some precious time to focus on self-development or improve your work/life balance  while helping your business grow!

Ben Eatwell is CMO of Weploy.