Recently I was asked a question about outsourcing partners. The person who asked me said that he couldn't find outsourcing partners, who provide the level of responsiveness he needs. He thought that maybe his expectations were too high and asked me about the reasonable level of responsiveness one can expect. Read my answer below:
Whenever you are working with somebody, always give them a deadline that is at minimum a week before your actual date that you need it. Do not let them know that that is the case. Most often, the people you are outsourcing from have multiple clients and the challenge there is that their time is divided between all of those people and they tend to address the projects that are most current or that need the attention at that particular time.
It is important that you establish your expectations upfront because whenever you are working with somebody, the first thing that you want to ask them is, "Do you have time? Are you able to take on new clients?"
If the answers to both questions are yes, then you can start negotiating the turnaround time for the project. They will tell you when they will be able to finish it.
Then you want to follow that one up just to make sure you say, "Okay, so from my understanding, if I give you a project on Monday, it is going to be completed by XYZ date," whatever their timeline may be. That way, you won their commitment in terms of they are the ones that have shared with you their timeline and they have agreed and committed to that.
From there, what I like to do is give them a project that is not time sensitive in a sense that it needs to be done right away, just to test the water, to see how they respond and how the communication is going back and forth.
The next question we need to clarify is about the time and ways to communicate. There are many ways to communicate - phone, email, instant messagers (such as Yahoo, Skype, MSN, etc.) Clarify how they prefer to communicate and also when. It is important to know at what time of the day you can reach them.
Different people work at different times. For instance, some of the webmasters I know work only at night because then they are most productive. Other webmasters work in the daytime.
Work hours are really important and you need to clarify this in advance. If you have a vital question to ask them and they work mainly at night, you will be trying in vain to reach them during normal business hours.
Another important tip for successful partnership is to give them as much information as possible, thus reducing the guesswork to zero. Maybe not everybody else does it but since this approach delivers the best results for me, I usually stick to this rule.
For example, when I am working with outsourcing partners on the creation of a website, I give them a list of sites I like, so that the webmaster can get an idea of what I want.
I pick up five to ten sites and tell the webmaster what I like in each site - i.e. the colors, the fonts, the layout, etc. I provide many examples to illustrate my point.
Now, does that take more of your time? Yes but here is what it does. It eliminates a lot of the back and forth work that is needed when an outsource partner is doing a project for the first time because it gives them a picture of exactly what you are looking for and it makes their job a lot easier. This not only saves you money but it also saves you a lot of time and that has proven to be very effective for me.
Like I said, number one is managing expectations upfront and getting the commitment of the outsource partner himself or herself to tell you their timeline and to share with you what you can expect and it comes from them. The other thing is to find out the best way to communicate with them and the best time to reach them.
To repeat once again, it is vital that your first project with your outsourcing partner is not an urgent one. The first project is to taste the waters and you should be prepared that not everything might go as planned. You should also expect that the first project might be the last - i.e. if you don't feel your cooperation is great, there is no need to rush to a second project.
Just take for granted that trial and error situations are part of life and that you might have to try many partners till you find somebody whom you are happy with. But when you find such a partner, you can work with him or her on any project for the years to come. - 15478
Whenever you are working with somebody, always give them a deadline that is at minimum a week before your actual date that you need it. Do not let them know that that is the case. Most often, the people you are outsourcing from have multiple clients and the challenge there is that their time is divided between all of those people and they tend to address the projects that are most current or that need the attention at that particular time.
It is important that you establish your expectations upfront because whenever you are working with somebody, the first thing that you want to ask them is, "Do you have time? Are you able to take on new clients?"
If the answers to both questions are yes, then you can start negotiating the turnaround time for the project. They will tell you when they will be able to finish it.
Then you want to follow that one up just to make sure you say, "Okay, so from my understanding, if I give you a project on Monday, it is going to be completed by XYZ date," whatever their timeline may be. That way, you won their commitment in terms of they are the ones that have shared with you their timeline and they have agreed and committed to that.
From there, what I like to do is give them a project that is not time sensitive in a sense that it needs to be done right away, just to test the water, to see how they respond and how the communication is going back and forth.
The next question we need to clarify is about the time and ways to communicate. There are many ways to communicate - phone, email, instant messagers (such as Yahoo, Skype, MSN, etc.) Clarify how they prefer to communicate and also when. It is important to know at what time of the day you can reach them.
Different people work at different times. For instance, some of the webmasters I know work only at night because then they are most productive. Other webmasters work in the daytime.
Work hours are really important and you need to clarify this in advance. If you have a vital question to ask them and they work mainly at night, you will be trying in vain to reach them during normal business hours.
Another important tip for successful partnership is to give them as much information as possible, thus reducing the guesswork to zero. Maybe not everybody else does it but since this approach delivers the best results for me, I usually stick to this rule.
For example, when I am working with outsourcing partners on the creation of a website, I give them a list of sites I like, so that the webmaster can get an idea of what I want.
I pick up five to ten sites and tell the webmaster what I like in each site - i.e. the colors, the fonts, the layout, etc. I provide many examples to illustrate my point.
Now, does that take more of your time? Yes but here is what it does. It eliminates a lot of the back and forth work that is needed when an outsource partner is doing a project for the first time because it gives them a picture of exactly what you are looking for and it makes their job a lot easier. This not only saves you money but it also saves you a lot of time and that has proven to be very effective for me.
Like I said, number one is managing expectations upfront and getting the commitment of the outsource partner himself or herself to tell you their timeline and to share with you what you can expect and it comes from them. The other thing is to find out the best way to communicate with them and the best time to reach them.
To repeat once again, it is vital that your first project with your outsourcing partner is not an urgent one. The first project is to taste the waters and you should be prepared that not everything might go as planned. You should also expect that the first project might be the last - i.e. if you don't feel your cooperation is great, there is no need to rush to a second project.
Just take for granted that trial and error situations are part of life and that you might have to try many partners till you find somebody whom you are happy with. But when you find such a partner, you can work with him or her on any project for the years to come. - 15478
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