Why Clients Outsource

Why do clients outsource? To free up time to focus on their core business- why should small businesses outsource to free up time to focus.

When I first heard the term outsourcing l had to look it up in the dictionary some 30 years ago.

In simple terms outsourcing means procuring goods and or services through a contract from a third party. So why does it got complicated?

The fact remains that clients want to focus on their core business and leave the management of their facilities to us however, we can often find them being heavily involved in our area of expertise. From some past experiences a client has outsourced and the internal change management process for the existing team has not transitioned well meaning duplicate roles and responsibilities that can cause confusion with your supply chain.

Other times your client is outsourcing for the first time and wants to ensure the process and all requirements are not only understood but also implemented and executed correctly.

Either way, I learned a valuable lesson many years ago when faced with a well respected client that was in absolutely everything we did.

What was my approach?

1. Accepting my client wanted to be involved.
2. My client has influence, knows everyone in the business so how can I leverage these facts to deliver a successful service.
3. Up your communication game. Be more transparent and preemptive in situations. You know you will be asked so get the answers to the questions and solutions in place beforehand. I found this saved time, and created deeper trust and rapport with my client.
4. Be consistent and ensure you do not get sloppy with admin (I know when you are busy it can be easy for admin to slip) this is what keeps you compliant and creates an audit trail of events. I used to spend 1 Sunday in the month just to plan, catch-up on non priority tasks and prepare. While it was time out of the weekend, it was absolutely worth it
5. Get under the skin of your client when are the drivers they are experiencing that cause their behaviour and impact on you. Remember it is never personal so ask questions, dig a little deeper to seek understanding.

As a result, of this acceptance, mutual respect and understanding, guess what happened? in time the client changed and whilst still very much at the helm was less actively involved in our day to day . Why?

over a period of time he built up a deeper level of trust in our team, because we were proactive and transparent he knew when we came to him for projects to be approved or issues to be resolved, he knew we had done our homework making the previously gruelling effort to get things done a more seamless process.

Whilst I do not manage sites anymore I believe these 5 pointers stand the test of time. What do you think?

Do you have challenges you are unsure how to tackle? Reach out to me I’m happy to assist you with your questions.

Outsourcing should add value not become a burden.

#outsourcing #relationships #facilities management

Until next time.