We are mid-way through the year, and this year has proven to be a roller coaster ride for many! Inflation, supply chain issues, and labor shortages are all creating fluctuations in expenses that need attention and constant monitoring. The goal is to pass on most of these increased expenses to the customer, but how can you continue to compete with all of these changes? What can you do in your market to decrease your expenses and increase productivity, that most of your competitors may not be doing? Outsourcing some of the tasks within your business may be a great option to gain a competitive advantage and upper hand in your local market.
Finding ways to better manage expenses will not only set you apart from your competitors, but it will also allow you to allocate resources to other aspects of your company that may require it. In a recessionary period this becomes part of an essential strategy to come out a financially healthy company on the other side. As an example, you may get some pushback from customers when attempting to pass on another price increase to recoup the increase in direct labor expenses this year. You can instead outsource some roles within your business to counter the increased direct labor expense. Now when you bid for a job you may have the upper hand compared to your competitors who do not explore cost saving and outsourced options. In this scenario, in order for your competitor to price the work the same, they will need to operate at a lower profit margin.
In most outsourcing roles, you can see a savings of 20% to 30% just based off eliminating labor burden and other employee related expenses. With outsourced staff you can avoid paying payroll taxes, unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation and disability, as well as benefits that include pensions, sick days, health insurance and vacation time. You could also avoid the cost of training and in most cases future recruiting and employee onboarding costs, if you have an outsourced company that can grow with you.
Outsourcing tasks allows you to focus on higher revenue generating activities, and other leadership tasks within your business. If you are looking to scale your business in a profitable way, then it may not be worth your time to learn and perform a minimum wage task or role. It may also not be worth your time to learn a role that may require advanced knowledge/education (like accounting, HR, marketing, etc.).
The right outsourced options/providers should be up to date with technology and methods to optimize efficiency. Within each department, and role, there are always ways to improve the processes or workflow. As a business owner it could be hard to stay up to date on the latest changes in each sector of your business, so it may be best to leverage an outsourced team to stay ahead!
We provide outsourced bookkeeping & CFO services to landscaping businesses, but that is not the only possibility. Many of our clients have outsourced teams that handle marketing, human resources, landscape design, administrative tasks, customer calls, etc. Just like our services, many companies are tailored to the green industry as well!