How To Successfully Navigate The Outsourcing Minefield
By Paul Esajian on May 22, 2015
How can real estate pros and companies successfully outsource, and avoid the traps others keep falling into?
Outsourcing is now an integrated part of everyday life for independents real estate professionals, and companies of all sizes. In fact, far more team members are probably outsourced in the real estate industry than are ever put into local brick and mortar offices. This remains true from solo agents and investors, to real estate tech startups, and the most massive hedge funds and mortgage lenders. But for as every fantastic, indispensable freelancer found, someone else takes a hit as they try to get a grasp on how outsourcing really works today. So what are the secrets to success?
The Real Advantages of Outsourcing Today
Outsourcing has evolved over time. It is now the norm. Not the exception. However, the days of finding great overseas freelancers for $1 an hour have pretty much dried up. You can still find far more affordable staff online, than if you are recruiting locally in NYC, or San Francisco. However, don’t be surprised to find graphic designers charging $30 to $40 an hour or more, or to pay $100 an hour for a reasonable content marketer on-shore. Remember that’s still a lot less than the minimum hourly wage to be able to afford an average rental apartment in some U.S. cities.
There are still huge savings. First; you only pay for what you need. If you only need them for 2 hours a week, or month, that’s all you pay for. That’s a lot better than having to take on the overhead of a full time 40 hour a week worker. One that you might not have 40 hours of work for. You also have a bigger and better pool of expert talent to choose from. You don’t have to pay for health insurance, take on the risk of accidents, you don’t need to lease an expensive office. Or full it with equipment and cover utilities. These are major, major savings. Your competition is banking on them, and it is almost necessary to outsource the bulk of your needs to remain competitive today.
Know Your Freelancer
Today’s great freelancers and outsourced staff aren’t minimum wage employees from third world countries. They are global masters of their niches. Some still fulfill very low level tasks like data entry, or fielding incoming calls as call center agents. There are also master copywriters, software developers, sales people, and social media marketers. They are more like independent business owners rather than old school staff punching a clock. This can be really hard for many real estate professionals and business owners to get their heads around.
In most cases you aren’t going to get far managing with an iron fist, or micro-managing. If you are only using a professional for 10 hours a week, they are not going to be at your instant beck and call 40 hours a week, or 24 hours a day – 7 days a week. Not unless you pay them to be. Otherwise they have a dozen other clients like you, and obligations with them. Even if a remote worker is from your same city, they may be on an extended trip to Thailand. Never assume they are on your schedule.
Like anyone else you work with (client, vendor, or business partner), it pays to get to know how your individual team members work. This will save a lot of confusion and frustration. For example; ask what days they generally work, what time zones they work on, what their normal turnaround times are, and how far in advance you should be reserving their time. Depending on where they are in the world, they may be working almost a full day ahead or behind you. So you’ve even got to be more specific than “I need this by Wednesday in two weeks.” If you are in Australia, you are going to be mad that they didn’t make your deadline, when they might be perfectly on schedule if they are in California.
Get on the same page.
Test, Test, Test
Test out your freelancers before betting everything on someone you’ve never worked with before. It’s just like a probationary period at a local job. Don’t expect good real estate freelancers to work for free. But do conduct paid tests.
Three things an effective test will incorporate:
- Split testing
- Have tangible objectives
- Be large enough
Outsourcing real estate content creation is a great example of this. If you hire a writer for one single blog post, and base it only on your personal liking of the page, or the organic web traffic that comes in the first day; that is not a good test. A better test might be 6 pieces over a 6 week period. And then measure the results in terms of traffic, clicks, and leads. This is still a very tiny test for this type of project, but it should give better indicators of direction than 1 piece. Remember there are all sorts of variables effecting all types of real estate marketing.
Keep the Best, Befriend the Rest
Once you find a great remote worker, do your best to retain them. Pay them promptly, say “thanks” now and again, and share successes with them. Richard Branson recently brought back a new policy at Virgin Airlines. They are going back to sending each failed interviewee with a kind letter, and a voucher to use for flights or duty free shopping. While some will find this hard to justify at first, the benefits are there. Every person out there is either a brand hater or brand ambassador. Imagine being told it isn’t a good fit after a week of working for someone, but them giving you a thank you note and a coupon for a free home appraisal next time you buy a home or refinance. You just created a raving fan that is likely to send you referrals, and at least one deal.