The Busy Words Blog

I heard this metaphoric explanation of the benefits of outsourcing skills as opposed to trying to achieve everything your business needs to do through employees; thought I’d share it with you, so here it is. I’d be interested in any thoughts or comments.

A respected gentleman had a plan to hold a dinner party each month to celebrate the year 2000. In order that he could create a fine meal for each of his guests, he hired a chef to work in his kitchen, guaranteeing him employment for a whole year. The chef is considered to be a ‘good all rounder’ at international cooking, which is ideal because the meals are to reflect the different cultures of the world.

At the first meal all invitees attend, expectations are high. The meal meets expectations and the evening goes O.K., the guests leave.

At the second meal there are a few ‘understandable’ cancellations and expectations are still high. The meal meets expectations and the evening goes O.K., the guests leave.

At the third meal half of the invitees cancel. The meal meets expectations, but those that attend seem to leave earlier than at the previous meals.

And so it goes on, with more and more cancellations.

By the time of the sixth meal, there is just the respected gentleman (who clearly has less respect now than before) and a man named Nigel.

The respected gentleman says to Nigel, “I don’t know what went wrong. Every month has had a different theme, I hired a good chef, the food always meets expectations but no one attends my parties anymore.”

Nigel replies. “I have been to every party and you’re right, you have a good chef, his meals always meet the expectations of those that attend, and that is your problem.”

The respected gentleman looks confused. Nigel continued.

“Your chef is not a specialist in producing any of the meals, because they represent a variety of different cuisines from all over the world and, because he has guaranteed employment, is under no pressure to improve; he lacks the skills and motivation to raise expectations and exceed them each month.

“Expectations have lowered and with them the standard of food being prepared has lowered. Your chef simply met the expectations he himself had lowered.

“Had you challenged a different chef each month, a specialist in the cuisine he was preparing, he would be motivated to do better than the previous month’s chef and constantly seek to improve. Your parties would have exceeded expectations and your guests would have kept attending.”

The respected gentlemen realised his mistake, he paid the chef for the rest of the year as he was contracted to do, then asked him to leave. He hired a new chef for each of his final parties. Nigel was right, the parties improved dramatically, confidence in the parties quickly returned and the respected gentlemen was respected again.

The moral of the story is that outsourced resources have specialist skills that are not always available from employees and, because they face fierce competition, are commercially motivated to produce truly exceptional results every time.

Richard Jebb
www.wordsthat-work.co.uk

I’ve been going to a lot of events lately that offer helpful tips on how to survive the recession. The speakers waffle on for hours, so I thought I’d help my readers out by writing up their key messages here, because all they really say is this:

Outsource
Outsourcing services such as marketing and PR can work out a lot less expensive than keeping them inhouse. You can use them and pay for them only when you need them, so it’s pay as you go. Using an agency or freelancer will require an initial investment of time, because you need to make sure you find the right one, but once appointed, they will be keen to achieve results for you quickly. A guide to costs, London agencies are the most expensive, but obviously attract the brightest talent; out of London agencies charge lower fees and often still attract many bright and talented individuals, offering a one-stop-shop for all your promotional needs, freelancers’ rates will be lower still and they are often former agency employees who specialise in particular disciplines, such as copywriting, graphic design, web site building etc.  

Less is More (sometimes)
If you can get away with spending less on promoting your business or brand, then this is great, but don’t do it at the expense of losing awareness in your key markets. It is essential now, more than ever, to be winning the awareness battle. The trick is to ensure that those responsible for planning your promotional activity are using the most effective media, with the right message. Analyse results frequently, be flexible, identify where changes are needed and make them quickly.

More is More
If I was a marketing director, I don’t think I would be asking for an increase in my marketing budget right now, not unless I could justify it with proof that guarantees a return on the investment. More is more when you achieve more for your money or make your money achieve more by buying from lower cost suppliers.

Targeting
I’m not talking here about the importance of targeting per se, although that is still very important, but this is about being aware of which industries or sectors are not effected by the downturn or actually benefit from it.  The Government is planning to spend like crazy, so education, health care and civil engineering will not be short of money, yet! I’m thinking any company that has anything to do with insolvency will be busy for the next 24 months too. They’ll be others, if you know your industry, then you’ll know who they are. These guys will still have money to spend and no harm in focusing your efforts on them for a bit.

Opportunity
Just quickly, have you thought whether the recession actually offers your business any opportunities? For example, I think freelancers have a great opportunity to deliver the services of the more expensive marketing agencies at a fraction of the cost; is there anything your business can do?

Digital Vs Print
I can’t tell you which is more effective for you, although I have noticed a much increased interest in digital since the credit crunch began to bite. This makes sense as digital is cheaper and offers opportunities to be far more targeted than print. But if more businesses are choosing digital media, does this mean there are some great print deals to be found? Let’s not forget print media just yet, give it a chance to prove its worth; I believe print still has more impact that digital because it is tactile and people like to touch and feel. Print may be just what your business needs; consider all options.