Engaging external help in media and what you need to know about it
Change is the only (inevitable) constant
The unvarying ultimate goal of every successful media business is to secure partnerships with their existing clients while finding and attaining even more clients. More clients means more profit, but how will “the more, the merrier” slogan reflect on your workforce?
Well, if you double your clients but aren’t considering to hire more staff, the most probable scenario goes like this: your employees will try to appease all of your clients’ needs and demands but the deadlines will get the best of them. Sooner rather than later, the overtimes and sleepless nights will either cause a burnout or a mental breakdown, and both of us know that you don’t have the privilege to lose any of your hardworking staff members.
What if we told you that you can run an efficient, competent and highly professional media company (read: all projects are led by experts, all deadlines are met, and all clients are more than pleased with the work you have done and would suggest your business to their acquaintances) and get “the best boss in the world” mug for your birthday at the same time (read: be the boss who doesn’t make his staff work overtime, on several projects, simultaneously)?
No, you don’t need to clone your employees or invent the time machine. What you need is a small change of perspective. Change isn’t good or bad, it is just an inevitable part of growth and success. And your success lays in hiring external help.
The plan “B”
We can agree that the most maddening thing about being a boss is hiring people. Analyzing the professional qualities of an individual in a fifteen-minute interview while he is sweating in discomfort is probably a situation you would like to pass. But what else can you do when Nina (sales planner) goes on a maternity leave a few months before you need to carry out one of your biggest projects? Most importantly, what do you do when you know that she can’t be replaced by one person since she was covering three positions at once?
You don’t panic, that’s what you do. You have a back-up plan since having a back-up plan is always a good idea. By engaging external sales support partners you are not only replacing Nina while she is on a maternity leave. You are also covering for Tom who called in sick the day you needed to send out that crucial portfolio.
Facing the unknown
Let’s be honest – not all of your employees are top-notch workers. And that is perfectly normal. The reasons behind their less successful output can vary. Some of them are doing the bare minimum because Nina (and people like Nina) got their back. On the other hand, most reliable workers (usually engaged on various projects simultaneously) are stressing over the projects they can’t manage to finish due to the lack of time and focus. Such combo is a perfect recipe to end up underperforming. This is where a remote team of experts jumps in and saves the day like one of Marvel’s heroes. When you are hiring an external team, you are buying the experience and the expertise your business needs. Your out-of-office workers can substitute your full-time employees for days, weeks and months, but they can also work in unison. Coordination and collaboration between your external partners and your in-house employees is very important. You must be able to rely on both your external and internal employees if you are trying to be more efficient and close more deals.
If a part of your media company is less efficient in producing great output and revenue, maybe they are just an expert away from their best execution. An ambitious external team can be exactly the right kind of motivation for your internal workers to step their game up.
But occasionally, not even that does the trick. If you don’t see the changes happening, make them happen. Quality of your output is crucial, so if you don’t have a qualified in-house team, it is high time you considered hiring an extended in-house team since…
Why? Because your business will benefit from it. To start with, your remote workers can give you a new outlook on the way you do your business by sharing their previous experiences with similar companies. They can give you straight-forward suggestions that might triple company’s profits. Their objective insights might be the missing pieces of the puzzle.
One of your top concerns must address the art of filtering out the information you are giving away. We agree, no one likes to share their secrets with strangers. Maybe you can learn something from the example of one of the greatest companies in the world - Coca-Cola. Even though they share a lot of information with their external partners in the field of franchising, bottling and distribution, they are constantly ensuring that the secret recipe of the actual beverage is never unveiled. The moral of the abovementioned example is that the most successful business stories arise from mutual trust. If you are working with a single freelance expert, don’t feel bad for taking your time to share classified materials. Trust must be earned. However, if you are working with a company which offers external collaboration, bear in mind that no company would ever ruin their good name to share client’s data. Finally, by hiring an experienced extended in-house team, you are managing two top business priorities – reduction of money and time. Did you know that you could reduce your costs by 30% to 60% if you decide to hire extended in-house team? Your precious time can be saved by the remote team’s management whose main task could be to take over the low budget projects or help you with the ones who are due, well, yesterday.
High-quality team of experts is no longer a prosperity you stumble upon, it’s an essential part of every successful business. So if you don’t have them in-house, try stepping out of your comfort zone and find them online. Your in-house employees will love them as well since they will no longer work overtimes which means that you are getting that “the best boss ever” mug for your birthday.
Tailored to suit your needs
Constant fluctuations and requirements in the media business imply that you need to reconsider, optimize, change and adapt your business strategy to the current situation on the market in order to stay afloat and remain successful.
By engaging remote teams in your business, you are not only saving your money and time. You are accessing some of the top talents and experts in the media business worldwide. This suggests that you are one step ahead of all those companies who decide to limit their business to plain geography.
When you know exactly what you are looking for, it is easier to find it. And once you find the perfect fit, you won’t be willing to let go… ever.
