|
 Print Friendly
 Email to Friend
|
|
Outsourcing
|
|
Article
5: Making The Most Of Contractors
To create a successful outsourcing relationship, you and your contractor need to focus on measurable and objective results. Define clearly what you want to achieve and determine reasonable deadlines. Set benchmarks along the way that can be measured to make sure the contractor—and your project—are on schedule.
“In outsourcing, the buyer does not instruct the supplier how to perform its task, but, instead focuses on communicating what results it wants to buy; it leaves the process of accomplishing those results to the supplier,” explains Peter
Bendor-Samuel, author of Turning Lead Into Gold: The Demystification of Outsourcing (Executive Excellence, 2000).
Bendor-Samuel is also founder and CEO of Outsourcingcenter.com.
Give contractors the knowledge they need to perform—information about your industry, your products and services, your competitors, your strategic goals for your business. The better an IC understands your company, the more he can contribute to your success.
Actively keep the communication lines open. Initiate communication by checking in frequently with your IC. Ask if she has all of the information she needs to complete the project. Ask if she has questions about any part of the project. Tell contractors about future plans for your company and explain how the contractor might fit into those plans. By communicating with contractors, you gain access to their ideas as well as their skills.
Show your appreciation for contractors. Pay a bonus for work completed ahead of a deadline. Increase the fee you pay on the next project. Send a thank-you letter complimenting the contractor’s performance and offering yourself as a reference for the contractor’s future customers. And by all means, if you’re satisfied with a contractors work, keep future projects flowing into his hands.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
