Suzette’s Answer: I have had both employees and subcontractors. I hired a neighbor to do my errands. She was reliable and a pleasure to work with. I hired her as a subcontractor that meant she did the errands on her schedule (other than picking up the items when I called) and paid her own taxes. There isn’t as much supervision with a subcontractor (too much and the IRS calls them an employee).

I have had two employees over the years. Neither of them was wildly successful. They both performed the basic functions of the position but didn’t go above and beyond (i.e. didn’t show much initiative). I found errors in their work that was unacceptable (i.e. I audited the books for the clients there were responsible for). I obviously didn’t keep a close enough eye on their work. I set their hours, trained them, gave them projects to work on and had them in my home office. Therefore, I was responsible for payroll taxes.

I have also hired from a temp agency. She was my most successful hiring. She was my employee but I paid the temp agency and they paid all the taxes. If I had enough work I would hire her back in a heartbeat.

There is always a risk with hiring someone to help. Whether it’s a subcontractor, a temp or an employee, interview him/her to find out if you can work together. Do you like their work ethic? Can you get along with their personality?

Will you be saving money if you hire someone? For example your errands take 3 hours a week. If you charge $20 an hour to do what you do that is $60 a week you could be earning instead of running around. Now, if you hire someone at $10 an hour you would be paying $30 (if she/he is a subcontractor). $60 vs $30

In my case, I paid my subcontractor $20 each time I had her run errands. Yep, a flat fee. Sometimes it was a trip to the bank. Other times I had her drop off / pick up materials from the printers, run to the bank and drop something off at school.

You may find that just having someone run your errands frees up enough time for you to do some of the work in your business you have been unable to get to.

A fellow networker sent me a sales pitch by private message. I was in total disbelief. Here is a direct  quote “I do not know what you are selling or providing . . . but . . .” Really? This is a joke, right? I didn’t even read the rest of the email. Why would I do business with this person?

Here’s the thing - I wouldn’t do business with this person. It may be beneficial for me to outsource my marketing plan but this person didn’t even take the time to read my profile or go to my web site to get an idea of what I do. So I’m not important enough to spend a few extra minutes to put together a specific sales pitch. If I’m not that important as a potential client, I probably will not be important enough to this person to receive good customer service (let alone great customer service).

Your initial approach to a potential client must be well thought out. Put yourself in this person’s shoes. What would you like to know? I like to know how your products or services will benefit me (i.e. save me time, money, get my name in front of people, reduce my stress level).

I also want to know you care enough to find out what I do and what my company stands for (i.e. read my profile, visit my web site). If you have articles or a blog that I may find interesting, tell me why and give me some links.

More importantly tell me what results I can expect and how to start the process. Are you going to  increase my sales, optimize my web site or save me money? What do I have to do to start the process?

Don’t lose potential customers by sending a fill-in-the-blank message. Your sales pitch should be  customized to each person you send it to. Make that person feel special, go the extra mile to find out about the company, and start to build a relationship.