The practice of outsourcing vital work to third-party contractors is no longer restricted to large companies like Uber. Increasingly, small businesses across the UK are outsourcing a number of essential office tasks such as HR, payroll and marketing, to third party contractors.

This option presents you with a range of new challenges. When you establish a partnership with third-party contractors, they become “proxy employees” of your company. How do you establish the close relationship you need with these employees to ensure they represent your firm’s brand effectively? Here are three tips the Rapid Companies team has supplied to help you manage an outsourced team.

Signing contracts and structuring partnerships is one thing; executing those contracts can be much harder because when you outsource, you’ll be required to deal with multiple levels of your partner’s organisation. You need to communicate the value of your new partnership effectively, so it’s understood on every level of your partner’s firm; this is easier said than done.

Ensure that everyone who’s involved in implementing the details of your partnership understands how the project will serve their individual interests. Also, ask your team to familiarise themselves with the employees you’re working with at your partner organisation – so they can learn how to motivate their counterparts. Your staff need to make sure that everyone understands the project, and how it’ll benefit them, to ensure your outsourced team will work hard to achieve your goals.

It’s often impossible, even inappropriate, to micro-manage an outsourced team on a daily basis. Therefore it’s often hard to ensure that they execute the project effectively. That’s why instead of micro-managing outsourced staff, you should provide them with the support they need e.g. training, educational resources, to make their jobs as easy as possible.

It takes a lot of time, effort and patience to show a third party team how they can help you fulfil your firm’s goals and aspirations. Continually strive to provide your contractors with the information they’ll need to execute their tasks. You might want to think about offering your outsourced staff face-to-face training to communicate what you need from them first-hand. If you want to establish a successful partnership you should offer a long-term support network that the outsourced team can rely on.

If you hire another company to sell and support your product and they don’t understand your brand, they could damage the reputation of said brand in the marketplace. Consumers rarely distinguish between the product and the delivery channel; so if an outsourced staff member has a bad interaction with a customer, your brand will suffer. However there are a number of things you can do to safeguard your brand image when you outsource.

Choosing the right partner is key. The most successful entrepreneurs are known for only establishing working relationships with people they respect, admire and ultimately, trust.

Don’t hire third party contractors if they fail to meet even one of these criteria. But if they do, take the next step and link your brands together – if your partners have a stake in your success, they will think carefully about how they position your brand, in order to protect their own. For example if you’ve hired them to distribute your product, ensure that the whole package is co-branded, so they will strive to ensure said package is positioned to succeed in the marketplace.