Business owners have four options to resolve disputes with partners, vendors or customers. Each option is based on different assumptions, and entails a different cost. Therefore, it pays to understand them better.

Option #1 – Direct negotiation

Direct negotiation is certainly the cheapest – but not necessarily the easiest – way to resolve a conflict. A good place to start, is to get clear about what one wants, why, and how much one cares for the future relationship with the other person. The next step, is finding out how the situation looks from the other person’s perspective. This task requires effective questioning, listening, and observing. The final negotiation step, is crafting an agreement that both parties believe to be better than all other alternatives.

To negotiate successfully one needs some planning, communication and negotiation skills. Without them, it is easy to end up with no deal, or a bad deal, or even a personal war.

Option #2 – Mediation

The goal of mediation is not to find who is right or wrong, but how the problem at hand can best be resolved. Mediation is a process in which parties who disagree meet with a neutral third-party, who facilitates their negotiations. The mediator doesn’t have any decision-making authority. The parties decide how to resolve their problem, in a way that is mutually acceptable.

Since mediation is confidential, mediation discussions and materials are not admissible in court. In a sense, when people mediate they have everything to gain and nothing to lose. If they are able to reach a mutually acceptable agreement with the mediator’s assistance, that’s great. Otherwise, they can still use the remaining two options. And in that case, whatever they have said or heard, offered or counter-offered during mediation, doesn’t matter.

Option #3 – Arbitration

The business dispute is submitted to a neutral arbitrator, who examines the evidence, listens to the parties and renders a binding decision. The conflicting parties must accept the arbitrator’s decision, no matter whether they like it or not. Arbitration is past-oriented, and requires a certain amount of fact-finding. Therefore, generally it takes more time (and money) than mediation, but less than litigation.

Option #4 – Litigation

The fourth option is to let the judge decide which party is right or wrong, based on the facts and the law. In actuality, though, the vast majority of civil cases never get that far (some statistics say up to 90%). They settle out of court. A few days – or even hours – before the trial, the two conflicting parties, assisted by their respective attorneys, prefer to negotiate their own agreement, rather than running the risk of losing in court.

For business owners – as well as for anyone else – litigation has two major drawbacks. First, it inevitably has a detrimental effect on the future relationship between the parties. Second, it can be quite expensive in terms of time, money and stress. Nonetheless, when a business dispute cannot be resolved any other way, litigation is a valid option.

Whether you are seeking capital for your company or are optimizing your business strategy, the most important element – particularly for outside investors -may be your written business plan. You can tune-up and supercharge your plan using this 19-step checklist. When your written plan firmly answers yes to each of these 19 questions, your market/product strategy is in terrific shape plus you increase the odds of attracting investment capital.

If you don’t already have a written business plan – write one! Your business plan is a blueprint for your whole company. It describes in detail your goals, the financial and technical viability of your goals, and the strategy you will use (or are using) to reach those goals. And your business plan is a working tool – it is a yardstick to measure your progress and a compass to keep you on course.

Must a business plan be written?

Yes! A plan which is not written usually has not been thought through fully. And despite what you may have read, it is doubtful that any business ever attracted capital on the back of a napkin.

Use this checklist as a way to identify where your strategy, as spelled out in your business plan, needs work. Each of the questions below highlights an area considered critical to technology investors.

1. Can the key ideas behind your product or service be stated in one or two sentences? (y/n)

2. Does your company have at least one unique and compelling competitive advantage, which cannot quickly or easily be duplicated? (y/n) Examples are a special feature, a cost advantage, a technical refinement, a new delivery system or a special supplier.

3. Is your competitive advantage proprietary? (y/n) That is, can it be copyrighted, patented, trademarked or otherwise protected? Can you keep it exclusive to you?

4. Is your industry segment growing by 25% or more? (y/n) If not, can your new product dominate its segment? If the answer is no, you probably won’t be able to generate the kind of financial returns investors look for.

5. Does your product or service create a new market? (y/n) Although generally positive, this could be a trap – in a brand new market, the potential can be slow to develop. Lotus Notes created a new category but took years to create value for investors.

6. Is your market in “early momentum” – the market growth phase where market revenues have recently taken off? (y/n) Venture investors prefer markets in this stage because the time-to-create-value is shorter and the growth potential still large.

7. Is your target market segment 1) tightly defined over a population sharing common characteristics, 2) large enough to support significant profits, 3) served by communications channels to reach that market – i.e., trade or special interest publications, response mailing lists? (y/n)

8. Is your company filling a gap in the market, or do you have a “gee-whiz” product which you think is so terrific that customers will surely want to buy it? (y/n)

9. The benefit of your product or service to users is 1) significant, 2) quantifiable and 3) cost-justified? (y/n). If you provide a benefit which is important, and you can prove it – there is a much higher probability of generating sales.

10. Is there a demonstrated market for your product? (y/n) If you have an existing product, is your customer base expanding? Investors would rather fund sales and production than product development.

11. Is there wide appeal for your product or service? (y/n) Are there enough potential customers in the target market that you can earn significant profits, for a long time? Are there follow-on products to sustain revenue and profit growth?

12. Does your company have the ability to sell your product? (y/n) Particularly in companies where the founders have technical backgrounds, a question to ask is “Who is going to sell your product or service?” What about outside distributors?

13. Is there an experienced management team? (y/n) Investors would rather fund a solid team instead of one lone genius with a great idea. The team should be highly qualified in marketing, sales, finance, and the product/service area itself. Of course, a demonstrable track record helps.

14. Can you demonstrate a likely return of 5-15 times investors’ capital, over a period ranging from three to seven years? (y/n) The actual parameters used by venture investors will vary based on which stage you are in (idea, startup, development, expansion, turnaround).

15. Is there a clear exit strategy for investors? (y/n) The most common strategies for returning investors’ capital are 1) going public; 2) acquisition of your company; 3) new investors; 4) founder’s buyback or management buyout.

16. Have other investors already put money into the company, particularly the senior management team? (y/n) This reduces the apparent risk, reduces overall exposure, and shows that management “has its money where its mouth is.”

17. Have you clearly defined a structure for the investment you seeking? (y/n) The structure should include: who is involved, how much capital is needed, what minimum investment you will accept, how much equity that will buy – and, of course, the projected return on investment.

18. Are your financial projections realistic? (y/n) Have you soundly justified your projected growth rates and other financial assumptions?

19. Have you clearly examined the risks? (y/n) Investors like to know that you have considered the risks. This is key – can you turn your risks into opportunities?

Too many no’s? Remember, each “no” opens up an area for you to strengthen your business. Even if you aren’t seeking capital, each question highlights a critical success factor – which, when mastered, will increase your profits, your performance, and your future success.
In order to help you discover hidden value and opportunities in your existing business, and to make it easier to spot potential problems while you are just starting out, I’ve created the Business Building Guide. A remarkable aid to accelerating the growth and profitability of your business, this program of insight-provoking questions and checklists enables you to rapidly diagnose, troubleshoot and optimize every part of your business, from marketing to sales, customer service to product development and finance to production.

© Paul Lemberg. All rights reserved

Are you frustrated by the lack of growth in your firm, or the effort required to squeeze any up-tick in performance? Are inadequate policies and procedures a root cause? To find out, take this simple self assessment to see if this may be inhibiting real growth at your company.

Q. Can you take an extended vacation without the company falling apart?

A. If you answered “no” then you have a job and not a business. A business must have a system of standard operating procedures to ensure the work gets done correctly, even in your absence.

Q. Can your company handle a ramp-up in sales and production?

A. Hidden inefficiencies are often revealed when sales and production increase. If low turns on accounts receivable and inventory, long sales or production cycles starve your cash flow, then something is wrong. Your policies and procedures should document cycle times for your critical operating metrics.

Q. Can you effectively add more people to your organization?

A. Hiring people is simple compared to ensuring they know what to do and have the resources to accomplish their job. Policies and procedures provide the framework for a management system to oversee new employees and communicate who does what by when.

Q. Does opening a new branch office, plant or facility create havoc?

A. Expanding your operations to new locations will test the limits of your policies and procedures. Did you know that franchises are four times more likely to survive than a start-up primarily because they have a well defined operations manual? Are you running your business like franchises run theirs?

Q. Is your family happy with your work life??A. If your business demands too many hours, too much stress, and too little quality time with your family and friends, then you should do something about it. A well defined system of standard operating procedures can allow you take a vacation without worry, increase sales with ease, add people to fill demand, and open new offices without trouble. Then your family will be the happiest on the block.

What is the definition of a leads exchange and how does it differ from other groups?

So what is a leads exchange? A leads exchange comes in several flavors; first the exchange usually has exclusivity restrictions so that you remain loyal to only one group. This way the printer and the chiropractor that belong to this group will only think of you for a particular service or product. They will essentially promote your business as part of the membership requirement: to generate leads for others as well as get leads in exchange. These types of groups are plentiful and can work for you or against you. If you have done your homework and the group is active in the areas that you would like to be known, then this type of group will work well for you. If you work in an unusual business, it may be more difficult for others to find leads for you. This type of group will expect that you have defined your best customer and have given them the tools they need to seek out business in that area.

The best way to work this type of group is to generate many leads for others in the group. Once they know you are out to make the most of this, they will bend over backwards to ensure that you get enough leads so that you will continue to be an outstanding member of the group. They know that if you are dissatisfied, it is likely you will look elsewhere and take your great lead generation ability to another rival group. The more you give, the more you will get in this environment.

Leads exchanges provide many opportunities, but there is also some disadvantages to belonging. If you are focusing on your own business, then generating leads for others is a definite distracter. This can work to your disadvantage if generating leads for others is your only way to get leads from others. If you go about generating your own leads, you may uncover something that can be fulfilled by another member’s business. The important thing to remember is that there is always a cost to joining a group.

Why the business card grab is not why you are there?
So how do you obtain the card and show interest that gains confidence?

One of the things I am also always asked is, “How do you collect cards?” and “What do you do with them when you get them back to the office?” What really happens when you collect business cards? Often they get put into a pocket with many others. Have you ever collected cards to later find out that you have no idea who the person was? This happens all the time. It is probably better to pick a few good leads rather than collect everything (sometimes that is difficult to do if people trade cards with you). Choose one pocket for the timely leads and carry post it notes to add information.

It is quite easy to cull the cads as you gather them. First, I only collect cards from people that I can either do business with, form an alliance with, or simply become a referral for them. Sounds easy, but the trick is to be able to ferret out who these people are. I also take notes on the back of the card or on a pad of sticky notes and attach it to the card so that I do not forget who they are and what services they provide. I even try to put faces to the cards by describing them on the sticky notes. These people will be amazed that you can remember them the next time you meet and they will then want to talk to you.

Some people look at their stack of cards the next day, or two days later is even worse, and they are bewildered: they can’t remember who was who. Cards with simply black and white designs can look very alike; it is very important that you try to differentiate the cards you collect. Do this by writing on the back with a Y or N or M for Yes, No, Maybe significance. I then keep my cards in a zip lock bag for each type of card. It makes it easier to follow up. I also make note of the event we attended so as to keep a record of what we were there for. It also helps me to keep track of where the best events for attracting business are. If you are starting out cold, then keeping records will be very important – just remember not to collect every card on the floor.

”But this won’t work” said Steve. “I’ve tried it in the past and had no response.” Does this sound familiar? My newer clients often resist implementing certain strategies based on past experiences. However, I usually find out that it wasn’t the strategy itself – but how it was implemented that caused the dismal results.

So whether you are designing a simple flier or developing a plan for a strategic partnership you can increase your chances for success by following these five tips.

1. Develop Your Marketing For Your Potential Clients – Not Yourself.

What looks good to you may not necessarily be appealing to your audience. It’s OK to ask your friends and associates for feedback – but their comments are only relevant if they are members of your target market. Also – just because everyone else advertises in a certain way is not a proof that it works.

2. Provide Answers To These Three Critical Marketing Questions:

QUESTION 1: What’s this about?
Check that your materials immediately and clearly communicate what you offer, who it’s for and what’s the next step you are asking them to take.

QUESTION 2: What’s in it for me?
Don’t make your audience guess about what’s in it for them by leaving this information out or hiding it in the small print at the bottom. Use clear language free of industry jargon. Describe your offering not from the perspective of what you do but in terms of what the clients will receive and how they will be better off as a result of it.

QUESTION 3: Why should I listen to you?
How will you establish credibility with your audience? Include your photo and prominently display your contact info. Present case studies, statistics, endorsements, testimonies from satisfied clients. If people don’t believe you they will not respond to your offer.

3. Always follow the proven A.I.D.A. format.

ATTENTION
Use a powerful headline that grabs attention. Don’t try to be cute, don’t expect that your prospects will take the time look for a deeper meaning in your clever slogans – they won’t. So be as direct and to the point as you possibly can. If you can boil the essence of the benefits you are offering to just one short sentence what would it be? That’s you headline!

INTEREST
Now that you have their attention you must quickly build your prospects interest. Use subtitles, questions and short stories to illustrate and communicate how well you understand their needs. This is a good place to allow your audience to connect with the pain their problems are causing them.

DESIRE
Technical descriptions and numbers provide information but don’t incite action. Your marketing must arouse in your prospects the emotion of desire. Show your audience how a solution is available and achievable to them through doing business with you. Offer powerful performance promise and eliminate the risk of giving you a “try” by a strong guarantee.

ACTION
Without this part your marketing is like a salesman who gives a great presentation but forgets to ask for the order. Give your prospects a compelling reason to take action. Make your offer so incredibly irresistible they simply cannot refuse!

4. Follow up, Follow Up, Follow Up…

Over 80% of all sales are made after the prospect has heard from you at least seven times. Yet a typical business person gives up after just one or two follow up contacts.

Plan your follow-up steps in advance. Use a combination of mail, email, telephone and personal visits as your follow-up strategy. At each opportunity provide your potential clients with value – this way they will forgive you the intrusion.

5. Develop a System

Most entrepreneurs and professionals waste their time and money on one-shot, fragmented promotional tactics. They practice “hit and miss” marketing system; they try a strategy and abandon it before it has a chance to produce any results.

Instead of developing new marketing strategies look for ways to improve the ones your are currently using. When you find a promotional strategy that works for you build a system around it so that you can consistently implement it over and over again.

Following these tips will make all the difference in the world between struggling to get clients and becoming wildly successfully in marketing your services. They are worth investing your best efforts and getting the support you need to implement them effectively.

(c) 2004 Adam M. Urbanski

If you are thinking about franchising your company you might wish to know the statistics on franchisor success, it is not pretty and you need to know the risks. Franchisee Success it is a really good number there on that side of the franchising game, so buying a franchise is not as risky as franchising your current company the success of franchising companies is problematic. Franchising companies have a 5:1 failure rate, mostly due to over regulation and the litigious-ness of the franchising industry.

Here is a thought for you. If we have 400,000 franchise outlets in the US and we have 5:1 failure rate for Franchisors, then aren’t we missing 2 million small business franchised outlets? Not that every business should be automatically successful mind you, but if the failure rates for franchisors are that high, we have a problem with regulators and lawyers. What recessions, all we need to do is get rid of the over regulation and lawsuits and suddenly we are recession proof next business cycle? Here is a story that illustrates what happens to first time franchisors; who go charging off:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Entrepreneurship-Story;-Over-Regulation-in-Franchising-Part-I&id=39358

http://ezinearticles.com/?Entrepreneurship-Story;-Over-Regulation-in-Franchising-Final-Chapter&id=39361

We need to be honest as a nation if we really want success in our economy, we need to address the over regulation problems in franchising and ask ourselves how we can reduce the number of lawsuits, disclosure and failures. Think on it.

Franchising Information

Franchise opportunities are all around us today. You may pop into Starbucks for coffee and then head for lunch at MacDonalds before returning home and ordering your dinner from another local franchise, Pizza Hut. Many of the most popular outlets you visit may be franchises as they offer the security of a brand name and the attraction of starting your own business.

The world of Franchise is certainly complex but many people are now seriously looking at starting a franchise as they look to leave their routine day jobs and embark on an exciting business opportunity and run their own business. Indeed many franchise fairs and seminars are now the perfect location to meet franchise experts and discuss funding and business plans to determine what type of niche you may quickly recoup your investment with.

Selecting the correct franchise opportunity is vital and you should research the company history and seek advice from current franchise owners before making important decisions. Many franchise opportunities allow you a great degree of freedom with your marketing and advertising, however many others have trademark guidelines and company policies which you must be aware of before launching a promotion.

Joining your local chamber of commerce or business club is a good first step as many business owners have experience in the franchise industry and also have a great network of contacts that could give your franchise business a great head start. Your local business enterprise will also be able to help you formulate a business plan and budget as well as possibly providing a small grant for start up costs.

Starting your own franchise has never been easier and you could even lead you on the road to becoming a multi franchise where you also recruit others to join your network.

Before Gertrude Ederle began her historic swim off of Cape Griz-Nez, France, she
underwent extensive training for endurance and technique—even though she was
already an accomplished record-breaking swimmer with Olympic medals to her
name. Outsourcing IT may not garner the same attention as being the first woman
to swim the English Channel, but it is no less important to gather as much
experience and knowledge as possible on a small scale before diving in for the big
swim.

The trend toward IT outsourcing is increasing dramatically. According to a report by
Foote Partners, as much as 45% of North American IT work will be outsourced by
2005. And there are good reasons behind this trend. Bruce Caldwell, principal
Gartner analyst believes companies can generate 20-30% savings through
outsourcing. This substantial savings potential isn’t easily overlooked, yet it isn’t the
number one reason companies are choosing to outsource right now. In a recent
survey by The Outsourcing Institute, the primary reason behind outsourcing is to
improve company focus. Other motives include freeing up internal resources,
accessing top-notch capabilities, and accelerating time to market. The survey also
indicated that 55% of firms who outsource do so within IT—more than any other
area.

As more companies begin outsourcing some or all of their IT function, it becomes
difficult to ignore the competitive pressure. With competitors achieving their IT
needs at 20-30% less cost, and getting ahead in the market because of increased
focus within the company, those who ignore the outsourcing trend could potentially
lose ground very quickly.

At the same time, outsourcing horror stories abound. According to Gartner research
firm, half of the current outsourcing projects will not meet the company’s
expectations and will be considered failures. While the vast majority of these failures
are only minor disappointments where the company decides to outsource to another
vendor, certainly a few are major catastrophes. An anonymous case study in IT
Metrics Strategies discusses a CIO who chose to outsource to beat competitors to
market. The outsourcer had promised to meet a deadline his staff had said was
impossible. When the outsourcer failed, the CIO couldn’t rebuild his team fast
enough to finish the job. In the end, the product never got to market at all.

So how do you secure all the benefits of this outsourcing wave without getting
dragged into the undertow? The key is strategic, selective outsourcing. According to
Corey Ferengul, VP of the IT research firm META Group, an increasing number of
companies are choosing to outsource non-core IT tasks. Common responsibilities
going to third-party providers include Web hosting, call centers, data storage, and
database administration.

“There’s a learning curve and a life cycle to outsourcing,” said Caldwell, “and it can
be expensive finding the right vendor, as well as going through the transitions of
taking your operations to that vendor.” Stable, yet customizable IT functions provide
an excellent training ground for outsourcing. Any function with known benchmarks
for performance and results, as well as available, reliable outsourcing partners is a
good place to start.

Ultimately you may want to outsource your entire IT department, but first you need
to get a handle on managing an outsourced process. Some companies may discover
they don’t need to incur the risks and organizational chaos of switching to total IT
outsourcing. By nimbly carving out and outsourcing small pieces of the IT function
that deliver the most cost and quality benefit, companies may find they are already
receiving maximum savings at minimal risk. However, they will have done some
carefully planned and executed experimentation before making that decision.

Gertrude Ederle once said of the sea “I never feel alone when I’m out there.” The
channel became her ally as she swam her way to England in record time. By starting
on a small, strategic scale, you’ll turn IT outsourcing into your ally rather than a
cold, tumultuous, foreboding sea.

Outsourcing seems to be the new-new thing and approximately 50% of our major corporations are doing it. What are the costs? The benefits? And what skills need to be managed in order to make it work optimally?

Let’s get a clear understanding of what we mean by outsourcing: it’s the shifting of easily codified jobs – such as help desk support, call centers, system maintenance, and programming jobs – to countries that can manage them more cheaply.

While this function is allegedly freeing up our people from some of the mundane tasks of our workplaces, it’s bringing with it an entirely new set of problems: how do we manage people across continents; how do we know our brand is being maintained when we have no direct control over managing foreign employees; how do we restructure our workspaces once our lower level jobs are farmed out.

WHAT ARE THE COSTS OF OUTSOURCING?

John Ribeiro in a recent article in Darwin, states: “According to the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM)… outsourcing to India has saved the U.S. banking industry $6 billion to $8 billion.”

Indeed, I’ve heard it said that the only reason American companies are outsourcing work is to save money. Let’s take a brief look at the pros and cons of the financials for a moment:

Cost savings: mainly in the area of salaries and management time.

Additional expenditures: vendor selection (legal, travel, time), exchange rates, training, time lag issues, client retention, management or techie retraining.

One of the costs I’ve heard discussed is the human cost: that company employees get resentful when their job descriptions get changed, and have a period of time where they suffer resistance. Eventually, they do come ‘round to recognizing that they are being given higher-value tasks in place of their old work – assuming that they even desire new tasks and don’t end up quitting. There don’t seem to be any figures available on this cost.

But there is an additional, unspoken cost. Our relationship with the end customer.

We’ve all dealt with service people from India when we call to ask a question of a vendor. First there is the long, long delay before the phone gets answered. And then there is the accent.

Are the service reps and techies smart? Yes, they are. Are they smarter than Americans? It depends on the person. But they are always cheaper. Do they do the job? Usually. Depends on how well they’ve been trained and managed. They certainly know what to say, how to say it, how to answer questions.

But what about brand management? Do they give the identical service that the company espouses in-house (or, um, in-States)? The answer here is, generally, ‘no’ and deserves further discussion.

HOW DO OUTSOURCED REPS DELIVER BRAND AMBASSADORSHIP
Because lower-level jobs are being filled by people who speak English as a second language, AND who have not had the appreciation of ‘service’ instilled in them since birth, these foreign reps will, at best, do a technically good job. Say what you want: we Americans are raised understanding that we must serve customers and must be served by vendors. People in India are raised to believe they are a replenishable commodity.

Unless trained to do so, the foreign workers will NOT carry the company standard, and in a problem situation, may run. I’ve had several people hang up on me when it became clear that my problem was more complex than they could manage.

Do I shrug, and say, “Oh well. He was Indian. He didn’t know any better.” Or do I say, “Why isn’t ABC Company giving me the service they promise on their ads?”

Every single person who works in a company – Every. Single. Person. – is a company’s Brand Ambassador. That means, those young Indian people living in Bangalore (I’ve been there. Outside of the pollution in the city, it’s lovely. Smells like sandalwood throughout the villages.) or wherever, must act exactly like the people you have in the States. If you don’t, you are not managing your brand appropriately.

And therein lies the largest problem created by Outsourcing (other than taking jobs away from an already depleted workforce here in the States): how do American managers effectively communicate with the foreign providers who are answering our phones and doing our programming? How do we make sure that the way we treat customers here in the States is the same way we treat customers in Malaysia, or wherever?

What is our brand? And how do we manage the brand over time and through space?

We need to create a new way to transfer skills and beliefs across continents in order to ensure that our brand is represented effectively in every client interaction. Every client interaction.

BELIEF AND SKILLS TRANSFER
For some reason, some companies still think their ‘brand’ is a visual logo rather than a complete relationship and story. Our brand is the story we tell about ourselves to our customers (defined as employees, vendors, and purchasers of our products) and the relationship we have with all of them. Think about Harley Davidson: somehow they manage to get people tattooing the brand on their bodies! Think about Apple: they’ve taken their IPOD and created fabulous ads that make us get more atuned (ahem… sorry) to what their brand is: cutting edge, different, funky, creative, and funfunfun. Not to mention that the ad itself makes me want to dance – and then dance to a store and buy a new MAC. (Note: their website does NOT maintain their brand, however.)

OK. So we’ve got this story and this customer experience in our States-side company, but we don’t have the way forward to ensure we duplicate this with our Outsourced employees.

I recently met with a new client team as they were incorporating an Indian vendor’s offering into their roles. They had spent 4 days together, aligning their outcomes, working relationships, communications, and jobs. Their mission statement was the same, their company vision. They had me in to do a final check.

I began by asking the new vendor what his job was: to hire the best techies around. Good. What else? Well, what else is there?

“How do you plan on managing Company X’s brand?”
“What do you mean? All I have to do is hire the right people. After that, they’re on their own.”
“Really! And how are they going to be managed daily? How will you ensure that the service they offer in the States will be the same service you offer from here?”
“John (the tech manager) will manage it.”
“John, do you recognize that as one of your new jobs?”
”Um, I guess I hadn’t.
“How will the customer’s specs be delivered? Will the Indian tech folks speak with the customers directly?”
“No.”
“So, how will the information be transferred across the sea?”

You get the point here. They hadn’t thought through all of the daily dynamics. Within an hour, no one knew their jobs or their roles, people were switching job descriptions on one hand, and recognizing new, unspoken, aspects of their jobs on the other.

This is a small company. It’s highly likely that larger, more experienced companies, know how to ask all of the right questions to get it right from the start. But how many don’t?

Have your internal and outsourced teams design communication systems that will make it viable to ensure all aspects of your brand get carried through from one country to the other. Make sure it’s seamless – that all customers get treated exactly the same, regardless of where your support staff sit. Make sure that the folks who are giving work up to the outsourced people will take responsibility for it, and be happy with the new work they’ll be undertaking.

It’s not ok just to manage the vendor by choosing wisely. It’s imperative you have a hands-on relationship with each employee, regardless of where they sit. Remember: they are all your customers.