Category: Small business

Business travellers are a great source of ongoing bookings for hotels and bed-and-breakfasts. In this blog, we look at how to attract business travellers and why it makes good business sense.

Why should I try to attract business travellers to my hotel?

Business travellers present a fantastic opportunity to hotel owners. Unlike holidaymakers, who often only stay during high season, business travellers need accommodation all year round. If you can become the accommodation of choice when a organisation’s team are working in your local area, you can achieve sustainable levels of occupancy even during low season.

Another advantage of attracting business travellers is that managing one relationship can translate into lots of bookings. Contrast this with holiday bookings, where you have to from scratch with every guest who arrives.

How can I attract business travellers?

To attract business travellers to your hotel, it’s important to market your offering to them in the right way. The marketing you do to attract individuals and families on holiday will not necessarily appeal to your potential business guests. Instead, devote some of your marketing efforts to connecting with businesses.

  1. Adapt and refine your offering

Before you can offer your hotel as the ideal accommodation for business travellers, consider whether it has what a business traveller needs. If it doesn’t, change it! For example, consider offering a streamlined check-in and check-out, so business guests don’t lose valuable time doing paperwork. Be prepared to offer an early breakfast or late dinner to fit in around unusual arrival times. Perhaps you could turn a quiet corner into a dedicated office or meeting space for your business guests. If your internet speeds are slow, invest in an upgrade so business guests can access whatever they need to work during their stay.

  • Create packages

Creating a special package for business travellers makes it easier for procurement managers to see the value you’re offering. Choose the right price point for a room, breakfast and Wi-Fi, maybe with a transport option to connect guests to the station or airport.

  • Target businesses on social media

Once you’re business-traveller ready, it’s time to spread the word! Share dedicated social media posts, not just offering accommodation but highlighting the reasons why your hotel is a great choice for business travellers. You might also consider posting on LinkedIn, the business-to-business social media platform, to connect with the sort of people who might be looking for accommodation for their business travellers.

  • Network

A great way to meet other businesses face to face is to go to networking events. Networking events help you build up your business family, and meet the kind of business owners who might need what you offer.

You could also offer your hotel as a networking venue, giving event attendees the opportunity to see what you have to offer. 

  • Advertise

A carefully placed advert in a business publication could help you attract commercial travellers. And if any businesses have their head office or training centre near your hotel, reach out directly to let them know you’re ready to welcome their employees whenever they’re in the area!

Outsourced support helps hotels attract business travellers

Get Ahead has a strong team of marketing experts who would love to help you increase your occupancy all year round. If you need support with any of the suggestions we’ve made in this blog, we are here to help. We’ll use our marketing expertise to connect you with commercial travellers and gain all the benefits of repeat business.

Explore our site or social media channels to find out more about what Get Ahead has to offer.

Hotel digital marketing covers everything from your website to social media – any kind of marketing you do online, essentially! One of the most important areas of digital marketing for hotels and holiday rentals is review management.

In this blog, our digital marketing expert Mel explains why reviews matter and explains ideas for getting guests to leave reviews. She’ll also share tips for how to manage reviews once you’ve received them.

Why do hotel and holiday rental reviews matter?

 

Mel: Arguably, reviews matter more in the hospitality industry than anywhere else. This is because people usually go on holiday to somewhere new – that’s part of what makes it a holiday! What this means is that your guests have to rely heavily on reviews to help them make the decision about whether or not to stay at your hotel.

If the potential guest finds it’s a toss up between two hotels, they’re going to choose the one with the most positive reviews.

Remember, every interaction is an opportunity to show your personality. Reviews will give potential guests an idea of what to expect…and so will the way you reply.

How can I encourage guests to leave reviews?

Mel: Ask them! Most people love to be asked – they feel great having their opinion valued. Asking also shows that you’re confident in your services – let your confidence shine out!

A good time to ask is when guests check out. The sooner they leave the review, the more honest and specific it is likely to be. You could have a QR code on the front desk for guests scan – that way, they can leave their review while waiting for their taxi.

How do I manage reviews of my hotel or holiday rental?

Mel: Naturally, we all want a lovely collection of five star reviews! However, we also need to be realistic. Not all reviews are going to be positive – some might be mixed and others downright bad.

Working in digital marketing, I’ve noticed that every single review is an opportunity to show how good you are at what you do. Even a bad review gives you the chance to reply and show how good your customer service and problem-solving skills really are.

  1. How to deal with positive reviews

These are the easier ones to deal with! Even though they usually require less attention, it’s still a good idea to take time to reply and thank the reviewer for their praise. This shows your upbeat side, and also demonstrates that you love interacting with people – two characteristics to make a future guest feel welcome.

  • How to deal with negative reviews

Mixed or negative reviews always take more time to deal with. Summon your inner strength and try not to take them personally. Instead, try to see them as opportunities to show how well you deal with problems.

The most important things to do are reply politely and appropriately as soon as you can, and try and get the conversation away from the review site so you don’t end up having an awkward discussion in public. If you can, use the phone or email to discuss the problem instead. Try and remain professional and don’t get into an argument.

If you learn anything valuable from the negative review, let the reviewer know that you appreciate their feedback and will be making changes. Take the opportunity to show the original reviewer and any future guests that you listen, you care and you solve problems effectively. You might well be able to turn a negative situation into a positive one!

Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to have negative reviews taken down. Most review sites, including the biggest ones like Google and Facebook, will only take down a review that is unreasonable. Resist the urge to turn off the “leave a review” option if you get a bad review. Instead, continue asking people to leave reviews and let the good ones dilute the effect of a few bad ones.

Outsource your hotel digital marketing and review management

Another review management solution is to outsource it. Let a digital marketing expert like Mel deal with the reviews from her own home while you concentrate on delivering a fantastic experience to the guests who are with you right now.

A huge advantage of having a remote worker manage the reviews is that they look at them as an outsider. It’s easy to take reviews personally, and fixate on one bad one even if you’ve also had twenty good ones! But a remote marketing expert can help you regain your sense of proportion, as well replying to the straightforward reviews and prompting you to address the more complex ones.

Why not explore our social channels to find out more about what Get Ahead has to offer? And to find out more about outsourcing your hotel digital marketing, talk to your local regional director today.

PS – we’ve put together our top resources for hotel owners in one ebook – download it here!

Virtual PA services have revolutionised business support. One of our most popular services, we believe using a remote PA is a cost-effective, efficient solution. However, we also know that it can be hard to break away from the traditional idea of an employed PA. That’s why we’ve put together our top reasons why working with a virtual PA is as good – or better – than the traditional model. Read on to find out more.

1. A close working relationship

Recent tech advances have changed the way we communicate with colleagues. In addition, working from home some or all of the time has become the norm, meaning we’re often in a different location from our team members. What we learn from this is that it’s completely possible to have a great working relationship with someone even when your desks aren’t side by side.

Get Ahead helps the working relationship get off to a good start too. Our regional directors (your first point of contact) will spend time getting to know you and how you work. With this information, they’ll choose someone to support you who has the right personality match and who’ll thrive in the environment you’ve created. This will help your new working relationship develop all the closeness of the traditional version.

2. Advances in communication technology

Your virtual PA can work with you as smoothly as if you worked in the same office, thanks to platforms like Zoom, WhatsApp and Microsoft Teams. Faster internet speeds make real-time interactions easier too.

3. Changes in the PA role

The role of the PA continues to evolve. Advances in tech clearly help this evolution (see above) but there are social factors at work too. With many businesses having a flatter hierarchy than they used to, PAs are less of an extension of the boss, and more of a responsible team member. This means that the modern PA role is easier to do remotely than its former incarnation. It’s time to let go of the old-fashioned image and see the situation as it is in the 2020s.

4. UK-based support

If you choose virtual PA services from Get Ahead, your new assistant will be based in the UK. This means you’ll be in the same time zone, making it easier to coordinate tasks, diaries and meetings. Most of our virtual experts have English as a first language, so you won’t encounter the language barrier you might if you used an offshore solution.  

5. A cost-effective solution

The bottom line is nearly always costs. When you use virtual PA services, you only pay for work completed. This means that if your business only needs support for a few hours each week, that’s all you have to pay for. There are also no recruitment costs, pension contributions, sick pay or holiday pay – you don’t even have to provide coffee!

Virtual PA services from Get Ahead

If you think your business could benefit from virtual PA services, we’d love to hear from you. Your local regional director will take time to find out how you work, so they can match you with the best business support expert for your needs. And if you’d like to see how this works in practice, read our case study here.

Virtual PA services have both similarities and differences from the traditional PA model. Unfortunately, some business owners are reluctant to sign up for support from virtual PA services because they don’t know what they can reasonably ask their virtual PA to do. This means they’re missing out on some great support.

If you’re wavering about taking up virtual PA services, you’re not alone. To help you, we asked one of our virtual PA’s Juliet to talk us through the top tasks her clients ask her to do. We’ll also take a look at more unusual tasks and how to go about finding the right support to deliver them. Read on to find out more.

Top tasks for virtual PA services

Email

Juliet: Email monitoring is one of the biggest areas of my role. With hundreds of emails arriving every day, it can be difficult for business owners to pick out the most important ones. That’s why I manage client’s inboxes, monitoring the emails to make sure that the right people see the most important messages and action them.

I keep my own records as well. If I notice an important email has not been actioned, I follow up with the recipient so it doesn’t go unanswered.

Initially, I send holding emails in reply so the sender knows their email has been seen. As time goes on and I get to know client’s businesses and how they work, I can reply to some emails myself, taking the pressure off the core team.

Outsourcing email monitoring means the clients can focus on their core business, confident that there is a VA looking out for the most important messages and taking the pressure off.

Accounts

Juliet: Having worked with a number of clients, I’ve got to know different types of accounting software! This helps me slot into a new business easily, and makes me more confident about taking on a new accounting platform. I enter the right data into the platform and chase and reconcile invoices.

Many business owners cite finance as their weakest area – if you hate it, you’re not alone! Fortunately, outsourcing means invoices can be reconciled more quickly and business owners don’t have to worry about it.

Reporting

Juliet: Many of my bigger clients have boards of trustees who have oversight of the business figures. Part of my role is to assemble quarterly reports, pulling together information from other sources so the trustees have an accurate picture of the business.

Preparing for board meetings can take up a lot of precious time. Fortunately, outsourcing the quarterly reports gives you that time back.

Events

Juliet: I often organise events, training and conferences for my clients. I’ve built up my own directory of venues and other services to help the practical side of business events run smoothly.

I love being able to share my established contacts with my new clients. Because I have worked with many different businesses over the years, I’ve developed a network of events contacts which I use to support my current clients.

What about other business support?

Get Ahead has a wide range of virtual experts. Even if you have tasks that fall outside virtual PA services, we have the expertise to deliver them. For example, we might match you with Juliet (or someone with similar skills) to put together a conference or stay on top of the emails. And if you have other jobs, like developing a new website or marketing a new product, other members of our extensive team can help. Even if you have more unusual requirements, like collating notes from a workshop, we hope you’ll come to us – we can always find the right support for your needs.

Virtual PA services from Get Ahead

Our team provide back-office support so that business owners can focus on their core offering. And without having to spend their evenings catching up on paperwork, business owners regain the free time and flexibility that they were looking for in the first place!

Want to find out more about virtual PA services? We’ve put together some of our resources to help you – have a read!

One generalist or a team of specialists? – Get Ahead VA

Don’t know whether to outsource? – Get Ahead VA

A hand-picked team for your business support – Get Ahead VA

Hut22 – a flexible solution for a changing workload – Get Ahead VA

If you’re full of plans but think you might struggle to execute your business idea, don’t worry – Get Ahead are here to help!

Christmas is a great time to reflect on the year just gone, and identify profitable areas for the year ahead. If you spent Christmas dinner bending your family’s ears about your new business plan, your new year’s resolution is probably to put it into practice.

In this blog, we look at why it’s great to have new ideas and how to get the right support to put them into practice.

New business ideas are great!

The Get Ahead team are always meeting entrepreneurs and start-ups. We’ve heard some fantastic ideas and we love the enthusiasm of entrepreneurs when they describe their plans.

Without new ideas, the world would grind to a halt. From the wheel to the internet, new ideas have continued to drive civilisation forward, creating new opportunities and new approaches to business and everyday life.

That’s why you should never stop having ideas. Even if you know your limitations, or you know what barriers stand between you and how to execute your business idea, don’t worry. There are loads of resources out there to help you fill in the gaps and realise your dream.  

Barriers to putting your business idea into practice

You probably already know that nothing worth having comes easy. There might well be barriers between you and a successful business idea. For example, you might have had a cool idea but you’ve never run a business before. Or you might be so fizzing with enthusiasm that you’re struggling to focus on writing a business plan to secure the right start-up funding.

Alternatively, you might know your own field very well, but feel less confident about the other aspects of a delivering a project.

Some people are starters and some people are finishers. The starters are often bubbling with ideas, while the finishers are focused and methodical. The business world needs both types of people, and they have to be prepared to help each other.

How do you get over these barriers? Well, we’d suggest taking some time to be brutally honest with yourself. Accept that your business idea will need some hard work as well as enthusiasm. Identify what skills you already have available to you and be prepared to recruit or outsource the other areas.

Plug your skills gap and execute your business idea

If you’re a starter, you probably need some finishers around you to help you make your business ideas reality. Your best mate might be really supportive, but if they’re too similar to you, they might not help you move your project forward. Sometimes it’s better to choose people who are focused on the bottom line, who are not emotionally involved with the plan and simply want it to work for the sake of business success.

Practical support for start-ups

If you need practical support for your start-up, Get Ahead can help. Our team are all experts in their fields, including finance, marketing, admin, and social media. We can put sustainable systems in place, like setting up customer relationship management software and creating spreadsheets for you to populate.

We insist that every team member has at least three years’ experience in their field before they join Get Ahead. Many have more than three years! This means that if you get your business support from us, you’ll be working with someone who has not only built up experience in their particular skill, but also has wider business experience to share.

If you’re starting a business this January, Get Ahead could be the support you’re looking for. We strive to bring maturity, experience and perspective to every project, filling in the skills gaps and to help you execute your business idea.

To see how this works in practice, learn how we filled in the gaps for a team of cutting-edge software developers who needed help to market their latest product. Read our case study here.   

How to solve staffing issues is not the first question you want to be asking when you reopen after Christmas. Unfortunately, it often is. Christmas gives many people time to think and re-evaluate, with the result that January is often a key time for employees to give notice and start looking for other jobs.

If you’ve been thrown into a staffing crisis because a key team member has decided to move on, you’re not alone. In this blog, we talk to virtual expert Louisa about the problem and consider different ways to solve staffing issues.

Why is January a key month in staff turnover?

Louisa: I like to use my Christmas break to reflect on the past year and make resolutions for the next year. Lots of working people do, and it’s an important time in goal setting. Unfortunately for employers, it can also lead to employees deciding to take a different direction, leaving your business with a skills gap.

How can we solve staffing issues in January?

Louisa: It’s always a shame to say goodbye to someone with skills and experience that have benefited your business – fortunately, there are a number of solutions available. Above all, stay positive – remember that someone leaving always creates opportunities. For example, filling the skills gap could mean a promotion for the right team member. You could also change a process or introduce an efficiency.

When I encounter businesses with a skills gap, I usually suggest the following solutions:

Training and promotion

Depending on your business and your team, training up another member of staff could fill the gap. This can be a cost-effective solution, as well as creating an opportunity for an established member of staff to develop their skills. Opportunities like this can make your staff members feel valued and could help minimise future staff turnover.

On the other hand, if your existing team are already at capacity, you will have to bring in outside help.  

Recruitment

With an obvious gap in your team, you could also recruit a new member of staff. This is a good solution if you’re confident that the role you’re recruiting for is very similar to that held by your outgoing team member. It’s also good if your business is secure and you’re confident you will have the budget to cover the role.

The downside of recruitment is that there are costs associated with advertising the role, as well as time lost from core business while you follow the recruitment process. It’s also important to remember that your new recruit won’t necessarily be able to bring value to the business straightaway. They might need to learn the ropes before you’ll see a return on your recruitment investment.

Outsourcing

Outsourcing is when you pay an outside person or organisation to provide a particular skill or service. It’s a great solution if you have a short-term skills gap…or if you don’t know how long you’ll have the skills gap for. Unlike using a temp, outsourcing is completely flexible and you only pay for completed work. For example, if you outsource the outgoing team member’s responsibilities and then find that some of them are no longer relevant, you can simply turn off that part of the service.

If you outsource to an agency like Get Ahead, your local regional director will hand pick a team of experts to cover all the support you need. This means that you could spread one person’s hours across three people, and get an exceptional standard of work from each one. And if your virtual support shows you a more efficient way of doing something, you are welcome to adopt it – this could change the whole outlook of your business.

Whenever I’m asked to slot into a new business at short notice, I’ve learned to quickly pick up on the culture as well as delivering the best work I can. This means – like all Get Ahead’s virtual experts -I can hit the ground running when I start working for a new client.

Best of all, there’s no long contract, so if you unexpectedly fill your skills gap with a permanent staff member, you can simply switch off the outsourced work while keeping within your staffing budget.

Outsource support to Get Ahead

If you think Get Ahead could be the solution to your skills gap, we’d love to help! Get in touch today or explore our site to find out more. You can also find us on LinkedIn where we share loads of news and tips for business owners.

 

 

 

How do you say thank you to staff at Christmas? And with all the restaurants taking Christmas bookings since the summer, what do you do if you’ve left it too late to fix a party?

If you’re stuck for ways to show your team some appreciation this Christmas, or you need some last-minute ideas, help is at hand. We caught up with business development manager Melanie who shared her top ideas for team bonding, seeing your staff as real people and generally having fun at Christmastime. 

Why does employee appreciation matter?

Melanie: Showing your employees that you care goes a very long way. It’s a great way to build staff loyalty which can increase productivity and staff retention. What you do doesn’t have to be expensive as long as your team can see that you’re sincere. 

In my work as a business development manager, I’ve seen how breaking down barriers and meeting staff on a non-work level can really help a business. When there’s a staff party – even something as simple as playing board games together – job titles disappear and you’re all just people together. This is how to really start getting to know your team, understanding what pressures they’re under outside of work, and learning what’s really important to them too. 

Once you’re on the road to getting to know your staff on a more personal level, you’ll probably find management easier. Flexing round someone who is balancing paid work with being a carer, for example, is much more likely to bring out their best side. You can keep all their drive and talent within your own organisation, while supporting them in their personal life too. 

How do you say thank you to staff at Christmas?

Melanie: There are lots of ways to thank your staff! 

  1. Say thank you. 

It’s simple and it works. Write it in a card or say it out loud, but make a point of it – it goes a long way. 

  • Plan a celebration

Even if you’ve left it too late to book a party, escape room or cocktail class, you can still get together with your staff. If you have a business premises, hold your party there. Prosecco and crisps go a long way, and there’s nothing to stop you laying on more of a spread if your budget will allow. Remember to provide something festive and alcohol-free for any colleagues who aren’t drinking. 

You know your team. If you think a structured activity could help break the ice, a quiz or a games night is cheap and easy to organise. And if you’re an outdoorsy lot, go on a walk together – you could even “give something back” and do a litter pick at the same time. 

  • Volunteer together

Christmas is a busy time for loads of charities – why not check out corporate volunteering opportunities near you? Volunteering is a great way to bond as a team and have a laugh, helping your community at the same time. 

  • Support a new cause

Show your support for the causes or events that your employees take part in at Christmas. This can be a great way to show you value what your employees do outside of work, as well as supporting a new charity or organisation.  For example, one of our team sings with the Lloyds Choir and we’re all going along to their Christmas carol concert – really looking forward to it! 

Say thank you to your staff at Christmas

Whatever you plan for your staff at Christmas, think about who they are and what they’d enjoy. Personalising your thanks makes it much more meaningful. In turn, this can make it go further and help you bring out the best in your employees. 

We’ve put together loads of Christmas resources to help business owners during this busy time! If you found this blog useful, check out these ones too:

Take a break from work over Christmas

Connect with your business family

Top tips for using social media over Christmas

Christmas cheats for business owners

It’s nearly time to get your business ready for Christmas. From essential health and safety to sharing the festive spirit, there’s always a lot to do. So here’s a little pre-Christmas present from Get Ahead – our Christmas checklist for business owners. 

Health and safety

If you have a business premises like a shop, factory or office, it’s important that it remains safe and secure when you’re closed. Christmas falls on a Monday in 2023, so you might be closed for four days or more. 

Remember to turn off the regular lights and turn on the security lights. Set the heating so it kicks in if temperatures drop – you don’t want to come back to frozen or leaking pipes. 

Depending on your business and what you offer, you or a team member might be “on call” over the Christmas break. Make sure the right people know who this is. If necessary, include the on-call person’s phone number on your emergency plan, answerphone message or email auto-reply. 

Outsource your office cover 

Get Ahead has a range of office services to keep your business ticking along when you’re closed. We provide inbox monitoring so the important messages don’t get lost in the sea of junk mail. And our phone answering service means there’s always a professional response to any inquiries that come in over Christmas.  

Holiday and Christmas cover from Get Ahead can be set up in as little as one day – please get in touch if you’d benefit from our support! 

Add a Christmas message to your website

If you’re closing over Christmas, it’s a good idea to let your community know via a message on your website. This should help you take the break you deserve over Christmas, as well as being good customer service. 

Write a Christmas message to your clients and customers

Your business would be nothing without your customers and clients. Take some time this December to thank your business community for their support over the past year, and wish them a very merry Christmas!  

Set your email auto-response

If you’re lucky enough to not have to check emails over the Christmas break, remember to set up an auto-reply to let your clients, customers and business family know. Get Ahead are great advocates of taking time off, so if you’re able to take a Christmas break, make it a complete switch-off.

Word your out-of-office carefully. Don’t promise to reply if you don’t intend to. We’ve noticed that the number of Get Ahead clients taking a complete break over Christmas has increased every year. So please don’t feel guilty for taking time off – lots of others are too! 

If you do need to leave an emergency phone number (see above), be clear that it’s for emergencies only. 

Check the fridge before you lock up the office. 

If you’re closing for ten days over Christmas and New Year, please, please take the milk home when you lock up. Throw out anything that’s not going to survive the Christmas shut down and enjoy (literally) a fresh start to the New Year! 

Get your business ready for Christmas with support from Get Ahead

If you have outstanding work you need to finish before Christmas, Get Ahead are here to help. We can cover your back-office responsibilities so you can get on with your core business, tying up loose ends before you take a complete break. Explore our site to find out more, or contact your local regional director today. 

Have you had a great year or do you still need to achieve your business goals? With the end of Q4 looming large on the horizon, it’s time to focus on anything you haven’t yet achieved and take action to complete your goals.

But to achieve our goals, we need the right mindsets. In this blog, we look at positive ways to approach the end of the calendar year. 

Be brave and honest

When we don’t look at our goals, and don’t measure our business in any way, it’s easy to assume everything is going well. And for some of us, it’s easy to assume it’s all going badly, so we avoid looking at it because we think we won’t like what we see. 

But Q4 is the time to see an accurate picture. Be brave and revisit your business plan and business goals. Are you on track? Are you where you expected to be? If not, what do you need to get you there? 

Focus 

It’s amazing what we can do when we focus. Turn off your notifications, put your phone into monk mode and clear down some of those tasks that have caused blockages in your working life. Check out our blog on tasks you can do in one hour – you might be surprised at how productive you can be! 

Embrace new approaches

Often, the issue that is blocking us from achieving a business goal can be removed relatively easily. However, “we’ve always done it this way” can be a real barrier, preventing us from upgrading to a good customer management system or reorganising our business premises. 

To achieve our goals, it’s sometimes worth looking at alternative approaches and embracing change. Talking to business coaches, Get Ahead regional directors or other business owners can give you a host of ideas to help you.

Be a finisher

As entrepreneurs and business owners, we love having new ideas and getting them off the ground. When we do this, we’re “starters.” A starter is a fantastic thing to be and without us, the world would be a boring place with no opportunities. 

But the end of the year is the time to be a finisher. Finishers have the commitment and maturity to see their goals through to the end. Finishing can be less exciting than starting, but it is what makes the project worthwhile. 

(By the way, if you’re not a finisher and know you never will be, consider outsourcing – see below!)

Celebrate your achievements

When we complete our annual or Q4 goals, it’s time to celebrate! Be proud of what you and your team have achieved. We can all gain more from the achievement by learning from it – what went well and what was a struggle? The successes show us what we could be building on next year and may help shape our business purpose and brand. And the struggles will be easier next time if we learn from the experience. 

Achieve your business goals with outsourced support

The Get Ahead team are great at unblocking businesses which have got stuck for want of the right support. Our virtual experts can take on the tasks you procrastinate about, or fill a skills gap to help you complete a goal or project. To find out more, contact your local regional director today, or explore our site for more business resources. 

Many business owners experience barriers to delegation – potentially disastrous as your business cannot grow without it. Sometimes there is a deep-seated reason why you can’t ask for help; for others, it just hasn’t occurred to them! 

In this blog, we look at common reasons business owners struggle with delegating, and consider the ways you could overcome them.

Common barriers to delegation

1. Imposter syndrome

When we experience imposter syndrome, we believe that we’re an imposter in our sector. We feel like we shouldn’t be in the role of a business owner, or we don’t feel like we’re qualified to work in that industry. Imposter syndrome – unlike actual fraud – is when we have all the qualifications and experience to do our jobs, but we still feel like we shouldn’t be there.

Imposter syndrome is a barrier to delegation because if we don’t feel entitled to do our jobs, how on earth can we take the lead when we ask someone else to do it? And how can we give feedback with confidence? 

Sometimes, all we need to overcome imposter syndrome is a quick reality check. Look back at your qualifications, if you have them. And if you’re a graduate of the University of Life, spend time remembering how you learned all the skills that got you where you are today. 

If your imposter syndrome is more serious than that, it could be helpful to talk to a life- or business-coach. We have quite a few in our business family – talk to your local regional director if you would like an introduction. 

2. “It’s quicker to do it myself than show someone else.”

We’ve all said this at some point! But the truth is, showing someone else is a long-term investment in your business. Certainly, the first time you do it, briefing your staff member or outsourced support will take time. However, once that initial briefing is out of the way, your business now has two people who know how to do it, instead of just one. This means one less thing on your to-do list; it also gives the business flexibility as either one of you can take responsibility for it in future. 

Accepting that you will “lose” an hour while you brief someone else on how to do it is easier when you also see the long-term advantages you’ll gain in return. 

3. Micromanagement 

Micromanagement is often a symptom of a lack of trust. If you don’t trust your staff or external support team, ask yourself why not. If their work is rubbish, stop micromanaging and hire someone else! And if the problem is with you, take action. Remind yourself that your team doesn’t want to do a bad job – they’re on career paths too.  

Overcome barriers to delegation when you outsource to Get Ahead

If you’re struggling to ask for help, Get Ahead could be a good way to start. You’ll have a single point of contact in the form of your local regional director – they’ll be able to introduce you to the right expert who knows your industry and also has the right personality. 

Often, they’ll encourage you to start small, perhaps with some outsourced diary management. If that goes well, you have the option to increase the amount of support you receive. You’ll never be locked into a long contract, and there’s always the option to add or subtract services as your needs change. We hope it will all go well, but if anything doesn’t make the grade, you can discuss it with your regional director. This means you don’t have to give feedback directly to your virtual expert if you don’t feel comfortable.

If you’re ready for Get Ahead to support you, get in touch today – we’d love to hear from you! And if you’d like more information on how to outsource successfully, download our ebook here.