Time is money: Why delegating is important for businesses

The phrase “time is money” is often thrown around with the common perception that it admonishes us to not waste our time, as it equates to money we could be earning. 

Although this is true, the interpretation of how to correctly implement this is lost. Whether you’re a large, small company or even an entrepreneur, in terms of a business this phrase should delineate to the effective delegation of tasks to save yourself time, with a guaranteed ROI. 

Every business should have the goal of reducing time spent on repetitive tasks which produce minimum or no capital and redirect that time on tasks which create the most amount of money. 

This is where the art of delegation comes into play. 

What is delegation? 

Handing over a task to someone else which is originally assigned to you, is the basic definition of delegation. 

This is commonly done internally, however outsourcing can synonymously work with delegating. This is an underrated approach when trying to maximise your input and achieve the most sales. 

If you find yourself engaging in tasks which are mundane, take too much time and don’t require high levels of skill, then this is where delegation comes into play. 

Benefits of delegation via outsourcing

Before selecting which tasks to outsource, use these four points to establish your outlook on the task. 

1.) I enjoy this task and am exceptional at it.  

2.) I don’t enjoy this task but am still good at it. 

3.) I like this task but I am not skilled enough to do it. 

4.) I don’t like this task and I am not good at it. 

After those four pointers, analyse whether those tasks are a good use of your time in terms of time expended versus money earned. 

In this case, we will use the example of outsource delegation as someone who works in an accounting firm. 

The first step is to calculate your hourly earnings. Let’s say your annual salary is $75,000, take the last three zeros off that number and then divide the remainder (in this case 75) by two, which equals to $37.50 per hour.  

If you have a mundane task such as compiling data in an Excel spreadsheet which on average takes you one hour to complete, if you can find someone to do this for $10 within the same time frame then you have already achieved a 375% return on investment. On top of that, you now have an extra hour to complete tasks which hold more value and can earn the company more money. 

As a basic math equation, this depicts how the time we often spend on particular tasks are not worth the hourly rate being received. 

Administrative tasks are some of the most commonly outsourced tasks as they feel repetitive and don’t add capital value to a company. Often these tasks aren’t urgent but still need to be completed, therefore outsourcing these to a qualified person who finishes the task at a much cheaper price can free up your schedule. 

Having an internal team to delegate to

While outsourcing is certainly cost-effective, the main downside is having to experiment with different freelancers, seeking reliable performance and working with different time zones. 

This is where having an internal team for delegation can prove to be superior. 

For smaller businesses, this is often a challenge as they simply do not have the staff count to hand out more tasks. However, with serviced office providers such as Servcorp, it’s possible. 

Servcorp’s serviced office clients are provided with a complete team to delegate tasks to. 

Whether you’re a legal service provider who requires an office assistant to carry out basic administrative tasks or a finance manager who needs a secretary to handle event management, transcription, legal work, marketing or whatever else it may be, Servcorp gives you a team to delegate to. 

This saves the time required to research and sift through freelancers or organisations which provide tailor-based services, while avoiding the risk of inconsistent performance. 

For smaller businesses with less staff, spending time on answering calls is also a form of downtime. Answering all inquiries and wasting minutes with telemarketers along with scam calls can cut into time which can be spent on more lucrative operations of the business. 

Serviced office clients with Servcorp are also given their own receptionist to answer calls in their company name. The receptionist takes all messages and relays them via your preferred method, while ensuring a potential sale is never missed through a 24/7 voicemail to email system which allows you or someone else to follow up. 

Although studies vary, it is estimated that businesses lose an average of 20 to 40 percent of revenue as a result of process inefficiencies. These can stem from many internal issues however spending time on repetitive and unprofitable tasks is a strong causer of revenue loss. 

While it may be difficult to let go of tasks due to general uncertainty or a lack of trust, it’s imperative to move past that stage and not impede your business’s output potential.  

Learn the process of delegation, establish which tasks are worth more money, delegate the tasks and trust the process.