Engaging an “overseas” freelancer or consultants can be a great business decision – as long as you do it the right way. Businesses want the best “bang for their buck”. In some cases that “bang” may come from an IT support firm in India or a customer service firm in Eastern Europe. The number of large Fortune 500 companies that use overseas consulting firms – most obvious, are the IT and customer support firms that many of our top banks use from India – is staggering. The reason, of course, is that they provide specialized services at, often, a fraction of the cost for the same service in the US or UK. There is no reason why a small and medium size business cannot extract the same benefits.

When engaging an overseas freelancer or consultant, however, you have a few extra things to think about. None of those things are insurmountable. Here are six (6) things to remember:

1. Do your due diligence

Before hiring an overseas freelancer or consultant, you need to do your due diligence. Do everything you would ordinarily do when you hire an employee or consultant in your home country. However, you should do a little ‘extra’ diligence since you can’t physically meet with the overseas freelancer/consultant.

Thoroughly check their credentials, get several references and speak to those referees. As part of this diligence, think about giving the freelancer or consultant a small job to do as a ‘test’ before you retain them for your real project. Ensure they pass your test in terms of:

• assembling their team quickly

• meeting deadlines

• quality of work

• response time

• keeping you informed

• ease of working with

2. Get examples of past work

Ask the freelancer or consultant, or their referees, to send you some examples of past work so that you can see the quality of their work. One of the biggest complaints (whether right or wrong) about overseas freelancers and consultants is that the quality of their work is not up-to-par with US or UK standards. Sure, that may be the case with some, but that is certainly not the case with all overseas freelancers and consultants. In fact, as the overseas workforce in places such as India or Eastern Europe gains traction and experience, that complaint seems to be diminishing every year.

3. Communicate with extra clarity

For many overseas freelancers and consultants, English is not their mother tongue. This does not make them stupid! (There is no need to speak more loudly down the phone, as you might witness when watching a loud American tourist trying to communicate to a waiter in a café in France. ) In addition, an overseas freelancer or consultant is not physically sitting with you and can’t pick up on body language etc when you’re giving them instructions.

Accordingly, you need to alter your communication methods and be very clear and concise in terms of exactly what you need them to do. Use a mixture of phone calls, emails and even video calls, like Skye.

• First, have a phone call or video call. Skype video calling is free (www.skype.com).

• Follow up that conversation with an email to confirm what you need. Be very clear and precise. Use short sentences, bullet points and headings.

• If you subsequently see they are on the wrong track, don’t wait - get on the phone with them or email them and sort out the miscommunication.

4. Set up regular telephone or video conferences

Set up regular calls with the freelancer or consultant throughout the project. The more you participate with the freelancer or consultant, the better the end product will be. Don’t throw a job at a consultant and ask them for an end product two months later. Schedule weekly calls, even if for just 15 minutes, to ask them progress and status. In other words, make sure they know you are checking in with them so they feel accountable.

5. Regularly monitor their work

In addition, to regularly checking up on them, formally monitor their work at regular intervals. Make sure you set up milestones at the start of a project, and at each milestone, have a phone call or video call to go through things and any deliverables due at that milestone. Don’t let the freelancer or consultant proceed to the next phase of a project, until they have completed the prior milestone. It is a also often a good idea to agree, upfront, to payments tied to those milestone events or at the back-end of the project (and not upfront payments). Remember, put any of these agreed milestones or payments in writing!

6. Incentivize them - keep their expertise in-house

Finally, a good freelancer or consultant is worth keeping around, just like a good employee. If you’ve used a good freelancer or consultant – tell them. Stroke their ego. Give them a good review or reference that they can give to other potential customers. A good freelancer or consultant who knows that you were happy with their work, will be more likely to want to work with you again. This will benefit YOU as your next project can be done by the same great freelancer who now knows your business and understands your needs.

Copyright © 2010. All rights reserved

Sabra Easterday
Founder & Managing Member
Bidding Platform For Overseas Freelancers & Companies