So you’ve decided to outsource your PowerPoint design needs. Fair play to you. But what do you need to think about before you even start meeting with potential PowerPoint design agencies? Here are five things you need to consider.
The outcome
Essentially, what is it you’re trying to achieve? Think big picture, weeks or months further down the line.
Are your presentation outsourcing needs short or long term? How would an outsourced PowerPoint design agency fit into the existing structure of your organisation? Many larger companies that seek the skills and experience of an external presentation team usually have a marketing department, so it’s important to consider how the two groups would work together.
Think about what you need those all-important presentations for. Are they being used to win new clients in a sales environment? If so, think how often those PowerPoint files might need updating with new information. Do you want to be able to do that yourself, or should the outsourced agency handle everything?
If you already have a deck of slides that you use for various purposes, consider if you need them updating, tweaking, or completely redesigning. Not all presentation jobs are the same, and working out exactly what it is your need will better help you define your goals and pick the right outsourced agency.
What you need
Once you have a clear idea of why you are seeking PowerPoint presentation outsourcing, think about how you want everything to proceed.
Do you need an agency who will leap to handling small, easy tasks with a just a few emails? Or do you need to meet face-to-face with them, to talk through your brand requirements, your thoughts and ideas?
If so, who will handle that? How will your existing team manage the relationship with the outsourced PowerPoint design company? Consider also how the structure of your in-house team might change. If you’re currently using your own designers to create your presentations, with one member putting them together in PowerPoint because their CV stated they could, what will that person do now?
Handing large and complex tasks over to a presentation outsourcing agency will impact the rest of your organisation. Think about what you can do now to manage that, before the relationship begins.
But, most importantly, If your goals are to have the outsourced team handle all aspects of your presentation needs, you’ll need to find an agency that you trust with your brand. Or the marketing department will riot.
Quality
Obviously we all want the best possible quality of work when we we pay for it. Things that look better and work best are never going to be cheap, especially where PowerPoint design is concerned. But when considering which presentation outsourcing agency to go for, the notion of quality needs to apply to your own sense of what works.
You might employ a company with great credentials, a list of happy clients a mile long, and a team of designers and developers with decades of experience. But if the work they produce for you doesn’t quite match what you’d hoped for, despite being arguably great, it’s going to cost you.
Sending completed slides back to the outsourced PowerPoint design agency will take time and end up jacking up the costs. Also, consider how different presentation projects might not require the same level of design and development. Make sure your chosen presentation outsourcing people know that an internal presentation to your team won’t require the same amount of time and effort as a new sales deck.
Essentially, appreciate that the outsourced agency might know best about what kind of slides are most effective in certain situations… but ensure that you get what YOU want. It’s your brand, after all.
Costs
Ah, the money. We’ve called this part ‘costs’ rather than ‘price’ for a very important reason. You might expect that most presentation outsourcing agencies would price their services per slide or even per job. You’d say “We need a deck of 20 slides to pitch our company to investors. Go!” and they’d say, “Great. That’ll be £XXXX, please.”
Although this method works for many organisations who have relatively few presentations to deliver, it isn’t the best for everyone. Companies that need a large amount of PowerPoint development, be it for ongoing sales pitching or internal communications, require something else more reliable and consistent.
Taking on presentation outsourcing as a fixed retainer makes everything simpler, faster, and more cost-effective. With an agency permanently on call there is no need to worry about having to explain your brand requirements and company outlook to them with each new job. All they would need is an in-depth ‘get to know you’ at the beginning of the relationship, and they you can essentially consider them a branch of your own organisation.
With an outsourced PowerPoint agency on retainer, you’ll know exactly who you need to speak to to get a task completed.
If time is a pressing factor, you’ll feel confident that you already know how the agency works and who is the best person to speak to. You’ll also be their top priority, being a regular client, so won’t have to wait for other jobs to be cleared from their work flow.
Costs won’t increase if you need to send work back to the agency, as you already have an agreed upon contract. And anyway, the more presentations they make for you, the fewer times work will need to be sent back
We covered in this blog post the advantages of taking on an outsourced PowerPoint design team over hiring your own in-house team. Needless to say, this way of working is the most cost effective for organisations that require lots of PowerPoint work.
Timing
Now is the time to talk about time. Every single business person on the planet is under a degree of time pressure, from deadlines mere minutes away, to large-scale tasks with months dedicated to them. Time needed for high-quality PowerPoint presentation design work can vary. We’ve had clients approach us with demands to get slides completed later that day, so we understand how different those demands can be.
When considering your PowerPoint design outsourced needs, consider what kind of jobs you’ll need to be completed, and when you’ll need them by. Do you typically have last-minute decks to complete for your sales team, who score meetings with potential clients with only a couple of hours to spare? Or do you favour long-haul jobs with weeks of development and plenty of back-and-forth between you and the agency?
Not sure? Go easy on yourself, as not many organisations would know their timing needs immediately. Also, as soon as you start delivering a higher quality of presentation decks, you might find you and your team need even more PowerPoint work.
Once your clients and colleagues see the change that working with a presentation outsourcing agency has caused, the demands will increase.
Also your team, be they in marketing, sales or other departments, might soon find how much more effective their presentations are since using those built by the outsourced PowerPoint design company. More successful presentations mean more client wins, which will result in your own expansion. Timing requirements will change over time, but if you opted for a retained presentation outsourcing service, they will change with you as your relationship grows and develops.
Those five considerations are very important when looking into the business of presentation outsourcing. Approaching an agency that offers that service will always be easier if you first know exactly what you want from them, and they’ll appreciate the help with getting the job done correctly for you, first time round.
F5 Presentations can be your one-stop presentation shop, handling all your outsourced PowerPoint design and developing needs. Our round-the-clock service ensures that you and your team are well armed to tackle any public speaking situation, from TED Talks to sales pitches.
Talk to us today and find out how we can make your life easier.