Each month we go in-depth into topics discussed in one of the Master B2B Boardrooms, our monthly roundtables for B2B eCommerce executives.
What we heard in the Boardrooms:
Maybe this month it’s most striking to mention what we have NOT heard in the boardrooms:
Despite nearly daily articles in the business press about layoffs in tech, B2B eCommerce leaders – at least in the Master B2B Boardrooms – have not had to face the difficult decisions around layoffs that are plaguing their counterparts in the B2C eCommerce (and B2B software).
It’s more striking how many people mentioned the difficulties they’re having hiring unskilled workers (often in fulfillment roles), keeping skilled workers on their teams (who find themselves in high demand from other companies also struggling to build their staff), and backfilling roles after people have left.
We hesitate to say that B2B eCommerce teams are immune to the economic pressures other areas are facing (because they’re not), but because so few of these teams hyper-scaled over the past few years they may actually find themselves understaffed during a time when so many other companies are overstaffed.
Perhaps slow and steady does win the race (as my grandmother would say).
Why that matters:
One of the ways we heard execs dealing with the difficulties around staffing is to hire skilled workers overseas.
Of course organizations have plenty of experience offshoring IT work and customer service. But we heard several examples of companies building out marketing teams internationally, partly to save on costs, but partly because they’ve found it so difficult to fill roles domestically.
And one of our Boardroom members predicted that offshoring marketing will be a big trend in the coming year (somehow we missed that in our 2023 B2B eCommerce Predictions webcast, which you can watch here).
We’re not quite sure about that – given the number of highly skilled marketing resources becoming available because of widespread tech layoffs – but we can understand why hiring workers with a similar skill level at half the cost can be an appealing option.
What to do about it:
If only it were that easy…
We’ve heard that while hiring a team in India to take on content writing, design, and/or paid media buying can definitely have cost advantages (50-75% lower salary in many cases), it’s not the same as hiring a remote team within the United States.
If you are considering going the offshoring route for marketing, we heard this advice:
Start small. Hire one person to take on one specific task and one that’s easily measurable (paid media, for example). You’ll learn pretty quickly how much more day-to-day management the person will require, and how to best handle the significant time difference between teams. And be honest with yourself – if it’s going to bother you that you may not get an answer to a question until the next day, this structure may just not work for you.
Although the professionals you hire in India will likely speak English as a first language, there are enough differences between standard US English and English in India that most marketers decide that there must be another layer of copy review, which can extend the time it takes to complete tasks.
We heard repeatedly that remote teams worked more efficiently pre-pandemic because team members were still getting together in person several times a year. If you’re going to hire a team in India to handle marketing functions, plan on either having them come to the US 2-4 times a year to be with the rest of the team, or you’ll need to spend time with them in-person.
