Outsourse Web / Mobile / E-commerce Design

Author: Alexey Mustafin

5 Reasons Outsourced Freelance Developers are Better For Business!
Chances are if you’re reading this you’ve had a need, or currently need to hire a developer for something. Maybe you’ve got an app idea and want to build an MVP, or your company’s Shopify e-commerce store needs some updating? We get a lot of people asking us why we think it’s better to hire freelance developers, and we try to give unbiased responses, even though we are an On Demand Freelance Developer Hiring Platform. Since this question comes up so much we thought we’d take the time to research the facts, and present to you 5 Reasons Outsourced Freelance Developers Are Better For Business. We also custom made the infographic too! Please share it!
1. Save Time: Freelance Developers save time. That’s a fact. Take it from us at BuildaTeam where we save our clients months of recruitment work, by vetting and hiring freelance developers using our proprietary testing method we’ve developed over the years. This tool was designed to quickly vet a freelancer’s skill set vs. the client’s need and save everyone time in the hiring process. We’re not the only solution either (although we’d like to think we are the best). Hiring internally is a long term solution, and can take several months to find a solid team fit. Freelance Developers, on the other hand, don’t need to meet the team physically and usually only work on a specific project, on a contractual basis. Because of this, they can start working quickly, saving your organization tons of time.
2. Save Money: The average full-time software developer in the United Stated earned a $99,510 salary in 2014 and no doubt that figure is growing annually. Unless your company is prepared to pay that kind of salary for a full-time team member then sourcing a freelance web and or mobile development freelance is your best option. The average freelance developer is charging $73/hour so you can imagine the cost savings for your business! For instance, the average website redesign is between 30-100 hours of work for a freelance developer, yet a full-time employee may drag that work out over a few months of paid salary. You do the math.
3. Get More Done: For any of us who have ever worked from home for a day, or been a digital nomad we’re sure you’ve noticed that saving time getting ready, and getting to the office has allowed you to crush half of your to-do list before you would even be in the office normally. Well, that enhanced productivity time is a constant for most freelance developers. The average commute to work in the U.S takes over 25 minutes each way, not to mention the time it takes to get ready, chatting in the office, distractions etc. Bottom line, freelance developers get more done for your money, period.
4. More Experience: This is a no-brainer. Freelance developers normally juggle multiple projects and gigs at the same time, often from several differing industries and technologies as well. This wide range of work allows freelancers to gain a much more varied experience than their full-time counterparts who work years often on one project at a time. More experience means more usefulness to you as the hiring manager. Again, get more shit done!
5. More Talent: The freelancer workforce is exploding, yet it’s getting harder and harder to source and hire fulltime software developers. There are currently over 60 million Freelance Software Developers in the U.S and half of the entire American workforce is expected to do some sort of freelancing by the year 2020 (although, admittedly this is not just Software related freelancing but still, cool figure right?). Focusing on hiring a freelancer will greatly open up your options no matter where in the world you are.
So there you have it. 5 Solid reasons to start looking for freelance software developers for your next website or mobile development project. In case you needed any further discussions, advice or info on who to hire for your project, our Project Managers are always standing by, ready to chat with you, for free! Email us any questions you have and we’d be happy to help you. For more info on what we do as a company, and how we help companies hire the world’s best software development freelancers please visit our site here. Also make sure to check out Clockspot – Saving your organization tons of time.

Sources:

https://www.fastcompany.com/3049532/the-future-of-work/heres-why-the-freelancer-economy-is-on-the-rise

https://fu-web-storage-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/content/filer_public/c2/06/c2065a8a-7f00-46db-915a-2122965df7d9/fu_freelancinginamericareport_v3-rgb.pdf

http://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/software-developer/salary

https://project.wnyc.org/commute-times-us/embed.html
December 2, 2016
8 Reasons Why You Need To Hire an SEO Consultant!

If you’re reading this, you probably have access to a web developer (if you don’t you should email us). Hopefully, your developer knows how to build a website for human visitors, but do they know how to build a website that appears equally as attractive to robot search engine spiders? If not, you need an SEO Consultant and here’s why.

Search Engine Optimization is all about constructing the content of your website to be most relevant to Search Engine Spiders for the terms that will optimally drive your business’ growth. But you probably knew that already, right?

Well, SEO is a long-term marketing strategy that requires a lot of time investment to be successful. If you’re doing it alone it also takes months of trial and error and hundreds of hours of reading best practices and asking questions on forums online. Want to fast track that success? That’s where a professional SEO consultant comes in. An SEO Consultant assists small companies and startups who would otherwise not have access to a full-time in-house SEO expert by acting as a temporary assistant to their development team. Usually, an SEO Consultant will diligently analyze your website against 20-40 proven Search Engine Optimization tactics and best SEO practices and then they’ll compile an actionable list of on-site improvements your developer can implement themselves. Need more convincing? Here are 8 Reasons Why You Need To Hire and SEO Consultant:

-1) You’ll save Time –

With SEO, timing is everything. Well maybe not everything, but it’s huge. Finding an in-house SEO Expert can be a costly HR endeavor. Outsourcing organic Search Engine work to an agency can be a waste also, as their client workload reduces the amount of focus on your company’s campaigns. An SEO Audit Consultant can start working right away to save you time and get you rankings quicker. SEO results normally take 3-6 months to kick in (but plenty of people see first page results in 30 days, depends on chosen keyword strategy) so the quicker you get to work, the better.

-2) You’ll Save Money-

The average SEO agency charges $4000 per month for a minimum 6-month retainer. Building a team of Search Engine can take months and cost even more! A one-off SEO Audit can cost under $2000 with Buildateam or other agencies and you’re existing developers and marketing team are trained to carry on the work alongside other projects.

-3) SEO Brings Free Leads For Life- Only SEO and Content Marketing bring in leads forever. Nothing has a better proven ROI than Search Engine Optimization. Spend time now and gain rankings and high-quality traffic for the life of your business.

4)Search Engine Optimization Is Crucial- SEO is so important because there are essentially only two types of web visitors that will land on your website; potential customers and search engine bots, also known as Spiders. You must optimize for both.

-5) Search Builds a Foundation- Optimizing your website for Search Engines builds a foundation for all other forms of marketing to succeed. If you don’t have SEO in place, you are not maximizing your other marketing initiatives.

-6) The Highest Quality Traffic = SEO- Search traffic has the highest intent to convert for your business because they are literally searching for you, as opposed to clicking an ad or a post on social media. You are top of mind.

-7) SEO Leverages Everything Else You Do- After you have basic on-page SEO work done, every Social Media share you receive, every link posted in a forum all help to increasing your standings online. SEO compounds the results of other marketing efforts.

-8) Organic Beats Paid Always- Nearly 75% of all search traffic clicks on Organic Search Engine results. This means that if you get strong SERP (Search Engine Results Page) standings you are 3x more likely to get the click than through a paid ad, forever free! Paid ads are a short term supplementary addition to your SEO campaigns…but SEO will win you more business overall, for free!

Convinced yet? There are a myriad of options for finding freelance SEO consultants like www.freelancer.com but if you’re ready for a really fast solution BuildaTeam can help. Our SEO Consultant has worked with several of our Web Development clients and he’s ready to assist you too! If you’re interested in learning more about how a Professional Search Engine Consultant can save your time, money and a lot of headaches on your SEO email us today at hello@buildateam.io

November 21, 2016
Why You Need Help Building Your Startup MVP!

Has anyone ever paid you for just an idea? Didn’t think so. It usually takes at least a solid MVP, right?

Since we set up our company in San Francisco, we’ve been focused on helping startups build their MVPs and we’ve heard thousands of potential clients tell us that they have “THE” next big startup idea. We agree with the philosophy out here that confidence is really an important tool and we also believe that the mindset of “Fake it till you make it” is definitely subscribed to by most Bay Area founders. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, and it’s something that we adore about working in this region. Having said this, our CEO Lex’s response has always been the same since day one:

“The idea is important, but it’s ultimately the execution, that sets successful products apart, and that’s where we come in”.

So why do you need help building your MVP? First, for those that don’t know, MVP is a startup term for “Minimum Viable Product” meaning a product that may not be perfect and ready to support millions, but it will get you traction and prove the concept enough to get you the meetings you need. MVPs are important because they help prove that you’re on the right track. The key with MVPs is being able to iterate on the product early on, quickly and efficiently.

Products naturally evolve during development with the more user feedback and market insight you gain. Hiring full-time employees takes time away from product development, fundraising and other important tasks for founders. If you wait as long as it takes to iterate several times and get it perfect, then you could be too late to the party and someone could have moved quicker to getting funded, and grown their team and passed you up. This is where services like ours come in, and help non-tech founders and other early stage startups with their MVP development, while they work on the business sides of things. Not only does this allow the startup to move faster, but it also ensures a better quality product and a lot less stressful nights leading up to your big pitch day.

What is unique about newer solutions like BuildaTeam is that we aren’t just freelancers 8,000 miles away that you are need to explain the requirements to. We help you define and optimize those requirements and align them with your business objectives, leaving the legwork of writing the code to outsourced expert teams. This help founders ship early stage products both on web and mobile. Today there’s more of a paradox of choice on who to trust with your software development than flavors of ice cream from the Ice Cream truck guy. You need to pick the right solution either hiring in-house or outsourcing but the fact is, you don’t need to be an incredible tech developer or software engineer yourself any longer as much as you need to be a really good manager. You need to find the right solution for your team, and move quickly so you can get it right, before you run out of cash.

“Unless you’re already an entrepreneur with at least one nine-figure exit behind you, the answer is no. The reasoning behind this is simple: People buy products, not ideas.” – From a recent Fox News article on a similar subject.

So if you’re in charge of a startup that is moving too slowly with development for your liking let’s chat. We can help. Email us: hello@BuildaTeam.io

November 6, 2016
The BuildaTeam Story!

Over the past few years, I have co-founded several startups where I got to wear many hats and manage remote freelancers that needed well written specs. I faced all challenges of hiring and managing remote teams. But little by little I got a hang of it and after trial and error I figured out a recipe for having great distributed teams that actually ‘get sh*t done’ and it doesn’t need to be re-done. After our previous startup got acquired I was in a position to choose a new adventure. I figured that I should leverage my experience and help other startups get sh*t done. BuildaTeam was born.

In order to build an A+ team that could help me, I came up with a 4-step interview process. Slowly we grew our expert network from the core E-Commerce Services (Magento, Shopify, Woocommerce) to Mobile Application Development, Custom Software Development, and building MVPs for startups on Meteor.js. The team varies depending on the requirements smart Project Managers, Senior Developers, Creative Designers.

As a complete service, BuildaTeam.io now creates and manages exclusive expert teams from S. America and Eastern Europe that cost less than one internally hired expert. Similar companies exist in abundance of course, but those solutions can be either extremely pricey or lack quality. This is why we have been focused on not only delivering quality dev work, but also on being the product owners advocates – we make sure we use the best suiting technology, help cut off unnecessary costs, recommend marketing strategies, help select the best 3rd party providers.

RoyalRobbins is a multi-million dollar online clothing retailer whose eCommerce store was developed by us. Their E-Commerce Manager, Mea had this to say about BuildaTeam’s software development services:

“The customer service that BuildaTeam provides is unmatched. You can’t get help like this from other development companies. The whole team is so accessible and responds quickly.”

Another recent customer, DejaWho’s CEO, Alex, had this to say about working with BuildaTeam to bring their mobile app to life;

“I thought that buildateam.io did an absolutely amazing job creating my app DejaWho! We came to them with absolutely no technical background, no technical scope, basically with just an idea of how we wanted the end result to look like. Lex and his team did an amazing job with the discovery phase, getting an understanding of what we wanted, and they built this app from conception into acceptance into the app store. As any start-up app company, we had many changes to our original plan and the team was always there to talk us through it and would implement them into new versions within the next day or 2. The process was remarkably efficient and I would recommend this team for any app builders. Great team!”

And here is one more from the CEO of PrideBites:

‘BuildaTeam is not only the most skilled developers we have ever worked with, but also the most time oriented. I highly recommend their work, and truly enjoy working with such good people.’

November 3, 2016
Debunking Common Web Development Myths

In the past three years of doing business, BuildaTeam has helped nearly 200 companies build and launch their web and mobile projects. We have accomplished this by giving our partners exclusive access to the world’s best freelance remote developers through our platform where they are hired and managed by our locally based Project Managers (on your time zone) to keep you in the loop at all times. We have thousands of Developers, Engineers, Data Scientists and more experts on the platform, but even an expert starts somewhere. So if you’re out there thinking about getting into web development, we found this great article on Huffington Post that debunks Common Myths of Web Design…and we thought we’d share it here.

1. You have to begin coding at a really young age

This is a very common misconception. Yes, it is true that many programmers are young, but there are just as many of them in their forties, fifties and older. This misconception is largely fueled by the media.

Prior to the break of the millennium, young innovators were not considered to be immature, irresponsible and not worthy of a cent in investment money. In fact, as early as 2005, young founders, innovators and programmers were a marginalized group.

Fast forward to today and the script has been flipped; now you are considered ‘old’ if you begin after the age of 18 – at least in the eyes of the media.

Check out the stories of Alan Turing, Grace Hopper and Brian Kernighan for some much needed motivation.

There is no right age to start programming; the right time is whenever you are ready.

2. You need to be a genius

Wrong again. I am a web developer, and have worked with many other developers over the years from different countries and languages and I can’t think of one of them who is a ‘genius’. I am not saying that there are no Einstein-like programmers; we all know that there are. But this group of geniuses is more the exception than the rule.

In reality, most programmers are simply people who have a passion for problem solving, computers, computing, and this passion fueled them to get better and better every day.
Often times, this misconception comes from everybody else, not programmers. We see someone that came up with a ground breaking innovation and we automatically put them up on a pedestal and proclaim them better than everybody else.

Most programmers are actually quiet and teachable people who are not really interested in taking credit for their work.

3. Men are better programmers

This myth has no basis in reality whatsoever. It will alarm you even more if you knew the foundational roles that women have played in the tech industry.

Grace Hopper invented the first compiler. Ada Lovelace is considered the first computer programmer. The first computer language, FORMAC was developed byJean Sammet at IBM. Sister Mary Kenneth Keller was part of the team that came up with BASIC.

Need I say more?

Yes, today the tech industry is heavily biased towards men. The statistics stretch beyond the workplace back to the university days where females do not constitute up to 20% of computer science graduates.
The tragedy is that most women have come to hold this bias as truth.
But it is just myth ladies, nothing more.

4. You’ve created a website so you are a developer

No you are not. If you created a site it just means you created a site, nothing more. Being a web developer is not that simple. It requires you to become adept in a wide range of skills and to work at updating and refreshing said skills regularly. Being a web developer is hard work, just like any other worthwhile pursuit in life.

Now, to be fair, if you have created a website you are on the way to becoming a web developer. To continue on this part you need to study key books, read key blogs, attend conferences to learn from the old heads and yes, experiment with a wide range of tools and technologies and yes, build a lot of sites.

Web development is a tough discipline, but the challenges it poses are surmountable if you have the passion and the continued knowledge.

5. Once a site is built, it’s finished

In many ways, a site is like a human being; it is a living, breathing organism that needs constant care to stay alive and functional.

Think of a web developer as a nanny; his job extends far beyond just putting up a site. Many companies employ developers round the clock to ensure that their sites operate seamlessly without glitches.

If you’re looking for an experienced web developer to assist you with anything, definitely shoot us an email at hello@buildateam.io and we’d be happy to discuss your project, and get you a free quote from a proven expert on our team!

For more information on BuildaTeam please visit our site: www.buildateam.io

October 21, 2016
BuildaTeam Project Manager Stories: Silvia

At BuildaTeam.io we use highly skilled and experienced Project Managers either based in the U.S or on the same timezone nearby, to manage clients’ projects and liaise with clients easily. As part of an ongoing series we’ll be asking our most popular PMs to tell their favorite stories from PM life on the job. Here’s our first entry, from Silvia who’s been working with us for over a year now. Straight from her mouth!

“I was managing a large research project for Latin America consumers, specifically the project nature was delicate itself because the outcome was to obtain data on a certain brand (Opinions and experiences). One of the major capital/equity partners was discredited from the company, so he needed good data to proceed legally.

In terms of contracts and expectations everything was cleared, however the client wouldn’t like to know anything until we achieved the goals. This is so very bad for any project, the clients need to be involved in the process. Most project Managers have had their fair share of this, I believe. It is very important to align the ideas, and to create a good communication channel

The goal of the project was clear, however the guidelines and specifications were never actually outlined, so every team did as they thought would be the right way… and this caused several versions of the information to go live, incorrectly. At this point all of the project collaborators were actually telling their own version (as they perceived it) and it was a nightmare, we needed to start from scratch (after a month).

The only thing that saved this project was that I was able to suggest starting “official” documentation , I realized how important it is to have clear written guidelines, so everybody can be on the same page. If this is not in place, the project can go off the rails in a second. Fortunately we (as a team) did a common practice called “war room” for an entire day where all of the teams were together in an organized way, and we were able to share our experiences. Several action items came out of this meeting, including going back to basics.

Final Project Manager Lesson: You can be in the foot of the canyon in a second if you are not careful, clear and concise. As a Project Manager that should be the first thing on your list. Get all the details written down and for everyone involved to see.

Do not be ashamed to ask two, three or as many times as needed, it’s better to deliver strong results by asking questions, than deliver nothing relevant. Always think ahead of time, Project Managers do not live in the present, you must have a clear vision of what it is going to happen, and you need to have backup plans.”

Thanks Silvia for being a great PM on our team! To learn more about how Buildateam handles outsourced web and mobile development for our clients, in a different way please visit our website at www.buildateam.io

October 13, 2016
5 Rules for Startup Media Engagement

If you’re a young startup, there’s little doubt that you’ll eventually need to get media exposure, one way or another. If you want to get noticed, and don’t have huge budgets for paid ad campaigns, then you need to know how to access and engage your target users through free media channels. Well we recently read an awesome, and actionable article on Forbes and since we at BuildaTeam.io are all about helping startups grow faster through unparalleled web and mobile development services, we felt it was only right to share the wealth. Below are some great tips for engaging through the different media channels:

Use Twitter….no seriously.

Our marketing guy always preached to us…”Make your own story”, so start there. Then find the fastest and most direct route to a journalist who will use it. Twitter has to be one of the quickest, easiest and most effective ways for an entrepreneur to find media opportunities. Just type #journorequest into the search box to uncover dozens of requests from journalists looking for help with stories on every business topic imaginable. You’ll be unlucky not to find at least one that relates to your business, so hit Reply, and tell them how you can help. Keyword there: HELP. Offer help, don’t just ask for help.

LinkedIn offers additional routes in. With a bit of research into the publications and business areas you are focusing on, you can track down the various journalists who cover them. Forget the rules about not sending requests to people you don’t know; busy journalists keep open house on social media

Be ready for the response…

If a journalist responds positively to your reach-out or Twitter reply, make sure you can deliver what you have promised them. Press releases are useful as background, but you’ll need to be available, sometimes at very short notice, to jump on a call to answer a few questions. Great images are a godsend to an editor, while a live website is essential, as they will want to check your business out.

Leverage the news

It isn’t just journalists who are always on the lookout for fresh angles on news stories to generate extra media mileage. Entrepreneurs can do it as well. Keep an eye on news within your own industry sector, and make yourself available via the channels outlined above, to provide insight for the relevant local, national and trade publications. Over time, you can become a ‘go to’ expert, and have journalists chasing you. And tune in to any opportunities to comment on broader issues, for example, how a cut in interest rates, or changes to employment legislation could affect small businesses.

But be ready to move fast – news travels like wildfire across social networks – and work on building a list of good media contacts; journalists and bloggers who write in the media space where you want your business to be seen.

It’s also worth looking several weeks and months ahead and earmarking annual celebrations, Valentine’s day and Halloween, not to mention the countless National Days of and World Weeks of, such as Volunteers’ Week or Mens Health Week. You may be planning something interesting or unusual and definitely newsworthy, that that ties in with the event theme.

For example, Bring Your Pet To Work Day is celebrated by working pet owners everywhere, but maybe it happens every day in your business. Readers will want to know how and why. These events are also highlighted on journalists’ calendars well in advance, and they will welcome a quirky business case study, or industry expert to give their story an edge. These are valuable, easy to find opportunities that will make your startup stand out, and get your story and your brand shared.

To read the entire article click here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/alisoncoleman/2016/09/30/four-rules-of-media-engagement-for-startups/#5db31ff72ea8

Credit to Forbes, we love you!

September 30, 2016
How To Pay Freelancers. International Payment Options
With the boom of the digital world, businesses are global. They hire professionals from the global network. We believe in global talent and diversity. Though the skills, teamwork, and company vision may transcend easily across nations’ borders, payments do not.

Whether a company is hiring employees, both outsourcing and permanent hires, or partnering with other businesses, there is no global payment process. While we wait and hope for a universal digital currency, I want to share some interim solutions!

Below are my experiences with the top available options: different fees and tariffs for each, versatility and timeliness, and my personal opinion.
- SKRILL – One of the cheapest options available on the market.
We’re committed to keeping fees low.

Using your Skrill wallet to pay online at a retailer that accepts Skrill is free

Receiving money into your Skrill account is free

Uploading funds into your Skrill account is usually free – some options involve a small charge, which will be clearly stated. (7.0 % fee max. USD 1000.00 upload and 1.9 % fee max. USD 1139.69 upload )

Sending money to an email address or another Skrill wallet costs 1% of the amount sent, with the charge capped at $10

Upload money into the Skrill System using a bank account (3-5 days) or a debit card (limits apply) and then distribute the money within their network. A good option for smaller non-urgent transfers. Banned in mother Russia. Has API.
- PAYONEER – Another international payment method. Senders don’t need an account. A minimum of $25,000 sent per month gives you access to a company account with Payoneer – it also offers access to API.
The fees associated with the Credit Card Loading Service are dependent on the loading method:

1) Visa/Mastercard – Up to 3.75% (2-3 business days). This fee is used to cover the processing fees that Payoneer is charged by the credit card companies and payment processors.

2) ACH Bank Transfer – 1% (5-7 business days). This loading method is available for US accounts only.

The loader will be able decide who is charged the loading fee. Under the “Payment Method” section on the Send a Payment page, the loader will have the option to either pay the fee him/herself, or charge it to the receiving Payoneer account holder.

Since they introduced the ACH Bank transfer – this is one of my personally favorite options to transfer the money.
- PAYPAL – If all freelancers and companies you work with would have it – it would be a comfortable solution. Unfortunately it’s not available everywhere, and it’s fees are quite high, compared to other options.
If the fee is passed to you, it is 2.9% plus $0.30 USD of the amount you receive. For example, if you are sent $100.00 USD by credit card, the fee would be $3.20 USD ($2.90 + $0.30). This fee also applies if you click Request Money on the PayPalwebsite and request money from friends and family.
- WESTERN UNION – If you need to send money urgently, you can as well use WU. A $1,000 transfer to Ukraine would cost you $48 if you choose ‘Money In Minutes’ and only $12 if you choose a Bank Transfer (3-5 days processing time).
- MONEY GRAM – A transfer of 1,000.00 would cost you $35 if you are funding it with your US-based checking account and $96.00 if you are funding it with your Credit Card. The perk is:
When sending money to be picked up as cash, how long does it take for the money to become available for pickup?

Money is typically ready for cash pickup within minutes after the transfer has been sent successfully, regardless of the payment method used, subject to operating hours, availability, local laws/regulations and compliance requirements.
- GOOD OL’ WIRE TRANSFERRING – From your online banking portal you can initiate an international wire transfer. Usually $45 per transfer. Once money is sent – you have no control over it. Subject to review by the Federal Reserve. A comfortable option for B2B. There is no need to wait for the funds to load into some intermediary system. After the first transfer, which might take a little longer, the consequent transfers usually go out fast: within 2 – 3 days money is on the recipients side.
Please note, that all the services described above allow your recipients to receive USD on their side. There are also newer fin-tech services that use blockchain, bitcoins and currency exchange rates. These services would allow you to send money to your recipients in their local currency and at a very low rate. This is a very new field for me and I will be exploring it more. One of the services is:
- TransferWise –
If you’re sending up to 5000 USD, it will cost ( 1% per transaction) with 0 USD hidden charges in the exchange rate.

If you’re sending over 5000 USD, it will cost ( 1% on initial 5000 USD, 0.7% on anything over per transaction) with 0 USD hidden charges in the exchange rate.

OVERALL:

Don’t want to deal with international payments or hiring and managing freelancers? We can help you take outsourcing to the next level. Email us at hello@buildateam.io to get a free quote.
September 27, 2016
How to Use Confirmation Bias to Close More Sales Deals!
You’re biased.

Yep, we said it. You, and everyone else you’ve ever met have preconceived notions of what you believe to be correct or incorrect. These inclinations influence your decision-making process, whether you are aware of them or not. Your customers behave exactly the same way. Have you ever heard of Confirmation Bias? It’s one of the strongest biases you can have, because you don’t know you have it!

Now, all people have biases, and they’re not all bad. That’s why we say that BuildaTeam is the best web and mobile development solution out there, we’re biased! One of the most common biases is “confirmation bias,” which is how we interpret information in a way that reinforces what we already believe. It’s frequency and power is connected to our addiction to self-worth.

A great example of confirmation bias is how voters act during a United States Presidential election. The more people read and inform themselves about the presidential candidates, the more they tend to believe their candidate to be the correct choice, not realizing that they are subconsciously biased to absorbing information that furthers their existing stance. Salespeople can also fall victim to their own confirmation bias when they ask clients questions whilst pushing them in the direction of the answer they want to hear, instead of letting the client tell them what they need.

These deeply rooted, subconscious, cultural assumptions drive all purchasing decisions, and reinforce those decisions even after they have made a purchase. Talented Salespeople learn to utilize these subconscious cues to boost their deal closing power. Here’s how:
- 1) Give a Great First Impression: Successful salespeople focus on giving a great first impression. Your mom may have always told you that a first impression is everything, and that’s never rang truer than in sales. If you’re first impression is stellar, you’ve influenced your prospects to subconsciously continue to look for the positive in you or your product/service. Their brain will naturally seek out reaffirming information to the original assumption that you and your company are amazing.
- 2) Be Affirmative: Smart salespeople use affirmation messages within the customer journey to foster confirmation bias. By saying positively affirming messages to the prospect throughout the journey, you can subconsciously push them towards greater loyalty. Examples of this are: Our products are exceptional quality, or we have the highest standard in the industry.
- 3) Compliment Your Prospects: By rewarding your potential customers’ micro-decisions with praise as they progress towards purchasing, you can reinforce their confirmation that you’re the best person to work with. Tell them what a smart decision this is, or how impressed you are with the speed they work at. However, be cautious not to be overly flattering and ingenuine.
- 4) Emphasize the positive: Positioning things in a positive light, sometimes even trivial things that the customer wouldn’t even notice can go a long way. Examples: Is your product /service process painstaking, don’t say how hard it is, rather talk about how diligent your team is, or how it’s the most detailed product/service on the market.
- 5) Encourage Customer Reviews: Even after you’ve closed a sale there are ways to use confirmation bias to your advantage. If you encourage customer reviews and sharing post sale, not only will it help acquire new customers, but it will also increase subconscious brand loyalty in the review writer. Think about it this way, if a previous customer spends 10 minutes writing about how much they enjoyed working with you, you better believe you’re going to be top of mind for a while.
Always keep in mind that overdoing any of the above suggestions can put you at risk of sounding inauthentic and that you will not all of a sudden become a mind reading master simply by harnessing people’s confirmation bias. These strategies take some time to become accustomed to and should be tested thoroughly. .Let me know if these strategies have worked for you in the comments below. Best of luck out there.
September 23, 2016
Top 4 Reasons To Absolutely Outsource Your Development Projects

It can be really hard for a company to decide whether to develop a new website or mobile app in-house or to outsource the job entirely. The obvious pros and cons of both strategies are vast, and options are seemingly limitless these days. Most people reading this blog can relate to the annoyance of being inundated with development related spam messages, offering cheap developers from overseas, so much so that the expectations of quality of such endeavors tend to be pretty low. On the flipside of this, building an in-house team, or even finding a local developer in the West can be a timesuck that any CEO or Founder can simply not afford. Time is money, and it’s becoming more and more scarce these days in the tech world right?

BuildaTeam.io was created to alleviate these exact problems. By blending the benefits of outsourcing with the benefits of “insourcing” we have created a solution that truly solves these woes by incorporating the best of both worlds. At Buildateam, we utilize new communication technologies, the global economy and some of the best development talent on earth to offer unparalleled quality, the efficiency that you’d expect with an in-house team and the incredible cost savings of outsourcing mobile / web / e-commerce design development projects overseas.

Even still, the number one question we get asked is why should people outsource their development projects…so we thought we’d write a post with our favorite answers to that question.

1) No more communication barriers…

For years, outsourcing your website and/or mobile application development projects almost guaranteed that you’d have to deal with a breakdown in communication at some point. Whether it’d be a standard 15-hour delay in responses from your Indian Freelance Developers, or an agency with way too many clients to respond quickly, it doesn’t matter. Communication is key in any relationship and that’s why we’ve been focused on improving communication with our clients since day one through optimizing the structure of our company. BuildaTeam.io alleviates this issue by assigning a project manager to each project who is tasked with maintaining 24/7 direct access to the client. Over the past three years, we have averaged a 1.7 hour response time to all emails and that’s something we’re insanely proud of!

2) No more language barriers…

Along with the difficulties in getting quick responses from outsourced developers, and in the same vein of improving communications, several of our clients have raved about how happy they are that the people they’re dealing with are Native English speakers. We pride ourselves in the fact that we create jobs for freelancers in remote parts of the world, and we’re all about being diversified but we know that clients want speed and efficiency from our development teams. Because of this, we employ full-time, dedicated U.S based project managers to each client project. This ensures that nothing is misinterpreted and several emails are not needed to explain simple concepts. Without the language barriers that once debilitated the outsourced development industry, our clients’ don’t have to worry about issues like that arising…their testimonials speak for themselves.

3) Cost savings

This is a bit of a “no-brainer” because everyone looks to outsource in order to cut costs of developing everything from an MVP to a mobile app. The unique ability to hire highly skilled people at a rate that is much more affordable than in your local area is the driving force behind the growth in companies like Buildateam and others.

4) The quality of work has greatly improved.

For many years, outsourcing your web and mobile application development meant skimping on quality in order to get something built cheaper. However, this has most certainly changed. The sheer amount of learning resources on the internet, through online courses like Coursera, or incredible development classes offered by companies like General Assembly have enabled people around the world to master the quality of work we expect from Western developers. On top of this, BuildaTeam.io ensures it’s developers are the highest quality in the world by passing all freelancers through a stringent, 4 step vetting process. This enables our clients to get access to only the best in the business, increasing the quality of their projects to new levels. You can read more about how we vet our developers here: https://www.buildateam.io/interview-process/

So there’s really never been a better time to outsource your mobile / web / e-commerce development or design project and we’d love to be the company that gets it done for you! Email us today at hello@buildateam.io to start talking about your project. We’ll even put together a detailed quote for you for free! Let’s talk!

August 22, 2016