More and more expat businesses in Shanghai are turning to marketing outsourcers to help them with specific parts of their trade. Some need help starting a new product, while others may want to grow the territory. The problem is in finding outsourcers you can rely on. This is especially true in China, where it’s hard to verify a track record.

One thing you can try is to have them show you more than a cookie-cutter proposal that references vague job functions at big companies. That isn’t going to help you.

Keys to developing an ‘internal’ business plan.

1) Goal-Setting.
This is the beginning and the end – the alpha and omega. If their plan isn’t centered on specific goals then they are driving fast with no destination in mind. Good marketers develop good targets. If you’re buying marketing services then you have to beware of potential ‘sand-baggers’ – guys who set their own projections too low so that they can avoid pressure and still finish with dramatic target-busting performance.

2) New approaches & methods.
Innovation is good. When you hire a marketing team, you are really empowering them to represent your business. If they are not bringing their own ideas, experience and intellect to the mix, then you are getting cheated. Encourage your team to come up with new ideas that push the envelope and try new ways to attack your market.

3) End to end solution or integrations & education.
Decide what you want and go for it. Some outsourcers are like contractors – you want them to come in, do something, pass it off gracefully and go away. Other times you want them to start something permanent and hang around long enough to iron out the bugs and train your people. Either is fine – but you should have an idea about what you want and then structure your search around that.

4) Costs, limits and realities.
A business plan that doesn’t differentiate between normal expenses and extraordinary business restructuring isn’t really a plan. Yes, innovation and new ideas are great. But every organization has limits – and if your guys plan runs counter to company rules or practices then you are gonna have a rough road.

5) Ambitious – but realistic.
The best plans push the system without breaking it. Generally you’re looking for guys who can produce more with less, but don’t make that your only criteria. Marketing has the ability to magnify the force of your company, but only you develop and execute the right plan. Your real stars will come up with new ideas that take into consideration shifts in the marketplace, competition and new technology.

“I love working for Bob. He’s so whimsical and mercurial. Remember that project he had me start 3 weeks ago? The one that was top priority and required me to work weekends and stay until 7:30 or 8:00 every night? Well, it turns out that not only doesn’t he need it – but he’s known for 10 days that it was pointless. Isn’t that a hoot?”

It’s actually pretty rare for top managers to speak this way. Low-level staffers, on the other hand, do learn to work this sort of leader pretty quickly

What can you do to make sure that your team sees you as someone to follow – and not an obstacle to manage?

Entrepreneurs behaving båadly isn’t necessarily a ‘China Issue’, but the large number of entrepreneurs and lack of management depth means that once you start down the wrong road you can get lost pretty quickly.

What can leaders of fast-growing companies do to make sure that those whose respect is crucial to success don’t view them as a loose cannon?

1. Track the projects you start. 

It’s you responsibility to keep track, and to let your team know when things change. The higher your position, the more you time you spend managing other people’s activities. Not having a clue what your top people are working on means that you’re clueless – not that you’re important. CEOs of giant firms consider this a crucial success factor – and so should you.

2. Don’t hit the panic button too often.

Limit the “drop everything and do this right now” projects. How many #1 priorities are you assigning in any given week? If you are saying, “this is a top priority” more than 2 or 3 times a week, you may be diluting the importance of your own words.

3. What happens to the output? 

When you’re people sign off on a big project, does it get filed away and forgotten about or is it contributing to the success of the business in a real and tangible way? If your guys feel that they’re doing pointless busy-work, then they’re going to become low-quality performers. That pathetic old saying about the “mushroom method of management” (keep them in the dark and feed them bullsh–) is even sadder when you’re doing it by accident.

4. Creativity isn’t another word for flakey. 

Just because you are innovative and impulsive doesn’t mean that the normal rules of business have been put on hold. Too many young managers confuse innovative or dynamic with inconsistent and unpredictable. The further outside the envelope you are, the more important basic leadership skill become.

5. Delegate intelligently.

Delegation doesn’t mean giving someone else the crappy jobs, and it doesn’t mean using low-level staffers as punching bags. It does mean ceding real responsibility to trusted staffers and making use of your key people’s intellectual firepower and strategic abilities. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’ve hired a team of clairvoyants who can fill in the dark and shadowy voids of your brilliant but vague vision.