Staffing a transaction advisory practice in the U.S. can be extremely challenging, especially due to the shortage of professionals with the specialized skills needed for the position. While the increase in demand during peak periods can lead to burnout and inefficiencies, simply hiring to fill in the gaps in the workflow can also lead to problems later on.
It’s important to have a team ready to act the moment deal volume increases significantly, but the reality is that finding and retaining the right talent can be difficult and time-consuming. In fact, for 41% of executives, talent retention is a serious long-term challenge. While AI tools can augment the team’s capabilities and help improve the deal process, this technology still requires oversight and can’t fully replace the expertise a professional brings to each deal.
The good news is that there are better ways for you to access the specialized skills you need and provide additional support for your team. Let’s explore how your firm can best optimize resources and meet client demand through smarter staffing strategies with Scrubbed.
Is Offshore Outsourcing the Right Move for Your Firm?
Many firms consider offshore outsourcing to help manage staffing challenges. After all, offshore outsourcing teams often have qualified professionals who are experienced in financial due diligence and transaction support, areas that can be challenging to fill locally.
However, it’s natural to have concerns. Offshore outsourced professionals need to deliver the quality that firms expect, particularly for specialized financial due diligence work. They must also protect sensitive client data while maintaining the high standards your firm upholds, which can feel risky with a remote team.
While these are valid concerns, that doesn’t mean you should forego offshore outsourcing completely. With the right partner, you can seamlessly integrate professionals into your core team to help manage peak workloads, improve turnaround times, and reduce team burnout. This allows you to focus on high-value client work and business development efforts while a trusted offshore team manages the routine, analysis-heavy tasks that keep deals moving.
Common Staffing Mistakes to Avoid
In their attempt to meet clients’ needs, firms sometimes make avoidable mistakes when staffing their transaction advisory services teams, such as:
- Hiring too many. This can lock your firm into high fixed costs that are difficult to sustain during slower deal periods.
- Hiring too few. While overhiring can be expensive, underhiring often causes overextension, burnout, and at times, quality issues during peak periods.
- Hiring members without the right skillset. Hiring employees without considering their expertise can lead to inefficiencies, as transaction advisory services often require specialized knowledge.
Rather than making these simple mistakes, firms can partner with Scrubbed to bridge workload gaps and scale effectively without compromising quality.
Smart Staffing Strategies for Transaction Advisory Services
If you’re considering offshore outsourcing, here are some practical strategies to keep in mind:
- Start with a small team. Starting small and only onboarding a few select roles will allow you to assess the quality, fit, and efficiency of an offshore team with minimal risk.
- Recognize it as more than a cost-saving measure. One of the advantages of offshore outsourcing is that it comes at a fraction of the cost of traditional staffing models. However, it is not simply a cost-saving, temporary solution. Offshore staff can bring exceptional value and expertise to your firm, helping you scale operations more effectively in the long run.
Why Choose Scrubbed for Offshore Outsourcing
At Scrubbed, we can help you avoid common staffing mistakes and address the challenges often associated with offshore outsourcing. We’ve worked with leading firms for over a decade while maintaining a zero-incident track record for data security. This is because we operate with robust cybersecurity controls that align with client protocols, often working within your preferred environment, whether through secure remote access or using client-provided equipment.
To ease quality concerns, we walk clients through our review structures, process controls, and team qualifications, while pilot engagements give you firsthand insight into our capabilities. We want to build trust from the outset and do so through consistent communication, transparency, and alignment with your working style.
Once we’re onboarded, we can handle the heavy data lifting, including cleaning and transforming data, building databooks, monitoring files, and drafting financial due diligence reports.
You can also rely on our team for the parts of the due diligence process that require more experienced involvement, which include identifying and calculating EBITDA and NWC adjustments, or even participating with the engagement team on management calls with the target company.
We go beyond task execution and leverage our extensive experience to provide meaningful insights on the numbers and actionable recommendations for next steps, with the objective of proactively identifying and acting on opportunities in the due diligence process that can add value to you and your end clients.
Scale Your Practice Without Straining Your Team
The pressures of deal flow shouldn’t force your transaction advisory team to choose between quality work and manageable workloads. With smart staffing, your firm can handle more engagements without burning out your people or straining your budget. When done right, a blended staffing approach can take the heavy, tedious work off your team’s plate, reduce overtime, and ensure timely and efficient work even during peak deal periods.
By partnering with Scrubbed, you extend your team’s capacity more efficiently. Our experienced offshore teams integrate seamlessly with your workflow, providing the skilled support needed to keep deals moving while maintaining the quality your clients expect. And with us working on your deals behind the scenes, you can focus on business development efforts and strategic decisions.
If you’re exploring ways to scale your transaction advisory practice, reach out to learn how our smart staffing approach can help your firm grow.
