Author: sfi937

Outsourced sales, otherwise known as contract sales, is a method of providing sales resources to a client business by a trusted third party sales team. The entire sales process or partial sale processes can be outsourced. From lead generation, follow ups to managing particular product/service segments or locations. Using a sales outsourcing company allows businesses to access a sales force without having to hire employees in-house.

Outsourcing has gained traction in recent years, providing necessary talent when needed as companies grow rapidly.  Companies realize the time and cost savings they gain and are outsourcing more non-core competency functions like accounting, HR, IT, marketing and sales. Furthermore, it is often deemed as a market entry strategy for startups or businesses that want a quick time-to-market. Let’s look at some of the key cost savings and benefits below.

1. How Much Does Sales Outsourcing Save?

According to Bersin by Deloitte, the average cost per hire is almost $4,000. This may differ from company to company, but you can calculate this important metric on Glassdoor for your business. This cost is not only an upfront recruitment and training cost, but also a risk to businesses for additional payroll employees and also any future turnover costs. Seeking an outsourced salesforce reduces that risk and both partners are invested to grow together.

2. What are the Benefits of Outsourcing Your Sales?

When you decide to outsource sales with a reputable partner, you’ll gain access to higher quality talent faster than you would searching through the talent pool yourself or via a recruiter. Less training required also means that you won’t be facing the same reduced productivity when new hires are still learning their role. An outsourced sales company is also specialized to solely focus on your sales needs, so you’ll be able to dedicate more resources and time to core competencies like product development or management.

So now the question of “is outsourcing sales right for me?”

The decision to outsource sales cannot just be focused on the cost savings or skills benefits. Companies must decide if it’s the right time to grow, what their focus is and become educated with the different outsourced sales options out there. Like any business partnership, choosing a partner that aligns on values is important to be successful..

With all the benefits you stand to gain by choosing SFI, the question you really need to ask is “How soon do I want to outsource my sales?” Get started today. Contact us to speak to a knowledgeable representative about your sales needs and be ready to launch your new start-up sales plan in less than two months.

The latest stats show that nine out of ten startups will fail. With the reduced barriers to entry into online businesses or tech start ups, entrepreneurs need to be realistic about their strategies and to work smarter and harder than ever before. 

In the beginning, the founding team might scrutinize over every detail to make sure everything is in order. From the office set up, accounting, logistics, to customer queries and feedback. But as each start-up begins to scale, the responsibilities of on-going product development and administrative tasks will leave the team with less time and energy to actually sell their products. 

The key to sustainable growth in any business is sales. Though start-ups can look towards more funding and investors, giving up equity in your company is not the only route. Startups that are wanting to build a solid foundation for growth need to have sales.

So, how do you achieve sales? Do you hire in-house or outsource?

Here are two questions to consider if you are thinking about outsourced sales for your startup:

Is there someone from the founding team that can do sales, or at least manage a small sales force?

What are the current roles for everyone in the current team? If development is coming to a slow with a finished end product, can members from that team move into sales? Would that require extensive training that someone on the team could manage?

Anyone in a startup knows that demands are ever changing and never ending. Marketing and sales can often be the first to be overlooked and pushed back until a product “is perfect”, but valuable time is lost in the process of iteration. Outsourcing sales could leave your core team to focus on managing core competencies.

Do you have the funds to hire an in-house sales team?

Having full-time, experienced sales people can be very expensive and risky for a start-up. It’s important to keep in mind the full cost of bringing on a sales force, like if you will be doing the recruitment, hiring a recruitment agency, managing the on-boarding, training, as well as any retention costs as salespeople develop within the company. Recent studies show even an $8/hour employee can end up costing a company around $3,500 in turnover costs, both direct and indirect.

Outsourcing sales for startups can be a great option for start-ups looking to increase speed to market and reduce initial in-house sales team investments. If you’ve decided to look further into outsourcing sales, here are some important first steps to take with your outsourcing partner:

So, you’ve decided to outsource sales, implement key tools immediately to set up an efficient sales pipeline

Efficiency is key when you’re working at a start-up and there’s a million things to do all at once. Your outsourcing sales partner will be able to immediately share the valuable tools needed to grow your pipeline like sales content, database access for targeting specific markets, CRM implementation and reporting tools to help measure your progress. Setting these key tools up quickly will enable a solid foundation to sales processes to build on as your start-up begins to accrue more customer data.

Get ready to go-to market with your outsourced sales for startups firm

An outsourced sales for startups firm will not just create the strategy, they’ll execute and manage the entire sales process. From staffing the sales reps, database managers and automation experts, they have the people power to grow a full sales system. Once you have your team assembled, it’s time to get ready to go to market.

Most start-ups that haven’t gone to market will have no historical data on customers, or target demographics. An effective sales strategy will have to be iterated as the firm begins to grow and achieve actual sales. The ideal outsourced sales firm should be able to help build plans, strategies and forecasts based on their best practices and track record of previous clients in the same industry.

Finding the right outsource sales company

With all the benefits you stand to gain by choosing SFI, the question you really need to ask is “How soon do I want to outsource my sales?” Get started today. Contact us to speak to a knowledgeable representative about your sales needs and be ready to launch your new start-up sales plan in less than two months.