Outsourcing can be an effective way to boost the performance of your sales department. However, it can still be an uneasy undertaking for a startup business like yours. After all, you will likely have a ton of questions about the process. So, here we are to answer some of the burning ones and help you get your sales outsourcing efforts on the right track.
Sales Outsourcing Questions no. 1: Do I Have A Long-Term Goal For Outsourcing My Sales?
More often than not, your decision to outsource something like sales comes from the need to fulfill an immediate goal. You might decide to outsource to meet increasing customer demand quickly. But what happens after you achieve that goal?
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This is where your long-term goals come in. They provide you with a roadmap for your outsourcing strategy and the overall business direction you want to take. But your next question here would then be “What should be my long-term sales outsourcing goal?”
Building A Sustainable Sales Pipeline
While there are many answers to that question, one long-term that you should include is creating a sustainable sales pipeline. This goal lends itself nicely to using outsourced sales teams because developing it will take a long time. Here, you and the outsourced team must work closely to develop the pipeline.
The essential steps that your sales pipeline should follow are:
- Prospect and cleanse: You begin by creating a list of potential prospects. Note that these are not necessarily the ones that would become actual customers.
- Engage prospects: You identify the best ways to reach out to chosen prospects and devise follow-up plans should they respond.
- Nurture and qualify your leads: This is where you begin implementing your nurture strategies to start building your relationship with them.
- Create top-of-the-mind awareness: You increase your business recall in the minds of prospects.
- Schedule appointments: Your team finally secures a meeting with the prospect and makes their business presentation.
Note that an outsourced team can handle either the whole pipeline or just sections of it. With the latter, clearly state what sections those would be. That helps facilitate seamless work between your internal and external teams.
Sales Outsourcing Question no. 2: How Involved Should I Be With The Outsourced Sales Team?
One of the biggest draws of outsourcing is that the external team can work autonomously. That lets your startup business focus its attention on other important matters. However, you should still be involved to ensure that they can do the work right.
So the next question you will likely ask is how much involvement do you need to provide? The answer depends on various things, such as the type of business you have and the clients the sales team is handling. Your personal preferences will also have an influence. But you need to make sure that your involvement does not hinder the external team’s autonomy.
Nevertheless, there are things that you can do to be more involved in your outsourced sales team’s work the right way. These steps ensure that you can get the most out of the service they provide to your startup business.
Make Onboarding Go Both Ways
Often, your onboarding process would focus on ensuring that the outsourced team understands your business. However, you also need to take time and understand their processes. This helps you integrate their workflow into yours better and generate sales more effectively. Additionally, you get to learn new strategies you might not know before.
Provide Them With All The Tools They Need
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And one of the tools that your external sales team will need the most is comprehensive information about your product. That will help them better pitch it to potential customers and capture their interest. Ensure that every bit of that information is up to date and suits what they need.
Ensure Constant Communication
While they can work independently, you still need to provide an open line for them. With it, they can provide you with regular updates on their sales progress. You also get to answer their questions, ensuring a constant exchange of knowledge that will help in the work.
Sales Outsourcing Question no. 3: Can You Outsource Sales Without Losing Your Startup Business Values?
This one is a fascinating question. After all, you often build your sales process by espousing your corporate culture and values in mind. Thus, there is a legitimate worry that letting an external team handle your sales might compromise that culture.
Luckily, the answer is yes. You can effectively outsource your sales processes while keeping your corporate values intact. Here, the trick is to build a diligent partnership with your outsourcing partner.
Image from The Human Capital.
This goes beyond just talking about those values during the onboarding period. Instead, you should demonstrate it to them at every opportunity. Show how your corporate culture influences the sales strategy during actual customer engagements.
When you connect these values as early as possible with the sales process, your outsourced team can better adapt them into their strategies. That will ensure a more consistent service between your internal and external teams.
Sales Outsourcing Question no. 4: Can You Outsource Sales For Complex Products?
This is a particular concern for B2B companies that sell business solutions. Due to the complexities of these products, you need a team that is intimately knowledgeable about the product to handle it.
Image from IFEC.hk.
The question comes because of the concern that outsourced sales teams might be encountering the product for the first time. Luckily, outsourcing the sales for such complex products is still very much possible. Here, you need to have an ongoing commitment to training your external team in the intricacies of that product.
Virtua Solutions is very much aware of that concern. Our+ teams are composed of agents with years of experience in such products. Thus, even if they are new to the product, they can quickly get accustomed to it and better grasp your product.
Be In The Know And Get More Out Of Sales Outsourcing For Your Startup Business
These answers should hopefully give you a more adequate picture of what sales outsourcing can give your startup business. And if you want to get the most out of these, you need the right team for it. Contact us today and we will help you boost sales