Businesses are starting to make the slow return to normal operations. One of the major challenges facing companies, particularly smaller operations, is the ongoing labor shortage and many choosing a career other than sales. Building a skilled, successful sales force is a struggle.
A July 14th article in the Wall Street Journal makes the point, “The Pay Is High and Jobs Are Plentiful, but Few Want to Go Into Sales; The work has changed in recent years, but young workers may associate it with high-pressure tactics; 'talent is limited'”. The article cites ZipRecruiter, who “shows the number of sales roles advertised has risen steadily this year, up 65%.”
Many companies have seen the benefit of using an experienced, outsourced sales team to support revenue-generating activities. Below are some reasons why companies decide to outsource their sales team.
1. High Cost to create a sales force: An outsourced sales team already exists. Other than typical due diligence, there is little effort to select and contract the team. By contrast, like all positions in a company, hiring and training a sales force takes time. From searching websites for the proper candidates to the interview, offer and onboarding process, through training, it can be months before a sales representative can start to build their territory. During this time, sales can be lost to a competitor or a prospect may cool in their interest for the product or service.
2. Hiring the right people: Even if the hiring and onboarding process goes quickly, it can be difficult to know whether the salesperson hired is truly the right person to sell the good or service. An outsourced sales team is a collection of seasoned salespeople. Many individuals are skilled at selling themselves, but lack the unique skill set, ambition, and drive it takes to be successful at helping prospects navigate the sales process to a close. In addition, the lack of specific industry knowledge can negatively impact the salesperson’s efforts to be a trusted advisor.
3. Need to tap into an Existing presence in the market: A great salesperson in one industry may not have the skills or expertise to transfer into another industry. They also may have to start from scratch building a Rolodex of potential customers. By contrast, an outsourced team brings market experience and an existing presence.
4. Leveraging product and market synergies: With an outsourced sales team, the business can participate in that sales team’s ecosystem, which may include complementary products. In addition, the outsourced sales team’s expertise in each market can give the business access that it may take years to build on its own.
5. Access to technology and reporting infrastructure: An Outsourced Sales team usually has their technology infrastructure already created. A company like Global Telecom Partners already has Salesforce for lead tracking and zoom for holding meetings. Technologies that would otherwise need to be purchased.
6. Scale the Sales organization to align to demand: In response to high demand associated with new products or positive marketing conditions, an outsourced sales team can be scaled to drive higher sales. By contrast, in weakening economic conditions the outsourced sales team can contract without the need to reduce full-time staff.
Ultimately, successful companies reach a size where a fully staffed sales team becomes a necessity. Growing businesses take advantage of organizations like Global Telecom Partners to help on the path to achieving that growth.