Businesses now operate in a global economy and sales outsourcing is a huge part of facilitating the sales cycle. From virtual assistants to salespeople, if a function is not a core competency of your business, you can hire a firm to augment your weaknesses. For example, if you need a sales force, hire an outside firm.
Outsourcing Guidelines to Keep in Mind
Making the leap toward outsourcing your sales is a big one and should be approached with caution. After all, you only have one chance to make a first impression for every lead you contact. Ensuring that the team you select is upbeat, savvy and professional can set the tone when they pass the client to your in-house team.
Compensation and Incentives: Regarding pay, you will probably be paying all sales executives with the outsource firm a slightly higher commission than you would pay your in-house staff. This is particularly true if they work on a commission-only basis. Incentives are important to establish performance benchmarks. They only get paid if they close deals.
In fact, one of the attractions of outsourcing our sales function is to mitigate case flow. If it is particularly tight, outsourcing your sales functions is a particularly smart way to go.
For, you only pay when money comes in – not regardless of if money comes in. This makes a huge difference to your bottom line.
Legality and Contracts: Another advantage of having your sales outsourced is that if you see that a service is just not working out, or your business changes direction for whatever reason, you can easily terminate contracts. Usually, all you have to do is provide sufficient notice, and that’s it. It’s a lot cleaner and less expensive than terminating employees, for example.
The Bottom Line
Hiring an outside sales force should be done with the same precision and professionalism you would use to hire an inside sales force. After all, your success is tied to their success. Finding a reputable company with a proven track record is important. Your reputation is on the line, and you can’t trust that to just anyone.
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