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If done right, sales outsourcing can be a massive booster for your business growth. “It is an external support you hire to increase prospect generation, nurture leads, and move clients through the sales funnel.”
There are various advantages of outsourcing your sales:
- Save hiring and onboarding time and cost
- Ensure zero lead drop-offs
- Have better speed to lead
- Already trained industry professionals
Check out our blog on sales outsourcing firms to know more about it!
Even though there are various advantages to this business strategy, it can very easily go downhill if not implemented carefully.
If you’re looking to outsource sales, this article will help you understand some common mistakes made during sales outsourcing, so that you can avoid them. Or, if you’ve already outsourced your sales, and for some reason, it just isn’t working, you will understand why that is the case.
Let’s talk about 5 common mistakes even the most experienced sales leaders and businesses make while outsourcing sales.
1. Not picking the right outsourcing partner
Sales outsourcing is not a process where you can go all in without thinking twice. Sales is revenue-generating, hence it is important to properly discuss the outsourcing decision before taking action.
Jumping in quickly out of excitement will be harmful to your business. First, set your processes up and see if the outsourced team will fit your team and its culture, working style, goals, industry, and expertise. Don’t just pick a team because they’re the cheapest, or “highly recommended”. Remember, what works for other companies, might not work for you.
Another aspect of not picking the right outsourced team can be that the outsourced team lacks quality. The sales experts need to be trained in the industry you belong to – that’s key when it comes to outsourcing success.
How can you pick the right outsourced team?
- Define your WHY for sales outsourcing.
- Do your research; pick an external sales agency that matches your company’s voice.
- Keep your team in the loop; outsourcing your sales is a pretty big step. Keep your team in the loop and discuss its pros and cons before proceeding. Define and discuss roles, responsibilities, KPIs.
- Have a defined interview and onboarding process – have culture fit rounds.
Want to outsource your sales to a company that –
A. Understands your company voice?
B. Will customize its sales processes according to your goals?
C. And already has trained sales experts who are champions of your specified industry?
Check out SquadStack, the largest on-demand platform for sales and fulfillment outsourcing. We convert more leads to customers through the help of our highly trained sales experts, and best-in-class technology.
Want to know more? Book a demo with us now!
2. No clear goals
Before you start outsourcing, you as a business leader need to figure out why you want to outsource in the first place and if it will help you achieve your growth goals. To go through this exercise in the first place, your goals need to be defined and documented.
“When you outsource, everything needs to be in writing.”
Without clear documentation of goals, needs, and processes, your outsourced team will be left without any direction or guidance.
Do not make the mistake of not setting up goals and processes beforehand, thinking that the outsourced team can manage them. It will not work that way; you as a business owner need to know the outcome(s) you want to achieve.
How can you have clear goals for your outsourced team?
- Before outsourcing sales, have a clear process of sales set up in-house.
- Document everything! This will help save a lot of time during onboarding processes and not leave room for loopholes.
- Have a clear understanding of your company goals.
- Define goals for your outsourced team, why you want to achieve them, and their importance in the longer run.
3. You don’t measure performance
How do you know if your outsourced team is performing well if you don’t check their performance metrics?
Measuring performance is an essential practice you need to follow regularly – not only for an outsourced sales team but any sales team.
Checking metrics as a process often takes a backseat when it comes to outsourcing. Making sure that it’s not neglected is important.
Keep your goals in mind, understand how you can measure those goals through clear metrics, and keep them in check. Having weekly/ monthly metric checks will keep your outsourced team accountable, and will help you save money.
How can you measure performance for your outsourced team?
- If you already have your goals set for your outsourced sales team, then figuring out how to measure these goals will be easy.
- Sit down with your team and discuss what metrics are important to your business and how you can define sales success.
- Jot those metrics down, and define a clear process of when to check them, how to check them, and who will take the ownership.
- Build accountability not just in your team, but also within your outsourced team.
SquadStack makes performance tracking easy by providing customers with a dashboard to see all-important outreach metrics of their outsourced team.
Our reports can be customized, scheduled, and downloaded in just a few clicks. It’s easy, breezy, efficient, and increases accountability.
Check out SquadStack and book a demo with us today, to know more about how we can boost your sales through our experts!
4. No room for ideas and feedback
Not taking feedback and dismissing new ideas is the biggest mistake a team leader can make, which can significantly hamper company growth.
The truth is that various entrepreneurs overlook ideas and feedback from the team they have hired. Do not be that person. As a company, you cannot grow if you don’t take new ideas and feedback from the people that work with you.
Treating your outsourced team with a ‘Them’ attitude will do more bad than good. Your outsourced team has industry experts who probably know more about the landscape and how it works and can provide you with essential information and feedback.
How to make room for ideas and feedback?
- Create a culture where the outsourced sales team can openly share ideas without any constraints.
- Have frequent 1-1s with your sales experts if you can – or at least their managers. Ask them for feedback and how they can work better.
- Create anonymous feedback surveys.
5. You don’t have an exit strategy
“Every agreement should include criteria for disengagement”
What happens when the outsourced team does not meet defined standards and goals? What should you as a team leader do when you know it’s time to let go, and how should you go about it?
An exit strategy should be clearly communicated to the outsourced team and your internal team. This strategy has to be a part of your agreement and should be openly communicated so that there is no room for loopholes.
Sometimes, without having such checks and balances, you keep going ahead with an agency and don’t focus on an exit strategy.
How to define an exit strategy?
- When you are creating goals for your outsourced sales agency, also create a minimum standard that has to be met.
- Define this well, document it, and communicate it openly to the agency.
- This makes processes easy, keeps accountability, saves money, time, and other complications towards the end of an agreement.
Key Takeaways
- Have clear company goals, and be open with its communication to your outsourced team.
- Be careful while picking an outsourced team. What works for other businesses may not work for you.
- The key to accountability is checking metrics regularly.
- Do not be a tyrant when it comes to taking ideas. Be open to creativity and feedback when it comes to your outsourced team.
- Always create a minimum standard of performance that has to be met.
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