How can a small business not only get off the ground,
but differentiate themselves from the competition?
Startup companies have a lot on their plate to get up-and-running. In addition to making sure the actual product or service has been perfected and is ready to launch, there are other business functions that need to be addressed: marketing, operations, logistics, staffing, technology, and one of the most important drivers of the business, sales.
Not all company owners or creators have a sales mindset, and that is okay. This only means that they need to fill that gap and recruit, hire, and train someone to manage the company’s sales function. This person would ideally come in with a high level of experience to help form the sales process to be followed. In that process, they’ll likely discover the need for additional staff to successfully accomplish all the sales tasks—something typically not in a start-up’s budget
That said, these “typical” sales duties that are to driving and growing business – no matter if you’re a startup or an established company:
- Generating Leads
- Qualifying Leads
- Nurturing Prospects
- Closing Deals
- Maintaining Customer Relationships
Established companies are usually fortunate enough to have the budget and staff needed to handle all portions of the sales cycle. But, as a startup, headcount is usually an issue.
One option available is to outsource a portion–or all–of the sales process components to a company that specializes in sales. For startups, the right outsourced partner brings to the table years of expertise, perhaps even in your company’s vertical, plus staff, technology, process efficiencies, and more. With a contract for a pre-agreed upon time, set key performance indicators (KPI’s) and goals, it’s a great way to give a jumpstart a new company’s sales cycle.
Key Benefits of an Outsourced Sales Partner for Startups:
- Ability to lean on them for guidance/expertise in sales process development, feedback, and determining the market segment
- Fulltime, experienced and trained sales staff which reduces initial sales team investments in onboarding
- Technology and processes with certain types of resources and tools companies can familiarize themselves in so they may later want to invest in and use internally
- Ability to build a database from scratch
- Outsourced companies are very adaptable and can help quickly identify issues and pivot on things like messaging or process to achieve success
- The right outsourced company can easily scale services as growth occurs to help business speed up to market demands
- Success and metrics are set and defined on paper for clarity on all sides
- Saves time for internal teams to focus on delivery / final development of goods and closing or maintaining solid customer relationships
Companies win and lose deals every day. This is often a nail-biting event for established businesses and is likely only magnified as a startup. There’s no bigger asset to a sales team than a sales development representative (SDR) who consistently exceeds their appointment quota. Generating a steady volume of qualified buyer opportunities not only increases sales velocity, it also increases conversion rates. So why is it so hard to achieve consistency on the front end of the pipeline?
Often, it’s the top of the funnel activity – prospecting, cold-calling, and nurturing – that’s extremely time consuming for startups and small and mid-sized companies due to limited staff and just general brand knowledge in the marketplace. There’s not enough time to cold call at a regular rate and to keep up with administrative tasks, selling/closing deals, maintaining existing customer relationships, etc.
Many companies turn to outsourcing the cold-calling portion of their sales cycle. Having a strong, qualified pool of prospects makes the later stages of the sales pipeline more stable to achieve success. Not only that but outsourcing the top of the funnel activity leaves the in-house sales team to do what they do best: flex their product/service expertise, close the deal, and maintain customer relationships.
For a startup company, the support of an outsourced sales partner gives them an advantage to have more staff to accomplish sales tasks without the added expense of a direct hire. The outsourced staff can give a new company the “legs on the ground” in order to put the word out about their product or service and begin building brand recognition. Most outsourced companies become an integrated part of the sales team and process so much so that the companies they are calling on are not aware the person on the other end of the phone does not directly work for the organization.
Leveraging the experience and expertise of an outsourced sales partner can help new businesses find the right connections, using the right resources to get the job done. In fact, 79% of companies that have tried outsourcing their sales find that they are able to scale faster and grow business more rapidly.
Many outsourced sales partners can also help with the marketing components of a business. A healthy blend of sales and marketing efforts are key for any business, especially startups. The outsourced sales partner is working to get the brand out into the world, and they need things like dynamic content to send to prospects, email campaigns, and more to stay ahead of competition and properly nurture them through the sales cycle. It’s worth asking if your outsourced sales partner can deliver on these types of deliverables as well.
Outsourced sales can be effective for nearly any business but can have a big impact for startups. Sales are not something that just magically happen. They take attention, time, and work, as do all areas of a startup. The use of the experience and expertise an outsourced company brings to the table can help new companies achieve more closed sales and scalability at a faster rate. Learn more about MPI’s Outsourced Sales Partner Programs. Contact us to set an appointment for more details.
Sources:
https://www.techstars.com/the-line/advice/the-top-10-mistakes-in-b2b-startup-sales
https://www.leaseasalesrep.com/outsourcing-sales-240361/
https://www.salesfocusinc.com/the-guide-to-outsourced-sales-for-startups
https://www.planted.com/whats-it-like-to-work-in-sales-at-a-startup
https://www.ttec.com/blog/sales-outsourcing-11-benefits-outsourcing-sales