Business-to-business (B2B) outsourced sales services help small and large businesses fill their sales pipeline with quality leads that need their products or services. If a business needs to generate more revenue and sales, these specialized services can help.
What Are B2B Outsourced Sales Services?
Outsourced sales services are integral to the sales of products and services worldwide. If a business wants to improve its sales, it’ll hire B2B outsourced sales services to help:
- Attract prospects
- Nurture leads
- Push leads through your sales pipeline
These services come in many forms, too. You may find providers that offer cold calling, while others may focus on cold emailing. If you’re looking for help with B2B sales prospecting an outsourced sales service could be a good option.
Which is right for your business?
It depends on your industry. Working with a provider that understands your industry and niche will improve sales, reduce the risk of using methods that don’t work and boost your outcomes.
Top B2B Outsourced Sales Services
Many outsourced sales services exist, but the following are by far the most common options available:
Cold Calling
Cold calling via cold calling lists is one of the best ways to land leads in the B2B world. One survey found that 82% of buyers will accept meetings with someone that reaches out proactively, such as making a cold call.
Sales development representatives will work to:
- Cold call potential leads
- Schedule meetings or appointments with closers
B2B outsourced sales services can be in any language that you require. If you want to discuss options with a Spanish firm or an English company, the right provider will be able to assist you.
Cold Emailing
In addition to cold calling, there’s also cold emailing, which is a similar form of outreach but performed through email. Sales development representatives will work through a list of potential leads
The representative will schedule a call or email with the lead.
LinkedIn Outreach
LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional social media network, with millions of potential prospects waiting for your business to reach out to them. Sales development representatives will treat this form of outreach very similar to a cold email, where they:
- Reach out to the lead
- Start a form of communication
- Work to schedule a meeting or call
Since LinkedIn is used by over 800 million people, including Fortune 500 decision-makers, it’s undoubtedly one of the best ways to secure leads for a business.
Fractional Account Executives
Businesses may also hire fractional account executives, or in this case, closers, that will work on closing all of the leads being booked by the sales development representatives. For example, the representative may:
- Contact the head of buying for a company
- Schedule a call with the fractional account executive
- Be a professional at closing deals
- Close the deal and earns the business revenue
Outsourced sales services can help businesses close leads at a higher rate by offering the help of a closer who knows how to hit on the prospect’s pain points and make a sale.
Fractional Sales Management
Fractional sales managers are outsourced sales managers that are hired to work for a small business. These professionals will manage the entire outsourced team, and they’ll:
- Often earn the same hourly wages as a full-time employee
- Reduce expenditures by resource sharing
While these professionals will earn the same hourly wages as full-time employees, they’re often hired in a part-time capacity. The role of these managers is to help generate sales and grow the business’s revenue.
If a small business doesn’t have the capacity to hire a full-time sales manager, these professionals will fit the role perfectly.
Most Popular Sales Outsourcing Services
There are many outsourced sales services available that small businesses can leverage, but the most popular of the three will be the sales development representatives. These are the “power” behind outsourcing sales services, and they’ll work in many capacities to help a business grow.
Sales Development Representatives
Sales development representatives have multiple goals:
- Book meetings
- Set appointments
These professionals will use numerous methods to reach out to leads, including cold outreach, such as cold emailing or calling and even using social media. However, the goal of the sales development rep is not to close the sale.
Instead, the sale is closed by a closer – someone specializing in closing sales. Often these leads are pushed to inside sales members such as Account Executives.
Benefits of Sales Outsourcing
Sales outsourcing helps businesses fill their sales pipeline and can even include a “closer” that has a high rate of closing sales. However, the benefits of a B2B sales outsourcing service go well beyond just generating leads.
- Save Time
Time is money. Businesses in their first years of operation often struggle to hire new employees. Owners or current employees may take on multiple roles, such as working in sales, even when that’s not their specialty.
If a person isn’t a sales professional, they’ll spend more time and resources than required to do the same job as a sales development representative.
Outsourcing sales to professionals will save your business time and money.
- Save Money
Businesses outsource to save money. In fact, 59% of companies that outsource state that they do it to reduce expenses. The cost reduction doesn’t reduce the quality of the service received. Instead, businesses save money by outsourcing to professionals without needing to worry about:
- Office and equipment expenses
- Benefits
- Intense training
Outsourcing sales services are in place already, with vast teams ready to generate sales. These teams have offices and equipment in place. Businesses will be responsible for paying wages but won’t take on the burden of costly benefits packages, training or transitioning to new sales reps due to turnover.
- Increase And Decrease Based on Needs
Hiring someone for in-house sales is a long-term commitment. Businesses may fill up their sales pipeline and have no need for additional sales reps for months. Laying off staff is an option, but if you need to work with a sales rep again in the future, you’ll need to hire and retrain a person.
When outsourcing these tasks, you can scale operations up and down as necessary.
For example, outsourcing teams can offer:
- 20 employees to assist during the busy season
- Scale down to 2 employees during the off-season
- Scale up or down based on need
Outsourcing offers businesses the opportunity to scale operations to meet the changing demands of a business.
- Industry Expertise
It’s easier to make sales when you have experience in the industry. A sales representative that works in the plumbing industry will have a harder time attracting leads in the IT industry. Experience plays a major role in landing potential leads, and you can work with B2B outsourcing teams that have experience in your niche.
These individuals have the experience necessary to attract and convert leads at a higher rate.
Industry experience also means that the team you hire can get right to work on filling up your sales pipeline faster.
- Fill Pipe Faster
Sales pipelines need to be full to keep revenue coming into a business. Working with an outsourcing team can help rapidly fill your sales pipeline to ensure that you have more than enough work and sales in the short-term and long-term.
- No Extra Overhead
Overhead costs are often overlooked when hiring employees. Many business owners often consider only salary when hiring a professional. However, the costs of hiring an employee comes with a lot of additional overhead, such as:
- Additional utility costs
- Office space and outfitting
- Health insurance and benefits
You also need to spend a lot of additional money training employees. Even an employee leaving one business and going to another in the same industry needs some training. Working with an outsourced sales team means that the team is already well-trained, has processes in place and can begin working with you immediately.
The price paid for the outsourced services doesn’t include the additional overhead many managers overlook.
In the long-term, you’ll pay less for outsourced services even if the upfront cost is similar because there aren’t additional overhead costs involved.
- Ability to Expand Into New Markets
Expanding into new markets comes with inherent business risks. First, a sales team will need to create a sales process from scratch and then begin attracting leads. The main concern with expansion is that markets may or may not like or need your product or service.
The pain points your business solves in one country may not be a pain point in another country.
Working with outsourced sales teams in other countries will make it easier to expand into new markets if the team:
- Knows the market and language
- Has experience in the market
Expansion into new markets is easier when the right sales process is taken. Outsourcing makes it possible to expand into new markets faster.
- Reduce Risks
Businesses are full of risks. However, building and managing sales teams is a major risk, especially during expansion. A lot of time and resources may go into training teams, outfitting offices and purchasing equipment.
You also face the risk of hiring the wrong person to fill a role.
Outsourcing eliminates these risks because:
- Teams are already in place
- Employees that are not good fits can be replaced quickly
- Processes that work are already in place
- Teams already understand local business rules and values
Risks are a part of business, but when working with the right sales outsourcing provider, it’s possible to limit these risks.
However, you must consider a few points before hiring to ensure that you’re working with the best team for your business’s needs.
Things To Consider Before Hiring a Sales Outsourcing Service Provider
When hiring a sales outsourcing service provider, there are several things to consider, including:
- Experience
One of the first things to consider is experience. How long has the service provider been in business? What is the average experience level of their team members?
One of the primary advantages of outsourcing sales is that businesses can gain access to experienced teams that have the expertise to drive results.
If the service provider is new to the industry or has inexperienced team members, it may not be able to produce the desired results.
- Local Experience
Experience in an industry doesn’t mean a sales team has experience in a certain country or region. Working with a team that has this type of experience, especially if you’re in the process of expanding to new markets, is something to consider.
The sales team is likely well-versed and knowledgeable in local demand and business laws, making the growth transition easier.
- Industry Expertise
Along with experience, it’s essential to consider the provider’s industry expertise. Ideally, businesses should look for providers that specialize or at least have prior experience with their industry.
When providers have industry expertise, they:
- Understand the company’s customers or clients
- Know how the product or service works
- Understand the pain points of prospects
Industry expertise will give a business an advantage by ensuring that outsourced team members understand their operations and customers.
If a service provider doesn’t offer the level of expertise, experience and technology a business needs, the provider may not be able to deliver the desired results.
Businesses should ensure that the service provider has the capabilities they need.
- Project Management Processes
An experienced and reputable service provider will have project management processes that make it easy to scale or shift course quickly and easily. The service provider should have flexible project management protocols to meet the company’s demands.
- Intellectual Property Protection
Businesses should consider their intellectual property and protecting it when outsourcing sales. If needed, the provider should be able to provide non-disclosure agreements, employee confidentiality contracts or whatever other intellectual property provisions a business may require.
When Should You Not Use Outsourced Sales Services?
Outsourcing sales services may not be the right choice for every business. When should a company not use outsourced services?
- At Capacity and Not Ready to Scale
If a business already has an in-house sales team, they’re at capacity and not quite ready to scale, then it may not be the right time to outsource sales services.
- Pricing Model Isn’t Suitable for Outsourcing
For some businesses, their pricing model just isn’t suitable for outsourcing sales services. If a company’s contract value is is too low, overseas sales teams may make more sense.
Why Do Companies Use B2B Outsourced Sales Services?
Companies use B2B outsourced sales services for a number of reasons. Every business has its own motivations for outsourcing sales services, but many will go this route because they want to:
- Target New Markets
Entering a new or underserved market can be a lucrative opportunity for businesses. However, many businesses find that they simply do not have enough salespeople to handle this new market.
Outsourcing sales services can solve this problem and typically comes at a lower cost than hiring in-house. Hiring new employees comes with costs that go beyond salary. Businesses must also consider the cost of:
- Training
- Management overhead
- Insurance and benefits
When businesses outsource, they gain access to an established team that’s ready to target their new desired market.
- Support New Product or Service Launches
Launching a new product or service will provide a new revenue stream for a business. However, a business may quickly find that its in-house sales team is overwhelmed and overloaded by the launch.
Although only temporary, product or service launches can lead to sales team burnout and ultimately have a negative impact on the team’s overall performance.
Outsourcing will take that burden off of the in-house sales team while giving the business access to a professional team whenever needed. Outsourced teams can step in at any time, which can help speed up the launch of a new product or a periodic campaign.
- Lower Costs
Outsourcing saves businesses money, and in some cases, it saves a significant amount of it. When companies tap into an outside team, they eliminate the costs of:
- Hiring and training a new employee
- Having to expand office space
- Additional tools, supplies or user licenses
- Additional management
- Additional salaries
Outsourced sales teams are already established and have the experience and expertise businesses need to jumpstart their sales efforts. These professional teams also have an established tech stack that’s fully developed.
Hiring in-house is a costly process, and outsourcing can save businesses more than 50% on these costs. A sales team will needs all sorts of sales tools like ZoomInfo, Apollo, Salesloft, they’ll need to warm up their emails, a CRM like HubSpot and possibly conversational intelligence tools like Gong.
- Get Access to an Experienced, Established Team
An outsourced sales service provides a business with an immediate sales and marketing team and infrastructure. There’s no need to go through the time-consuming and costly process of hiring and training new employees. Businesses that have a high turnover rate may have to incur these costs regularly.
Outsourced sales teams also have professionals that manage their team’s sales and marketing tools. They stay on top of the latest advancements in software so that businesses don’t have to.
B2B outsourced sales services can benefit businesses in many ways, and they have many options for outsourcing. Along with time savings, businesses also eliminate the costs of hiring, training and supporting new employees. However, it’s important for companies to consider each service provider carefully to find a good fit for their business.
Check out our guide on outsourced sales for startups.
