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Should you outsource sales management – the key considerations

Written by: Peter Lawless

Article Overview: No matter how great your product or service is, if you don't have people using and buying what you produce, you go out of business. So how do you set up an efficient sales and marketing machine, on a limited budget? Do you have experience in sales management? Would you know how to maximize the potential of a good sales person?

Should you outsource sales management – the key considerations

So why is it important to have someone with sales management experience in a company? Those of you with sales experience will know the answers, however, if you do not have experience in sales, let me ask you the following questions; Low risk – low cost – high return!

* Would you know the characteristics of a good sales person?

* Can you easily spot when someone is telling you a lie?

* If a sale was dragging on, would you know what questions to ask to find out why?

* Have you ever been paid commission, do you think sales people are overpaid?

* If a sales person was not performing, would you fire them and get a new sales person?

* How would you define not performing, in the previous question?

* Have you ever used and do you understand the value of a sales process?

The answers to questions like these come as second nature to an experienced Sales Director or Manager. Over 90% of the most successful companies in the world have experienced sales directors on their management board.

But what if you don't have global ambitions, or just can't afford to hire a full time sales manager? And even if you did want to hire one, how could you be sure that the person you hired would be worth the money?


How do you make the case for sales management outsourcing?

Like any purchasing decision, you need to ensure that you get value for money. If you bear in mind that the reason you would even consider investing in sales or marketing in the first place, is to increase revenue and profit, then do these calculations first.

How much additional revenue do you wish to generate, and by when. What is your margin on that? How much profit does that put in your pocket?

Now how much of that are you willing to spend? One of the issues apart from the loss of time and cash flow in making a mistake in hiring is the actual cost of hiring fees and monthly base salary. This is a cost even before a single additional sales is generated.

If you could get the sales execution focus of a sales director for a fraction of the monthly cost of a full time hire, paid them on performance and have the ability to part company on a month's notice, without any employer liability – would that not be attractive.

If you said yes – than that is the beauty of outsourcing your sales management function.

Low risk – low cost – high return!


What do you get when you outsource sales management?

On a weekly basis, the sales manager will speak with the sales team, to determine the status of your sales opportunities. Everything in that meeting will be focused on closing sales, or ensuring opportunities are moving along the pipeline. The key advantages of this are as follows:

* Identification of strengths and weaknesses amongst your sales team, whatever the size, ensuring you are maximising return for your spend

* Shorten sales cycles, thus increasing revenue and cash flow

* Optimise the time your sales team spend on given opportunities, so that they can spend more time closing profitable opportunities

* Accurate information, based on sales both won and lost, which can be used by product planning and service teams.

* Ongoing coaching and training based on your real opportunities, which makes your team the envy of the industry, and thus enables you to attract the best.

* Identification of a team member who can take over the role of sales manager, so that you promote from within, which is fantastic for morale and motivation.

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  Leveraging partnerships

Article Tags: answers to questions, base salary, cash flow, execution, experienced sales, full time, global ambitions, management board, management experience, management outsourcing, mistake, previous question, sales director, sales directors, sales experience, sales management, sales person, second nature, successful companies, time sales



Related Forum Posts
Re: What Do You Outsource Mostly? - Hello, I outsource some management fields like business management, time management etc.. I like outsourcing these fields..as I have done business management course.. Initially I don't liked it at all..but after sometime I started getting interest in it.. Now I am searching some interesting management courses... Regards, Nelson
What do you suck at? - I say outsource everything that is outside your area of specialty. If you groom dogs and love it, then you're probably not good at finance, marketing, or IT. It costs you more in time and money to figure these things out than to give them to a professional. As a starting entrepreneur, it's hard to outsource everything. I still do my own accounting, and will until it's unmanageable and/or I can afford to outsource. I run a marketing firm, and I meet so many people who have done their own marketing (inefficiently) for years. There's a reason they come to me. They don't have the time to work on it, or it's not bringing in the sales they want it to. You may be smart, but you weren't designed to do everything.
Personnel management. - I heard that also personnel management is an example of things to outsource. Is it useful for an entrepreneur?
Franchise Choice - I would: .Spend time evaluating what my passions in life were and how i could take more time to be doing those things - work or social or family .spend time evaluating what would help me get to where i wanted to be - not concentrating on moving away from something i.e a job . Look at what skills I have and where i needed training i.e sales.business management/retail management e.t.c - what ever is needed. I would then invest in myself and acquire those skills on the open market from reputable training providers . Set up my own business doing something i loved . Invest the money saved into me, sales and marketing and mentoring from succesful people who had done what i was trying to do.
Jeremiah - Hello Everyone. My name is Jeremiah and I have been in the sales game for about 15 years now. I have done everything from door-to-door to sales management. Perhaps I might have some useful input for the board.


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