Outsourcing the Sales Function
Outsourcing the Sales Function
Define Sales Outsourcing
It is the transfer or development of sales resources, including overhead expenses, such as recruiting, payroll, insurance, commissions, equipment, training, coaching etc..; along with management responsibilities to an outside organization. The outside organization, the sourcing provider, has the responsibility to manage the sales team to meet client expeditions which include and are not limited to efficiency, revenue and profit growth.
Benefits from Outsourcing Sales
Most outsourcing decisions begin with cost-cutting – but rarely end there. Once the efficiencies of outsourcing are in place, companies find ways to use them for a broad range of improvements to processes and performance.
Reduced Direct Costs - As mentioned above, the economies of scale experienced by outsourced Sales and Marketing providers allow them to offer equivalent services at lower direct costs than in-house approaches. What’s more, outsourcing partners are free to use creative cost-cutting approaches unavailable to companies like yours: locating in more favorable employment markets, assembling full-time coverage from part-time or seasonal employees, and so on.
Reduced Indirect Costs - The costs of in-house Sales and Marketing support are often
Underestimated. Employees need to be recruited, trained, managed and equipped – and
turnover may be high. At Sales Surge, we face these problems head-on, and solve them
for our clients. Freeing your Sales team from low-value activities is a significant reduction of hidden costs.
Relieved of the need to manage day-to-day administration and support, they are free to
focus on generating revenue – the reason you hired them.
Reduced Opportunity Costs - Focused outsourced programs improve sales coverage.
More leads are qualified, geographic regions or channels are covered in greater depth, and
more sales can be wrung from secondary sources. In these and other cases, sales are recovered from previously overlooked sources, improving sales performance at low marginal cost.
Fixed Costs Become Variable - In fast-changing markets or companies, outsourced solutions’
variable pricing helps during expansion or contraction. Outsourced programs grow
to meet opportunities or mergers, or shrink when the market turns down. And if they outlive
their usefulness, they are much easier to cancel.
Business process improvements - Quantifying current performance – necessary for any
outsourcing program - reveals gaps in measurement, and points the way to simple but powerful remedies. If you don’t already measure lead qualifications, partner turnover, or cost of sales by market and channel, putting metrics in place will improve performance. Focus and Expertise - Sales and Marketing outsourced specialists live in the market–knowing their surroundings is a matter of business survival.
Agility - Outsourced specialists design their technologies and processes to scale up quickly,
so they can always say “yes” to new business. Their clients benefit from all this reserve
capacity In case of acquisition or change of direction, a manufacturer can scale up or
redeploy its efforts faster through a partner than it could operating alone. Their flexibility and
agility also make outsourcing ideal for experimental and pilot programs.
Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction - Manufacturers are acutely sensitive to customer
complaints about service providers, and service providers know it. They stay in business by
outperforming comparable in-house programs, and putting measurements in place to prove it
Quote.
The data available on service outsourcing – mostly from surveys – reveal a boom. Gartner,
Inc. predicts business process outsourcing (which includes Sales and Marketing) will grow
from $110 billion in 2002 to $173 billion in 2007 – an annual compounded rate of 9.5 percent
The bottom-line,if Sales are not your core competency, then seriously consider outsourcing so you can focus your time and resources on your core company values and capabilities. Sales outsourcing OPTIONS include Sales Management of your existing sales force OR an ENTIRE sales force dedicated to your company along with years of management experience, proven processes and industry contacts, at a fixed monthly expense, which allows your company to effectively manage the cost of sales.
Outsourcing the Sales Function - To learn more about this author, visit Greg Bautz's Website.
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Outsourcing has been around for decades. The evolution of the industry actually started as time-sharing on mainframes. Over the past decade IT Outsourcing has become prominent. For the past 5 years, the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), which includes Sales Outsourcing, has become the most effective method to provide the greatest Return on Investment. By outsourcing the sales function, you do what you do best and that is not running a Sales Department.
Define Sales Outsourcing
It is the transfer or development of sales resources, including overhead expenses, such as recruiting, payroll, insurance, commissions, equipment, training, coaching etc..; along with management responsibilities to an outside organization. The outside organization, the sourcing provider, has the responsibility to manage the sales team to meet client expeditions which include and are not limited to efficiency, revenue and profit growth.
Benefits from Outsourcing Sales
Most outsourcing decisions begin with cost-cutting – but rarely end there. Once the efficiencies of outsourcing are in place, companies find ways to use them for a broad range of improvements to processes and performance.
Reduced Direct Costs - As mentioned above, the economies of scale experienced by outsourced Sales and Marketing providers allow them to offer equivalent services at lower direct costs than in-house approaches. What’s more, outsourcing partners are free to use creative cost-cutting approaches unavailable to companies like yours: locating in more favorable employment markets, assembling full-time coverage from part-time or seasonal employees, and so on.
Reduced Indirect Costs - The costs of in-house Sales and Marketing support are often
Underestimated. Employees need to be recruited, trained, managed and equipped – and
turnover may be high. At Sales Surge, we face these problems head-on, and solve them
for our clients. Freeing your Sales team from low-value activities is a significant reduction of hidden costs.
Relieved of the need to manage day-to-day administration and support, they are free to
focus on generating revenue – the reason you hired them.
Reduced Opportunity Costs - Focused outsourced programs improve sales coverage.
More leads are qualified, geographic regions or channels are covered in greater depth, and
more sales can be wrung from secondary sources. In these and other cases, sales are recovered from previously overlooked sources, improving sales performance at low marginal cost.
Fixed Costs Become Variable - In fast-changing markets or companies, outsourced solutions’
variable pricing helps during expansion or contraction. Outsourced programs grow
to meet opportunities or mergers, or shrink when the market turns down. And if they outlive
their usefulness, they are much easier to cancel.
Business process improvements - Quantifying current performance – necessary for any
outsourcing program - reveals gaps in measurement, and points the way to simple but powerful remedies. If you don’t already measure lead qualifications, partner turnover, or cost of sales by market and channel, putting metrics in place will improve performance. Focus and Expertise - Sales and Marketing outsourced specialists live in the market–knowing their surroundings is a matter of business survival.
Agility - Outsourced specialists design their technologies and processes to scale up quickly,
so they can always say “yes” to new business. Their clients benefit from all this reserve
capacity In case of acquisition or change of direction, a manufacturer can scale up or
redeploy its efforts faster through a partner than it could operating alone. Their flexibility and
agility also make outsourcing ideal for experimental and pilot programs.
Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction - Manufacturers are acutely sensitive to customer
complaints about service providers, and service providers know it. They stay in business by
outperforming comparable in-house programs, and putting measurements in place to prove it
Quote.
The data available on service outsourcing – mostly from surveys – reveal a boom. Gartner,
Inc. predicts business process outsourcing (which includes Sales and Marketing) will grow
from $110 billion in 2002 to $173 billion in 2007 – an annual compounded rate of 9.5 percent
The bottom-line,if Sales are not your core competency, then seriously consider outsourcing so you can focus your time and resources on your core company values and capabilities. Sales outsourcing OPTIONS include Sales Management of your existing sales force OR an ENTIRE sales force dedicated to your company along with years of management experience, proven processes and industry contacts, at a fixed monthly expense, which allows your company to effectively manage the cost of sales.
Outsourcing the Sales Function - To learn more about this author, visit Greg Bautz's Website.
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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