Starting up a new business, especially a tech/IT business, requires hard work, dedication and risk-taking. But survival and growth, especially in the current economic landscape, also depend on establishing a consistent revenue stream quickly – and that means developing an effective sales strategy and building a dedicated team to implement it.
However, if you run a small (albeit perfectly formed) start-up team, it becomes difficult to prioritise the consistent lead generation effort and sales follow-up that this demands against the multitude of other tasks you face in order to get your business idea off the ground, especially with finite resources and time.
That’s why many tech and IT start-ups turn to outsourced agencies for lead generation and sales, leveraging the ‘oven-ready’ expertise of a professional team as a quick and often cost-effective way to start feeding into that crucial sales pipeline and establishing their innovative new product or service ideas on the market, while their own people are focusing on their core tasks.
However, buying leads and having an experienced sales and marketing team are two very different things. An effective outsourced team offers more than just sales; they provide an unbiased source of valuable market insight on which to design a more effective interaction with customers and start building up a brand.
Proving that outsourcing works
Here are just some of the famous names that recognised some of the many good reasons to outsourcing lead generation and sales:
- By partnering with local teams, the company expanded their global reach and sales into new markets while preserving localized customer experiences.
- Dropbox. Dropbox used external professionals for lead generation and creating meetings while reserving its internal sales team for closing deals and analysing results.
- This market disruptor has been leveraging the expertise of experienced outsourced sales teams since its launch in 2009 and no-one can question the impressive results they’ve achieved while keeping costs down at the same time.
Greater flexibility
Outsourcing may appear to be a financial commitment but actually it substitutes for the overheads incurred from recruiting, training and sustaining an in-house sales team. It can also allow you to respond to circumstances more quickly and with more confidence in order to grasp emerging opportunities.
Being agile and responsive, fine-tuning an outsourced lead generation and sales arrangement can help smooth out any spikes and troughs in your sales pipeline. You can surge your sales effort quickly for a busy season, campaign or product launch, and if you need to scale back, then cancelling a contract is less painful than laying off core staff.
Sales expertise at your fingertips
While no-one knows your business as well as you do, outsourcing agencies exist which specialise in tech and IT and are familiar with the vagaries of the sectors.
Whether you’re selling gadgets, hardware, software, SAAS or IT support, you can hire salespeople with the right skills to communicate the benefits and value of your business proposal, particularly in a busy market where potential clients are spoilt for choice. Hiring your own full time sales force and marketing people is always risky.
This job is never quite so easy to do yourself when you’re so close to your own creation. In addition, you may simply not have the internal expertise or skillsets available to get your message across in a persuasive way to a new market.
For generalised salespeople, the main objective is to explore whether a product or service can match their potential client’s needs, but tech and IT sales is a slightly different beast. And even between these two, sales processes vary.
Tech sales reps are all about the selling – finding exactly what challenges a lead is facing and what technology exists to help them; IT salespeople place a greater focus on supporting customers after making the sale.
While some companies may simply need to buy some hardware, others may need to introduce new technologies to support their business processes. This requires particular sales knowledge and talents to deliver results, talents that outsourced agencies are experienced in attracting.
Increasing market reach
Outsourced sales teams can recruit experienced local operators to work with customers in different countries and are familiar with the local language, cultures and any specific needs that exist in a local market.
Outsourcing sales is a way of tapping into new markets that you may not have considered accessible before, and could be a way to generate additional revenue.
Gaining a competitive edge
Expanding too quickly is a good problem to have, but it can lead to failures in customer service as you struggle to deliver on a lengthening order book. Outsourcing sales can provide consistent customer service, leaving your customers satisfied and coming back for more while allowing your team to focus on delivering.
An outsourced agency can also leverage the latest sales technology and automation tools, streamlining processes such as lead generation and customer onboarding, reducing time to market and increasing customer satisfaction further.
By understanding how to leverage outsourced sales effectively, a start-up or tech business can maintain an edge over competitors through offering a superior sales experience.
Conclusion: does your tech/IT start-up need outsourced sales support?
Gone are the days where outsourcing sales to another company was unreliable, with little quality control. Modern outsourcing sales firms are more accountable than ever for delivering results and they represent their clients to the highest standards, projecting a professional image that a small start-up may struggle to do itself.
In order to maintain steady growth and productivity, you can find a sales agency that matches your current needs while being ready to partner you into the future, expanding and refocussing the services it provides as your needs change.
And as your company and your margins grow, you may then decide to hire a full-time, in-house sales team. Your outsourced sales partner can help you in this while moving on to provide ancillary skills and processes in support.
With the right foundational agreements in place and a clear, shared vision, outsourced sales teams can deliver the sales results your business needs to grow and transform.
Would you like to find out more about how can outsource sales help your business? Read more