sales outsourcing-extract from white papers

Sales outsourcing- extract from white paper

Sales outsourcing- extract
from white paper....

Competitive pressure within the IT industry has caused companies to drive down costs and optimise performance in every department. Traditionally, small and medium sized companies have recruited their own, in house, sales force or used third party distributors, VARS and resellers.

In recent years, companies have started turning to a relatively new alternative- sales outsourcing.

Sales outsourcers are specialist organisations which provide a highly focused and efficient sales function. They are often viewed as a bolt-on sales force, existing to generate revenue, increase profit and reduce the overheads associated with the employment cost of the sales function.

Outsourcing is a well established trend with many organisation outsourcing functions such as helpdesk, HR or marketing. However, the sales department is often seen as a key business process that usually ‘owns’ the relationships
with the end client, so can this be outsourced?
There are several models for sales outsourcing which consists of one or more of the following three, principal functions of any sales organisation:

• Sales people
• Sales management and direction
• Lead generation and marketing

Organisations considering outsourcing their sales to any degree need to weigh up, understand the risks and how to avoid them. They should calculate the total cost of ownership and return on investment of comparative options, and finally, ensure the outsourcer tailors a sales solution to their detailed business requirements.

This paper on sales outsourcing discusses the various functions and options of sales outsourcing and provides some links to further reading. Outsourcing Options

Introduction

Sales outsourcing offers several advantages over traditional recruitment,but it is rare that an organisation can view it as ‘fire and forget’. Unless there is a mature established relationship between the parties, with a self
contained product and sales processes, the client is still likely to be needed to be involved with many aspects of the sales process, if not the day to day operations. Organisations thinking sales outsourcing is a low risk, low commitment, easy way to generate sales are likely to be disappointed.

A sales team will always need attention and support to compliment regular‘reporting’ to a manager or director. A sales team cannot be recruited,trained and left to ‘get on with it’. Sales resources can only be effectively outsourced with sufficient management input from the client. In this paper we now discuss each of the three major functions within the sales outsourcing solution:

Sales People

Sales directions

Lead generation and marketing

Continued.......

To download this white paper in full please visit the Selling People website here and follow the white paper link
towards the bottom right of the page.
Alternatively
contact Julian Poulter at 01494 790855 or email: enquiries@sellingpeople.biz