Top 10 Tips for Outsourcing

Jan. 24, 2011 - PRLog -- Brendan O'Flaherty, founder of SCi Sales Group, talks about Sales Outsourcing.

Do your homework

Spend time researching and interviewing prospective sales outsourcing companies – their people will be at the coalface of your business and will be representing it to potential customers – so make sure you meet the sales team they are proposing.  Ideally the company should have at least 3 years experience, so ask for references from previous clients. At SCi Sales Group http://www.scisalesgroup.com we expose our clients's feedback, helping our potential clients learn more about us.

Choose a company that knows your sector

Make sure the sales outsourcing company has specific experience of your sector; you’ll need to work with sales people that have a good understanding of the issues prevalent to your industry.

Be forward thinking

As well as having a clear understanding of the sectors in which you operate, it’s a good idea to pick an outsourcing sales company that has a knowledge and understanding of the sectors you want to break into.

Agree on key objectives

Ensure you have an SLA (Service Level Agreement) in place to make sure that both parties are delivering on expectations.  It is crucial to set out the key objectives before engaging with them.

Sign an initial contract of only 3-6 month’s

This enables you to try out the service to see whether it is a good fit for your organisation, and indeed whether the sales outsourcing company is a good fit for you.

Make sure they do their research

Any reputable sales outsourcing company should spend its first days integrating itself into your business – reviewing current sales performance, messaging and performing a collateral audit as well as spending time learning as much as possible about the product or service they will be offering.

Ensure they have a plan

They should have a clear methodology for implementing the sales programme – it will be important that they get up and running as quickly as possible.

Get regular reports

Make sure you retain control over your sales pipeline by insisting that the outsourcing company is evangelical about reporting and transparency. A weekly ‘sales funnel’ will provide an invaluable log of all sales activity.  It also goes without saying that detailed reporting is a must when outsourcing any project, and the outsourcing company should provide regular reporting on progress.

Spend regular time with them

The success of any outsourced project is the management of the relationship and a high level of interaction between both parties. To all intents and purposes, these people are part of your team for the time that they work with you – so treat them as such.

Evaluate performance

This is essential. You should review strategy at regular intervals.

If you would like to visit one of our 'Market Entry Workshops' carried out for every new client please get in touch http://www.scisalesgroup.com

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SciSales Group is the UK’s leading B2B Sales Accelerator. We enable B2B companies to improve sales performance through our portfolio of B2B sales services.