Sales outsourcing refers to the practice of delegating an organization’s sales responsibilities to an external party. This arrangement involves collaborating with outside firms to fill sales positions, execute sales campaigns, and establish a dedicated sales team to support new products or marketing initiatives. Offshore sales outsourcing providers often adopt an inside sales model, enabling their external sales staff to operate from any location worldwide. On the other hand, local providers may combine virtual sales services with field sales representation.

In sales outsourcing, a third-party provider assumes the responsibility of providing a dedicated external sales force. These external sales personnel become integrated into the internal team and are assigned specific roles within sales campaigns. They undertake various functions within the organization, including marketing, telemarketing, and management. Furthermore, external sales staff and representatives employ diverse promotional techniques on behalf of the client, encompassing both business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) sales approaches.

A substantial number of companies already outsource certain aspects of their sales and marketing functions, with many intending to extend this practice. While some firms outsource only specific sales activities, others opt to outsource the entire sales process. This could involve tasks such as sales conversion or the process of identifying qualified leads and converting them into successful accounts.

Sales BPO

Sales business process outsourcing involves entrusting an entire business process to a third party. This comprehensive service encompasses multiple aspects, including the recruitment of sales staff, campaign development, analytics, and customer relationship management. Notably, established vendors have evolved to offer end-to-end sales and marketing solutions, transcending the role of a mere service provider and becoming strategic partners to their clients.

The advent of the Internet and transformative technologies like big data and social business have revolutionized the sales practices of organizations. In this new landscape, an increasing number of companies are adopting sales business process outsourcing to effectively target their desired audience, analyze buying behavior patterns, and optimize conversion rates, all while maintaining cost-efficiency. It is important to note that the true value of sales business process outsourcing for businesses lies in its comprehensive benefits, rather than just cost savings alone.

Why Outsource Sales Activities for your Businesses?

Sales outsourcing is a strategic choice for companies seeking to introduce new products, penetrate new markets, or expand their presence across different locations. Startups, in particular, may opt to outsource sales in order to focus their resources on core activities. With fierce competition prevailing, businesses are increasingly turning to outside firms that possess the necessary expertise, technology, and tools to enhance their competitive advantage through sales outsourcing.

By engaging sales outsourcing providers, companies can effectively address various challenges they encounter. These challenges include the identification and conversion of qualified leads, the time-consuming nature of onboarding and integrating external sales staff into business goals, operational inefficiencies, and rising costs.

Top reasons for outsourcing sales include:

Cost Savings

Businesses are constantly seeking methods to enhance profitability, and sales outsourcing provides an effective solution. By outsourcing your sales force to an experienced third party, you can lower overhead and labor costs. Standardized sales costs using commission rates can be implemented, resulting in overall cost reduction. Moreover, the vendor assumes responsibility for building, training, and supporting outside sales personnel, which would otherwise require significant in-house investment.

Expanded Market Coverage

Skilled sales personnel employed by outsourcing service providers often possess a higher level of expertise in reaching both existing and potential customers compared to in-house staff. For instance, an outsourced inside sales force can extend market coverage from local to global, allowing businesses to access previously untapped markets and verticals. Additionally, service providers offer sales solutions that complement your field sales strategy, further enhancing market reach and penetration.

Accelerated Speed to Market

Engaging an external expert with profound industry knowledge and experience enables businesses to benefit from timely and location-specific sales services. These experts can swiftly recruit top sales professionals, ensuring a rapid setup of your sales team within tight timelines. By minimizing the time required to establish a sales force, you can expedite your go-to-market strategy and seize opportunities promptly.

Enhanced Customer Satisfaction and Retention

An outsourced sales team can contribute to improved customer satisfaction and retention rates through consistent customer engagement. They establish regular contact with customers, identify baselines for customer satisfaction, and implement enhancements through continuous monitoring and reporting. By closely monitoring customer feedback and swiftly addressing any concerns, the outsourced sales team helps to strengthen customer relationships and loyalty.

Outsourced Sales Solutions

An outsourced sales provider assumes the responsibility of assembling an external sales force equipped with the necessary skills and competencies tailored to meet the specific needs of an organization. Depending on the circumstances, different businesses may choose to outsource specific sales functions or entrust the entirety of their sales operations to facilitate growth. Virtually all sales activities can be outsourced, ranging from routine, transactional tasks such as sales call centers to more valuable and strategic solutions. Some commonly outsourced sales services include:

Sales Lead Generation and Qualification

Lead generation involves actively seeking inquiries from potential customers, serving as the initial step in the sales process. It can be executed through online channels as well as traditional methods such as trade shows. Not all leads are created equal; there are varying levels of quality, with good-quality leads being more likely to make a purchase of the product or service. Sales lead qualification entails assessing the readiness and ability of a lead to be converted into a buyer. This process can be conducted by skilled sales professionals provided by third-party entities who utilize methods like direct mail, telemarketing, and other approaches. Alternatively, these third parties can handle the entire process of lead generation and qualification. Engaging an external firm specializing in lead generation and qualification as their core business can yield significant improvements in lead quality and the overall number of conversions.

Strategic Sales Planning

Strategic sales planning involves formulating and implementing a sales and marketing plan for a business, driven by precise data obtained through market research and analytics. Outsourcing sales planning can assist businesses in optimizing their sales resources and executing strategies that foster customer base expansion. Service providers specializing in strategic planning offer a range of valuable services, including sales forecasting, quota planning, territory planning, and commission planning. Additionally, they provide market research data and utilize software and tools to identify the most promising sales opportunities tailored to specific products and services. By leveraging the expertise of outsourced sales planning professionals, businesses can enhance their decision-making processes and capitalize on lucrative market prospects.

Sales Management

Sales management involves overseeing and guiding local, external, and virtual sales team members to enhance productivity and quality. Recognizing that they may not possess the optimal managerial skills for in-house or external sales teams, many business owners and CEOs choose to outsource sales management to third-party providers. Additionally, small businesses that cannot justify the cost of hiring full-time sales managers often leverage the services of sales management service providers. Outsourcing sales management also proves beneficial in improving the performance of niche segments and challenging sectors that are difficult to penetrate.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Customer relationship management entails managing all interactions between a company and its existing and potential customers. An effective CRM strategy allows companies to focus on and enhance individual customer relationships. Implementing CRM requires appropriate technology to organize and automate sales and marketing activities, as well as customer and IT support. Third-party providers may offer CRM software solutions or provide experienced CRM staff proficient in common CRM tools such as Salesforce. These providers may also assume full responsibility for the company’s CRM process, ranging from planning to execution and monitoring.

Product Launch Campaigns

Market research firms report that a significant percentage of new consumer products in the U.S. fail to generate more than $7.5 million in sales during the first year. Successful product launches are challenging, as convincing customers to adopt something new can be difficult. A well-executed product launch campaign plays a crucial role in driving sales, and businesses can develop effective strategies by collaborating with experienced and impartial third parties. Vendors specializing in product launch campaigns offer services such as market research, education on sales channels, testing of launch campaigns, and campaign execution to maximize the success of new product introductions.

Sales Staff Recruitment

Service providers take charge of sourcing, screening, evaluating, and hiring sales professionals to fill open positions and supplement in-house sales teams, particularly during peak periods. They can seamlessly integrate into internal teams to cover long-term absences. External sales staff may be employed on a temporary, permanent, part-time, or full-time basis, based on the specific needs of the business.

Inside Sales

Certain offshore providers specialize in inside sales solutions, establishing and managing inside sales organizations on behalf of their clients. Inside sales teams operate remotely, often in a different geographic area or country. Offshore sales staff can access untapped markets, providing additional revenue streams and reducing reliance on expensive field sales teams. They also offer online reporting of sales results and campaign ROI data. The expertise of offshore sales professionals is typically on par with local counterparts, facilitating seamless integration with the in-house sales team.

Outside Sales or Field Sales

Outside sales or field sales involve person-to-person selling methods, including door-to-door sales and business-to-business (B2B) sales targeting other companies. Third-party providers offer the services of experienced field sales professionals who engage customers in person through scheduled appointments or cold-calling. Field sales representatives present products and secure sales at customers’ residences or offices. Full-time field sales professionals can be costly to hire, and service providers alleviate this financial burden by offering field staff on a temporary or contract basis.

Transactional Sales Services

In addition to higher value sales functions, outsourcing vendors also provide transactional, back office services to support internal and external sales teams. Commonly outsourced sales support services include virtual offices, customer service, technical support/IT help desk, and administrative support.

End-to-End Sales Solutions

Comprehensive sales solutions encompass all aspects of selling, from development to sales fulfillment. End-to-end solutions vary with the needs of a business, but they often include sourcing and hiring sales professionals, training, CRM deployment, sales management, reporting, and infrastructure services (telephone connectivity, computers, hardware, software, Internet connectivity, and facilities). End-to-end sales outsourcing are often employed by large organizations that already have a working relationship with the vendor. The sales outsourcing engagement includes implementation and risk mitigation planning.

To learn more about outsourcing, you can read our Top 8 Qualities of an Outsourcing Company in the Philippines article. We invite you to follow us on social media and to visit our website to learn more about our services.

About Us: Sourcefit is a widely recognized US-managed business process outsourcing company based in Manila, Philippines. We proudly serve over 100 clients with a workforce of more than 1,300 employees. Our global centers can serve multiple markets, and our staff is highly proficient in English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. Whether you need a few or many employees, we can help you achieve your business goals and build high-quality offshore teams.

Latest Awards

Sourcefit’s commitment to excellence has been recognized through numerous industry awards and certifications.

We recently received the Fortress Cyber Security Award from the Business Intelligence Group. Sourcefit was also honored with the prestigious recognition of Best Outsourcing Solutions Provider in the Philippines during the 2023 Business Excellence Awards.

Other awards include: FT ranking of 500 high-growth Asia-Pacific, The Marketing Excellence Awards, Inquirer Growth Champion,  HR Asia Awards, among others.

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