By Karen Wessels, co-founder of VA Connect & co-founder of SnappSales
In my last post we spoke of the importance of outsourcing your marketing function. You can find the article here to refresh your memory. I have a tendency to lump marketing and sales together. And yes, I do understand how very different the two are! However, for me, the one cannot work without the other. In order to have great sales deals you need to have a converting marketing campaign, therefore sales and marketing go hand-in-hand.
So, get comfortable with the idea of outsourcing sales. Because let’s face it, more than likely you’re not doing any sales activities in your business right now or perhaps the bare minimum and the very thought of outsourcing something you’re not even doing 100% in-house is probably rather daunting.
In this post I want to show you what sales activities you can outsource and the benefits of doing so. Here are the sales activities you can outsource?
Appointment setting services
Attending a pre-set appointment is a great way to boost your sales confidence. By hiring an outside company to do the legwork for you, helps instils confidence that the meeting you’re attending has been pre-qualified. So you know that the potential of doing business with the person you’re seated in front is greater than not.
Lead generation
Cold calling is probably another swear word in most circles, just like sales and anything sales related. This doesn’t need to be your forte, especially if you can outsource this function. Lead generation companies can do the cold calling on your behalf as well as other forms of sales outreach to assist with generating leads for you. They can go further than just sourcing these leads, they can also pre-qualify them before handing the leads over to you.
Outside sales
Now you can hire a contract sales person (or force!) to go into the field to sell your product or service on your behalf. Your outsourced sales team can meet with multiple prospects in a day, ensuring that your sales pipeline is filled and that sales deals can be closed in all the months to come.
Customer acquisition
A lot of effort and energy has been placed in finding you leads and moving them down the sales funnel to a point where they have shown interest in your brand. You don’t want to lose that momentum, so why not hire a company to manage that part of the sales funnel for you? They can continue nurturing the lead, ensuring that the prospect keeps engaging with your brand until they are ready to become a client. These sales efforts will mean better customer retention and more sustainability for your business.
Account management
Sometimes this is the part in the sales activity where the wheels come off. We’ve on boarded a customer, however, we haven’t fully developed our after sales program. An outsourced company can manage the account for you to ensure that your newly acquired customer remains feeling special and will continue doing business with you for years to come by taking care of all their post sales needs.
The benefits of outsourcing your sales activities
- You have access to talent and skill sets beyond your current team.
- There is a lower cost and risk for you as you focus on developing your business.
- You save time as the outsourced company already has the experience and systems in place.
- By outsourcing the sales function you have the opportunity to explore new directions and to learn more about your target audience.
There are solutions to every problem, so why not resolve your sales challenge and really start thinking hard about the possibility of outsourcing this.
Happy outsourcing!
Karen Wessels is the co-founder and COO of VA Connect, a South African virtual assistant platform that provides outsourced administrative support; and is also the co-founder of SnappSales, a company that generates quality sales leads for its clients. Prior to establishing both her companies, Karen spent over 10 years in different sales, marketing & admin support roles. This experience has equipped her with the invaluable skills required to run her two successful business ventures. Follow Karen on her Personal Website | Twitter | Facebook | Google+
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