Outsourced professional business development works, and it can provide a great ROI.
When you hire a team of experienced professionals whose sole purpose is to make the calls and have meaningful interactions with prospects, you will see your sales pipeline increase with qualified leads.
We have met with clients, and spoken with many in B2B industries who are still skeptical; many of whom tried outsourcing in the past and failed to see a significant return-on-investment.
Overall, outsourcing generally provides an excellent return on investment, but there are some common reasons why it doesn’t always work.
3 Reasons Why Your Outsourced Business Development Failed
1. Your Internal Team Was Not Prepared
When you outsource to a qualified calling team, there will be some time spent in the onboarding process, but after that, 100% of their time is going to be making calls and qualifying prospects.
This is one of the great benefits of outsourcing: the callers don’t have other internal obligations so the time spent is on the phone, talking to decision makers.
When those qualified leads enter the sales pipeline, it is extremely important that your team is prepared to handle them.
An outsourced business development team should be handing you qualified leads that are ready for next steps. If you don’t have the right people in place to handle this stage of the sales cycle, you could leave qualified leads hanging.
The ramifications of improper follow-up are significant, both because of an immediate lost lead and a reluctance for those lost leads to do business with you in the future.
2. You Don’t Have A Good System for Determining ROI
Determining ROI is going to be top-of-mind for any large budget item needing approval. If you don’t have a good system in place for determining return-on-investment, it becomes very difficult to measure success.
Setting clear goals and checkpoints is a necessary step when beginning a long-term investment such as outsourcing inside sales.
Internally, it’s imperative to set goals and forecasts for determining success, and then the next step is to ensure you and your outsourced partner are on the same page. Professional business development is a long-term commitment; setting benchmarks along the way can help measure the success of your program.
3. The Outsourced Team Was Not A Good Fit
This may seem like an obvious reason, but it is important to mention. Telesales firms are often lumped together, and frequently (and inaccurately) thought of as obsolete.
Yes, there are many callers out there, and some of them are bad. But there are also highly experienced business development professionals who are making calls to prospects and creating connections that lead to closed sales.
It’s important to find a team that is qualified and at the level of the product, service, or solution that you are selling. Complex B2B sales require complex conversations that don’t involve scripts but do involve proven methodologies carried out by experienced professionals.
If your outsourcing has failed in the past, it might be worth it to take a closer look back and determine if any of the above elements were at play.
2021 is approaching and with it the need to make connections and qualify leads without the benefit of face-to-face meetings. Hiring a team that has the business acumen and experience to make successful B2B sales calls can benefit your team and ensure a healthy sales pipeline. Learn more about our own successful outsourced programs and see what our customers have to say by visiting our services page.
John
Editor’s note: This blog was originally published in 2018, it has been updated for content in October 2020.
