When it's time to launch a software sales campaign, it's tempting to do everything in-house.

This approach makes sense at a high level — the more you can do in-house, the less you have to pay third parties. Plus, you won't have to spend time getting the third party up to speed on your products and brand voice.

At a granular level, however, scalability is tough. Each time you choose where to spend your time or resources, you're missing an opportunity to put those resources toward a different initiative.

Outsourcing helps companies avoid this type of opportunity cost altogether. 

Why Outsource Sales? Factors to Consider

You may feel exhausted, just thinking about the legwork involved with outsourcing. Will the outsourcing partner "get" you? Will they be able to capture the spirit of what you're trying to do in the market or understand what drives your success?

It's also essential to partner with an outsource partner who can effectively drive larger projects. Mid-market and enterprise software companies need outsourcing services beyond the basics. In these scenarios, it's crucial to find an outsource partner that can build and steer sales teams at a larger scale.
Why Do Companies Outsource?

Companies turn to outsourcing to accomplish a variety of goals. The Deloitte 2018 Global Outsourcing Report revealed the top five reasons companies outsource some of their operations:

• Are you confident that your in-house sales team can produce results that are as effective as an expert third-party specialized in software sales?
• If you don't have a sales team, are you planning to have people with a non-sales background lead your sales initiative?
• Can you be sure you won't be losing out on potential sales because your team members aren't familiar with the language of software sales or experienced in identifying and tracking the right sales metrics?
• Do you have the capacity to hire, train, and onboard new talent to handle this initiative?
• Does your organization have the capacity for continuous coaching development?
• Are you globally positioned to expand into foreign markets?
• Improving Performance (62%)
• Improve Speed to Market (59%)
• Reduce Errors (53%)
• Streamline Existing Processes (52%)
• Access to New Technologies (51%)

Balancing Your Decision

Making balanced decisions that nourish your brand while carefully allocating your resources is more art than science. Exploring the following questions will help you decide:

• Are you confident that your in-house sales team can produce results that are as effective as an expert third-party specialized in software sales?
• If you don't have a sales team, are you planning to have people with a non-sales background lead your sales initiative?
• Can you be sure you won't be losing out on potential sales because your team members aren't familiar with the language of software sales or experienced in identifying and tracking the right sales metrics?
• Do you have the capacity to hire, train, and onboard new talent to handle this initiative?
• Does your organization have the capacity for continuous coaching development?
• Are you globally positioned to expand into foreign markets?

These risks paint only part of the picture. It would help if you also explored the potential benefits you could gain when you outsource your software sales. Here are five key considerations.

1. Outsourcing Sales Accelerates Growth Capacity

When you partner with a company that offers in-depth industry knowledge and a firm understanding of the typical software buyer, you'll be much farther ahead when you launch.

An engaged sales outsourcing services team enables quicker growth. They've been here before, and they know how to leverage their experience to build and execute successful sales plans quickly.

Opportunity cost comes into play here, too. While the outsourced sales team handles your focused sales initiatives, your sales executives can drive engagements within the existing customer or partner ecosystem. Their time is likely better spent converting leads and nurturing existing client relationships — critical drivers to raising metrics like customer lifetime value (CLV).

2. Outsourcing Sales Allows You to Focus on Key Growth Priorities  

Some software companies recognize that their sales team can't effectively handle a product launch or market expansion.

Consider the following scenario: a software company sets a goal to double its market presence and decides to hire several new sales representatives to increase their capacity.

The already busy sales team is soon devoting a great deal of time to onboarding and training the new employees. A few weeks later, the team begins to realize that, while the new employees are all good salespeople, they aren't as well-versed in software sales as expected.

Rather than start from scratch, the team leader instructs team members to support the new employees, pulling those team members away from other critical projects. By now, the company is nearing the launch date, not as well-positioned as they'd hoped to be.

Pulling off a confident, energetic campaign seems unlikely.

Ultimately, the team launches the new software, and sales are decent, but not spectacular. Stakeholders want to know why the company spent so much money and time bringing in new employees to bring in such a small profit.

Let's reimagine the growth initiative supported by the right outsourcing partner:

The team leader determines the sales team doesn't have the bandwidth to both deal with a new hire and focus on their other projects, so they reach out to a capable outsourcing partner. The partner spends some time becoming familiar with the brand voice and product and then immediately starts building a strategy.

Soon, the campaign is up and running. The outsourcing partner is hitting every target, on time, every time. The outsourced sales team is energetic, hyper-focused, and always accessible. The leads and conversions they are bringing in are high quality, and you feel confident many of them will become long-term customers.

Your launch is a success, you've saved money and time, and your agile in-house sales team has been growing the company through other initiatives along the way.

3. Outsourcing Sales Enables Faster Entrance into Global Markets

If you plan to expand your global reach with your new growth initiative, you'll need to develop your knowledge of new markets. Ideally, you need to understand the market in several areas:

• Legal: Are there local laws or regulations you need to follow before you even start conducting business?
• Billing: Will you need to adapt your typical billing processes to match the new market's expectations?
• Market insight: What do you know about potential targets in the new market? Are companies there trying to solve different issues than your domestic clients?
• Boots-on-the-ground presence: Do you have a contact in the field who will give you real-world, real-time insight?

Outsourcing sales to a qualified firm will minimize your adjustment time when expanding into new markets. International expansion is exciting, challenging, and complicated, but partnering with an experienced sales firm will give you the confidence and expertise you need to hit the ground running.

An outsourcing partner with a diversified global presence will mitigate each of these issues. You won't need to devote time and resources to learning how another market works from the ground up. The right outsourcing partner will hit the ground running in multiple markets simultaneously

4. Outsourcing Sales to the Right Partner Connects You with Highly Specialized Talent

It's a fact that hiring new employees can solve issues — or present new ones. Even in a best-case scenario, going through the hiring process will slow down your momentum. Once you make new hires, the team dynamic will change, so you'll need time for adjustment.

Selling software and software as a service (SaaS) products is not like selling other products and services. To gain a strong foothold in the market, you need to be able to wield the power of seasoned SaaS professionals who know how to sell software.
Connecting with highly-specialized talent through an outsourcing partner provides several advantages. You'll have:

• Access to reps who are specialized and trained in selling software products
• Access to experts who leverage cutting-edge B2B sales techniques and analytics tools
• Enhanced business intelligence

When you join forces with the right outsourcing partner, you'll benefit from the insights that only experienced software sales representatives can provide.

5. Outsourcing Sales Provides Resilience During Tough Times and Recessions

Outsourcing may not make you recession-proof — that's a near impossibility for any solution — but it will make you recession-resilient.

It's a reality of running a business. You can plan for every possibility imaginable, but sometimes, life presents a challenge you could never have anticipated. If your business runs on tight margins, like so many companies do today, a single event could impact your bottom line for years.

Downsizing, furloughs, and layoffs became commonplace within just a few months of the global response to the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020. The sudden shift to home-based work and a considerable hit to most retail sectors continues to affect virtually every field.

Outsourcing lessens the impact of unexpected disruptions. This is part of why big companies like Apple, Microsoft, and many others enhance some of their operations with outsourced staff.

Even Google, well-known for its supportive, fun work environment, relies on outsourcing to complement their sales teams, among other non-IT teams. 

Outsourcing enhances resilience in several ways, enabling companies to:

• Limit overhead, including floor space and operational costs like utilities and building insurance
• Avoid disruptions to the pace of operations during challenging times
• Operate with a smaller core staff, reducing the cost of benefits like health insurance and paid time off
• Operate in a leaner, more agile way company-wide
• Focus on primary objectives
• Boost onsite employee morale by spreading out the workload and providing a smaller, more personal work environment  

Foster Smarter Growth

When you partner with Salescode, you'll become a part of a global network connected to over 4,000 experts and sales professionals who care about your success as much as you do.

Let's book a meeting to talk about how we can empower you to run your company smarter and leaner. In good times and uncertain ones, you can trust Salescode to keep you positioned for growth in the face of whatever happens next.