Why Big Corporations Should Outsource B2B Sales Teams Instead of Making These 4 Classic Mistakes
I’ve been around long enough to see the same patterns repeat in big corporations, and they all think they’re being clever. Let me tell you four things they consistently do wrong. And yes, as someone who helps companies outsource B2B sales teams, I can tell you these mistakes cost them more than they realise.
“We Are a Family” – No, You’re Not
Let’s clear this up right away: you’re not a family. You’re collaborators.
This whole “we’re one big family” nonsense is manipulative. People already have families. You can’t fire someone when they underperform and then turn around and say, “but we’re family.” That’s not how family works.
You don’t know most of your employees personally. You haven’t grown up with them, you don’t have history with them. Real family is your parents, your siblings. Not the managing director who will cut you loose when times get tough.
And here’s the problem: once you start lying with a statement that big, everything else you say becomes less credible.
Even worse, this “family” talk is used to blur boundaries:
- “John, I need you to work this weekend… because we’re family.”
- “I expect you to be available after hours… because we’re family.”
That’s not a family. That’s exploitation dressed up as culture.
If companies spent less time selling the illusion of family and more time delivering results – or just deciding to outsource B2B sales teams when they clearly can’t get their own internal setup right – they would do a lot better.
Say it straight: we’re collaborators. We work together because we both see value. That’s it.
Wasting Candidates’ Time with Endless Applications
This one drives me mad.
A job pops up, you click “Easy Apply,” but instead of a quick application, you get redirected to a company website where you have to:
- Create an account
- Fill in 50 fields with data that’s already in your CV
- Answer a list of ridiculous questions
Thirty minutes later you’re still filling in forms for a company that hasn’t even bothered to talk to you.
This shows zero respect for the candidate’s time. It also tells me that the company has already forgotten that recruitment is a two-way street.
Now, don’t misunderstand me. Once both sides have talked and shown genuine interest, that’s the time to invest serious effort. That’s when I personally go above and beyond, even building out a draft go-to-market strategy for them if needed.
But at the very start? No. It takes two to tango. And ironically, if these same companies decided to outsource B2B sales teams, they’d learn quickly how bad their own process looks when they’re on the other side.
Internal Politics and why being Naïve is a defect!
Here’s what a lot of corporate people don’t get: words and reality are not the same thing.
In big organizations, politics eats competence for breakfast. You need to understand who is who, who is threatened by you, who is envious, and who is just waiting for you to slip so they can look good.
The sad truth is that in these environments, exceptional people rarely thrive. Why? Because exceptional people stand out. They threaten mediocrity.
Remember Steve Jobs – he was fired from the very company he built. And once he left, those safe, political managers nearly destroyed Apple. Only when they begged him to come back did the company start to thrive again.
The bigger the organization, the more likely it is that politics – not merit – will decide your fate. Another reason why so many smart companies quietly choose to outsource B2B sales teams: they need results, not another round of office politics.
Playing It Safe – “No One Ever Got Fired for Choosing IBM”
Corporate hiring managers are not entrepreneurs. They value security over bold choices.
Even if they see that you’re clearly the best person for the job, if you don’t fit the conventional mold, they won’t hire you. Why? Because you’re a risk.
If you fail, everyone blames them. If the “safe” candidate fails, they can say:
- “I chose someone from Oracle.”
- “I picked the one with the top degree.”
- “I followed the criteria.”
It’s the same thinking that suffocates innovation everywhere. Choosing safe over right. Following the herd.
And this is where I circle back again: when companies outsource B2B sales teams, they bypass this fear-driven culture. Outsourcing forces them to pay for performance, not for someone’s pedigree.
Final Thoughts
Big corporations like to think they’re progressive and people oriented. The truth? Most of them are stuck in old habits: pretending to be families, wasting candidates’ time, drowning in internal politics, and hiding behind safe choices.
There is another way. You can either fix these behaviours or, if you’re serious about growth, outsource B2B sales teams and let someone else handle the part of the business that you’re clearly not managing well.
