Our world changes rapidly and when I see a title like that, my first question is: Can there be besides b2b sales outsourcing companies also b2c sales outsourcing companies?
Does not data privacy and GDPR regulations make calling and contacting end consumers an impossibility?
The second question is: if you have to contact end consumers, what is the “result – effort” ratio? and doesn’t that ratio drive us to a massive low quality cold calling, that at the end does not require a professional and effective sales person behind the telephone but a call center agent instead? Someone that is being evaluated from the amount of calls that he places, rather from the results that he brings.
B2B sales outsourcing companies and call centers
In our industry there is often a confusion between b2b sales outsourcing companies and call centers.
A call on a b2b basis CAN NOT be placed from a call center, except if you want to throw your money out of the window, with no results. Both call centers and sales outsourcing companies place cold calls. The difference is that on a b2b basis the profit to be generated is commonly way higher than the possible earnings on a b2c level.
Most importantly the quality of the call itself consists an obstacle for the most. Not only because selling complex software systems for example requires a certain educational level and understanding of complicated terms and solutions but most importantly because the prospect has a higher management position in the industry and is going to listen to someone that is on the same level as him.
How can it be possible to reach call center KPI’s if the sales person placing the call needs to prepare prior of the call, research on Linkedin, learn about the company and organization he is reaching out, categorize and qualify the lead he has in front of him? Searching to find salespeople that can reach call center agents KPI’s is like you search to find a cook for your 5star deluxe restaurant on the Kebab diners of your hometown.
B2B sales outsourcing companies rely on sales people
The salespersons of an organization are the pillars of it. Acquiring the right salespersons is a challenge itself. Let me explain.
You have several different types of salespersons in the business.
- The call center guy/girl. NO GO. This person is used to place a high volume of low-quality calls, often does not have the necessary qualities to dig deeper, insist, persist and use advanced sales skills to achieve his/her tasks. The problem is that often call center agents are hard to re educate and make them understand and work on a different sales approach basis.
- The young inexperienced student. MAYBE That can be a golden nugget if he is hungry to learn and sees value on the learning and teaching. The big obstacle is to be able to leave his comfort zone and dive into hard sales, rejections, ups and downs and frustrations of the sales profession. If he wants however to learn that is going to be a particularly useful experience for him that is going to differentiate him from the rest in the long run.
- The senior salesperson. NO GO. This person, most of the times in his 50’s or 60’s, does not have the energy, nor the courage to throw him self on the initial stage of a sales process and do the hard cold calling required for the job. Besides of the fact that he is expensive, a senior person like him is good for placing the discovery calls on behalf of your clients, that however is being done mostly from the client himself. Seldom I see value on senior sales agents like him, unfortunately.
- The 30 years old “hard as nails” salesperson/woman. YES. That is exactly the profile of a salesperson you need. Probably expensive to pay, but that is exactly the role you are searching. Experienced, young enough, loaded with energy but old enough to be experience on the art of sales.
B2B Sales Outsourcing – understanding the needs first!
Often, the difficulty in todays complex digital world, is to understand the nature of the business you are reaching out. There are a lot of players in this field, sales channel development companies, b2b sales outsourcing companies, sales freelancers, and sales professionals. A call center is not a sales consultancy neither a b2b sales outsourcing company. So…. Do not get tempted or confused by the price. If you can not afford to source your sales out through a company, chose instead a sales freelancer but avoid at all costs a call center. Sales is about bringing results, not about the quantity of the calls.
