USA
Business is slow. Revenue is down and the pressure is on to reduce overhead. You can choose from a variety of job candidates: full time staff, freelancers, independent contractors, and consultants. Now the big question, do you hire a full time sales employee or choose outsourced sales?
Full Time Sales
Control. That’s what you get with a full time employee. You recruit, train and manage the staff. You can supervise their work environment, hours and production.
Unfortunately control comes with a hefty price tag. Recruiting and training is a significant investment. Managing a full time employee also means the expense of benefits and HR management. It may be costly to hold on to exceptional talent, and legalities may make it impossible to dump the underachiever. Sounds expensive and challenging to manage your own staff, so why do it?
A seasoned full-timer is deeply rooted with the company. Long-term relationships with customers are developed and revenue is strong and steady. Company employees know your value story and can easily solve problems. A full time employee is vested with your organization, and is loyal to the cause.
Outsourced Sales
So, what is outsourced sales? It’s the practice of having an external company handle the sales work for you. Vice Presidents of Sales, Sales Managers and Account Representatives can all be a part of your virtual sales force in outsourced sales roles.
You can find outsourced sales talent based on your own research, or you can use an outside agency to staff your sales department. With outsourced sales, you have an abundance of talent to choose from without the typical recruiting time and expense.
With a contracted sales staff, significant overhead is reduced, and you have the option of a short-term commitment when the long term is uncertain. Outsourcing allows companies to cut back spending without cutting back on productivity.
Downside? Outsourced sales agents work for themselves or an agency. You’ll need to ensure that the company or individual you choose to work with is trained properly, consistently pursues every opportunity, and know how to close deals.
So, which should you do – hire internally or choose outsourced sales? Consider your finances, goals and objectives. Make the decision that is right for you.
This article was written by Christine Miller of Miller Sales Consulting. With extensive experience as a highly strategic sales motivator and sales coach, Christine has excelled at building and structuring sales organizations. In addition to sales coaching and sales training, Miller Sales Consulting offers Virtual Sales Management. More sales advice can be found on her LinkedIn page, as well as Medium. Subscribe to her videos on YouTube.