Common Outsourcing Mistakes Made by Sales Team

Outsourcing trained sales professionals is a prevalent strategy for businesses looking to expand their reach and increase revenue. This strategy allows companies to leverage the expertise and resources of external sales outsourcing partners. However, like any business initiative, outsourcing sales partners comes with its own set of challenges. To ensure a successful outsourcing relationship, avoiding common outsourcing mistakes is crucial. Companies can achieve this by emphasizing communication, comprehensive research, defining goals and metrics, and prioritizing training and collaboration.

Even though there are various advantages of sales outsourcing, it can easily go downhill if not implemented carefully. If you’re looking to outsource sales, this article will help you understand some common sales outsourcing mistakes to avoid them. 

Let’s talk about five common outsourcing mistakes even the most experienced sales leaders and businesses make while outsourcing sales.

Choosing an Inadequate Outsourcing Partner

Sales outsourcing is not a process where you can go all in without thinking twice. Sales are revenue-generating. Hence it is important to properly discuss the outsourcing decision before taking action. One of the most common outsourcing mistakes is rushing into a decision out of enthusiasm and outsourcing a partner. It can have detrimental effects on your business.

What is Business Process Outsourcing?

Satyartha Srivastava ( Customer Success Lead at Upstox) told Squadstack that-

“Outsourcing gives us a lot of flexibility. To do anything in-house, you will need a lot of time to scale up and execute things at a faster rate. Upstox found a great partner in SquadStack, who helped us achieve our goals, growth, and targets”. 

So it is advised to set your processes up and see if the outsourced team will fit your team and its culture, working style, goals, industry, and expertise. Another aspect of not picking the right outsourced team can be that the outsourced team lacks quality. The sales experts need to be trained in your industry – that’s key to outsourcing success.

How can you pick the right outsourced team? 

1. Define your WHY for sales outsourcing.
2. Best Customer satisfaction while providing services
3. Do research; pick an external sales agency that matches your company’s voice.
4. Keep your team in the loop; outsourcing sales is a big step. Keep your team in the loop and discuss its pros and cons before proceeding. Define and discuss roles, responsibilities, and KPIs.
5. Have a defined interview and onboarding process – have culture fit rounds.
6. Doing the Quality Assurance test while outsourcing a BPO.

Check out SquadStack, the largest on-demand platform for sales and fulfilment outsourcing. We convert more leads to customers through the help of our highly trained sales experts and best-in-class technology.

Lack of Defined Goals and Metrics

Without clearly defined goals and metrics, evaluating the success or failure of the outsourcing initiative becomes challenging. Businesses often make the outsourcing mistake of assuming the team knows what is expected of them. Review the following factors to understand how the absence of well-defined goals and metrics can negatively impact outsourcing.

• Before you start outsourcing, you, as a business leader, need to figure out why you want to outsource in the first place and if it will help you achieve your growth goals. To go through this exercise in the first place, your goals need to be defined and documented.
• Without clear documentation of goals, needs, and processes, your outsourced team will be left without direction or guidance.
• Do not make the mistake of not setting up goals and processes beforehand, thinking that the outsourced team can manage them. It will not work that way; as a business owner, you need to know the outcome(s) you want to achieve.

Failing to Maintain Accountability and Control

How do you know if your outsourced team performs well if you don’t check their performance metrics? Measuring performance is an essential practice you must follow regularly – not only for an outsourced sales team but any sales team.

Checking metrics as a process often takes a backseat regarding outsourcing. Making sure that it’s not neglected is important. Keep your goals in mind, understand how to measure them through clear metrics, and keep them in check. Weekly/ monthly metric checks will keep your outsourced team accountable and help you save money.

Read More: Inbound Call Centers: Benefits, Challenges, and Strategies

Neglecting Feedback, Training and Collaboration

Not taking feedback and dismissing new ideas is one the biggest outsourcing mistakes a team leader can make, significantly hampering company growth.

The truth is that various entrepreneurs overlook ideas and feedback from their hired team. Do not be that person. As a company, you cannot grow if you don’t take new ideas and feedback from the people that work with you.

Treating your outsourced team with a ‘Them’ attitude will do more bad than good. Your outsourced team has industry experts who probably know more about the landscape and how it works and can provide you with essential information and feedback.

No Exit Strategy

What happens when the outsourced team does not meet defined standards and goals? What should you as a team leader do when you know it’s time to let go, and how should you do it?

An exit strategy should be communicated to the outsourced team and your internal team. This strategy has to be a part of your agreement and should be openly communicated so there is no room for loopholes.

Sometimes, without having such checks and balances, you keep going ahead with an agency and don’t focus on an exit strategy.‍

Also Read: Call Center CRM Customer Relationship Management Software

Outsourcing Mistakes: Key Takeaways

Below are the key conclusions that can be drawn from this page on outsourcing mistakes.

1. Be clear about your company's goals and communicate them to your outsource team.
2. When selecting an outsourcing team, be careful. What works for one business may not be right for yours.
3. Checking metrics regularly is the key to accountability.
4. Don't be a tyrant about taking on ideas. When it comes to your team, be open to feedback and creativity.
5. Create a standard minimum performance.