When does it make the most sense to outsource sales development for a B2B / Enterprise firm?
As is usual, I don’t know when it is best for you. But, what follows is my opinion and the reasoning behind it:
Before I get to what I think is the right time to outsource your firm’s sales development function, here are a few assumptions:
1) You do not have the need for a full time sales development person just yet for the region you are exploring outsourcing. The region could be the first region that your startup sells to or the (n+1)th region. Or it could be a new product / idea that you want to experiment with.
2) You do not have sales development experts on your sales team. People with pre-sales/ solutions consulting background don’t count and can often be detrimental to a b2b/ enterprise’s sales development prospects.
3) You simply do not have access to quality sales development resources and don’t want to wait through the ramp cycle of 9–12 months only to have to promote them to the next role in 18 because of role burnout.
O.K., now that we have that out of the way, here’s my opinion: You should outsource the sales development function at the first instant you seek a sales qualified lead for your product or niche service.
What is a sales qualified lead (SQL): By definition SQL is an opportunity that can be worked on by an Account Executive/ Closer or by even by a founder (playing a closer) in a small firm. No additional qualifications required. Other difference from an MQL (or a marketing qualified lead) is that SQLs close at 20–40% probability (in general) while MQLs close in the vicinity of <1%.
What do you need to outsource sales development: a) Ideal Customer Profile defined for the product/ service b) a Product or Service that is NOT yet commoditized c) some material, ideally a one-pager with problem definition, who it is for and a bit about the solution d) some customer testimonials / videos on third party sites like quora or capterra would be great.
Why outsource at the first chance? Why is pretty obvious, so let me try and argue against — as in why not..
1) A lot of founders struggle (some actually enjoy it :)) with trial and error until a point where they figure out the process for selling their B2B SaaS product only to be surprised by something out of the blue with the next opportunity. And only once they’ve figured out a process that they outsource sales development or hire a SDR.
(On the other hand: Why reinvent the wheel? There are experts who’ve been there, done that.. not with the same product.. but you get the idea.. The lesser a salesperson talks about your product, the better are your chances at the sale anyway.. Nobody (except you) cares about the product (yeah, sorry).. Salespeople (who care about their reputation) and prospects care about what the product can help achieve/ avoid etc, as much as possible, without a lot of change management or increasing friction b/w departments.)
2) Fear that if I outsource at the outset, how am I going to figure out how, you know, for when I bring it back in..
(But: At Sales Development Solutions, we share all data, copy, analysis from day 1.)
What not to do:
1) Outsource to save money.
Outsource what can be done better than you can do yourself, but I think this holds true for any form of outsourcing except for VA type of services which encompass low skill activities. Sales Development is not such a skill and if one is to even keep sending e-mails to people’s inboxes, they need to not just be but also maintain leadership.
2) Keep it outsourced since it is working.
Bring it back in as soon as you can keep a full time resource busy in-house.
What do you think of my opinion and when do you think is the right time? Do share your views below.. I look forward to reading..
And in case you are ready to outsource your sales development, I hope you’ll consider our services. Here’s a brief on why us: https://www.slideshare.net/VijayNadar1/account-based-sales-opportunity-generation
About me: I’m Raj Nadar, Founder of Sales Development Solutions.
I have 1) Over 18 years of marketing and inside sales experience in software and prominently SaaS solutions.
2) Sold to over 20 countries so far but predominantly in the US, Western Europe, India and Canada.
3) Sold from $50 a month SaaS to $ 250K a year deal.
4) Products sold so far include: Cyber Security, RPA, Messenger, Messaging bots’ platform, Customer Success SaaS, LMS, Workflow SaaS, business messenger platform, subscription software, Conversational AI, testing SaaS, as well as traditional tools such as ERP, CRM, PLM, OTS, DMS etc.
Connect with me? Raj Nadar on Linkedin
Raj Nadar on Twitter
I am available on demand as your sales development resource.
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