MANY REASONS EXIST as to why a business would consider outsourcing a sales and marketing team. The main reason that underscores all others is ensuring that the intended target of sales volume has been achieved; simply put, to get the job done right at a globally-competitive price. Considering that factors such as liberalization of the world economies and increased globalization have opened up avenues for different types of businesses to increase their market share, what this means to us is increased competition in both the domestic and international markets.

Increased competition means that the cost of marketing and sales-related activities is going up. This, in turn, affects the profits of the business.  In order to protect the interests of their shareholders and investment partners, businesses consider outsourcing to be an effective cost-cutting measure. Sometimes, the number of employees is inadequate to deliver the expected output.  Despite the reasons that may compel a company to outsource a sales staff, it’s important to do an internal audit of the areas that lack in some way, relative to the desired growth plan of the business.  Oftentimes, companies also make the decision to outsource their sales staff to keep from going out of business entirely.

If outsourcing becomes a reality for a business, it is prudent to retain the core staff members of the sales team first.  The reason being that due to their experiences, they are able to assess and identify areas in which outsourcing can be considered.  Businesses often make the mistake of cutting their staff at the top because they, typically, make the most money and are closest to retirement.  However, studies have shown that businesses that retain their seasoned staff members do better because they can use their expertise and experience to mentor, train and guide the outsourced staff.  

When penetrating a new market and the management is unsure of the intercultural competencies of their employees, outsourcing saves valuable resources used for retraining and deploying employees to new work locations. A business can achieve the same sales target by outsourcing the sales staff.  For example, if most of the sales are generated through telesales, the business can outsource this function to business outsourcing firms, which have the necessary competence to do this.

In relation to future growth, it is common to find companies that change their old business strategy and embrace new global operational models.  Outsourcing the sales staff can benefit companies in two ways: first, the company avoids the need to hire or retrain the existing staff.  In this case, it is easy to maintain the core staff members.  Secondly, the business is able to meet or increase the intended sales target, meaning that there is sustained income generation during the transitional period. This, in turn, safeguards the interest of the shareholders and other investors.

For companies that wish to reduce the number of employees who are not critical to the long-term success of the business, outsourcing their sales and marketing functions could be the needed answer. For example, brand activations or rebranding activities can be assigned to providers who undertake marketing and do the actual selling at various points of sale. The overall responsibility of coordinating and managing the activities of the said providers can then become the work of a single, experienced manager who specializes in this area. By doing this, a business is capable of actualizing its projected growth without maintaining a large in-house work force.