Business development is an essential function of medtech and B2B companies. It’s vital to keep in touch with new sales prospects, in-progress opportunities and even current customers.
But, with unemployment levels at record lows across the country, and field sales reps already stretched thin, may CEOs and sales leaders are wondering just how to accomplish their ongoing lead generation and inside sales activities.
The traditional answer is: Hire more inside sales reps.
However, that’s not always the most efficient or effective route. In fact, outsourcing some or all of your company’s business development activities can alleviate hiring woes, add capacity and give you a competitive advantage.
Hiring versus outsourcing in inside sales
The business case for outsourcing provides a dollars-and-cents rationale. When you work with a professional lead generation partner or outsourced inside sales firm, you can concentrate on what matters most: closing sales.
Your outsourced business development team takes care of the day-to-day operations, logistics, overhead and personnel management of an inside sales teams, which can be costly and time-consuming.
Here are just a few of the costs to consider when hiring inside sales reps:
Recruiting. Even in good economic cycles, finding qualified inside sales reps takes time and effort. The HR department needs to write job descriptions, post openings and screen candidates. In the current climate, many organizations need specialized sales recruiters to fill open inside sales positions. The head of sales needs to weigh in at all stages. There are fees for job board websites and staffing firms. It all adds up.
Onboarding and training. Once you do hire a B2B or healthcare inside sales professional, there’s plenty of training that needs to occur, especially when you sell technical products or services. Medtech and pharmaceutical sales have even more complexities, as new reps need to learn the ins and outs of selling in a regulated industry. Many organizations take six months or longer to onboard and fully train new inside sales reps.
Turnover. With an active job market and the new challenges of remote or hybrid work environments, turnover runs high for inside sales teams and business development professionals. Not only do qualified candidates fail to show up for interviews or even their first day of work, there’s significant risk that you’ll invest in months of recruiting, training and onboarding, only to have your new inside sales rep quickly leave for a different position at another firm. Keeping a full bench of lead generation and inside sales specialists can be challenging.
Salaries and benefits. The average salary for an inside sales rep is $62,000. Add to this figure the health insurance, benefits, overhead and other costs of full-time employees, and staffing a single inside sales position can reach well into the six-figures.
How inside sales outsourcing works
If you’ve never tried inside sales outsourcing before, it’s not hard to get started. Professional B2B and medtech contact centers like Volkart May take care of hiring, training and managing a full team of qualified business development representatives.
Based on your needs, we develop an outbound calling campaign to achieve your goals.
These are just some of the lead generation and sales prospecting activities that an outsourced inside sales team can handle:
- Identifying decision-makers and screening new sales prospects.
- Qualifying and prioritizing inbound inquiries, such as leads from your website, events or email campaigns.
- Generating new leads that are qualified, complete and ready to convert.
- Nurturing cooler leads until these opportunities are ready for hand-off to the internal sales team.
- Setting sales-ready appointments on your field sales reps’ calendars for product demos, in-depth discussions or follow-up calls.
- Asking market research questions to help you profile your target audience or learn more about trends, challenges and pressing issues within your industry.
Gain control, flexibility and qualified leads
Working with an outsourced inside sales team puts you in control. You decide the scope and velocity of the engagement—without wasting time or energy hiring or laying off team members due to highs and lows in volume or seasonality.
Outsourcing lets your internal team focus on demos, contract negotiations and closing deals. Your call center partner handles much of the day-to-day legwork, like updating records, identifying decision-makers, generating leads and setting appointments.
In total, outsourcing puts more attention to the top of the sales funnel, ensuring your pipeline of leads and opportunities stays full so you can meet your sales and revenue goals.
Checklist for hiring an inside sales outsourcing solution
Curious about inside sales outsourcing? Use our sales outsourcing checklist to vet your potential candidates. Contact us to discuss your specific business development needs.
