Steve Jobs said “it doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do”
By investing in outside sales specialists and expertise, you’re investing in the future of your sales team. It means that at any time you can invest in outside help to support, supplement or even sell on your behalf. They aren’t full time workers and all that it entails.
A lot of businesses look to do this at the early stages of development where there isn’t the talent or experience necessary to win over certain types of orders or customers. It might be a specialism that you can’t afford to pay for on a fulltime basis but if is available, within a defined cost base, it can be very affordable, on an ad hoc part time basis as and when required.
It’s a way to react quickly to opportunities, tap into expertise as you need it, test and open more profitable markets or try out people or companies that you might want to grow your partnership with in the future. It makes speculation and growth more controllable and consequently lowers the risk, whilst enhancing business performance and creating a better impression with the end user/customer.
There are many advantages for contracting outside sales specialists, here are a few of them:
Business Agility
Your company can react to new opportunities as and when they arrive, giving you the confidence to say “yes”. Your business has access to the expertise needed straight away without having the cost or disruption of hiring and/or training. Access to the missing expertise allows you to continue to focus on your core/existing business. The experts can also provide a fresh perspective on your business that can offer new ideas for developing your sales and marketing efforts, in this new market.
Scalability
You can easily scale the effort up or down based on the specific business circumstances and requirements. As mentioned earlier, bridging a gap, either temporarily or permanently, allows you and your team to continue to focus on your core/existing business, whilst not missing out on new chances to sell to different markets. The scaling up and down can adjust as budgets, opportunities and project cycles change over time. This is a real benefit for the existing business as well as the future business of the company.
Knowledge
You access expertise that you or your team don’t have, the need to acquire it comes from the market. The knowledge is now in your business, which can be sold as added value to your core business, and to prospects, creating new sales and profit opportunities.
Control what you need
One of the most obvious benefits of specialist outside sales support is the request comes from the market, yourself and/or the team. You can be honest and say that this is what we need, then the specialist in conjunction with yourselves help to fill the gap. Specific problems unique to individuals and teams can be dealt with in a professional, confidential, and highly beneficial manner for all concerned. This’ll create a positive dynamic and therefore increase productivity and team morale. The experts might also take responsibility for certain tasks for a defined cost, which will help with forecasts, productivity and profitability. “People buy from people” and the specialist might add to your sales because they have a personality and expertise that really adds a new dimension to your company and the customer base.
You and your staff might want to be coached into knowledge and skills
Looking forward you may ask to be coached in how to do some of these things for yourself. This is where an ongoing, comfortable, long term professional relationship grows from support to training, mentoring, coaching into self- sufficiency. Training or being mentored by these outside specialists will add to the knowledge and the dynamic of the team. You are learning as part of a culture of excellence. The outside specialist might also just be plugging a gap or fulfilling a role or a need, but that’s ok too because it enhances the team /company performance. The example set by these outside specialists might encourage your existing staff to want to learn and develop. They see the excellence coming into the business, and it sets off a desire in your staff to enhance themselves, their learning and their career within your company. The specialists have provided the example to them, now your staff ask the company to help them learn and grow to the standard of the specialist and beyond.
Find out more about our Philosophy of Sales and Sales Leadership training courses & ongoing Sales and Marketing support. Our courses help sales professionals learn new techniques and strategies that’ll help them succeed in today’s competitive market.
