Outsourced Sales and Marketing Requires Strategic Commitment

by | Sep 21, 2012

Outsourced Sales and Marketing can help you to achieve your sales targets faster and at a reduced operational cost.  This is especially true if you are just getting out of the gate.   In a previous blog we discussed the time and money it can save you in recruiting, sales management and marketing management.  However you cannot expect to under fund your sales and marketing efforts and still compete in the market.  This is especially true if you are a young company, a technology start-up or new to the market.   An outsourced sales and marketing solution has the advantages of a fully functioning organization that is already in motion but you need to consider your competition and understand that if there is competition in the market that you need to invest enough to allow your sales and marketing team the ability to compete and win.

Some Strategic Issues that Shape Successful Outsourced Sales and Marketing

Here are some of the areas you should expect your outsourced sales and marketing company to explore with you:

Market dynamics – What is your understanding of the market and selling dynamics of other companies –  Do you understand your differentiators.  What is your core value proposition? How deep is your understanding of the competitive landscape?

Do you have realistic goals –   Do you have any existing conversion metrics and sales pipe history to support those goals? Is one of the top priorities of your sales and marketing outsourced vendor to help with this?

Key events in your sales cycle – What are the key events that occur during your customers buying cycle?  What is your win loss ratio? Do you need your sales and marketing outsourcing solution to help you figure this out.  In that case you may want to position this as a consulting engagement to your board.  If any of the past several issues has left you wondering what is the difference between outsourced sales vs. sales consulting here is a quick overview from a past blog post…Sales Consulting vs. Outsourced Sales.

What does your existing customer set look like –  The prospects an outsourced sales and marketing company like Gabriel Sales  will be targeting for you will want to understand who your current buyers are.   Prospects will want to know what vertical markets you are in and you will need to be able to provide your outsourced sales partner with reference clients in other verticals if they are opening a new vertical or market for you.

Do you have the budget and the patience to successfully execute to a successful plan –   While and outsourced sales and marketing company can get you into the market faster and more effectively, a well executed plan takes time to ramp.  Obviously using an outsourced sales and marketing company will allow you to gain traction quickly but they will not be able to dramatically change a company’s typical buying cycle for your product.  If your typical sales cycle takes 6-12 month you can expect an outsourced sales and marketing company to shave a month or two off that cycle at best but you need to account for the initial 90-120 days to ramp the initial pipe.  Do you have the patience to wait for the sales engine to ramp?  We typically see our efforts take significant hold at 9-12 months. We do have some tactics to gain traction with key accounts quickly.  To help on this front you need to have an ideal customer profile but realistic timing needs to be factored into the overall strategy.

The right level of funding  approved– All this boils down to the right level of funding.  Sales and marketing outsourcing help get you out of the gate faster and cheaper but it does not absolve you from the need to fund your efforts at levels where you can compete.  You need to make sure that senior management and your board are aware of this and do not set false expectations.  As with any strategic initiative you need to have buy-in and appropriate funding from the senior management team, and sales and marketing outsourcing is no exception.

There are many strategic decisions that you need to consider in executing a successful sales and marketing strategy.   This blog addresses a handful that we work through with you.   For additional tactics we use to ensure your long term success we invite you to check out a couple of our education series here:

Selling Smarter and Selling Faster White Paper

Build a Successful B2B Sales and Marketing Engine – Educational Resources

For more information on how Gabriel Sales has helped dozens of companies enter a market successfully  please feel free to contact for us an initial review.

Some Reasons Why Companies Consider Sales and Marketing Outsourcing

by | Sep 19, 2012

A recent Deloitte survey on outsourcing pointed to a projected increase over the next several years.   What is driving this across the board is a desire for companies to focus on their core competencies.  What was interesting to us as an sales and marketing outsourcing company is the expected anticipated growth of sales and marketing outsourcing specifically of 22%.  Why are so many diverse companies, both big and small, turning to outsourcing? Organizations chose to outsource for many reasons, and when asked which objectives were the most important to their outsourcing initiative 87% said reducing operating costs, 73% said improving customer service, and 49% said gaining a competitive advantage.

As an outsourced sales and marketing company we find that the largest area we are able to reduce operating costs for our clients immediately is in our ability to take over your sales recruiting,  sales management and marketing management overhead which can run into six figures plus annually (not including staffing the reps).  With this headache off your plate you can focus on your core competencies.

The report goes further and talks about some of the areas that are critical to a successful outsourcing engagement that we believe also applies specifically to sales and marketing outsourcing.  They are:

  • A spirit of partnership between the vendor and the company.  This is especially critical when the goal of sales and marketing outsourcing is closed deals.
  • Clear service levels
  • Strong and joint management of the relationship.   This is especially critical in sales and marketing outsourcing which may require pivots, as feedback from the market drives modifications in how the market should be approached.
  • Detailed contract terms
  • Strong vendor account management team.  When outsourcing sales and marketing this should include both a marketer and a sales manager.
  • A strong company management team.  We strongly recommend that you do not just plan on turning sales and marketing outsourcing on and walking away.  Staying engaged on a monthly or weekly basis can help the relationship flourish and generate more leads and closed business for your company.  Sales and marketing outsourcing companies are experts in selling but they cannot immediately replace your thought leadership in your product and market.

To discover if an outsourced sales and marketing company outsourcing is right for you please contact us for a quick review to see if our strategies can help.

10 Ways Marketing Automation Outsourcing Helps Sales

by | Sep 17, 2012

As a sales outsourcing company, we are now quickly becoming sales marketing automation outsourcing specialists as well. As an outsourced sales company, we have a unique perspective how marketing automation helps sales because we specialize in leveraging content marketing to engage prospects as much as we use marketing automation to generate and nurture leads. And by engage we mean helping to convince your buyer to buy from your company. This blog addresses the top 10 advantages of putting sales and marketing automation tools in your sales reps hands. (If you’ve never seen a Marketing Automation Software here is a quick link to 5-minute demo so the points below make a ton more sense.)

How Does Marketing Automation Outsourcing Help Increase Sales Reps Production?

Lead scoring
For companies that are lucky enough to have a steady stream of leads marketing automation prioritizes where your sales reps should invest their time. Marketing automation tools uses realtime scoring to see who is most engaged. With this point system, you are no longer need to guess “where to start”.
Your buyer tells your rep their interests
Marketing automation identifies what content your buyer is most interested in. This essentially gives your rep night vision goggles into your buyers biggest interests and concerns.
Help your sales champion to champion
A sales rep can be sold by their prospect. If you, as the rep, have a hot one on the line and it’s going great, utilizing a Marketing Automation tool is key. You can see if your prospect is actually opening your emails, clicking on the content you are sending and going to your site. If the content is not engaging or not being shared, you can raise that as an issue and ask “how can we improve our performance to make it easier for you to sell.” We find that the prospects that transact, typically engage with at least 12 pieces of content. If a prospect is not engaging, chances are they are not serious about buying.
Saves time and provides feedback
Email templates programmed in the Marketing Automation Tool can be measured in their effectiveness (essentially you can now do in the micro what you do with your bulk email blasts). If emails are not working you know. Streamlining great emails that work keep follows up simple while also keeping your rep on the phone.
Saves more time by automating follow up emails
Using drip campaigns set up by marketing “from” the rep allows the reps to stay engaged with non-active prospects. No more worrying about wasting time and precious phone time on cool prospects. We never know when a cool lead will now be ready to buy and drips ensure prospects will think of you when that time arrives and they are ready to engage.
Quick access to all past communications
With streamlined integration between a marketing automation software (we use Pardot) and your CRM, all the rep needs to do is use their Outlook Pardot connector and their email history will automatically be entered into Pardot and Salesforce. This keeps updating the CRM simple.
Reduced headcount
With marketing automation, reps can now “work” more prospects, requiring less reps and more time for reps to work on closing deals, not nurturing non-ready to buy leads.
Prevents lead and deal leakage
Typically sales reps will abandon leads if not ready to buy within a given time period, depending on the sales cycle. Reps need to work closest to the dollar. To close those deals on the horizon requires nurturing, and most reps do not have the time to do this even with the best of intentions. They are incentivized to close this quarter. Marketing automation lets them close this quarter and continue to build a healthy pipe for next quarter. Marketing Automation cures that sickness.
Model the top performers
Automation and CRM tools allow a view into top performers secrets of success What leads do they pursue? What scoring attributes commonly lead to a sale? How do they engage prospects? When do they engage prospects? Periodic and systematic analysis of rep performance relative to the attributes and activities that are captured by demand generation tools and CRM can provide invaluable insights for struggling reps.
Call at the right time
A lead deck is a live feed that is part of the tool that notifies your rep the minute your prospects are active on your site. When your prospects have your company top of mind, and your buyer is sitting at their desk (or on their PDA checking you out) your rep has it’s a great time to pick up the phone or hit them with an email.

To see a quick demo of a Marketing Automation Tool Click Here. To see if we can accelerate your B2B demand generation with better and faster technology integration and getting your sales team up to speed please feel free to reach out for a quick conversation and we will let you know if we can help. We guarantee what we are sharing here is simply the tip of the iceberg.

10 Ways Marketing Automation Outsourcing Helps Sales

by | Sep 17, 2012

As a sales outsourcing company we are now quickly becoming sales marketing automation outsourcing specialists as well.  As an outsourced sales company we have a unique perspective how marketing automation helps sales because we specialize in leveraging content marketing to engage prospects as much as we use marketing automation to generate and nurture leads.  And by engage we mean helping to convince your buyer to buy from your company. Isn’t more sales what sales and marketing automation outsourcing be about.   This blog addresses the top 10 advantages of putting sales and marketing automation tools in your sales reps hands (if you have never seen an Marketing Automation Software here is a quick link to 5 minute demo so the points below make a ton more sense).

How Does Marketing Automation Outsourcing Help Increase Sales Reps Production?

 

Lead scoring: For companies that are lucky enough to have a steady stream of leads marketing automation prioritizes where your sales reps should invest their time. Marketing automation tools uses realtime scoring to see who is most engaged.  With this point system, you are no longer need to guess “where to start”.

 

Your buyer tells your rep what they are interested in:  Marketing automation identifies what content your buyer is most interested in.   Essentially giving your rep night vision goggles into your buyers interests and concerns.

 

Help your sales champion to champion.  A sales rep can be sold by their prospect.  You, as the rep have a hot one on the line and feels it is going great, then utilizing a Marketing Automation tool, you can see if you prospect is actually opening your emails, clicking on the content you are sending and going to your site.  If the content is not engaging or not being shared, you can raise that as an issue and ask “how can we improve our performance to make it easier for you to sell”. We find that the prospects that transact, typically engage with at least 12 pieces of content.  If a prospect is not engaging, chances are they are not serious about buying.

 

Saves time and provides feedback to your reps: email templates programmed in the Marketing Automation Tool can be measured in their effectiveness (essentially you can now do in the micro what you do with your bulk email blasts)  if emails are not working you know.   Streamlining great emails that work keep follows up simple and keeps your rep on the phone.

 

Save more time by automating follow up emails:  Using drip campaigns set up by marketing “from” the rep allows the reps to stay engaged with non- active prospects.  No more worrying about wasting time and precious phone time on cool prospects.  We never know when a cool lead will now be ready to buy and drips ensure prospects will think of you when that time arrives and they are ready to engage.

 

Quick access to all past communications:   with the streamlined integration between a marketing automation software (we use Pardot) and your CRM, all the rep needs to do is use their Outlook Pardot connector and all their email history will automatically be entered into Pardot and Salesforce.  This keeps updating the CRM simple.

 

Reduced headcount –  With marketing automation, reps can now “work”  more prospects, requiring less reps and more time for reps to work on closing deals, not nurturing non-ready to buy leads.

 

Prevents lead and deal leakage:  Typically sales reps will abandon leads if not ready to buy within a given time period (depends on the sales cycle- could be a month, a quarter).  Reps need to work closest to the dollar.  To close those deals on the horizon requires nurturing,  most reps do not have the time to do this even with the best of intentions.  They  are incentivized to close this quarter.   Marketing automation lets them close this quarter and continue to build a healthy pipe for next quarter. Marketing Automation cures that sickness.

 

Model the top performers:   Automation and CRM tools allow a view into top performers secrets of success  What leads do they pursue? What scoring attributes commonly lead to a sale? How do they engage prospects? When do they engage prospects? Periodic and systematic analysis of rep performance relative to the attributes and activities that are captured by demand generation tools and CRM can provide invaluable insights for struggling reps.

 

Call at the right time:  A lead deck  is a live feed that is part of the tool that notifies your rep the minute your prospects are active on your site.  When your prospects have your company top of mind, and your buyer is sitting at their desk (or on their PDA checking you out)  your rep has it’s a great time to pick up the phone or hit them with an email.

 

To see a quick demo of a Marketing Automation Outsourcing Tool Click Here.  To see if we can accelerate your B2B demand generation with better and faster technology integration  and getting your sales team up to speed please feel free to reach out for a quick conversation and we will let you know if we can help.   We guarantee what we are sharing here is simply the tip of the iceberg.

 

Can a Sales Outsourcing Company Accelerate Your Sales?

by | Sep 14, 2012

sales-outsourcingContent Marketing is now required as ground cover for your sales team.   If you haven’t started you need to start now. As a sales outsourcing company working to successfully launch sales content marketing efforts for multiple clients we often hear that “it take to much time, or I am not ready to commit.”  Our position:

  1. Content marketing does not need to be complicated for B2B marketers to meet the needs of sales. As a thought leader you have tons of little snippets of value to share on a regular basis.
  2. You don’t have a choice if you want your sales reps to successfully compete and win.

As a sales outsourcing company we understand that, especially for company’s new to content marketing,  it may seem daunting.  But it’s easier than you think.  We are experts and thought leaders in sales and marketing tactics and strategies.  You are experts and thought leaders in your product and solution area.  One of the values we bring as a sales and marketing outsourcing company is that we have a methodical system to quickly turn your thought leadership into tools that will empower your sales and marketing efforts.

Below is our framework for content marketing that will help empower your sales team with the tools they need to be successful.

Using our framework we help our clients to quickly determine what specific content is required at specific stages of the sales cycle.  We implement Digital Demand Center™ our proprietary Content Management System to accelerate this process.  As the survey below indicates the majority of the content required can be initially distributed with blogs.   When combined with our expertise in sales storytelling, educational webcasting and sales video content production we can get your sales team (or our sales outsourcing and marketing effort on your behalf) to market with a winning sales content marketing strategy in a fraction of the time you may be able to achieve on your own.

Can Sales Outsourcing Help Your Company?

To check out what your peers are already doing check out this previous blog post.   To discover how we can help accelerate your sales integrating multiple tactics and strategies please feel free to reach out for an initial conversation.