by Glen Springer | Jan 13, 2012
In this article we touch on entrepreneur challenges and 10 ways sales outsourcing will help.
James Altucher an investor and entrepreneur posted a great blog this week at TechCrunch – 10 Things Entrepreneurs Will Fail at. For any entrepreneur out there its great to remember that you are not alone. You can find the full blog at http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/11/10-things-all-entrepreneurs-fail-at/.
As a sales and marketing outsourcing company we have worked with well over 100 entrepreneurs building go to market strategies and providing sale outsourcing services for new product launches. We love working with visionaries. We appreciate what they do and we are in this business to help them avoid as many of the hiccups on the way to success and wealth as we can. Below is a quick summary of James Altucher’s blog (we advocate reading it in its entirety). We personally feel like sales and marketing outsourcing can help you dramatically mitigate the risk and dramatically increase your chances of success in several of the areas mentioned below so we could not resist commenting.
10 Things Entrepreneurs Will Fail At and 10 Ways Sales Outsourcing Helps
1. You will lose some customers. Not everyone will be happy with your product forever.
- Demand Gen outsourcing keeps the pipe full to replace them.
2. You will lose some friends and family. You’re spending so much time on your business that inevitably you will not be able to match all of the expectations of the people who love you.
- Maintain some life balance and let us do the grinding day to day blocking and tackling so you have time for the wife, kids, partner
3. You will lose the faith of investors. Not all of the time, and hopefully not at the end, but there will come a time when the investors question you.
- Sales and marketing outsourcing provides hard core third party verified numbers and sales metrics to defend your ability to keep valuation and confidence levels up on the sales front.
4. Your idea. Your idea might be a bad idea.
- We vet your idea and test it in the market fast with qualitative and quantitative feedback loops so you can improve and readjust.
5. You will fail some of your employees. Employees are there for many reasons. Sometimes they won’t always get what they want.
- As a sales and marketing outsourcing company working with entrepreneurs we only have understand success is mutual and dependent on closed business. Not a great deal of grey area or misalignment. We are half way through the 10 ways sales outsourcing helps.
6. You will fail at keeping stress levels low. Sometimes the stress is too much.
- Sales and marketing outsourcing can alleviate many of the day to day headaches of headcount and employees
7. Sales. You can’t win them all.
After losing a potential sale there’s a few things you should do:
- Call the decision maker and say, “Just for my own learning, is there anything we could’ve done better?” Then take sincere notes.
- Then ask, “Is there anything else we can do for you. Any other way I, personally, can help you succeed at your job.”
- And conclude with, “Well, it was a real pleasure going through the process and learning about your business. Please call us if you need anything new.” And check in every month after that. Send monthly updates of customers you are winning, new products you are building,
- Sales and marketing outsourcing is always about knowing why you win and knowing why you lose. CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO
8. Communication. Some people are just simply going to disagree with you.
- We manage sales by presenting the facts and the data and then take our marching orders based on your strategic targets
9. Raising Money. I just saw this happen: great idea, great people, revenues, and profitable and…the company in question could not raise money from professional venture capitalists.
- We focus on driving revenue and giving you bullet proof metrics so you can raise money without a dip in sales
10. Yourself. You will certainly fail yourself during the process. You can’t do everything. You can’t get everyone to like you. You can’t get everyone to buy your service.
- Sales outsourcing allows you to focus on your core competency
If you are considering sales and marketing outsourcing as a solution and want to better understand the 10 ways sales outsourcing can help you take a new product to market or prove the ratios of your sales process, a Gabriel Sales sales outsourcing solution may be a great option. Feel free to CONTACT US to see what we can do to help.
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by gabriel_sales | Jan 12, 2012
The services provided by a B2B sales outsourcing company often span a diverse and wide range. However, there are limitations to what they can do, and problems they cannot solve for you. While sales outsourcing companies increase revenue, expand sales and grow business, they cannot solve any and all problems with your business.
Here at Gabriel Sales, we have found limits to what services a sales and marketing outsourcing company can provide. Here are three things we cannot do:
Lower Costs.
When using an sales outsourcing company, you reap what you sow. Over our 12 years of experience in the sales industry, we have come to understand that the type of work we do is of extreme value to our clients. And our sales and marketing services are not cheap to execute. While the long-term results of a sales outsourcing partnership may indeed succeed in lowering your overall costs, it should not be expected up front. Sales outsourcing should be taken on by companies looking to grow and expand, rather than those simply trying to cut costs.
Solve in-house political issues.
We aren’t magicians; we can’t make everything better. If your company has in-house problems, such as poor management or communication between team leaders, we probably won’t be of much help. We cannot help people who are unclear about their needs or goals. Only when there is agreement and consensus between members of a company, is it possible to grow and expand.
Sell an unsellable product.
During our many years of sales experience as outsourcing sales and marketing company, we found out that some products or services simply won’t sell. If your product, service or technology is not ready for market, hiring us will not make it sell.
If you are interested in learning more about the B2B sales outsourcing services we provide, please contact us for a free pipe velocity review.
by gabriel_sales | Jan 5, 2012
The right way to do sales outsourcing and marketing
In the past few years, the rise of B to B sales outsourcing and marketing companies has spurred a lot of interest from businesses looking to grow their revenue and expand their market. Many companies have found success when choosing to sales outsource, finding the use of experienced sales professionals to be extremely helpful in achieving their business goals.
Sales outsourcing companies use performance metrics and complex sales methodologies to help their clients set up a sales strategy and process that produces results in the most efficient way possible. But no two companies are alike, and as with all industries, some are better at what they do than others.
How do you figure out which one will work best for you? Here are some tips to help you when searching for the perfect sales and marketing outsourcing company for your business.
What is their specialty?
Does the company have experience in the specific markets you are trying to sell to? Have they worked with your type or service or product before? Some sales outsourcing companies expertise is with the high-tech industry, some are best at telemarketing and setting appointments. Look to see if they’ve had success working in your specific industry.
How do they recruit sales people?
If a sales outsourcing company uses a third-party recruiter, you will be likely be paying the fee for this service, which can be quite expensive. Consider looking into an outsourcing firm that keeps their sales recruiting process in-house.
What type of training do they provide?
Most sales teams need training, and you want your sales outsourcing company to provide this for you. Look into whether or not the company provides this extra sales training to its’ sales reps and how it is implemented.
What have they done?
Look for their accomplishments or specific achievements. Find out their average ROI statement, and what could be expected for your company. How much success have their past clients seen as a result of their relationship?
Can you see evidence of their success?
Ask to see client success stories or case studies. How many do they have immediately available for you? The best way to find out about a business is to talk to its past customers. If people aren’t saying good things about the company, you can walk away knowing you made the right choice.
These are not the only things to consider when shopping for a top outsourcing sales and marketing company, but they are good starting points. The most important part of finding a good fit for you is to establish the reputation of the company and qualify they specific ways the company can help you.
If you’d like to look into Gabriel Sales for B to B Sales Outsourcing, please check out our services and client success stories, or contact us for more information.
by gabriel_sales | Dec 29, 2011
This blog addresses the common misunderstandings about B to B sales outsourcing, and explains how an outsourcing sales company uses their services to find business solutions and increase sales for their clients.
Because outsourced sales and marketing is an industry still in its infancy, many business owners are wary and apprehensive when approached about sales outsourcing their sales. Choosing whether or not to outsource sales is not an easy decision, and there are multiple risks and concerns to consider, these are often confusing to those without experience in the sales industry.
To clear up at least some of the confusion you may have, here are five of the most common B to B sales outsourcing misconceptions we have seen from business owners here at Gabriel Sales.
- 1. “I don’t need a full-time rep.”
While many clients originally only want to staff a part-time sales representative, we have found this seldom works long term. Even if a company starts out with a part-time person, it often becomes necessary to scale to full-time. Sales outsourcing companies are flexible in this regard, and work with their clients to find the most effective balance possible. Gabriel Sales offers temporary, part-time, and full-time options for lead generation and inside sales.
- 2. “I already have a sales team. I don’t need outsourcing.”
Having an existing sales team does not automatically exclude you from the benefits of sales and marketing outsourcing. In fact, many of our clients have sales teams of their own. We improve upon what you already have, and can act as an extension to your current sales and marketing teams. We often employ a sales representative exclusively for setting sales appointments, sales qualifying or B2B lead generation. Other times, we are taken on solely to aid in a new product launch. There are many sales services an outsourcing sales and marketing company can provide to an existing sales team; to see more of them, check out our services page.
- 3. “I want to do my own recruiting.”
If you’re considering outsourcing your sales and marketing, your current sales recruiting process most likely isn’t working. If you don’t have years of experience finding people who can execute successfully, an outsourcing sales company can definitely help. Many companies end up coming to us because of the lack of success of their own recruits. Recruiting takes time and money; outsourcing sales saves both. By outsourcing sales and marketing, businesses can take advantage of the vast sales expertise experienced sales personnel provide to them.
- 4. “I want to remain in control of my sales process.”
We know choosing to outsource your sales and marketing can seem like handing the keys to your convertible over to a complete stranger. This can no doubt be unnerving. However, we have found open communication between both partners in an outsourcing sales relationship to alleviate this anxiety. At all times and in all situations working with our clients, we keep them informed of our activities and progress. You, the client, finalize any decisions.
- 5. “I want to build my brand, not my outsourcer’s brand.”
When you hire a B to B sales outsourcing company, their job is to sell you, not themselves. Here at Gabriel Sales we understand this, and constantly put the client first. Our sales representatives make calls and act as your employees in all business interactions. Our job is to help you succeed. Only then, do we succeed.
by gabriel_sales | Sep 2, 2011
This blog is to help companies thinking about sales outsourcing to improve the long-term results and effectiveness.
Gabriel Sales is an sales outsourcing company in the truest sense of the word. Sales outsourcing is not necessarily cheaper (at least in the short term). It’s about making your investment work harder and smarter. Sales outsourcing should make you more effective. You get access to shared tools, sales and marketing expertise, sales management expertise and processes required for success.
Companies don’t generally come to us because they are wildly successful on their own. They come to us because they want to close more business faster. In most cases, that requires consulting upfront. This blog is designed to help you be as honest as possible about how much consulting you might need prior to starting a sales outsourcing relationship.
There are a multitude of options for companies to drive sales other than of building their own internal team. Wikipedia has great overviews of your options -from channel sales, to resellers, to manufacturer rep to outsourced sales companies. When discussing outsourcing sales, where we like to start the conversation is the word “outsourcing” itself:
Outsourcing involves the contracting of a business process – previously performed in-house – to an external provider.
Outsourcing = Process previously performed transitioned
By this definition very few companies are looking for pure sales outsourcing, which is why we define ourselves as a sales execution, sales consulting and sales content marketing company. We execute while we consult.
During our initial conversation with potential clients looking for “outsourced sales”, what we discover with a little back in forth is some of what they are currently doing works and some of it does not, so we separate the issues. We quickly discover what they really need is a combination of 2 to 5 of the areas below:
- Sales scripting
- Outsourcing lead generation
- Outsourcing lead nurturing
- Outsourcing sales qualifying
- Outsourcing sales closing
- Sales Consulting
- Commission only reps
- Contracted Sales Reps
When someone is looking for a contracted rep or commission only, they are not really interested in a repeatable sales process which means by definition it’s not outsourcing (at least our definition).
When we talk to most companies we work through a formal process to identify how much consulting they need, so we can figure out how fast we can start executing to fill their pipe. Generally we can start executing and consulting concurrently. We have a formal process called the Gabriel System™ that makes this easy for our clients. We can generally get through this discovery process within the first week of launch and be on the phone filling the pipe within two weeks. What follows below is an abridged overview of what we extract during Gabriel System™ discovery process. Unless you are a pure start up launching from scratch, something you are doing is already successful. It’s our aim to figure out what is working, so we can improve on that for exponential growth.
Our first set of questions surrounds how mature that sales function and process really is:
- What is the historical sales cycle?
- How accurate was last years forecast?
- How many meetings does a typical sale take?
- What is the material presented in each one of those meetings?
- What digital content is being consumed are part of the sale?
- How many cold calls does it take to put a prospect into the pipe?
- How many prospects are currently in their nurture pipe?
- What are their typical conversion metrics? (Including: lead generation to sales qualified prospects, sales qualified prospects to sales proposals, sales proposals to closed sales, closed sales to upsell)
- Do they have cold call script? Do they have first call scripts?
- Is the pricing model fixed? When was the last time it was changed?
- Who are there top three direct competitors? Who are there top three indirect competitors? Why do you win? Why do you lose?
- What markets have you targeted? What is the market size? What decision maker do you sell to in that market? Why do they buy your product? What is there Return on Investment?
- What technology platforms are you using for sales force automation, marketing automation, direct marketing, cold calling, database providers, list management, webcasting, video?
- Do you have a creative agency and how will we collaborate with them? Is marketing an internal function?
Our second set of questions (really just one question): How much of this is documented?
- If its fully documented you are ready to outsource
- If its not you need some sales consulting too
Our third set of questions is specifically about each stage of the discrete part of the sales process -happy, not happy, needs improvement- grouping them as follows:
- Lead Sourcing and Targeting?
- Lead Generation?
- Sales Qualifying?
- Sales and Marketing Alignment?
- Sales Engagement and Sales Pipe Velocity?
- Sales Metrics?
- Sales Closing and Sales Upsell?
Our final set of questions is about how message and content readiness:
- Do they have a positioning document
- Do they have a messaging document
- How much collateral do they have and what type of collateral
What does this all boil down to? The more honest you are upfront with an outsourcing sales partner the faster they will be productive. We encourage you to be honest and clear about what is broken that you need fixed:
- Be clear if you are happy with specific sales processes. If you you are happy your process and your process is documented, then you are completely ready to outsource with no consulting
- If you want to improve specific sales functions or specific tactics to compete more aggressively, then you may need a little consulting in specific areas
- If you are looking for an overhaul, you probably need full sales, sales process, and/or sales message and content consulting upfront
The value Gabriel Sales brings to the table as a sales outsourcing partner is that we don’t wait to start executing. We lead with execution and support with consulting. We execute to fill the pipe to shorten your sales cycle, while we simultaneously consult to improve your strategy. Doing both simultaneously gives everyone the hard data, metrics and qualitative insights required to create a winning and competitive sales machine without costing us valuable time getting to the market. We execute and consult simultaneously because Gabriel Sales generally works with teams that want to win and want to double sales growth year after year, so we understand:
- Unless you are on the field taking shots on goal you don’t get 2X growth and…
- If they are bad shots on goal you don’t get 2X growth
If you are interested in getting to the market with speed and would like to learn more about how we can get you into the market fast with the right sales strategy please CONTACT US for a free pipe velocity review.
by gabriel_sales | May 24, 2011
As an outsourcing sales company, outsourcing lead generation company, a sales strategy consulting and a digital sales marketing execution company, we have a great deal of conversations with existing and potential clients about what sales and marketing alignment mean. For Gabriel Sales it means that you have a sales machine where your team is focused on closing business. That means:
- Marketing is focused on putting leads in the pipe that will close
- Marketing drives deals forward with the right sales collateral at the right time.
- Sales provides marketing with the insights they need
- Marketing provides “Sales Collateral”, that moves deals through specific stages of the pipe
- Sales will actually use the collateral
- Sales trusts marketing to do its job to nurture deals that are not yet ready to buy
The first step in building Sales and Marketing alignment is to agree on your Ideal Customer Profile.
The second step is to agree on definitions for early stage leads. You need to do this so you can build a lead generation machine that matches the buyers readiness to buy with the expectations of your sales team. This way they will understand how much time, effort and money should be invested. To do this you need to clearly define your lead generations and lead qualification stages.
The following are quick definitions that Gabriel Sales uses:
Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) – A lead that has accepted information and is open to understanding what you have to offer. They have registered for an event, or engaged in conversation with a telemarketer and indicated an openness to be contacted again.
MQL Hot – They are actively digesting your content. They have registered for and attended a webcast. They are opening multiple pieces of digital content. They are asking your telemarketer buying questions.
Sales Accepted Leads (SAL) – There is a fit between the customer’s pains or needs and your product or solution. It makes sense to invest sales resource time to do some initial discovery. A telemarketer can identify this fit by asking some pain questions and then setting an appointment. A marketer can do this by noticing a shift in the content they are absorbing. Are they moving from digesting digital sales content that is educational to digesting digital content that is verifying content? Are they moving from opening emails onto white papers, case studies, testimonials or your blog? (This is why an investment in marketing automation software like Marketo or Pardot becomes critical).
Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) – Your inside rep has established the decision making process, budget and/or path to budget and confirmed the need, which includes some combination of the following:
- Vertical
- Public or Private
- Annual Revenues
- Spend in Solution Area
- Strategic Initiatives
- Contact(s) title and role(s) known
- Basic understanding of need/pain
- Spoken to lead several times
- Potential opportunity identified- product matched to pain
- Timeline identified 3-12 months (depending on sales cycle
- Stakeholders identified)
- Initial compelling event identified that drives the timeline
- Decision makers identified
- Agreed to meeting with “Senior Sales” or “Executives” and a next step beyond that meeting (even if that next step is a yes or no on moving forward)
Nurture – Not yet ready to buy. Have expressed interest, but have not shown an interest in moving beyond Sales Accepted Lead. In some studies and across several of our clients we are seeing as many as 77% of our deals coming from the pipe a year after we have made first contact. This requires we stay in touch with digital content and an occasional voice mail on a sustained and consistent basis.
Once you have agreed on the definitions it is much easier to give your marketing team a sales quota by evaluating their tactics and giving each tactic both a primary and secondary function in building sales momentum.
