As a startup company, you have a lot on your plate. From onboarding new employees to day-to-day company operations, startup business owners need to have their heads in various places at once. When you outsource sales teams for your startup, you have one less thing to worry about—generating new opportunities for your growing business.
In this blog, we’ll focus on the following topics:
What Is Sales as a Service?
Sales as a service is an outsourced offering where a company provides a dedicated and experienced sales force for other businesses. These outsourced sales teams include a variety of sales specialists, including sales managers, account executives (AEs), business development representatives (BDRs), and sales development representatives (SDRs).
When you hire a sales as a service team, you have the opportunity to focus on your startup’s everyday tasks and leave the business development to your provider. An outsourced sales team for your startup helps you generate leads so your internal team can perfectly craft their pitch and attend sales appointments set by SDRs.
A common misconception about sales as a service is that many companies believe they need to choose either an internal or outsourced sales team. However, most sales as a service success comes from both internal and outsourced teams collaborating to create the most efficient sales and marketing strategy possible. As startup companies look into sales as a service, there are two sales and marketing strategies to consider:
B2B Appointment Setting
With B2B appointment setting services, sales reps directly reach out to prospective businesses that could benefit from your company’s product or service offerings. Before sales processes begin, data operations analysts build a list of potential customers in your market that meet your ideal customer criteria. A company’s ideal customer criteria varies depending on its program requirements and industry.
For example, many HVAC companies require a client’s building to have over 10,000 square feet of cleanable space or 60 full-time employees. HVAC companies choose these requirements because they ensure that they receive a decent ROI for labor and equipment costs.
Appointment setters reach out to prospects through a variety of communication channels, including phone calls, emails, and social media. Cold calling is the primary channel of communication for outsourced sales companies because it encourages direct conversation between sales reps and qualified leads. This allows SDRs to learn more about the prospect, their pain points, and what they expect from a B2B relationship.
After the first call, if a prospect agrees to a sales appointment with your startup, great! However, not every prospect agrees to meet after the first call. More often than not, SDRs must follow up with the lead when they’re toward the end of their purchasing funnel to schedule a meeting. In the meantime, sales reps can nurture the relationship with the lead through drip email campaigns and LinkedIn InMail messages. Through these channels, SDRs can send them information about specific topics that are relevant to them and their needs. This enables your startup to have top-of-mind awareness for when they’re ready to make a sale.
Digital Marketing
Another way that startups generate leads is through digital marketing services. With digital marketing, leads are generated through the internet and brought directly to you. These leads are gathered when individuals submit their contact information on your website or through social media or email landing pages.
While there are many ways to engage with leads through the internet, the first place every new business should start is with a well-developed and designed website. When business owners want a new product or service, they typically go online and search for it. With a user-friendly and easy-to-follow website, you increase your chances of converting leads into customers. A startup company website should be easy to navigate and allow users to find what they want in less than three or four clicks.
OK, you have your super sleek and engaging website—now what? How can users find it online? Since your new website is live and ready to be seen by users, it’s time for marketing specialists to optimize it for search engines. Search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial for your website to be found by your target audience. Many sales and marketing teams practice SEO by integrating high-ranking keywords into their website copy and linking from one page of their site to another.
Another way to increase the SEO value of your website is to routinely post thought leadership blogs on your website with relevant keywords and topics that users are searching for. For example, if you’re a roofing company and you want to increase the sales of your TPO roofing systems, suggest that your outsourced sales and marketing team write a blog that focuses on the benefits of TPO. This allows readers who may be considering that style of roofing to learn more about it. In addition, they’ll look to your company for TPO installation services because you’ve proven yourself to be a trusted leader in roofing solutions.
Last but not least, one of the most powerful digital marketing strategies that startup companies practice is social media marketing. Since it is such a significant component in our everyday lives, many startups use social media platforms to enhance brand awareness and client engagement. This is a great way to distribute content marketing and boost interaction with users. In addition, marketing specialists can present a call to action (CTA) on posts to direct users to your website. This encourages them to learn more about your company’s products, services, and expertise.
Why Do Startups Use Sales Outsourcing?
As a startup company, you’re careful with your financial and time investments now more than ever. While sales outsourcing may sound intimidating to a startup company, it provides significant advancements to your business development. Many companies hire outsourced sales teams for their startup because it is:
Budget Friendly
Startup companies are typically cautious of how and why they’re using financial resources. Sales outsourcing gives your startup the opportunity to save money while continuously gathering leads. For the price of a single internal sales rep, you gain access to a wide variety of sales experts, tools, and technologies that enable you to generate predictable growth. While you still may need an internal sales team to attend appointments with qualified leads, an outsourced sales team can find them and bring them to you.
A Time Saver
Startup business owners and employees wear many hats and are constantly being pulled in different directions for various tasks. Hiring an outsourced sales team for your startup saves a significant amount of time and energy to prioritize more pressing tasks. Plus, it allows you and your employees to focus on your specific roles rather than worry about generating new sales opportunities.
Scalable
When you outsource sales teams for your startup, you have the ability to scale your business. As your company continues to grow, so can your outsourced sales program. Outsourced SDRs can set more appointments for your startup to continuously boost company revenue.
On the other hand, if you’re experiencing too much growth, an outsourced sales team can dial back the number of leads generated. This enables you to take the time to onboard new internal employees or prioritize current customer satisfaction.
Sustainable
Do you want to expand your startup’s product or service into new regions? Are you looking to integrate a new product or service line? Outsourcing a sales team for your startup is sustainable because it allows you to gain access to new markets and test how new products or services resonate with your target audience.
While SDRs connect with prospects to sell a product or service, they also conduct market research to learn how prospects respond to your business. This provides more insight into your market and enables you to adjust to a sales rep’s pitch.
How Do Startups Integrate Marketing Collateral With B2B Lead Generation Efforts?
Marketing collateral is a significant addition to both B2B appointment setting and digital marketing efforts. While marketing collateral may seem like a minor portion of your lead generation strategy, it positions your startup for success and could be what converts a lead into a customer.
Marketing collateral (also known as sales enablement materials or assets) are marketing materials companies use to advance their sales and marketing efforts. Sales enablement assets are essential because they can be used in various instances over numerous platforms. Here are some of the most common types of marketing collateral that startup companies integrate into their B2B lead generation efforts:
Corporate Brochures
Corporate brochures provide a general overview of your startup and the products or services you provide. Brochures are great introductory print materials that your internal sales team can use for trade shows and other networking events. Many startup companies also digitize corporate brochures and attach them in emails to be sent to prospects. This increases top-of-mind awareness because the prospect can have both a physical copy and a digital copy.
Case Studies
Case studies are one of the most successful pieces of marketing collateral because they tell a story and enable prospects to picture themselves in the shoes of your customers. Case studies are commonly expressed in a “Testimonials” page of a website, an engaging sizzle reel, or during the lead nurturing phase of B2B appointment setting. However you decide to highlight your company’s case studies, make sure they are engaging from beginning to end and conclude with a significant message.
Sell Sheets
Sell sheets (also known as one-pagers or white papers) are similar to brochures, but they highlight one specific product, service, or concept. These are great sales enablement assets for sales reps because they can pitch prospects more effectively.
For example, if a company wants to recruit more loan officers, a sell sheet would be ideal for SDRs because interested loan officers will want to know the details and numbers of how successful the business is and what it has to offer them. With a sell sheet, sales reps will have these numbers readily available and provide them with a confident answer.
Pitch Decks
Pitch decks are the visual aids to your sales presentations that your internal teams use to pitch to prospects at the appointments set by SDRs. An effective sales presentation can make or break your potential relationship with a lead. By outsourcing your sales and marketing efforts, a lead generation company can help you develop engaging pitch decks that guide conversations.
Infographics
Infographics are great pieces of marketing collateral because they explain complex ideas, products, or services in a visually appealing manner. For example, if your startup company is an LED lighting provider, an infographic can expand on the benefits of LED lighting solutions. These sales enablement assets are ideal for sharing on social media to enhance user interaction. It can also be attached to emails and sent to prospects in the sales pipeline or embedded on websites for increased SEO value.
Promotional Videos
As user attention spans continue to shorten, promotional videos are becoming more common and necessary for social media engagement. With promotional videos, you have the opportunity to highlight your startup’s company mission, product or service, or an impactful case study. You could also choose a “Why Us?” video that shows why your business is best and helps you stand out among local competitors.
Key Takeaways
Outsourcing a sales team for your startup allows you to focus on what your company does best—run a business (and finally get time for a lunch break). With an outsourced sales team, you have fewer responsibilities on your plate. Putting your business development and sales efforts in the hands of reliable sales experts allows you to continue generating new business opportunities while prioritizing day-to-day responsibilities.
When you’re ready to approach new sales opportunities for your startup, contact the sales reps at Abstrakt Marketing Group!
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