Should You Outsource Cold Calling?

If you are a business owner or a salesperson, you would know that cold calling is a manually-intense, stressful, and resource-hungry activity. However, this exhausting activity is vital for a business’s growth. Thus, most companies prefer to outsource their cold calling department to any service provider along with their business phone number. 

Outsourcing Cold Calling

If a business decides to outsource its cold calling process, it hires a third-party company, which either offers a team for cold calling to work under the main team or completely takes over the cold calling process. The client would provide a business phone system, product details, scripts, and others. In some cases, the third-party company handles the complete process. You can also outsource specific tasks of the cold calling process to other companies, like

• Appointment setting – calling prospects and setting appointments with the parent company
• Lead generation – calling prospects, setting an appointment, and generating leads for the parent company to work.
• B2B/B2C outsourcing – B2C cold calling outsourcing would include introducing and selling the products to potential clients. In the case of B2B, the outsourced team would handle up to the lead generation, and the in-house business team will handle dealing with the customer company’s key decision-makers.

The type of cold calling service, the required team’s size, and budget depend on your product, niche, and company size.

Why Is It Essential to Outsource Cold Calling?

The ultimate advantage of outsourcing your cold calling operation is resource utilization. Your sales team can effectively focus on quality, leading to an increased success rate. Moreover, it is also possible to use the sales team to focus on strategy formulations and others. Apart from time and resource utilization, the other benefits of outsourcing the cold calling process are

• Third-party companies possess high-end automation tools and will update their technologies to stay current. This dynamic growth will allow your team to always have the best cold calling process without spending on new technology, training, or hiring new talents.
• The company can expand its business scope without spending on additional workspace, resources, and more.
• The cost of mandatory employee payment, workforce management, payroll processes, and other HR-related tasks reduces.
• You can reduce the risk of losing potential customers as the third-party company possesses experienced professionals handling the process.
• 63% of the salesforce believe that cold calling is the worst part of their jobs. Thus, outsourcing can reduce work stress and help retain your workforce.

What Should You Be Aware While Outsourcing?

It is not a blind fact that outsourcing your cold calling task is efficient. There are several disadvantages and hurdles in the process too. The first evident problem is finding a reliable third-party service provider within your budget. Beyond this,

• The company will have less control and visibility of the cold calling process.
• The company’s confidential and sensitive data, inducing business tactics, will be shared with the outsourced team. Thus, the risk of data breach is higher.
• The organizational culture, process, and others of the outsourced team and the parent company might differ. Thus, there are chances of conflicts and miscommunication, which lead to a decrease in productivity.

Is It Right for Your Business?

According to TOPO, a representative has to make 18 calls (average) to reach one buyer. Experts recommend calling 60 numbers or 3 hours of phone calls per day, whichever is relevant to your product. If your team could not keep up with this average and struggles to find new customers or potential leads, it is time to stop over-investing in the same strategy and try outsourcing.

The average salary of a sales representative is $48,095 per year. How big is your sales team? If you have a couple of sales reps operating the phones, it is best to keep it in-house. If you are currently employing a large team around the clock, it is more cost-effective to outsource the task.

How to Choose the Best Service Provider?

When it comes to the outsourced task’s quality, the outsourced team’s credibility and quality is the main factor. Thus, it is best not to hire a third-party company based on brand name or budget alone. It is essential to ask some questions like,

1. What is your strategy for generating leads?
2. How do you train your team on the script?
3. What types of technologies do you use?
4. What is the price for the specific service model?
5. How often and what types of reports will I receive?
6. What is your strategy in handling dead leads?
7. How do you manage employee turnover?
8. What is your team’s closure rate?

The answers to these questions will help you pick the right service provider. It is best not to outsource just because your competitor or benchmark is doing so. Take your time to choose the right partner, and start with a short trial period.