My business will be a sales outsourcing company aimed at the smaller businesses who can not afford to employ a sales team but do need to access the skills or a professional and successful sales person when needed. My business will be in Blyth Northumberland. I would be be grateful for any feedback.
I like the idea a lot and it's not a new idea it's just camouflaged under different guises. Sales agencies for toy distributors and the gift industry in the USA are heavily reliant on on outsourced reps. Happens here too. It can be done. Different industries need different approaches IMO. Example: my industry is very difficult to get on the phone and email is 99.5% the accepted communication. So how would you bill clients? Hours/results/% of sales value How would you appear to potential clients? Operate with an independent email from your clients or operate within their email to appear in house?
It is an interesting concept, but speaking as a small business owner, it all depends on cost. I know when I was younger I worked in a call centre in Stoke on Trent, where we worked for small businesses trying to get them trade and I remember pretending I worked for an Accountants in Wales and trying act like I knew what the local area looked like. Wish I had google earth back then. How would you work out how to bill them?
You'll actually have to sell into two markets at the same time: businesses looking for help to find sales agents and sales agents looking for businesses. Or are you looking to employ your own sales people and offer their services to businesses? Either way, it's a tough ask. Most sales people worth their salt will find their own suppliers and there are platforms such as agentbase and crunchbase that businesses can use to advertise cheaply for and connect with agents. Also, lots of freelance sales people use sites like people per hour to connect with clients. In the US and Germany, agency selling is much more prevalent than here and is the accepted channel to market for most SME's and even lots of corporates (not just toy and gift industries). If you're acting as a matchmaker between agents and clients, be careful that your contracts are tight. Once they start to work together, why would they need you any further?
Are you planning to target a specific sector in which you have experience - eg finance/office services or something like that? I assume you are talking about tele-marketing rather than physically visiting customers on behalf of your clients?
Business idea seems good. It's often not in a businesses favour to employ people, hence outsourcing is becoming ever more popular. An outsourced sales person is cleaver. How are you planning on generating clients of your own?
Heck, sales reps on a couple of days a month basis would be a start for some businesses - more expensive per hour than employing staff but also test the waters a lot cheaper. Or covering a long term sickness - cancer treatment, broken leg, whatever - where the timescale is short ish and the immediate need is urgent.
Nice idea, have seen this done many times across industry sectors. It will depend on affordability versus hours and the commitment of the sales person; detailed knowledge of the company, products, capabilities also essential. Having analysed all, often more beneficial to recruit an employee at least part-time versus ROI.
Not a bad idea.. but like most things, it comes down to cost. We have a handful of freelance affiliates who get 25% commission on all digital work they bring to us. They only get paid once we get paid mind.
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