Introduction You absolutely have to have a sales team. But what kind of sales team will best serve your company and fit in your budget? You’ve got two basic options—face-to-face or phone sales. Sales Focus Inc. (SFI) puts them side by side to help you see the difference and which may better fit your company’s needs. Face-to-Face Sales Team F2F sales is what it sounds like—a member of your sales team schedules live, in-person meetings with decision-makers to close sales. F2F sales will likely entail your sales team attending networking events to cultivate leads and relationships with existing clients. For some businesses, there is no substitute for human connection. At a glance: Pros Cons Human touch – Prospects and clients are reassured by genuine human interaction Visual exposure – you get exposure to more people than just the individual with whom the sales team member is interacting Visual presentation – the ability to visually present the product or product/service information (e.g. brochures, infographics) Expensive – more hours clocked for contact with fewer prospects Limited reach – individual sales reps can only attend so many events,and cover so much geographic area Phone Sales Phone sales keeps your sales team home-based where they use technology to reach out across a much larger geographic area to cultivate leads and close sales. For many businesses, especially service providers with no physical products to display or demo, phone sales are a perfect match. At a glance: Pros Cons Virtually unlimited reach – phone sales eliminate geographic boundaries to your sales reach Cost-effective – Sales representatives can contact more prospects per time measured to increase the number of leads and sales generated Convenient – Clients and salespeople can more easily fit a phone call into their schedules since there is no travel time and/or other coordination involved Less personal – no visual presence can limit the connection between the sales rep and the prospect Limited exposure – all sales interactions are one-on-one; there is no possibility of being seen or overheard by another interested party No visual presentation – prospects cannot see or touch the product or visually digest any information about it Selecting the Right Sales Team No matter what you’re selling, a phone sales team will be less expensive than a face-to-face sales team. However, cost should not be your only consideration. To get the sales team that meets your needs, SFI will help you evaluate other factors, such as: Cost of product For high-value products and services, prospects need more than a phone extension and a voice. You may need an F2F sales team to provide the level of genuine, authentic human interaction required to build and maintain the level of consumer confidence required to close the sale and/or renew contracts. Target market expectations When determining which sales outsourcing solution you need, you may need to pander to what your target audience expects. If you have always had an F2F sales contact, you may need to continue that sales model. If you have an aging target market, you may need in-person sales opportunities to ensure that all terms and conditions are unequivocally understood. On the other hand, your target market may prefer a more casual and/or technologically mediated sales process. Conclusion No matter which type of outsourced sales team best fits your business, SFI delivers the best return on your investment because we: Make sure that our agents are the skilled and experienced hunters you need Bear the cost burden of providing competitive wages and benefits while you pay a fixed rate for increased sales performance House the infrastructure for phone sales at our facility so that you have no additional capital expense before a phone sales team can work for you We also offer scalable sales teams, so you get the size of sales force you need to generate revenue fast and sustainably. Contact us to explore our sales outsourcing solutions.
