The winning conditions for outsourcing your prospecting and market development activities
In the industrial sector, outsourcing can take on different forms. In most cases, it primarily involves subcontracting certain tasks that make up an integral part of the production process. But it may also involve less technical sectors, such as the sales force. However, entrusting your company’s prospecting and market development to a third party requires – for both parties – respecting a certain number of conditions for the success of this type of collaboration. These winning conditions can be identified across three poles: the client, the subcontractor, and the relational factors.
On the client’s side
For the client, the success of such an approach depends on respecting a few essential points:
- The effective involvement of the management throughout the entire process. The management team should regularly be informed about the smooth functioning of the collaboration through periodic progress reports.
- Solid definition of the goals. The client must logically be involved from the beginning in clearly defining the objectives assigned to the subcontractor.
- Proven trust in the subcontractor. Within the context of this type of outsourcing, the subcontractor shouldn’t just be considered a simple service provider. They should be treated as a full-fledged partner.
- Treat the subcontractor’s team like your own employees. Still following the partnership approach, the client should guarantee adequate treatment for this new team and encourage their integration within the larger entity.
- Ensure compliance with the contractual terms and define the frequency of the follow-up.
On the subcontractor’s side
For the subcontractor, the requirements for the success of such a collaboration are as follows:
- Agree on a clear action plan and the necessary tools for achieving it: prospecting and sales strategy (face to face, telemarketing, catalogues, digital strategies, etc.), customer relationship management process, etc.
- Provide adequate training to your employees to adapt to the scope of the company, its values, its image, and its size. The prospect or client who receives a representative of the company shouldn’t notice any difference.
- Clearly define roles and responsibilities.
- Constantly improve the quality of the service offered to the client, particularly when the contract is established over the long term.
- Know your client and their expectations well. Put like that, it seems simple. But it often takes real effort to properly pin down the client’s expectations and satisfy them.
- Emphasize your proven skills. It’s the skill and expertise of the service provider in a given field that adds value to this type of collaboration. If necessary, you should be able to answer the client’s different questions and offer the right solutions.
Success factors: relationships, network, and strategy
For successful outsourcing, it’s also important to consider the relational factors between the two parties. As with any collaboration between two distinct entities, outsourcing the prospecting and development activities of a manufacturing company involves establishing a framework that’s favourable and beneficial for both parties. With that in mind, Groupe Hyperforme offers professionals in this sector access to a solid and organized network of subcontractors, as well as proven sales strategies.
