At first sight, we encounter pros and cons in hiring an outsourced SDR team.
It’s common to think that outsourcing will save you money, time and effort in the short-term. You just pay an invoice to an outsourced company which will make the SDR team start running in a shorter period of time, so apparently this will involve less effort.
However, we’re firm believers that building an in-house team can bring way better results and benefits in the long-term, so we always advocate for this option.
Let’s break down why –
Investment in (present and) future talent
To begin with, if you invest in recruiting and training high-quality candidates, it will add lots to your company culture.
What’s more, these profiles can later evolve into other crucial roles within your company (Account Executive, Customer Success, Marketing, Sales Operations, Product… you name it).
The fact that they have already been part of your company and are fully committed, in addition to already knowing the product and target market in depth (and even more if they have been an SDR), will greatly increase the probability that they’re a good fit in the new role.
Gain insights on your target market
One of the most important aspects to consider as well, is that when you’re prospecting you get loads of information about your target market, their objections or what exactly worries them.
This information is gold and you want to make sure to include it in your Sales Playbook.
Let’s be honest, if you have an outsourced team it’s more likely that a lot of this information will get lost. Even if the outsourced profiles have the best of the intentions, not being part of the actual team and not being constantly face to face (online or presential) with you makes it easy for valuable info to disappear.
Gather a team of top performers
Since outsourcing companies want to make the most benefit out of it, they often pay their SDRs below the market average.
In many cases, even if we don’t want to generalise it, the fact that these profiles stick with a lower salary can mean that they lack the ambition that more powerful profiles have. This will show up in the results: perhaps in the long-term they’ll close less meetings, or the meetings will be less qualified.
Let’s not forget either that being part of a company and a team makes you share a mission and values. It makes you feel part of something bigger, where you feel the project as your own. It’s quite likely that the outsourced SDR team won’t feel part of the team nor of its common goal. This can show up in their motivation, and of course, will also be reflected in the results in the long-term.
If you’re not convinced yet…
It’s not rare that the same outsourced profiles that are working for you will also be working for other companies.
Again, this means loss of information, less motivation and less focus, leading to fewer quality meetings.
The bottom line
If you really need immediate pipeline and meetings and are not willing to invest the time or money, you can consider outsourcing it. But be very aware of what this can mean in the long-term in terms of quality.
However, if you are willing to invest in a long-term and successful program, with higher quality results and with capacity to survive many future generations of SDRs, consider all the long-term effects that building an in-house team can bring.
Want to learn more about SDR recruitment? Here we explain you everything you need to know about remote hiring.
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