We have several smaller companies working with us right now; Maybe only 3 or 5 employees in total, and the founder doesn’t have a sales team yet.
And these founders aren’t really interested in sales because they don’t like doing lead generation.
This is totally okay because we know that not everyone enjoys looking for prospects.
Or even if they do enjoy prospecting, they might not have the time for it.
So if you don’t have a sales team underneath you yet, and you don’t enjoy picking up the phone or drumming up your own leads.
Hiring an outsourced sales team , or even a freelance SDR, would be a great option.
This article will share why hiring a b2b sales outsourcing team might be a great move to rev up business, but also important factors to consider before you choose to partner up with an agency.
(Interested in a free 15-minute strategy session to see how SalesBread can help? Our clients know that they can expect 1 sales lead per day with our LinkedIn lead generation agency.)
Consider this first before hiring a B2B sales outsourcing company
You may not want an agency or an outsourced sales team to be in charge of everything.
From lead generation to appointment setting to lead nurturing and then finally closing.
(Why? Because a fully-fledged b2b lead generation agency could cost a small fortune.)
Instead…
What we see a lot of our clients do, who happen to not have a sales team yet , is use Salesbread to help them address their first problem in sales, which is getting enough sales-qualified leads in the door.
We will then deliver those leads to the company for a number of months until they develop a process for closing these leads.
Once that happens, instead of needing to pay commissions and a large fee to an outsourced SDR agency, they can bring in a freelance salesperson to operate their lead generation efforts in-house.
This is a much less risky path toward building your first sales team , as opposed to starting with a fully-fledged outsourced SDR agency that does everything for you.
If you are a startup, don’t hire a sales development agency within the first 6 months.
Why?
Because you might think that you have an incredible product and have full confidence that it’s going to sell.
But what if you hire an agency, and your product/service doesn’t sell as well as you thought it would?
You could end up losing a ton of money.
“As a founder, you have to ensure that there is interest in your product, and you have to do this first. (Even if you hate cold calling or writing cold emails.)
You have to ensure that your product is sellable and that it’s something potential customers want and need.
It’s not someone else’s job, you have to make sure at least that there is some interest in the market for your product.”
If you wait at least 6 months before hiring a sales expert, you will have enough data to target the right prospects and see how well your new product is selling.
Why a full-fledged agency that does everything isn’t a great choice for startups.
As a new founder, you want to use your money in the best way to boost your ROI. It doesn’t make sense to hire a fully-fledged sales agency that does it all. From lead generation to appointment setting to lead nurturing and then finally closing.
Yes … We get it.
Lead generation isn’t everyone’s favorite pastime, and you might not have the time to do it all.
But why spend thousands of dollars every month when you or an employee could do part of the lead generation strategy?
For example, maybe you enjoy closing deals, or perhaps you have someone on your team who is an awesome copywriter.
You could ask them to write some cold emails or LinkedIn outreach messages to your ideal target audience.
The cost of hiring a full-service lead generation agency
If you do decide to hire a sales outsourcing company that does it all, you can expect to pay between $2000- $20 000 per month, depending on which company you choose. With the median cost of lead generation being between $5000 – $15,000 per month.
Some appointment-setting agencies charge between $50 and $400 per booked appointment.
Most companies offer different services, with various packages to choose from.
Some might offer:
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Cold calling
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Cold email outreach
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LinkedIn outreach
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Social media marketing/ inbound marketing
As well as appointment setting, lead nurturing, and closing.
Don’t hire an outsourced team that charges per lead
If you think paying per lead might be cheaper, think again.
It can become extremely expensive.
Certain industries also charge more per lead.
See below:
If an agency promises thousands of leads, and they end up sending you 500 random leads that aren’t sales qualified, for example, you could end up paying like $ 104,000 (if you’re in the tech industry).
And the worst part, if these leads aren’t qualified, you could end up with many leads that don’t want to purchase your product/service, which means that you could end up with zero ROI.
For a new startup, this could spell financial disaster.
What about hiring a full-time sales rep or a freelancer at first?
Full-time sales rep
Hiring a full-time employee at first can be costly.
(For example, on average, a BDR salary is about $59,559 a year.)
This is especially true if your business is new. You might not want to pay a sales representative to figure out your sales strategy.
According to which state you live in, you can expect to pay a full-time sales rep between $6000 – $ 10,000 per month.
Note!
This excludes things such as:
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Benefits
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Office equipment
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Taxes
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Training material
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Internet
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Workman’s compensation, health insurance
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Coffee/Tea
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Lead generation tools
So, all in all, you can add an extra $1,916 per month.
In total, expect to pay a minimum of $76,065 per year for 1 sales rep.
Freelance sales rep
A freelancer will be much cheaper than hiring a full-time sales rep because you can hire them for however long you need.
As a business owner, you can expect to pay a freelancer between $20-$60 per consultation or between $15-$25 per hour.
For an in-depth comparison between hiring an agency or a freelancer, read this article.
Benefits of hiring an outsourced sales team that focuses on generating leads are a better INITIALLY
As we mentioned at the outset of this article, many companies hire SalesBread to solve their first problem in sales.
And that’s getting enough qualified leads into their sales pipeline.
Besides being more affordable than hiring a full-time employee or full house lead generation agency, a company like SalesBread has the experience to build ULTRA-SPECIFIC prospects lists.
Why is this important?
Because if you have a list of prospects who are super-defined, you are going to get many more leads in your sales funnel that convert and actually buy your product.
This means that you don’t have to waste time reaching out to prospects who might be a bad fit for your company.
An outsourced sales team that focuses solely on generating leads also has the experience to come up with a b2b sales strategy that works for your business.
Whether it’s writing highly personalized outreach messages or sending follow-up messages to your prospects.
At SalesBread, we take care of this for you.
This is our outreach strategy:
1. Build a list of sales-qualified prospects
We first ask our clients who have purchased from them within the past 6 months.
We will then look at this data and find common buying patterns between purchasers.
So for example:
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Which industry is buying from you? Is it tech companies, health, and wellness, or video production companies?
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Are they all located in the same area? USA, Europe? Or a specific state?
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Do they have a similar number of employees? 100-500? 10-20?
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Do they use a specific SaaS product or CRM tool?
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Is it the decision-maker who’s mainly buying from you?
We analyze all this data and compile a list of look-a-like businesses.
This process usually takes us an entire week to perfect.
Here is a video example of how we use data:
2. Conduct prospect research and write ultra-personalized outreach messages
Next, we research each and every prospect on the list.
Why do we do this?
Because we are looking for little nuggets of information that we can use in our personalized messages .
You might be thinking that this will take ages to complete, but because our lists are so ultra-refined and targeted, we don’t have thousands of people to reach out to.
At SalesBread, we would rather have a couple of hundred prospects that are the perfect fit than thousands of people who are unlikely to say yes to buying.
This is how we do it:
We either look at a person’s LinkedIn profile or Google their name.
If you have a look at the above profile, remember CCQ.
This stands for:
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Compliment
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Commonalities
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Questions
So for example, you could compliment this prospect on their post, or mention how you agree with them, which creates a commonality.
“Hey Jess. Thoroughly enjoyed your post on asking “dumb questions”. I remember asking {{question}} once and was told by a former boss it was dumb. Would really like to connect with you.”
Do connection requests like these work?
Yes, they do.
At SalesBread, we have a 45% connection request acceptance rate.
4. Follow up and ask for a sales meeting
We usually wait 3 days between each follow-up message.
If a prospect replies, great. You can reach out immediately.
But if they don’t reply straight away, add even more personalization to the message and use the Fibonacci sequence to follow up. – Then ask for a booked sales meeting.
Some sales teams are a bit nervous to ask for a meeting, but we have had great success with just being transparent and asking.
5. Deliver the leads to you for you to close
Once prospects agree to a booked sales call, we will then forward these leads to you. All you have to do is hop on the call and close the deal.
Case Studies
If you’re interested in learning more about SalesBread, here are some case studies for you to read:
IT Lead Generation Case Study – 293 Leads Generated, 41% Average Reply Rate
Fintech Lead Generation Strategy – 118 leads in 8 Weeks
LocalEyes Case Study – 78 Qualified Leads in 60 Days.
Why is this the better option?
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You will have more time on your hands to do the things you enjoy doing in your business.
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Hiring a company that focuses just on generating leads is more affordable (You can expect to pay between $2000-$5000 per month.)
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Because the lead generation company has the experience, you don’t have to figure out a sales strategy.
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They will also take care of personalization and write expert outreach messages.
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All you have to do is show up for the sales meeting and close the deal.
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You don’t have to worry about training a new SDR or paying a salary every single month
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The right lead generation agency won’t lock you into a contract, which means that you can cancel at any time. Their results should get you to stay, not a contract.
When to bring the entire sales process in-house
Once a lead generation agency like SalesBread has brought in enough leads for your company and shows you how their sales development process works, you can then bring the entire strategy in-house and hire your first sales rep .
Whether it’s a full-time SDR or a freelancer.
By closing a couple of deals, your business should have scaled enough to hire a salesperson.
You will also know which sales strategy works and how it works to share with your new employee.
This will then pave the way to building an even bigger sales team and generating more leads, which in turn will equal more sales.
Sales outsourcing companies to consider
We have a very in-depth article that discusses different outsourced companies that can help you with your sales and marketing.
But here are some to consider:
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SalesBread – Specializing in LinkedIn outreach
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SalesRoads – Sales outsourcing services
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Belkins
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Sales Pro Leads
Frequently asked questions about outsourced sales
What is an outsourced sales team?
An outsourced sales team is basically a group of sales professionals you bring in from an outside company to handle some—or all—of your sales process.
Instead of hiring and managing your own in-house team, you team up with experts who know how to find leads, reach out to potential customers, and build a sales strategy that gets results.
Are there different types of sales outsourcing
Yes, there are. Here are some different types of outsourced sales teams that you could hire for more leads.
Full-Cycle Sales Outsourcing
The agency you choose will handle the entire sales process—from lead generation to closing deals and even account management. This might be a good idea for companies that want a “plug-and-play” sales solution, and if you have a large budget.
Lead Generation
Focuses just on the early stages: finding prospects, qualifying leads, and setting appointments.
You will have to close deals. Often used by companies with strong closers who just need more pipeline.
Outbound Sales Outsourcing
These kinds of companies focus on cold outreach: cold calling, emailing, and LinkedIn prospecting.
Perfect for businesses looking to build awareness and open doors in competitive markets.
Inbound Sales Support
An inbound sales team will help you manage and convert incoming leads from marketing efforts (like website inquiries or ad campaigns). You might want to consider inbound outsourcing if you get a lot of traffic but struggle to follow up quickly and effectively.
Channel Sales Outsourcing
A specialized team will work on building partnerships or reselling products or services through third parties.
Often used in tech or SaaS lead generation.
What are the cons of sales outsourcing?
Outsourcing your SDR (Sales Development Representative) team can be a smart move—but only if you choose the right partner. Just like with anything in business, there are pros and cons, and not all outsourced sales teams are created equal.
One of the biggest risks is working with a team that lacks experience.
New or low-cost lead generation companies might sound appealing, but they often don’t have the skills or resources to deliver high-quality leads. You could end up wasting money on prospects who aren’t a good fit or don’t have real buying power. That’s why it’s worth taking your time to research and interview a few different providers before signing any contracts.
Another thing to watch out for is poor communication or a lack of transparency. If a company isn’t clear about how they operate, or if there are hidden fees tucked into the agreement, that’s a red flag. Also, make sure they really understand your brand.
Generic messaging or a “one-size-fits-all” approach can hurt more than help, especially if it doesn’t align with your values or audience.
Lastly, not every outsourced team will offer the extras, like appointment setting or valuable competitive insights from their sales reps. So if you’re considering outsourcing, go for a team that’s experienced, strategic, and offers a personalized approach that fits your business.
What are the pros of hiring an outsourced sales team?
Outsourcing lead generation can be a smart move if you want to save time, cut costs, and focus on what you do best—running your business.
Instead of spending your day hunting down qualified leads, you can let a dedicated team handle that while you concentrate on closing deals and growing your company.
It’s often much cheaper than hiring someone in-house. Between salaries, benefits, training, and software, the costs of building your own sales team can really add up.
With outsourcing, you skip all of that, and many companies already have the tools and systems in place to hit the ground running.
Another big benefit?
You don’t have to train anyone. Lead gen agencies already know what they’re doing. They can plug into your business fast, adapt to your needs, and bring in results right away.
Plus, if your business grows or slows down, you can scale your outsourced team up or down as needed.
These agencies also bring in higher-quality leads. They’re focused on finding the right people—those who are not just interested but also have the budget and authority to buy. That means fewer dead ends and more real opportunities.
And let’s not forget the tech.
These teams often use powerful tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator, ZoomInfo, and automation platforms that would cost you thousands if you bought them yourself.
Outsourcing means you get access to all that without the extra spend.
How much does an outsourced sales team cost?
Pricing varies between agencies and depending on what you need. You could pay anything between $2k – $20 k per month.
SalesBread charges $3k per month with a 1 time setup fee.
Need more leads for your business?
As a busy founder, we know that lead generation isn’t always the easiest thing to do. Either because you don’t have the time, or don’t particularly enjoy it.
You might also not have enough cash flow yet to hire a full-time SDR or an agency that does it all.
This is why hiring a company like SalesBread, which focuses on quality lead generation, can be your secret weapon this year.
Not only will you save time and money, but we will teach you our process, which means that when you are ready, you can bring the entire process in-house.
We offer a done-for-you lead generation service or consultation services.
Book your free 15-minute strategy session today.
