Should You Insource or

Outsource Inside Sales?

A High Tech Company’s Guide

About This Book..... ... .. .. ... .. .. .. .. .. .. ... .. .. ... .. . 2

About memoryBlue.... ...... ....... . ......... ...... ... . 3

The Inside Sales Big Picture .... . .. .. . .. . .. .. . .. . .. . . . 4

Insourcing Disadvantages:

Considerations Before You Go it Alone .... . .. .. . . . 8

Outsourcing Disadvantages:

Potential Pitfalls when Straying from Home .... 14

Insourcing Advantages:

When the Ball Should Be in Your Court ... . .. . .. . 19

Outsourcing Advantages:

Think Outside Your Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Our Take: Gut Checks, Careful

Consideration, and Decision Time... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Bring in Blue... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Takeaways.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

About This Book

Is This Book Right for Me?

You’re an accomplished professional in the high tech industry, and now is the time for

your company to start ramping up an inside sales effort to grow faster.

You might be close to a decision on whether you’re going to grow your inside sales

program internally or bring in an outside firm for help, or you might not know where to start.

You’re in the right place.

Know, however, that if you are looking for a universal answer to whether you should

choose an outside provider for sales or develop your own inside sales program—an

answer that is right in every instance—this book is not for you. When asked whether it

makes sense to outsource or to insource, our answer will always be: It depends. Every

situation is different.

Instead of a one-size-fits-all answer, what follows is a set of considerations that you

can use to make the best decision for your company’s specific situation, resources,

and goals. You know your business. This guide gives you the tools necessary to decide

how to promote sustainable growth in a cost-effective way through either insourcing

or outsourcing inside sales.

Why This is Important

If you are projecting growth but want to make sure that this growth is timed correctly,

sustainable, and consistent with your business model, the insourcing/outsourcing

question is essential. Where do you see your company next year at this time? Five

years from now? How are you going to get from here to there?

If you make the wrong decision, six months or a year down the road you will be out

time and money and back to square one. Not to mention, your company’s brand

could suffer.

memoryBlue has consulted hundreds of high tech clients on inside sales and has guided

many companies through this decision—or in some cases, come in after a misfire.

Read on: This guide will equip you to make the right choice for

your situation.

2 memoryBlue.com © 2012 memoryBlue

About memoryBlue

Before We Start, a Word about Us

memoryBlue is an inside sales consulting firm based outside of Washington, D.C.

Visibility, flexibility, accountability, and continuous high tech sales training is the

cornerstone of our operation. Over 150 high tech clients have trusted us to fuel

their growth.

We’re passionate about helping high tech companies grow faster and more

profitability by maximizing the effectiveness of inside sales, while at the same

time advancing the careers of stellar inside sales professionals. We believe the

two shouldn’t be mutually exclusive.

Why We Wrote this Book

We answer the “Outsource or Insource?” question all the time

in conversations with prospects, clients, and candidates.

We’ve been in the business long enough to know that a five minute

answer in conversation is nowhere near long enough to cover all the

ground that goes along with this important decision. Every situation

is different, and the wrong decision can slow you down.

Read on for the factors you should think about when you are deciding whether to

insource or outsource your inside sales efforts.

If you’d like some advice from the authors, or to find out more about memoryBlue,

head to our website or page 25 to contact us.

HinT: Skip to page 30 for a one page summary you can print out

and take back to your team.

3 memoryBlue.com © 2012 memoryBlue

The Inside Sales Big Picture

Surging Growth

Want to take a stab at how much inside sales grew between 2009 and 2011?

What would be a reasonable guess?

30%?

60%?

Try 124%.

Plus, lead generation jobs have increased by 59% (source). We don’t think this is going

to slow down any time soon. To see this trend explode before our very eyes is exciting;

watch it pass you by at your own peril.

2009–2011

Job Growth

“Inside Sales” Jobs “Lead Generation” Jobs

2009 Up 124%

2011

2009 Up 59%

2011

This Growth is No Surprise

Successful inside sales programs are proving themselves as one of the most profitable

sales channels in high tech. So many of the problems and costs that have plagued sales

in the past can be minimized by establishing an effective inside sales effort.

4 memoryBlue.com © 2012 memoryBlue

The Inside Sales Big Picture

Inside sales programs are more effective than alternative approaches because of

a combination of the changing economy, advances in technology, and new training

models. An inside sales effort is simply more cost effective and efficient than sending

another team of reps out in the field. With inside sales, you avoid the risk and cost

of additional field reps and gain an efficient, lean, and revenue-generating group of

sales professionals.

The industry’s massive shift toward inside sales is proof positive

that the older models pale in comparison to a well-designed

inside sales strategy.

Persistent Challenges

Inside sales is accompanied by some unique obstacles, some of which it has grown

out of, some of which persist. A few that are still lingering include:

Identifying, Developing, and Retaining Talent

Inside sales is a different type of position than other sales jobs, and not all candidates

are going to be able to step in and be effective at this job. The first challenge you

have to tackle is identifying who has the potential to do this job really well. You may

have to look in places that wouldn’t immediately occur to you, or give that untrained

but ambitious college graduate an opportunity. They won’t have any bad habits or

preconceptions about what sales is about or how it is done. But they’ll be green.

Which brings us to the second step—training.

In order to develop that raw potential, you have to devote sustained time, energy,

and thought into a training program. For those of us who have been doing this a while,

this task is getting more and more refined. For example, at memoryBlue, we have a

program to develop rookies into pacesetters over a relatively brief period of time.

Hiring people and just throwing them in the fire for the first month won’t be produc-

tive, even if they are ambitious and talented. With the proper training, your new

hires will become critical resources.

5 memoryBlue.com © 2012 memoryBlue

The Inside Sales Big Picture

To continue reading, download the entire memoryBlue eBook: Should You Insource or Outsource Inside Sales? A High Tech Company’s Guide.

6 memoryBlue.com © 2012 memoryBlue

© 2012 memoryBlue

memoryBlue www.memoryBlue.com