Sales Outsourcing

Sales outsourcing allows companies to attract and maintain a sales force without having to make them full or part-time employees. Outsourced sales groups typically shoulder all or most of the risk by tying their compensation to success, without a base salary or benefits. Sales outsourcing represents a quick way by which service providers or manufactures can access distribution, and is becoming more and more popular. Full ‘sales outsourcing’ is observed where companies have an external third party sales force. It is differentiated from value added reselling or distribution in that the business model can be based on shared risk, although there are models where the outsourcer is paid for all of their activity – just as with a hired direct sales force, but the outsourcer provides rapidity, flexibility and experience. Other names for sales outsourcing include ‘indirect sales’ and ‘channel sales’.