Key Takeaways
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Offshore sales teams can help you reduce costs significantly, access specialized global talent, and scale operations quickly, especially for repeatable or standardized sales tasks.
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Consider offshoring when you want to target specific geographic markets, handle high-volume sales activities, or pilot new sales strategies with lower financial risk.
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Offshore sales usually fail on the very complex, very consultative deals. Such scenarios require a high degree of personalization, trust and regulatory adherence.
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Offshoring presents several major risks. These are just some of the risks, from communication gaps to quality control, data security concerns, loss of direct customer feedback and challenges to brand perception.
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Maximize offshore effectiveness by taking the time up front to provide thorough training and develop strict communication procedures. Define specific performance objectives, apply strong security measures, and encourage initiatives to blend various cultures.
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A hybrid sales model, which blends offshore and onshore teams, offers flexibility and lets you assign roles strategically to optimize both cost savings and sales effectiveness.
Offshore strategies are counterintuitive to complex B2B sales. They offer increased efficiency, access to broader talent pools, and 24/7 support when they make sense for your objectives. This has been the case whenever I experience the rapid scaling challenge or need specialized skills that don’t exist within my staff.
Offshore shines when there are well documented workflows and clear communication channels for check-ins and re-direction. We get burned, though, when the sales process necessitates a level of trust or personal interaction. It gets more difficult when there is arbitrary shifting of the rules and needs on the ground every six months.
Offshore works best for you when your in-house crew is able to maintain close control over the process and provide regular communication. Coming up in the second part, I’ll walk you through how to figure out who’s a good fit. I’ll call attention to when it’s better to batten down near the ranch.
What is Offshore B2B Sales?
Offshore B2B sales mean moving your sales department overseas. This tactic most often focuses on offshore locations with cheaper wages and different business cultures. That means utilizing multiple sets of skills and price points to enhance your offshore business activity.
That’s about reaching new markets that would otherwise be difficult, if not impossible, to reach directly from the US. Normally, teams in countries such as India or the Philippines offer strong talent pools. Their lower wages make them appealing for many organizations.
Companies offshore sales simply to move work forward while the home office sleeps. By working across time zones, you can collect new leads and close sales around the clock, day or night. This strategy significantly increases productivity while saving your local team’s emotional bandwidth from burnout.
Offshore sales open up amazing possibilities, allowing you to connect with people that you cannot reach from home. These teams communicate with prospects in their native language and observe local etiquette, which carries great value in the context of foreign outsourcing.
Ironically enough, when the selling team is culturally in-tune with the destination, sales are quicker and easier to make. For example, a US company selling software in Germany saw more leads when their offshore team spoke German and knew the business habits there.
Cost is important as well. While offshore sales do come with tremendous savings, that’s not the whole story. The biggest win is aligning your team with how people buy in each market, which can be crucial for effective offshore operations.
This trend is leading to hybrid sales models becoming the norm. In fact, 57 percent of B2B companies today take advantage of a mix of onshore and offshore strategies. Some companies choose nearshore teams in Canada or Mexico for more accessibility and timezone compatibility.
Those companies that do things the right way earn better qualified leads and close more sales—all day long.
Why Consider Offshore Sales Teams?
Appropriately managed, offshore sales teams can provide tremendous advantages to organizations aiming to save on cost, create scalability, and gain access to a broader talent pool. Many B2B companies find enormous value by looking past national borders. Engaging an offshore sales team allows them to deliver better quality results while still reducing their high-overhead cost structure.
If you aspire to be in the top one percent of earners, create leverage. By accomplishing more with less on-the-ground effort, you’ll supercharge your growth.
Significant Cost Reduction Potential
When you add up salaries, benefits and office space, hiring locally can rapidly drain your budget. In fact, global sales operations located in countries such as those in Latin America or Southeast Asia can save more than 60% of their expenses. Our clients who make the move find that their overhead falls 20% on average.
This translates to a larger portion of their budgets being focused on making sales happen rather than ensuring the proverbial lights stay on. Reduced labor costs allow you to re-invest in better tools, increased training, or larger advocacy campaigns.
Accessing Global Talent Pools
Areas like Mexico, Brazil, and India provide an even bigger bed of costly, trained sales expertise. What’s more, when companies begin to test candidates from these new markets, they quickly discover an abundance of SDRs, sales executives, and lead-generation pros.
These teams provide new perspectives, and through their superb language capabilities, allow you to break into new markets. Nearshore options, such as those in Latin America, provide the same or similar improvements of time zones and cultural overlap.
Scaling Sales Operations Quickly
Good offshore partners make you dirty fast. When demand increases, you’re able to bring on trained personnel who understand your domain. Many firms have successfully rebuilt entire teams offshore, including reps that can handle everything from prospecting to closing deals.
Perhaps the most underrated benefit is that these teams move quickly when business needs require a shift.
Enabling 24/7 Sales Coverage
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Talk to leads round the clock.
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Quick reply to questions.
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Never stop finding and warming up new leads.
When Offshore Sales Makes Sense
In fact, offshore sales make ideal sense in many business configurations. They allow you to penetrate more competitive markets, handle an increased load of new leads, and grow your sales force without the huge overhead cost.
We’ve seen more U.S. Companies proactively seeking us out for sales hiring in Latin America and nearshore. In a demonstration of just how fast this trend has grown, our modeling shows that teams based in locations nearer the U.S. Greatly increase productivity.
Nearshore and offshore sales allow firms to get closer to that top 1% of grossing firms. So before you get started, align your offshore intentions with your business objectives. Next, review the wider market to determine where your offshore resource would be the best fit.
1. Targeting Specific Geographic Markets
Offshore teams have proven time and again to open doors into new regions by leveraging local expertise. For instance, salespeople in Brazil or Mexico understand how to engage with local customers and bridge any culture chasms.
Tales from the real world illustrate how firms win large federal or state accounts in Latin America by allowing offshore teams to take point.
2. Handling High-Volume, Repeatable Tasks
Offshore sales is a good fit for rote, high-volume tasks such as cold calling, email outreach, or lead generation. Teams offshore are able to take on larger workloads, resulting in increased meeting bookings and quicker response times.
Metrics such as calls completed or leads prepared for sales frequently spiked with offshore assistance.
3. Augmenting Existing Onshore Teams
Smartly scaled offshore teams can shore up weaknesses and elevate your onshore dream team. Continued shared knowledge and tools form the underlying foundation for both sides’ unwavering strength and resolve.
Ways we join teams include:
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Meet often
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Train together
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Set goals as one team
4. Supporting Standardized Sales Processes
Offshore sales in particular are a good fit for more regimented, step-by-step procedures and detailed instruction manuals. Accessible, intuitive tools like written playbooks and powerful software enable teams to replicate the same successful sales process over and over again.
This is true no matter where they are based.
5. Leveraging Specialized Niche Skills
Other skills, such as tech sales or deep industry expertise, are simply more accessible when utilizing offshore outsourcing. Software, fintech, and health tech companies leverage offshore talent to win business from notoriously hard-to-reach buyers.
6. When Cost Savings Outweigh Risks
When budgets are limited, offshore investing helps make those dollars go further. We evaluate potential savings from offshore operations while considering the risks by assessing cost, quality, and alignment with our strategic priorities.
7. Piloting New Sales Strategies
Offshore setups are great too because they offer more flexibility for testing new pitches or channels. Many companies have successfully used offshore investing to pilot certain projects and determine what works before rolling out larger.
8. Managing Less Complex Product Lines
Simple products are the best candidates for offshore investing, such as productized software subscriptions or typical services. Businesses such as SaaS or IT help desk have been able to scale quickly using offshore outsourcing.
When Offshore Sales Falls Short
While offshore sales can be beneficial for cost and reach, there are instances where it falls short. Offshore teams can’t go the distance when sales needs a human element. They can’t imagine the client’s vision or project purpose, or the arbitrary timeliness of the client.
To select the best path, take a long, hard look at your product. Know your buyers, understand the competitive landscape, have a great offering that fits the market.
Highly Complex, Consultative Sales
Large enterprise sales that require lengthy discussions and a high level of trust are difficult for offshore teams. Take for instance selling big tech systems or bespoke business software—high ticket items that usually require in-depth in-person discussions.
Whether in banking, healthcare or industrial tech, prospective buyers want prospective sellers to understand the nuances of their trade. Offshore teams might lack the knowledge to lead these discussions. Without IP protections, it becomes impossible to win or maintain those large, marquee deals.
Deals Requiring Deep Relationships
Other sales depend on a bond forged through five years of relationship building. Local reps can meet clients, share meals, or visit their sites. This may seem like a lot of steps, but in industries such as real estate or large consulting, they are critically important.
Offshore teams can’t generate this kind of trust. Most firms are not completely offshore, instead striking a balance of local and offshore staff. This strategy allows them to stay highly responsive to their clients.
Products Needing Extensive Customization
For some products, many modifications are required for each purchaser. Further, machines which are custom built or IT systems that are custom designed require intimate discussions with end users.
Offshore teams simply do not have the ability to pick up on important cues or nuances. Localized teams are always going to be better at picking up on what each buyer truly covets.
High Intellectual Property Sensitivity
When products contain trade secrets or emerging technologies, releasing information to offshore development teams can increase the likelihood of its exposure. Legal measures such as detailed contracts and restricted information-sharing are useful.
Having it handled locally means the community maintains more control.
Strict Regulatory Compliance Hurdles
I know some other fields, such as finance or health, that have very strict regulations. Teams located offshore might not be familiar with all U.S. Regulations or local jurisdictions’ codes.
It is usually simply easier for our U.S. Partners to do these deals closer to home.
Significant Cultural Nuance Required
Sales teams need to know the client’s world—in words and in culture. In industries where sales are often based on subtle hunches or community expectations, offshore teams often fall short.
Training and diverse, mixed teams of developers and implementation staff can mitigate these issues, but gaps remain.
Early-Stage Market Development
For emerging markets, a team on the ground is familiar with the terrain. They are attuned to trends, they connect deeply with people, and they can pivot quickly when the landscape changes.
These changes may not be felt by offshore teams. Other companies begin local, then supplement with offshore as they scale.
Key Risks of Offshoring Sales
Offshoring in sophisticated B2B sales presents unique risks that require careful consideration. As I explore offshore outsourcing for sales tasks beyond my home base, I realize how easily control over the process can slip away. Major risks include communication gaps, quality issues, data security threats, weak feedback loops, shifts in brand perception, and difficulties in building team trust. If I’m not deliberate in addressing these challenges, each can undermine my growth, create confusion in the marketplace, or ultimately damage my brand.
Communication and Cultural Gaps
Cultural and language barriers always create challenges for my teams to communicate effectively. Misunderstandings are inevitable when idioms fail to translate, or traditions vary.
Time zone differences impose additional barriers, resulting in delays in response time and lost meetings. Having direct channels of communication through simple platforms such as Slack, Zoom, or Microsoft Teams allows my teams to remain aligned.
I’ve found that simple and frequent check-ins and a shared Slack channel are the best ways to keep communication open and simple.
Maintaining Sales Quality Control
When my sales team is located halfway across the world, maintaining that quality starts to become a challenge. Whether that’s risks of inconsistent or even damaging messages going out to clients or prospects, or even claims of failed sales service.
I personally manage the processes with detailed playbooks, regular audits and metrics to ensure quality remains high. Surprise inspections and regular feedback forums allow for minor problems to be nipped in the bud.
Data Security and IP Protection
Offshoring sales departments creates security risks above and beyond handling sensitive data outside the U.S. With 81% of executives using outside tech vendors, I know data leaks or IP theft can hurt trust and my edge.
I leverage long, complex passwords, limited access with regular auditing, and frequent staff training to protect sensitive data.
Losing Direct Customer Feedback
I usually lose great customer stories when great feedback has to be told through three layers. This significantly hampers my ability to adjust my pitch or service.
To address this, I leverage surveys, post-sale calls, and real-time custom dashboards that monitor trends.
Potential Brand Perception Issues
Offshore sales teams can’t express my brand voice or values. This can either confuse customers or shatter trust.
Providing consistency, I rely on brand guides, training, and regular reviews to ensure my message is clear and consistent.
Managing Remote Team Cohesion
Building trust among remote teams requires significant effort, especially as many companies face challenges in hiring and retaining talent. I emphasize team-building, open communication, and user-friendly tools to create a cohesive environment, ensuring my teams feel connected to a larger mission.
Mitigating Offshore Sales Risks Effectively
Managing offshore sales is a role that requires a strategy that proactively addresses risks from the outset. This combination of US and offshore teams usually leads to culture and language gaps. It can equally result in divergences in business practice.
Which is why having a robust risk management plan in place is essential. You want a team that understands both sides—under US buyer psyche, what the local market dynamics are. It’s not just about hiring the right person.
It may seem like hiring folks with zero US sales experience is a big risk. Watch your bottom line closely. About one in five dollars of firms’ IT expenditures go to offshore temp help.
Implement Rigorous Training Programs
My team begins with training that goes well beyond product knowledge. We lead workshops on American business culture, cultural etiquette, how to best communicate with various types of buyers.
From workshops to monthly skill-building, and even role-playing actual sales calls, we use it all. That continued education is what ensures that all of us stay in tune when the sales landscape changes.
Establish Clear Communication Cadence
Regular communication between onshore and offshore teams reduces the likelihood of misunderstandings. We share our progress by video with DRKLM on weekly video calls, through daily briefings, and through shared online dashboards.
Tech platforms such as Slack and Microsoft Teams allow us to stay connected across time zones, share and collaborate on relevant files, and monitor progress in real-time.
Define Strong Performance Metrics
We established measurable KPIs upfront, such as monthly sales closed, lead response time, and customer satisfaction ratings. These metrics align with our public-facing business objectives, ensuring that all stakeholders understand our offshore investing goals and how to continue to progress.
Ensure Robust Security Protocols
Protecting sensitive information has always been our highest priority. We implement multifactor secure logins, periodic audits, and strict password requirements.
We further educate our internal teams to comply with US data regulations including GDPR and CCPA.
Foster Cultural Integration Efforts
Cultural training and team-building exercises are crucial for fostering understanding and bringing everyone together, especially in offshore outsourcing environments. For instance, we conduct cross-cultural workshops and promote reverse job swaps to facilitate greater empathy and understanding among diverse offshore teams.
Start Small, Then Scale
We start small with pilot projects to figure out what works. If something resonates, we expand it, producing iterations informed by user experience.
This ensures that we remain nimble and open to pivoting.
Evaluating Offshore Sales ROI
I evaluate the ROI for offshore sales by looking beyond obvious costs to a key but often overlooked element. That kind of equilibrium keeps me centered so that I can make the right decisions. We cover why onboarding offshore developers can be an expensive endeavor. The costs add up fast when I consider all the time my team has to spend simply getting them up to speed.
I subsidize the cost of professional development and communication platforms such as Slack and Zoom. I’m making contractor payments to offshore centers and third-party vendors as well. Time spent is certainly measurable, and they are simple numbers to lay out on paper, but true value goes beyond saving dollars.
Beyond Cost: Measuring True Value
I’ve come to believe that when you focus exclusively on lower spending, you lose sight of the larger goal. Statewide, offshore partnerships have proven to be the key to unlocking access to promised economic growth. Teams located in other regions often arrive with Agile or DevOps expertise that allow me to significantly reduce the time to launch.
Bay Area technology companies have efficiently worked with Indian teams to fast-track software deployments. This partnership leads to increased market share and accelerated growth.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Now I track KPIs that are much further flung from just dollars saved, such as sales cycle length, lead quality, and customer retention. Then I align these with my business objectives. This helps me take a quick look into the effectiveness and speed of the work my offshore sales are doing.
As one, I employ quarterly reviews and monthly checkpoints with a focused manager to report if we’re on track to meet stated goals.
Balancing Savings and Quality Impact
Of course, keeping costs down is a big deal in offshore investing, but I would never allow that to impede on quality. If I take shortcuts today, I’d risk gaining a reputation for shoddiness or even getting blackballed from repeat business. By hiring very competent offshore teams and requiring binding contracts up front, I’m able to maintain high standards without blowing my budget.
Factoring Long-Term Strategic Fit
I always position my offshore sales within the context of my core business strategy, particularly focusing on offshore investing. The successful offshore sales pitch by Global SaaS providers has routed their operations through a long-term growth strategy. They regularly monitor goals and make necessary adjustments during review periods to continually aim for success.
The Hybrid Model Advantage
A hybrid model mixes offshore and onshore sales representatives. This unique combination of factors places you in a position for success. You’ll reap the same cost savings you feel with offshore work, all while enjoying the cultural expertise of home teams.
Realize that this model gives you a lot of freedom to swap roles. Whatever your needs may be, you can easily ramp up on short notice, making it ideal for peak seasons or time-sensitive special projects. With this approach, you can use offshore talent in places like the Philippines or India for jobs like automation integration at a lower cost.
Simultaneously, onshore teams can take on work that requires proximity to your customers or extensive market knowledge.
Blending Strengths for Best Results
By leveraging both offshore and onshore teams, you benefit from the perfect combination of speed, savings, and skill. Your offshore team can conduct this important research and outreach with precision and speed.
At the same time, your onshore team can spend more time closing deals and developing deep client relationships. Alignment between these teams is a crucial aspect of success. When all parties are working from the same playbook, deals proceed quickly and efficiently with often more speed and ease.
It’s a combination that many businesses are increasingly adopting. Less commuting, more flexibility. Surveys show that three out of four people love hybrid arrangements due to the independence and work-life balance they offer.
Assigning Roles Strategically
Clearly defined roles are key to making this model succeed. Offshore teams often handle repeat work or data tasks, while onshore folks focus on calls, meetings, or anything that needs quick action.
This type of hybrid model allows you to staff the best fit for any given requirement. For instance, do the bulk of automation work offshore, but hold sensitive client discussions at home.
Managing Integrated Teams Effectively
Integrated teams may either be independent or subject to challenges, such as time zone differences and communication lags. Open lines—whether through chat tools or video calls—make it easier to keep everyone aligned.
Leads of each team must communicate regularly and bridge communications between each team so that everyone is kept up to date and progress maintains forward momentum.
Optimizing Complex Deal Flow
For involved transactions, strong collaboration is essential. Digital tools can help pipeline deals, flag follow-ups, and seamlessly transfer tasks from team to team.
In this manner, there’s no ball getting dropped and everyone—on both teams—is clear on next steps.
Conclusion
Offshore sales teams provide me with an opportunity to explore new markets at a relatively low cost. I sharpen my team with rigorous but straightforward targets and tight but manageable tools. For large, complex deals I definitely rely on people that have a depth of experience in the space and are able to speak the language. I’m much less concerned about resulting confusion when I align my team’s skills with the task at hand. This is why a hybrid model is best for me—local people taking care of large clients, and teams offshore to assist with outreach, leads, and research. I continue to run my numbers at the end of each quarter to understand what is effective. B2B sales are fast-paced and my strategy needs to remain adaptable. When you’re ready to start this, do it in a small way first and measure performance. Send me a message or tweet with your experience if you’re interested in trading tips or learning more.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is offshore B2B sales?
Offshore complex B2B sales are utilizing sales teams located in other countries to sell to business customers. It can help lower their costs and tap into a new talent pool, but it can introduce complications in communication and culture.
When does offshoring make sense for complex B2B sales?
It’s most effective on sales cycles that can be standardized, targeting offshore locations with fewer regulatory or cultural differences, and requiring a clear, concrete value proposition. This approach makes the most sense when savings and scalability are the biggest priority.
When should you avoid offshoring complex B2B sales?
Avoid offshore investing when your sale requires extensive product knowledge, established local connections, or frequent physical meetings, especially with bespoke solutions or personal data.
What are the key risks of offshoring B2B sales?
Prior miscommunication, cultural gaps, and data security concerns in offshore outsourcing can lead to non-uniform sales quality, resulting in lost deals, increased reputational risk, or compliance issues.
How can you reduce the risks of offshore sales teams?
Implement effective onboarding, ongoing training, and maintain consistent communication. Select vendors with absolute experience in your vertical and market. Be very careful in monitoring performance and ready to pivot at the first sign of decline.
How do you evaluate offshore sales ROI?
Measure and monitor cost savings, new sales volume, deal quality, and customer reactions, especially when considering offshore investing. Use account comparisons against internal standards to evaluate ROI, which needs to be both financial and strategic.
What is the hybrid model in B2B sales?
Offshore teams for routine customer interactions and local teams for high-cost, complex sales deals create a hybrid outsourcing model that strikes a better balance between cost savings and local expertise.