Table of Contents
- Defining Sales Support
- What is a Sales Support Role?
- What are the Duties and Responsibilities of Support Specialists?
- 7 Qualities That Make a Great Sales Support Specialist
- All About Sales Support Outsourcing
- Why Outsourcing Sales Support is the New SME Trend
- Conclusion
In the ever-changing world of modern business empowered by digitisation and digitalisation, staying ahead of the curve is essential to success. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are no different, as they constantly face unique challenges in the current business climate. As such, many have adapted to the evolving landscape by rethinking their strategies, with an increased focus on efficiency and cost-effectiveness. One way SMEs are finding success is through outsourcing sales support services to a business process outsourcing (BPO) firm. This innovative approach can help SMEs to save time and money while attaining their desired results. Moreover, it allows them to focus on core activities rather than being distracted by administrative tasks such as customer service and follow-up calls.
And to make your outsourcing journey accessible, an excellent outsourcing marketplace, The Lead Enquiry, can be the bridge to connect you to the most adept sales support team from a global talent pool of diverse people.
In this blog post, we will discuss why outsourcing sales support is the new trend among SMEs. Before that, we will also briefly define the necessary details about sales support.
Without further ado, let’s get started!
Defining Sales Support
Sales support is a type of business service that helps customers with sales-related tasks, such as product selection and purchase orders. It can include customer service, technical support, and order processing.
Most businesses have some form of sales support in place to ensure they support their customers throughout the purchasing process. The goal is to provide valuable services for buyers to make sounder decisions about their purchases and complete them quickly and efficiently.
Sales teams rely heavily on an effective sales support system to ensure customer satisfaction. The team works closely to address customer concerns and answer any questions they may have. They also help customers understand product features and benefits, provide recommendations for purchase decisions, and process orders in a timely manner.
Sales support teams typically consist of sales representatives, account managers, technical staff members, order processors and even customer service agents. All these roles have different responsibilities but ultimately work together to provide high-quality sales support for their clients or customers.
Sales support teams must have the right tools and technology to ensure a smooth customer experience. This includes access to customer databases, automated order processing systems and communication platforms allowing real-time conversations with customers. Additionally, businesses should have an easy-to-use CRM system so sales representatives can track customer interactions, manage leads and follow up on inquiries quickly.
Effective sales support is imperative for any business looking to succeed in its sales efforts. An effective and efficient sales support team can make a massive difference in the customer experience, help companies convert leads into customers, increase customer loyalty and ultimately boost overall profits.
What is a Sales Support Role?
A Sales Support role or sales support specialists are the professionals running sales support-related tasks. They are the foundation of the sales team, guiding sales representatives through the time-consuming and tedious process of generating leads, qualifying them, and opportunity management.
Lead generation is usually a task for a sales support team. Still, the truth is that most sales representatives spend so much time researching and qualifying leads that they need more time actually to nurture those relationships.
Well-researched leads are crucial for a successful sales pipeline, but they mean little if your representative is too busy to speak with them meaningfully. Sales support helps this process by preparing leads while leaving the customer relationships to the sales representatives.
What are the Duties and Responsibilities of Support Specialists?
Sales support specialists are responsible for helping sales teams close deals and increase revenue. They have a wide range of duties, including:
- Providing customer service and technical support for both prospective customers and current clients.
- Analysing customer feedback, needs, and preferences to develop effective sales strategies.
- Developing client relationships by responding quickly to inquiries or requests from customers.
- Updating CRM databases with customer information, such as contact and account details.
- Researching new trends in the industry to stay ahead of competitors and brainstorm creative solutions for clients’ needs.
- Using analytics tools to monitor sales performance and identify potential problems or opportunities.
- Creating presentations, proposals, reports, or other materials needed for sales meetings or customer negotiations.
- Assisting in developing and implementing sales strategies to ensure they meet the desired targets.
- Participating in meetings, conferences, and workshops to learn about new products or services.
- Collaborating with the marketing team to implement promotional materials and campaigns.
- Analysing competitor activities, market trends, customer feedback, and other relevant data to improve sales performance.
- Maintaining awareness of industry news and events to maximise potential sales opportunities.
- Responding to client inquiries and complaints in a timely manner.
- Researching new sales opportunities and reporting them to upper sales management
- Generating leads through networking or referrals.
- Filtering and qualifying those leads
- Monitoring customer accounts for potential sales opportunities.
- Developing and maintaining relationships with customers to increase sales.
- Staying up-to-date on new products, services, and industry trends.
- Utilising customer relationship management (CRM) software to track sales performance and opportunities.
- Preparing, submitting, and following up on sales orders.
- Coordinating with other departments to ensure timely product or service delivery.
- Meeting or exceeding sales targets and helping the organisation achieve its revenue goals.
Some of the areas professional sales outsourcing covers include.
- Lead generation services
- Inbound and outbound calling
- Sales Chat
- Subscription selling
- Product selling
- Territory management and more
7 Qualities That Make a Great Sales Support Specialist
A great sales support specialist should have the following qualities:
Communication skills
Sales support specialists must be able to communicate effectively verbally and through written means to help customers understand the product offerings more clearly. They must also possess good listening skills when dealing with customer inquiries.
Excellent customer service skills
A sales support specialist must handle customer inquiries quickly, professionally, and with a positive attitude. They must also be able to answer customers’ questions about products or services.
Technical knowledge
Sales support specialists need a good understanding of their company’s product offerings and how they work for them to help customers effectively. They should also possess technical skills to troubleshoot any issues customers may have.
In addition, they should also be familiar with different software and systems used in their organisation, as well as have basic computer skills. They must also be able to learn new systems quickly to best serve customers.
Organisational skills
Sales support specialists must be able to prioritise tasks, manage time effectively, and maintain accurate records. In addition, they must stay current on their company’s product offerings to provide the best possible customer experience.
Likewise, they must also be able to multitask, handle several customer requests simultaneously, and effectively organise their time to meet all deadlines. They should also be able to take the initiative when needed and prioritise tasks accordingly.
Attention to detail
Sales support specialists must pay close attention when dealing with customers to get all the details and misunderstandings that could lead to satisfactory results.
Interpersonal skills
Sales support specialists should be able to communicate effectively with customers and develop strong relationships. They must also work well in a team environment and collaborate when needed. Additionally, they must build strong relationships with their colleagues, supervisors, and clients to provide the best customer service possible.
Problem-solving abilities
Sales support specialists need to be able to troubleshoot any customer problems with their product and develop quick solutions. This requires them to think on their feet and navigate different scenarios to provide the best customer experience. They should also be flexible and able to think on their feet when dealing with customer inquiries. They must also be able to assess the situation quickly to develop a suitable solution that meets the customer’s needs.
All About Sales Support Outsourcing
Sales support outsourcing involves hiring a BPO vendor to handle various sales-related activities. Whether you’re working in e-commerce or B2B, this can include developing and maintaining customer relations, providing technical assistance on products or services, managing marketing campaigns, and performing administrative tasks such as order processing and invoicing.
Why Outsourcing Sales Support is the New SME Trend
As the world moves towards a digital-centric economy, small and medium businesses are taking advantage of the benefits of outsourcing their sales support. Outsourcing these operations can be beneficial for companies in several ways:
It Reduces Overhead Costs
By outsourcing sales support activities to a BPO provider, SMEs can reduce labour costs associated with maintaining an in-house team. Furthermore, they refrain from investing resources into training new employees or hiring additional staff as their business grows. Moreover, investments in additional office spaces and new tools are optional.
It Increases Efficiency
By having a dedicated team of outsourced sales professionals working on behalf of your company, you ensure that they address all inquiries promptly and handle customer interactions efficiently. This increases the speed at which customers can find answers to their questions and improves the overall user experience with your brand or product.
It Enhances Brand Identity
Having an outside firm handle sales support operations makes companies appear more professional and established. As a result, customers will be able to recognise your business as a legitimate and established organisation, which in turn adds to the strength of your brand identity.
It Increases Sales
By having an experienced team working on their company’s behalf, SMEs can increase sales by providing customers with better support and information when they need it most. This can result in more leads and higher conversion rates from existing customers who have been given helpful advice or assistance throughout their customer journey with the company.
It Boosts Customer Retention
Good customer service is one of the keys to customer retention, and having a committed third-party sales support team working on the company can foster better customer relationships. This, in turn, can lead to boosted loyalty from existing customers, as well as higher rates of referrals that could result in even more sales.
It Makes Your Business Scalable
Outsourcing sales support operations allows SMEs to quickly scale their operations up or down depending on their needs without investing too much money into additional staff members or equipment. This makes it easy to adjust capacity as demand rises or falls, allowing companies to stay agile and remain competitive.
Access To Expertise and State-Of-The-Art Technology
Hiring an outside team of sales support professionals can give SMEs access to the expertise they may have yet to find in-house. Outsourcing also allows them the flexibility of choosing a team with experience across industries and cutting-edge technology solutions that could prove invaluable for their business operations moving forward.
Boost Employee Morale
Offshoring sales support operations to an outsourcing company helps remove the burden of these tasks from employees who may need to gain experience or expertise in this area. In addition, this can help boost employee morale and make them more productive as they are finally free from mundane tasks that don’t require their full attention.
Focus On Core Competencies
Outsourcing sales support operations frees up valuable time for SMEs to focus on their core competencies – from product development, marketing, or other areas that could need more attention if the company is going to succeed and grow in the long term. This also enables them to be agile, as they can quickly take advantage of opportunities without investing a lot of time into new initiatives immediately.
Conclusion
In hindsight, outsourcing sales support is a new SME trend that offers a variety of benefits. It can reduce costs, provide access to resources and expertise, and render a more tailored service than what would otherwise be available in-house. In addition, it allows businesses to focus on their core activities while ensuring the highest quality of customer service and helping SMEs scale up quickly to survive in the competitive marketplace. As such, SME owners need to consider how outsourcing sales support services can help them to improve efficiency and maximise their success.
Offshored sales operations are an excellent way to help grow your SME! The Lead Enquiry can connect you with a dedicated team of high-performing salespeople that focus on nothing but growth. Rest assured that they offer outstanding service, ensuring result-oriented sales support! Contact us today.
