For a newly-launched business, the founders double as marketers and salespeople. They personally find customers, push their goods or services, and manage customer relationships. When the business grows, founders tack on a sales rep or two and offload some of the burden. Eventually, they hire teams and create full-blown departments for sales and marketing.
Wherever you lie on the scale, sales and marketing reps are indispensable. They man key positions and can make or break your business. HR Avatar presents a look at everything you need to know about hiring such workers externally to achieve your expansion-related goals.
Keep your expectations in check
Too many entrepreneurs see sales and marketing reps as a panacea. Hire a few salespeople and marketers, they think, and they automatically make you money. Nothing could be farther from the truth. According to Single Grain, you need to know sales before you can hire salesmen (or marketers). Why?
New people require onboarding. You have to train and educate them on your product and services. You need to hand them a script (a playbook) on where to find customers and how to hook them. Even the most experienced pros require guidance initially. Essentially, you need to have a well-oiled sales and marketing process in the works already for new people to learn from and build on.
How such professionals benefit your business
As long as you're prepared to take the lead and provide a solid foundation, sales and marketing professionals can do a lot for you, regardless of your growth stage. With the right people, you can:
- Generate leads for your business
- Enhance, expand, and rework your existing marketing or sales processes
- Reduce the time spent in closing sales
- Research the market and the competition
- Boost your brand visibility
- Meet revenue-related goals
What to look for in sales and marketing professionals
Seasoned veterans are out of reach of most budding businesses – they're too expensive. Still, you can make do with less-experienced albeit talented people. Sales Pop! explains what to look for:
- Top-tier communication skills, both verbal and written
- An approachable nature – clients should find them trustworthy
- Familiarity with sales tools like SalesForce
- Willingness to learn, grow, and hustle
- Resilience and the ability to deal with rejection
Pros and cons of hiring freelance and full-time
Recruiterbox says freelancers are best suited to short-term tasks, which may not make them suitable for sales or marketing needs. But every business is different, and you could still use them long-term. Freelancers usually deliver high-quality work, are about 30% cheaper to hire, and offer maximum flexibility. Full-time personnel deliver work with peaks and lows and are more expensive. However, they're easier to manage, more committed, trainable, and more accountable.
You can save money with 'off-the-shelf' services
Individual freelancers are not your only way to save time and money. "Off-the-shelf" services, readily available online, can do the same. Some examples include website building services, bookkeeping, client management software, virtual legal assistance, B2B copywriting, and direct marketing agencies, to name a few. You can even outsource pre-employment tests by working with a company like HR Avatar.
Forming an LLC is a popular legal service for most businesses that can be outsourced. Registering as an LLC separates your business assets from your personal ones. It also comes with advantages like flexibility, less paperwork, and more convenient tax filings. Register as an LLC yourself or have a service handle the business formation for you to avoid big lawyer fees. Check the rules in your state before moving ahead, as every state has different requirements.
Conclusion
If you don't have much experience with building sales or marketing teams, we recommend doing it on a smaller scale initially. Hire a couple of people first as a trial. You'll have a chance to experiment and see what works and what doesn't without investing too much money. Also, you'll be able to come up with an ideal candidate profile. Keep improving, learning, and you'll soon have a highly efficient sales and marketing process going.
