Outsourcing is an integral feature of the sales and marketing industry. It’s not a new concept that a business may come to a trusted partner for help in generating leads and broadcasting a desired message to their target audience.
But is such a partnership following an old-fashioned set of expectations? Is it in need of a revamp to build trust and growth in today’s pressurised and fast-paced business landscape?
Sales expert Richard Lane, the co-founder and CCO of durhamlane, a strategic global revenue acceleration agency, discusses the nature of traditional outsourced partnerships. He explains how the model can build stronger relationships between in a more dynamic way, by relying on a payment-by-results model.
Traditional outsourcing partnerships vs. dynamic strategic partnerships
When businesses look to outsource their sales and marketing, it’s often with the view of it being a temporary solution. This almost always goes hand-in-hand with an expectation to drive down costs and increase efficiency over outcomes, rather than looking at how time and resources can be best spent.
Alongside the expectations of streamlining operations and reducing expenditure, there is always an expected standard of results. While this approach can be effective in the short-term, I’ve found it often lacks flexibility and fails to develop a more meaningful relationship in the long-term. It’s difficult to keep innovating and drive high-quality leads at a high rate if your team aren’t in the mindset to strive for the best results possible and simply focused on creating outputs over outcomes.
This is where switching to a more dynamic model of strategic partnerships—a relationship that intrinsically links success between both parties — provides your customer with a more solid foundation of trust than a transactional relationship would. There are such strong benefits in this more ambitious dynamic, as it establishes and is built on mutual goals and putting strong results first.
Put simply, this means that when a relationship relies on linking the cost of the opportunity with the outcome, both parties know they’ll get the best results.
Aligning partnerships with outcomes and revenue
When both you and the customer align your focus on continued strong outcomes rather than short term returns, you’ll probably find both sides of the relationship come away happier.
The key goal of any partnership in this industry, of course, is that both parties receive the desired results. Having this more resilient mindset of mutual goals encourages the delivery team within to keep innovating in order to get results, building a reputation as a high-quality lead generation partner.
This could mean bringing in the talent necessary to adapt to certain channels or industries, or using holistic methods to achieve the results in a new way, through avenues the business may not have previously explored. In my experience, clients will keep an open mind to anything that drives the powerful outcomes they’re looking for.
Using this method allows you to build your framework around success, putting the drive of your outsourced partner’s marketing executives and sales development representatives at the heart of the relationship, which is a factor we believe to be key at durhamlane.
How that works in practice
Implementing a partnership that is dynamic as well as strategic involves several practical steps. The first lies in establishing values, capabilities, and a clear vision that attracts the right customers. If your team can guarantee a client bang for their buck, you ultimately gain a trusted and expert reputation that clients will come back to time and time again.
This is something we saw when it came to our work with Centrica. Working in the energy sector industry, where things had been upended into uncertainty due to new regulations, rising prices and the cost-of-living crisis, we had to upskill and tightly align our team with the most updated knowledge of the industry. This work paid off when our team became consultants to customers in need of assurance and information.
By aligning our goals to focus on quality leads rather than a quick, short-term focus on delvering KPIs, we gave Centrica ongoing, high-quality results – a 27% conversion rate, and 197% ROI against gross margin for the company.
It’s a more daring structure, as you have to trust your team will deliver every time, and that you have strong internal structures to avoid overloading your team leaders. It can be a major internal shift for your team, who need to be robustly prepared to avoid overload. There is more risk to falling under target, which isn’t something to be taken lightly when making the shift.
But if you have faith in your team and higher ambitions to drive your agency forward, shifting your mindset like this can push new opportunities to higher heights.
What that means for your outcomes
Dynamic strategic partnerships set you up for some powerful outcomes:
- Innovation and agility: Building a dynamic relationship with clients will push the outsourced partner to always innovate and respond swiftly to market changes, rather than working through rote pathways to achieve baseline goals. We know firsthand that agility gives you the leg-up in staying ahead of competitors and seizing new opportunities for stronger results.
- Shared risks and rewards: Both parties share the risks and rewards of the partnership, creating a sense of joint commitment.
- Long-term growth and sustainability: Dynamic partnerships are built for the long haul. They develop trust and a flexible partnership that will see both companies to long-term success.
Benefits of long-term growth and sustainability
Taking this approach is not just about immediate gains; it is about building a foundation for future success. If you want your team to see continuous improvement, it will encourage continuous outside the box thinking, with high levels of efficiency. It also builds long-term value in the relationship, in a way that is scalable to accommodate new projects, markets, and opportunities for you both. Similarly, any undesirable market conditions can be met with a reactive response, and pressure can be applied at the right times.
Proactive outbound is durhamlane’s speciality, especially in long, complex cycles. In fact, it’s all we’ve done for the past 13 years. Take it from me – you need to keep innovating to keep delivering results that last – for both you and your partners!
Richard Lane, CCO and co-founder of durhamlane, is a seasoned Sales 2.0 practitioner and consultant with over 16 years of experience in solution selling, global sales, and sales leadership, specializing in accelerating revenue generation. He developed the 'Selling at a Higher Level' methodology, aiding numerous global businesses in boosting their sales. Lane possesses expertise in omnichannel marketing and performance culture, having collaborated with notable brands like Siemens Healthineers, ABB, and Nasdaq. A regular speaker and podcast co-host, he is dedicated to developing sales professionals and also serves as an Associate Lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University.
