Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, businesses have been pushed to their limits. Technology is one industry that has seen massive ebbs and flows of growth and opportunity. Despite this, it has become increasingly clear that individuals and businesses alike will suffer from the financial effects of the pandemic. Even the 'pandemic winners' of the tech industry are preparing for challenges stemming from an impending recession and some of the highest inflation in history.
Start-up tech companies worldwide have laid off 134,654 employees since the start of the pandemic [1], and big tech companies such as Meta, Microsoft and Coinbase have either slowed down or frozen hiring [2], despite the incredibly rapid growth that the industry experienced over the pandemic.
Sales development representatives (SDRs) are some of the most influential members of your business’ development. They are responsible for creating qualified leads and play a crucial role in helping bring you new growth opportunities. But, building a strong team of representatives that are motivated, driven, and focused on getting results is not an easy task.
In times of recession or economic hardship, layoffs and downsizing are not unusual, and they may be a necessity for your business. A company experiencing a downturn, having a budget shuffle, or merely wanting a more efficient way of running its operations may want to consider outsourcing its SDR team which can benefit these three key areas; price, performance and productivity.
Price
In tough economic times, it is essential as a business to make sure you are cost-effective.
The cost of hiring new SDRs to replace those who have been promoted or moved on can be high, on average it costs between 1.5-2 times the employees' salary [3]. With this comes the lengthy process of advertising, recruiting, and training. This is not ideal when you rely on a team to identify the qualified leads essential to your growth.
The recruitment and onboarding costs with an outsourced SDR team are entirely eliminated. The benefit of outsourcing is having a team of SDRs ready to take on your projects with all the technology and know-how they need right away. In addition to saving money on the recruitment and onboarding stages, further expenses associated with employee retention are no longer your responsibility. Holidays, sick pay, and pensions are all covered by the provider of your outsourced services, which will have a positive knock-on effect on your team who are no longer distracted or compromised by team time-off.
Outsourcing allows you to be more flexible with your team. If it turns out more project hours are required, it won’t be necessary to hire more SDR’s.
Performance & Productivity
Building an in-house SDR team can face trial and error. It takes time to gain the right talent; on average, an SDR takes 3.3 months to reach their full potential [4]. Coupled with the fact that the average tenure of an SDR is between just 13-18 months, [5], the pressure that will come from having to complete the recruitment and onboarding process multiple times over can have a negative impact not only on the management team but also the productivity of your sales development representatives.
High morale levels are important to help SDRs reach their goals, yet 31% of managers find the performance and productivity of the team to be a challenge [6]. An outsourced team of SDRs are supported with coaching and development systems to ensure they reach their full potential and are motivated, engaged, and rewarded for their results.
With the practices in place already, often built over a number of years, you can expect experienced SDRs to handle your projects from day 1, relieving you of the responsibility of delivering results. The in-house data team will be responsible for sourcing, building, and cleaning a list of prospects for SDRs to work from, so they can focus on results.
There is no denying the importance of an SDR team in your business. If you think you can benefit in any of these areas by outsourcing your SDR team contact Adam Clarke, Business Development Manager at adam.clarke@punch-sales.com.
