Managing a successful sales team can be like walking a tightrope. As your organization grows, you look for opportunities to reward sales teams. But as success grows, so do competitor interests. Does it make sense to pay what it takes to keep the most successful sales employees?

Some organizations are now outsourcing their sales efforts. How do you know if this is right for your company? Promotional Consultant Today shares these key points to consider in your analysis of outsourcing versus an in-house sales team.

Financial. A watchful eye on expenses is at the heart of every business. There are two key measures that companies, investors and executives rely on—simply put, money in and money out. The cost of acquiring a new customer includes the cost of a seller: the base salary, health care, vacation, sick days, 401K and other perks. It's the norm to pay a seasoned sales executive six figures. A recently published article reported nearly 70 percent of salespeople are currently looking for a job; hence, the overhead of getting yet another salesperson up to speed is costly. Another 45 percent plan to look for a new job in the next three months. The expense associated with maintaining top performers is not only costly, but a risky endeavor. Ultimately a top seller who is producing has the likelihood of leaving for a better opportunity and, conversely, a seller who isn't working out has lost a company critical time and revenue, plus training another seller to start over.

Faster. Outsourcing is proven. A good resume does not translate to a proven track record. Research shows that a company spends six to 12 months to get a new person up to speed. Coupled with a long sales cycle, onboarding a new sales professional can prove to be a recipe for disaster. Unless you have a dedicated sales manager properly monitoring metrics and communication with prospects, at the end of the day a company can miss out on significant revenue. A benefit of an outsourced salesperson is that they move more quickly.

Focused. An outsourced salesperson is 100-percent focused only on sales. A McKinsey Global Institute Report study notes salespeople spend 39 percent of their time on role-specific tasks. Other day-to-day activities sneak in and while important (and sometimes not), they derail productivity in growing the business. The outsourced seller simply never has to deal with these distractions and can consistently stay laser focused on results.

Forging Ahead. The same holds true for sales. For roughly the same price as bringing in a mid-level seller full-time, you can hire an experienced outsourced business developer to expedite and maximize your sales. Keep in mind this doesn't even take into consideration that a typical seller, as noted above, only spends a fraction of the time actually selling. Plus, you still need to train this internal seller. Outsourcing some or all of sales allows the business owner/upper management to focus on the business versus being in the business.

In the end, you might consider a hybrid model—keeping some responsibilities in house and outsourcing others. Outsourcing can be an efficient and time-saving solution to strategic selling.

Source: Letty Gutierrez-Bujak is founder of The Sales Farm. For over 20 years she has worked in a sales capacity and has developed and closed millions of dollars in new business.