Nowadays, the sales force of a commercial company is no longer confined to the sale itself. To increase the company's turnover and market share, increasingly complex tasks fall to the sales force. Faced with competition, companies must redouble their efforts and carry out more actions, which is why it is becoming more and more common to build a back-up sales force.
Auxiliary sales force: what are we talking about?
Setting up an additional sales force consists of calling on a service provider to support and strengthen the company's internal sales force on an ad hoc basis. The auxiliary sales force is therefore a service that supports the commercial effort already provided by the company.
A distinction must be made between the outsourced sales force and the auxiliary sales force. The outsourced sales force is a service provided to a company that does not have an internal sales force. Companies can delegate this function to an external entity for several reasons (financial, strategic, organizational, etc.): to meet a need for an auxiliary sales force, specialized service providers can offer very comprehensive services. Supplementary sales force agencies notably carry out market research, field sales promotion, performance analysis and many other tasks.
The benefits of a supplementary sales force agency
Soliciting a back-up sales force is a practice that has several advantages, including:
the expertise of the supplementary sales force agency : working with a professional expert in the field is one of the major advantages of a supplementary sales force. The service provider's specialization and experience are major assets,
time savings : in just a few days, a team of specialists is able to set everything up and start working efficiently,
the autonomy of the service provider : in general, the agency forms its own team using its own means and offers a turnkey service. In general, your mission is limited to the realization of the specifications and the setting of the objectives,
additional results : the results achieved by the team are added to those of your internal teams. It is therefore a real contribution allowing you to boost your sales and not to make them for you. This is the very basis of the concept of side-selling.
How to constitute a supplementary sales force?
Building an auxiliary sales force requires a great deal of involvement. If you are assigned to this task, you must act with discernment and especially in stages. We advise you to proceed as follows:
Step 1: Determine your goals
Before going any further, you must set a specific objective for your supplementary sales force. Ask yourself the right questions. What product do you want to sell? How many additional sales do you aim to achieve?
Step 2: Control your operational costs
You should minimize the costs of this future collaboration as much as possible. Some providers are more autonomous than others, but in any case, costs will arise from this collaboration. You must anticipate them and control them according to the allocated budget.
Step 3: choose the best service provider
The choice of provider can be very tricky given the economic stakes. It is therefore wise to take the time to carefully scrutinize the candidates and to take the time to discuss with the managers of the supplementary sales agencies.
Evaluate their reliability by checking their seniority in the industry and their professional references. Also, compare the solutions they offer and assess their abilities to work according to your requirements. Of course, the financial side is worth its weight in gold.
Step 4: train and integrate your sales force
Closer and in contact with customers in the field, the agency's sales representatives are also direct representatives of the company in the eyes of the general public. Despite the level of autonomy of the selected agency, you will have to transmit your vision, your state of mind and your values to the service provider because your image and your notoriety are at stake. You must therefore federate and in some way train the teams so that they acquire certain technical knowledge, the know-how of your company and the qualities inherent in all of your internal staff.
Step 5: educate your internal teams
Your internal teams should not be outdone in this process. They must also be made aware of how to work in synergy with your auxiliary sales force and make their job easier. Set up an organization adapted to your process so that this new collaboration does not constitute a brake or a blockage in the realization of your usual tasks. Mutual trust and awareness of the validity of this strategy are essential.
