Sealing the Deal: Is Outsourcing PR Sales a Good Idea?

As a solo PR pro or small agency, is it ever a good idea to outsource your sales? It depends. In this episode we talk about how there is no right or wrong answer, only the answer that works for you and your business.

 

 Transcript

Michelle Kane (00:03):

Thank you for joining us for this episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves, people like me, Michelle Kane, with VoiceMatters and my wonderful co-host, Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro. How are you today, Karen?

Karen Swim, APR (00:18):

I am a little bit cold, a little bit sad because as we are recording this, we now know that the Detroit Lions will not be in the Super Bowl this year, but other than that, life is good. How are you?

Michelle Kane (00:35):

I'm good. I'm so sorry you can join. The ranks of the football season is over for us. It's never fun, especially the Lions had such a great run this year. My gosh, I was hoping they would get there. Just to shake things up a little bit.

Karen Swim, APR (00:53):

I had hope too, for the first time since I've lived in Michigan, I actually had hope that our football team would be in the Super Bowl. I'd never had hope before if I'm being completely honest, but

Michelle Kane (01:05):

Well,

Karen Swim, APR (01:05):

That doesn't, what are you going to do

Michelle Kane (01:07):

That makes it hurt a little more? So I get that. Totally get that. Anyway, but today we'll focus on bright, shiny new things. Actually, today we're going to talk about something that's been bopping around in our thoughts for a while. Should you outsource your sales for your solo business? Sometimes you think, huh, I'm a solo. What does that entail? Why would I want to do that? But at the same time, I don't know about you, but last time I had my resume, updated my resume like an overhaul. I had someone else do it, I hired it out. Sometimes talking about yourself and selling yourself is far more difficult than selling your clients. I remember getting the product, the resume back and reading it and thinking, who is this person? I did that,

Karen Swim, APR (02:02):

And I think that's why I can see the appeal of all of these new agencies that have popped up that want to do the sales process for you, because this is a very, very common pain point for solos. I mean, very common where everyone is like, how do I bring on business? And if you did not come from a traditional agency where business development is required as part of your role, then it can be very uncomfortable to figure this out. You don't really know how to sell and people equate sales with, here's what I see. I was in sales and I manage sales teams. So when you say the word sell to many people, they instantly think that it somehow means overcoming someone's will. So it feels like force process of overcoming someone's will to get what you want. That is not what sales is at all.

It really isn't. You're not forcing someone to choose you. You are talking to people who have problems and to gather you're collaboratively coming up with a solution. Sometimes that solution isn't you. That's a part of the sales process. Sometimes it is something that you actually can solve. And so the key is to find the people that have the problems that you actually can solve. So there's firms out there, and I get it. I get the appeal and I understand why there's so many firms that are now in this space. Part of it is because many people are trying to find other avenues for PR careers as they're transitioning out of PR because of the changing landscape. And some people are very good at the sales process, they're great at discovery, they're great at having these sales conversations, and for other people, it's not their natural talent. But is it a good idea? And if so, when is it a good idea?

Michelle Kane (04:08):

Yeah, I mean, even as you're giving all these pros and cons, I often, my first question would be, okay, so if I hire someone to do outsourcing my sales because I am a solo or even a smaller shop, even if it's a micro agency doing this, is the prospect going to feel like, well, this is a little top heavy. Is this going to affect your pricing? Is it going to feel like a bait and switch? I don't know. I think it would probably work best for a very specific business.

Karen Swim, APR (04:45):

Yeah, so here's where I land on it. When you think about the sales function within a large organization, typically the salespeople are employees of your company, so they are integrated into your brand. And so when they're selling, they're not selling something that's a part from them. This is a company that they have a connection with that they're a part of, so they're a part of your brand. I do think that there's this principle in sales that people buy from people that they know, like trust.

Michelle Kane (05:22):

Exactly.

Karen Swim, APR (05:23):

So when you bring in a third party company, they're trying to establish no and trust for you and they're removed. And also, remember, a lot of these companies, here's the caution, they're not just selling you. And so if you're in an agreement with them to get a percentage, that doesn't mean that they're going to put you forth and that they are acting on only your behalf. They're just selling and they're just trying to place and match, make a PR agency to a client. So it's not a one-to-one agreement where this is your outsource sales team. Now, there are people that you can hire as an outsource salesperson, but in my viewpoint, there are a couple of cautions. And I'm not saying that it will never work. I would never say that. And we always want to be mindful about not being so locked into tradition that we're not open to change.

But in my viewpoint, you never ever go wrong when you manage sales in your company, and if you are growing a bigger agency, even your job really should be developing business. You take yourself not out of the sales process, but out of the day-to-day, tactical stuff, that's what you outsource. But business development you keep, this is your company. No one can tell your story like you. And unlike some other businesses, we're not selling widgets. This is very much a service business and pr, the way that it's purchased has not changed that much, except when you're talking billion dollar budgets where they're hiring big global agencies and they're putting out feelers. But even in that process, if we really dig down into it, we know that often with those big, huge million dollar budgets, they're inviting people that they know trust to bid on the business.

So it's still a handful of firms. It's not just a big cattle call. Yes, RFPs happen, but those have to be winnable for you to even participate in that process. So from my viewpoint, you never go wrong by taking on that function and outsourcing something else. But if you're going to go this route, I would say there are a couple things that you need to be cautious about. You need to really look at the agreement that you're entering into for not only the length of time, the process that they're going to utilize to sell on your behalf. The percentage that you'll have to give up, is it a flat rate payment? Is it an ongoing percentage of your fee? You have to understand confidentiality and how much you're disclosing to this firm in order for them to be able to sell you. So again, if they're just out there and they're selling everybody, including your clients, because this has happened with some outsourced firms where they're supposed to be selling for you, and then they're offering up your clients on behalf of other agencies, that's not a good situation. So I would say I would have legal counsel go over any agreement that I was planning to enter into and make sure that you're not trapping yourself in something that's going to work against you.

Michelle Kane (08:45):

And you know what? If you hadn't outlined all those things just now that's making me tired and thinking I'll just do it myself.

Karen Swim, APR (08:55):

You can learn how to develop business. That's the thing. You don't have to be a quote salesperson to learn how to develop business for yourself. It's getting over that fear and understanding and having some kind of a process that is your natural skillset. So for example, networking may be your jammed, you're good at it, you're comfortable doing that, do that, but do it consistently because business development is not something that should happen when the house is on fire. It needs to happen on an ongoing basis. So you need to have structures in place that you constantly do. And outsourcing sales has to make financial sense for your company. So if you are somebody that only needs five accounts that are $20,000 a month, it might not be worth it to outsource your sales. But if you're really trying to build a larger agency, again, I would say, why don't you outsource other things that are going to get you bang for your buck? Because the more you free up your time to lead strategy to develop your people and to develop business, that's going to put the money in your pocket, not outsourcing the sales function. I mean, I think sometimes when we start our own business, we forget that at some point you're going to have to let go of some things if you want to grow.

Michelle Kane (10:23):

Yeah. Yeah. No, I think that makes perfect sense.

Karen Swim, APR (10:25):

It just is what it is. It doesn't mean that you have to, if doing the work is like that is where your heart lies and that's what makes you happy and excited about going to work every day and you're happy with your income, then you won't have to outsource anything. But if you ever want to get past that point to where you're bringing in more income, you're going to have to let go, and you're going to have to give up control of some things. But business development should not be that thing, in my opinion.

Michelle Kane (10:52):

No, I couldn't agree more because all business is relationship, and people want to know who they're doing business with, and if they choose to do business with you, it's because of you. Not that you're holding hands 24/7 and overdelivering, but they want to know who they're doing business with. And I think, look, unless I'm like LeBron James and I have an agent, to me it almost pings of, oh, I'm hiring an agent and well, who am I? No one that's for, well, for the most part known entities, right? It's not for unknowns. And if people want to know how I'm doing business, they want to know how I work, I'm the one that should be cultivating it, and I couldn't agree more. If you want to outsource things, it's the day to day, and it's really, it comes down to, and this goes for any businesses.

I've had this conversation with clients who are solos in other arenas when they're struggling with scaling, and it's like, look, what kind of work do you want to do? Do you want to just dig in and do the work or do you want to be growing this to be a larger concern? So you have to decide where you want to be and where you want to go. And in that case, this might be for you, but I think just for generally speaking, for the solos of the world, I think it just kind of goes against the structure that works for us.

Karen Swim, APR (12:24):

I completely agree. And I mean, here's the other thing too. The sales cycle, it is typically long. It's not like you're going to hire somebody and boom, boom, that business is going to come rolling in. I will say maybe different than somebody who completes the whole sale cycle. Maybe you enter into relationships, referral relationships, or maybe it's a matchmaker service. But again, I say look at those and don't believe that it's going to be a magic fix, but you want to make sure that you understand all of the terms and make sure that it's going to be worth your time because I know that that also feels like such a relief if you just get leads and it's a matchmaker type service, that could be great. And I agree. When you're getting leads from verifiable sources, that's beautiful. But then in your local area, there may be groups that already do that.

I know of some groups in different cities that it's basically a community of people and they refer business to each other within the group. If they don't have the skillset within the group, then group members will go outside to their broader network. That's a beautiful thing. It doesn't cost anything. There's no fee for entry. It's just these people that have formed a relationship with one another, much like the solo prs have done with each other that are referring business to one another. Sometimes maybe you have, we have venture capitalists that we have relationships with, and we get leads from them. You can develop your own lead source.

Michelle Kane (14:13):

Yes, exactly.

Karen Swim, APR (14:14):

Yeah, you really can do that. And Michelle, you hit the nail on the head. It's relationship. What I have found when selling new business is that people don't just want to understand your capabilities. They want to understand how you think and how you do business. That's something that's not always on paper. It's in those conversations that you have with people, the things that are in between the spaces of here's what we're able to do, here's who we've done it for.

Michelle Kane (14:48):

Yes. And it even comes up with just try to be helpful. I love making connections that have absolutely no benefit to me. If I see, oh, hey, you know what? This person will be fantastic for what you're looking for, and I hope it works out. That's great. Just sprinkle that goodness around. But that also speaks to the way you do business and to who you are and to just have some third party cold calling. Because look, we get these emails and what do we do? We delete them. I had one this morning where it said, just reply, no thanks. I'm like, no, that's, that's seven too many keystrokes for me. I'm just going to hit delete.

Karen Swim, APR (15:29):

Oh, I love the templates that now force you to unsubscribe. I never asked to subscribe. You randomly grab my name from the internet, are emailing me and then saying, this is the final time that you're going email me. And then you lie and you email me again, and then I have to unsubscribe from your emails that I never asked for. Nope. I won't be doing that. Thank you. I'll however, report it a spam and get you blocked. So I'll do you that favor. But yeah, and I'm not, let me be clear. There are some legitimate PR sales agencies out there. I don't want to just throw shade on all of them. I'm just not a fan of that business model for the type of work that we do, even if it's by former PR people, because there's a disconnect between who they are and really positioning yourself, your brand to potential clients.

Michelle Kane (16:34):

I agree. And something you said earlier, worth your time, your time is worth something. And just consider the time you would spend getting something like that going for potential payoff. Is it worth it where you could really be spending the time doing that on your own, work, LinkedIn, go to the networking things both in person, and there are still some virtual things that you can pop into. And as we know, building business, it's a slow burn. It takes easily six months, two years even. I've served on certain committees for years. Is it partly to hopefully build business? Yeah, that can't be my only reason, because that's not realistic. It took about, I don't know, six or seven years until one of those committee slots turned into really good business. Timing has to be right. Need has to be right. But you know what? When they needed someone, thankfully I was the first person they thought of.

Karen Swim, APR (17:44):

And I would say for solos, remind people pretty frequently it'll feel like too much for you, but remind people what you do. We don't do that. It's interesting. I was on threads last week and this amazing woman just said, Hey, this is what I do and I'm looking to be a guest on podcast. And she just stated her value proposition and her comments were flooded with people, and then she was like, okay, here's how to reach me. So just by reminding people like, Hey, I'm here. We're connected. This is what I do. And she was bold about it. I think that solos could use a bit of that confidence. Don't assume that just because you're on LinkedIn and you're sharing articles or you're on social media or you have a website or even because you have a client that is working with you, that they remember everything that you do and can offer or that you want business, you have to open up your mouth and remind people, including your clients. So periodically, even if you've been serving a client for five years, you need to say, Hey, I have an open slot. Do you know anybody who could use X, Y, Z? Would you mind making an introduction? Do not be afraid to share your areas of expertise. And don't forget that we're bombarded with so much information that people may not readily recall everything that you offer or even know that you're in the market for new business. So you have to speak up.

Michelle Kane (19:15):

Agree, agree. Well, we hope this time together has been beneficial, especially if you've been receiving these inquiries and wondering, gosh, I don't know. Should I outsource sales? So I know Karen's offered some amazing advice, and at the end of the day, you need to do what's right for you. And we know that in your gut what that is. So if you got value from this, please share it around. Check us out  at solopro.com. I believe Karen is the window to membership still open.

Karen Swim, APR (19:47):

It is!

Michelle Kane (19:48):

Excellent. So if you want to join our incredible community, that would be amazing. And until next time, thanks for listening to That Solo Life.