Customers Acquisition: In-House, Outsourced or In-House?

Today, generating leads is an essential part of any business. Customers are the lifeblood of any business.

"You're out of business if there isn't a prospect!" – Zig Ziglar

61% of marketers believe that lack of resources, such as staff, funding, and time, is the biggest obstacle to their B2B lead generation efforts.

Many businesses are now looking for ways to increase their lead flow. Outsourcing lead generation is one option. This allows the in-house sales team to focus on driving prospects through their sales funnel.

However, can a third-party team be hired to increase the quality and quantity of leads? Is it better to continue lead generation within your company?

This article will discuss the pros and cons for both external and internal customer acquisition, and how they can be used to help your company achieve its sales and business goals.

The Key Takeaways:

• 
  In-house lead generation is a way to give employees more control and motivate them.
  

• 
  Using a legitimate lead generation agency can provide your company with quality data-based leads that will allow sales staff to spend more time closing deals.
  

• 
  Avoid being tied to a lead generation company by asking the right questions in advance.
  

In-House Lead Generation

Advantages

Control

You have more control over your lead generation efforts if you keep them within your organization. You can make changes to the process because you are in control of it.

It can be as easy or complicated as you want. In-house teams, for example, can choose to focus on a larger niche or a narrower one.

Motivation

It can also create a "hustle culture", which allows teams to be high performers. This type of business culture not only generates leads but also creates an energy work environment that can help your business reach greater heights if managed well.

Be careful. We are all facing the greatest resignation. A "hustle culture", which is characterized by a lack of management, can quickly become toxic. Employees will no longer be able to take – ish away from unjust companies.

Image Source: Statista

Advantages

Too thin for your team

Although marketing and sales teams often work together, there are some companies that have only one team. Many people believe that sales teams should be able to generate their own leads through referrals. This will depend on how close the sales team is to clients. However, it is more sensible to delegate lead generation tasks to another team to allow your sales team to focus on closing sales.

Training required

It is not the same thing to generate leads and close sales. The management team should invest time and effort in training sales reps who are responsible for lead generation.

Too focused

An in-house lead generation program has another disadvantage. Many people have difficulty determining what qualifies as a lead. The biggest drawback of an in-house customer acquisition team is the fact that sales teams and professionals can be so focused on closing deals that it takes them too long to take the time to review feedback from potential leads.

It takes time to get started

Finally, it takes more time to set up and maintain an internal lead generation program, as you are starting from scratch.

Outsourced Lead Generation

Advantages

Image Source: Margen.net

A dedicated team

Outsourcing customer acquisition has the greatest advantage: a dedicated team does all of the hard work and time-consuming research. It's almost like having a team of experts. You'll also know that most companies' goals are based upon client sales. This means you can be sure they will work tirelessly to get you a real lead and not fluff that won't close.

These professionals are experts in lead generation and know the best practices to help you grow your customer base. This allows your company to save both time and money by not having to hire additional training.

Based on data

The lead scoring system is used by outsourced lead generation teams. This allows them to use the data to determine how likely each lead will convert. This allows your sales team to know how to approach each lead before they make contact. It also allows for more precise targeting via personalization.

Time-saving for your sales team

An outsourced team can handle preliminary communications with potential clients. This provides a solid foundation for your sales team before they start talking to leads. Your sales team may be able to conduct initial communications. However, outsourcing this service allows your team to focus on leads that are most likely make a purchase.

This will make your sales team save a lot of time. This will give your sales team a better chance to move potential leads down the sales funnel, and develop genuine relationships.

Library of resources

There's a good chance that a reliable lead generation company already has a large database of contacts. You can see potential leads quickly, and they will do more research to find you the right candidates.

Advantages

They don't belong to you

Despite all the benefits of having an external lead generation team, the greatest disadvantage is that they aren’t yours. Their expertise is available to many clients as they are an external team. They have other clients to work on so your account might not be their first priority. This shouldn't matter if you find the right company.

Learning curve

The size and scope of your chosen lead generation company may mean that they might not be experts in your field. While this doesn't necessarily mean that the job will be easy, it could be challenging at the beginning.

Are you in or out?

Although having greater control can be a huge advantage, outsourcing to an experienced and dedicated team could prove beneficial. Small businesses, especially startups, will find outsourcing lead generation attractive when you consider the time and effort required to build an in-house team.

To help you understand the differences, Dan Harsh from Concept Services has created this checklist:

Remember that even though you're hiring experts in lead generation, they are not magicians and still need your attention and time to make it work. These disadvantages can be overcome by a faster ROI.

It is important to research the company before you commit to it. What is their measure of success? What type of communication is expected? Be sure to ask the right questions so that you are confident with your outsourcing lead generation efforts.

This is true for any other marketing initiatives that your company may outsource. Outsourced content marketing is a prime example, and it's growing in popularity every year.

You can learn more about content marketing by visiting our blog or scheduling a consultation with our team.