Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is often thought of as synonymous with contact centres. The assumption that all BPOs just focus on customer service misses the fact that an expert supplier can manage almost any business process and keep brand reputation intact.

This supply includes highly critical functions where the reputation of your brand is on the line. What about your inside sales team, for example? The way a sales representative behaves is not just crucial for closing a deal or cross-selling an additional product, and it reflects how customers feel about your brand.

So why do some executives fear outsourcing and working with specialists? I hear some managers say that anything related to their brand – and especially the inside sales process – should stay close, keep it in-house. They fear any damage to their brand by allowing a supplier to talk directly to their customers.

But what is it that they are protecting?

In many cases, the ‘secret sauce’ is precisely that – secret. Ask ten executives to define their culture, and you will receive eleven answers. At ICON, we believe that working with a partner for essential processes like inside sales can actually give managers an advantage – it helps them define their culture and figure out why it works (or doesn’t).

When is the last time you ever evaluated and tried to describe your corporate culture? This might be the perfect time to step back and think about it because so much has changed in the past year. It is likely that you are onboarding new colleagues now without ever meeting them. How do these people fit into your organisation’s culture when their experience of your company is entirely different from that of the team members who knew how you used to work before Covid arrived?

Processes such as inside sales can be organised in a more professional and systematic way if you partner with a specialist organisation that focuses on delivering this expertise as a service. Partnering with a specialist now is also an excellent opportunity to revise how your organisation is structured – how will your business look once the Covid vaccine rollout is more advanced. It’s likely that many of your colleagues will want to cling onto their new-found flexibility.

Your brand reputation can be damaged by many issues – security lapses, media coverage, or rogue employees. However, the least likely area where it will be damaged is if your company hires a specialist to help advise or carry out specific functions. If anything, this improved professionalism should have a positive effect on your brand reputation.

“Outsourcing” may now sound dated, but the partnership has never been more critical. If you are careful and find the right partner that fits well with your own corporate culture – and remember this may be in a state of flux at present – then you can improve processes that are less scrutinised when performed internally. The time is right to review your culture and partner ecosystem. Rebuild and get ready for growth in 2021.

Get in touch with ICON directly if you would like further examples or case studies about companies that have dramatically improved their inside sales process thought partnership with a BPO.