March 25, 2024 | Contract Sales

4 Warning Signs You Should Avoid a Contract Sales Organization

A contract sales organization (CSO) can be an enormous boon to a pharmaceutical or medical device company’s operations. Being able to quickly fill sales rep positions with skilled and motivated individuals is a vital competitive advantage in a crowded, but lucrative, field.

However, not all CSOs are created equally. There are some contract sales companies that may not provide the full benefits you would expect from outsourced sales efforts—and some whose methods simply don’t line up with how your business operates. But, how can you spot a bad CSO to avoid problems with outsourcing?

In today’s blog, we’ll discuss some of the benefits of using the right CSO, warning signs of a bad outsourcing company, and how to find the right CSO for your needs.

The Benefits of Using a Contract Sales Organization

Using the right CSO can be a major benefit to you and your company for a variety of reasons. Some of the most basic benefits of using a CSO include:

Saving Time and Money on Recruitment

Putting together a dedicated team of sales reps with the right skills for medical/pharmaceutical sales is incredibly difficult. You have to advertise the job opening, screen potential candidates for their skills, and onboard each new hire—processes that can take weeks or months (and aren’t always guaranteed to result in hiring a useful medical sales rep).

Using sales outsourcing services streamlines recruitment—helping you save time and money on recruitment by handling key tasks on your behalf.

Providing Access to a Larger Pool of Qualified Talent

Recruitment isn’t just about filling holes in your organization chart—it’s about finding the right people to fill the right Medical and pharma sales staff need to be highly skilled.

However, finding the right personnel within reach of your main office can be a bit of a challenge. Using a CSO service helps expand your recruitment reach so you can access a larger pool of qualified talent.

Increasing Sales Department Scalability

With part-time contractor and full-time sales rep recruitment options, CSOs can make it easier to scale your sales staff in line with your business’ needs. For example, if you only need to hire additional staff for a seasonal sales campaign or to address short-term spikes in demand, a part-time staffing service can be invaluable for adding more sales reps for a limited time and then scaling back once the rush or special campaign is over.

Meanwhile, if long-term sales department growth is needed, then full-time sales reps can be recruited.

4 Warning Signs a CSO Might Be a Bad Fit

While a CSO can bring numerous benefits to your organization, that assumes they’re a good fit for you. A bad fit might actually bring as much (if not more) harm than good. So, it’s important to know the warning signs that an outsourced sales partner might not be a good fit for your company.

Here’s a short list to help you discover the bad fit CSOs so you can avoid them:

1. They Don’t Specialize in Medical/Pharma Sales

The medical and pharmaceutical sales industry has unique requirements compared to common retail operations. Sales reps have to carefully monitor how they interact with prospects to avoid breaking industry regulations, annoying potential customers, and getting blockaded by gatekeepers in target organizations.

A generic CSO that is used to staffing some call center for fly-by-night companies selling dodgy kitchen knives or other infomercial items is not likely to be equipped to help a pharmaceutical manufacturer find the right sales reps. The reps brought in might not have relevant training or experience in medical sales—leading to potential liabilities.

These liabilities could include things like accidental violations of regulations governing pharma and medical device sales, lack of ability to connect with medical/pharma industry prospects, or even failing to meet safety standards for field sales.

2. The CSO Does Not Offer Guarantees (or Their Guarantees Have WAY Too Many Exceptions)

When you look at the CSO’s service pages, do they have any kind of guarantee to protect your interests if a sales rep hire doesn’t work out? Some outsourcing companies might happily pair a less-than-ideal sales rep with your organization, charge you for the privilege, and then charge you again when you want to replace the bad fit hire.

Even when CSOs do their best to find top-tier talent, the new hire may not always work out. For example, the new sales rep may find that they simply don’t mesh well with the work environment, suffer an accident that takes them out of the work force, or have some other major life change that makes them unusable as a sales rep.

It’s important to look for things like a “Hire-Right Guarantee” that provides you with some protection against these scenarios. Without it, you may end up paying a contract sales organization over and over for new hires!

3. The CSO Doesn’t Communicate with You

When you hire a CSO, do you get regular reports on the status of their outsourced sales reps, the deals they’ve generated, or their plans for adding more talent to your team? Or, do you get nothing but radio silence from them unless you reach out to them first?

If your CSO is acting like a silent partner, it might be a good idea to look for a new one. Communication is key for any successful partnership. Besides, if a CSO is avoiding contact, they might miss important events or updates that they need to know about to keep up with your contract staffing needs.

4. Lack of Training/Post-Hire Support

Medical sales is an intensely competitive field that requires sales reps to keep up-to-date with the latest sales techniques and regulations. This is vital for two major reasons:

  • To Limit Risk. Uninformed sales reps who aren’t up to date with industry regulations could land medical/pharma companies in hot water with regulators and industry watchdogs. Continuous training helps limit risk by keeping sales reps informed of major regulatory changes.
  • To Increase Sales Rep Effectiveness. In today’s medical sales environment, it isn’t enough just to contact a prospect—sales reps need to form relationships with them that encourage long-term success. Sales training helps give sales reps the skills they need to remain effective even as the industry continues to change.

If a CSO isn’t providing ongoing education and training to their contract sales reps, that puts the burden on your organization to do it. This adds to the workload for sales leadership in your organization—distracting them from other, more value-added tasks that help your organization grow.

Looking for the Right CSO?

Need help finding a reliable and effective contract sales organization to fill your sales team vacancies? Axxelus is here to help!

We have a proven track record in the medical and pharmaceutical sales industries of pairing highly-skilled and effective sales reps with companies where they can flourish and produce results. Reach out to us today to get started!

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