Do You Lose Control When You Outsource Sales?

No, you are not giving up control, as long as the agreement keeps the things that matter in your hands: your CRM, your customer data and your direction. This question comes up in almost every conversation I have about outside commercial teams. Within four weeks, three founders asked me about hiring an outside sales organization, and all three got stuck on the same worry: do I feel comfortable giving away the control?

Why do founders worry about control?

I understand it. If I were on the other side of that seat and did not really know who I was dealing with, I might be a little worried too. You are handing your launch to someone and hoping it works. For a founder who has spent years building the technology, that feels like a lot to let go of.

My answer to one founder who kept coming back to this question was simple. You are not giving up control. And if what you really want is a general manager, go hire a general manager. An outside commercial team is a way to get to market, not a replacement for leadership.

What should I keep ownership of?

Three things, in writing.

• Your CRM and data. The company should own its CRM system, even if the outside team houses and runs it. Accounts, contacts and call notes belong to you.
• Your customers. This is the big difference from a distributor relationship, where you often don't get their data and the accounts are treated as their customers, not yours.
• Your direction. You decide where the team goes first. A good outside team takes your direction: these are the physicians who will matter most to my company, go there first.

Isn't a distributor or a 1099 rep safer?

For control, it is usually the opposite. With distributors and 1099 reps, you have very little influence and control over what they do every day. They will do whatever they want to do. If your product is easy to sell and makes them a lot of money, they sell it. If it is challenging or moves slower than they want, you are always competing with the next shiny object in front of them. A contracted team that works in your CRM and your marketing system gives you more visibility, not less.

What risks should I still weigh?

An outside team has its own risks, and I say that openly. You might reduce risk in one place, like the cost and time of building a full team, and in your mind take on a different risk by picking an outside company. I am not going to tell you it is all unicorns and rainbows. The goal is to be faster, because time is something you can't buy, to be more cost efficient, and to remove risk in ways you could not on your own. Test those claims against your own numbers.

The risk founders miss is inside their own company. This kind of decision takes a lot of alignment across the entire executive team. In one deal, the CEO was all in, but another executive strongly opposed the model. I think he felt threatened because marketing reported to him. We were around 90 days into discussions, and the real issue was internal roles, not the model.

Where to start

Before you talk to any outside team, write down what you will not hand over: the CRM, the data, the customer relationships and the final say on direction. Then get your executive team in one room and agree on it. If someone feels their role is threatened, deal with that first, because it will surface later anyway.