If you’re a founder reading this article, odds are you’re already thinking about how to scale and grow revenue internationally. When, where, and how to manage the process with minimal risk and upfront commitment. We know because we’ve been there ourselves, and we’ve helped hundreds of startups expand through our network.

The go-to-market process can be extremely time consuming - asking around for recommended partners, searching for prospects on Google, reading reviews, emailing and calling prospective agencies waiting for replies...scheduling calls in different time zones… qualifying and negotiating rates… the list goes on and on. We can do better.

Revenew.ai is a curated marketplace which offers a new way for startups to source and hire outbound sales agencies to grow leads and revenues, in new markets.  

“Traditional market expansion or salesforce development is drastically time consuming, expensive, and risky. Especially considering the implications of COVID19!” says Drew Calin, CEO and cofounder of Revenue.ai. “We know because we’ve done it ourselves. The only businesses which can afford this route during these times, are large enterprises. The rest of us feel an urgency to scale, right now. So we’ve been hard at work to help founders find ways to grow revenues in new markets, remotely – and Revenew.ai is the solution.”

There are generally 3 options to consider, when it comes to growing revenues in new markets as a scaling business:

1.Traditional expansion – launch your product, reach product-market-fit, scale the business in your home market, and only then start expanding into new markets (incorporating new entities, hiring your first local staff, setting up a small office, employee insurance, and operational expenses, etc…).

• Ramp time to revenue is usually 6+ months and costs can be extremely high.

2. Building and scaling your salesforce - in this case you’ve already got a sales org developed, and you know your target customers, buyer personas, sales cycles, avg deal sizes, CAC and CLTV:CAC ratio. You’re probably series B+ funded and have a clear sense of how to scale, so you’ve got an engine of recruitment/onboarding/ramp/delivery. This is the dream we’re all chasing.

• This process takes years and requires heavy resourcing.

3. Outsourcing your outbound sales – selling into new markets, remotely. In this case you’ve got a good sense of your unit economics because you have product market fit, and you have good reason to believe you can sell into new target markets. However, you don’t have the resources to scale your sales force and you lack domain level knowledge in your target markets. Sales agencies offer access to trained sales reps (SDRs and AEs) and resources (like researchers, account managers, copy writers project managers, etc…), with in-market experience and can start calling on your prospects within weeks. Because they’re professional sales agencies, they also leverage modern sales tech products (CRM tools, automation solutions, social sales platforms, etc…) to streamline efficiency and maximize impact.

• Can hire resources at US$3-$10k/month (depending on target markets, buyers, and # of resources).
• Sales enablement and training usually takes 1-2 months
• You’re in-market engaging prospects within 2-3 months

We’ve written an entire playbook for GTM planning and execution, which you can reference here if you’d like deeper analysis. But if you’d like to better understand options for outbound sales solutions (point #3 above), pls read on…
Here are the services most sales agencies offer:

1. Market research - bespoke analysis of market and customer behavior through first and/or secondary research.
2. Lead generation - many agencies have access to curated data pools, and can help to identify prospects and build scalable prospect lists for your sales team to contact, nurture, and close.
3. Appointment Setting - this service is designed to build a pipeline for a customer's sales team to close. Your sales agency will build a qualified lead list (research), engage them to the point of interest (SDR, or sales development representatives as a service), and schedule sales calls for your sales team to nurture and close directly (qualified appointment setting).
4. Outsourced sales - full funnel sales management, from lead gen to prospecting, selling, and closing. Select agencies will act as an extension of your brand, helping to grow revenues in your target markets directly.
5. Other services include:

• Sales training and consulting
• Marketing automation solutions
• Long term staffing options
• And more...

We invite all founders keen on new revenue growth to visit Revenew.ai, or to contact us anytime at hello@revenew.ai. We’re an ecosystem player, and passionate about startup growth.

Many thanks, and happy hunting!

Drew Calin, CEO at Revenew.ai