Customer churn is a critical issue for B2B firms given the longer sales cycles. According to research by Recurly, subscription companies average an annual churn rate between 5-7%. It varies by industry with Recurly sharing that B2B software along with business and professional services average 3.8% churn.
In today’s market, the pressure is on to maintain your customer base and expand it quickly enough to overcome churn and drive revenue growth. The solution is to have a calculated strategy that combines outselling churn, generating a robust pipeline, and leveraging outsourced B2B sales to scale your efforts.
Churn is an unavoidable reality in any business, but it doesn't have to dictate your growth trajectory. For sales-led growth (SLG) companies or those with PLG-SLG hybrid models, the key to outsell churn is setting sales targets that exceed your customer turnover rate. If you’re losing 5% of your customers each month, your sales team needs to replace that 5% and then some to break even. To achieve real growth, you’ll need to outsell churn consistently by a margin that leaves room for expansion.
This requires more than hard work. It demands a strategic approach. Your sales team needs to focus on high-value prospects, focus on building long-term customer relationships, and close deals that replace lost revenue while pushing your numbers positively. A strategically targeted approach is easier when you refine and prioritize your ideal customer profile (ICP), which we described in this article about lead generation techniques. By focusing on outselling churn, you’re proactively driving growth instead of solely reacting to losses.
Your pipeline is the lifeblood of your sales operations. Without a steady influx of qualified leads, even the best sales teams will struggle to outsell churn. To build revenue pipeline that supports sustainable business growth, you need a multi-channel lead generation strategy that consistently delivers high-quality prospects into your funnel.
Lead generation isn’t just about quantity, it’s also about quality. As a sales leader, you need to identify the right targets, engage them with the right messaging, and nurture them through a buyer’s journey that aligns their needs with your goals. By focusing on building leads that are more likely to convert, you can strengthen your pipeline and set your team up for success.
To generate pipeline effectively, you may want to consider a combination of inbound and outbound tactics, as well as market research campaigns. Your goal is to create an approach that builds your brand, so your ideal customers think of you when they are ready to purchase, and that generates leads to keep your sales pipeline full.
Even the smoothest sales machines can benefit from an extra boost which is where an outsourced B2B strategy comes in. By integrating outsourced B2B sales and lead generation into your overall growth plan, you gain access to specialized expertise and can scale up or down resources with demand to help you build pipeline and drive customer success.
Outsourced B2B sales isn’t about replacing your internal team. It’s about supplementing their efforts. Whether you’re looking to expand into new markets, ramp up your lead generation, or simply scale your sales operations — an outsourced B2B strategy can help you get there.
By not housing each business function internally, it offers you the opportunity to re-evaluate your company structure and configure it for effectiveness and scalability.
Consider this example:
Your internal sales team is swamped with demos and client negotiations, but you’re still not hitting your targets. You need to increase capacity, and you decide to try outsourcing. A skilled external team can filter through marketing-generated contacts to find qualified in-market buyers who are ready to engage with you. While your in-house team is creating contracts, the outsourced experts are cold prospecting for new opportunities and warming up potential clients to build pipeline for you.
Your in-house team is free from the grunt work, and they are focusing their time and energy on delivering quality presentations and moving opportunities along to close more, faster. Meanwhile, your outsourced partners are filling in staffing and training gaps, so you are always at full capacity and output. With your internal expertise and a partner who brings proven methodologies and a track record of results, you can generate leads faster and outsell churn more effectively.
In the battle against churn, a reactive approach won’t cut it. You need a strategy that outsells it while generating a strong pipeline and increasing the capacity of your team without the cost of maintaining one. By focusing on these three key elements, you can build a growth engine that outpaces customer turnover and sets your business up for long-term success.
About Us:
The Sales Factory was founded in 2018 and was ranked Canada’s 9th Top Growing Company of 2023 by The Globe and Mail. The Sales Factory is a Toronto-based company that pivoted during the 2020 pandemic to help technology businesses navigate market uncertainty. The team now proudly supports sales and growth teams with business development across industries such as software, construction, and manufacturing. If you ever consider outsourced sales services, we’re here for you.
Recently, The Sales Factory was recognized by G2 as a Summer 2024 High Performer across Outsourced Sales Providers and Lead Generation Services categories and named by Clutch in 2024 as a Top Sales Outsourcing Company.
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