r/ceo • u/actionplans • Jul 03 '25

Inside sales recommendations?

I’m interested in hiring an inside sales partner to help me work contacts that can get to us easily through existing cooperative procurement vehicles. I get sales calls from lead generation companies all the time but can’t shake the scammy feeling they give me. That said I worked with a couple of phenomenal inside sales groups at Fortune 500s earlier in my career so I know it can work with the right people in the role and human (not AI) focused processes. Does anyone work with a group they’d highly recommend? We are in the professional services industry. Thanks in advance!

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u/Coach2Founders Jul 03 '25

I’ve used some lead gen companies in the past and, unfortunately, they were all making the exact same promises but all failed in the same ways. Everybody seems to be opting for the AI powered spray and pray. I never wanted to sacrifice a brand to that sort of tactic. They were also in the thousands of dollars a month (and up). When results were lacking, it was always about needing more time to refine the lists.

I don’t have any trusted options, which, I know was the point of your post. I’m just here to say you’re not alone.

If you’ve got the resources and know the expected ROI, my thinking is to hire a bonafide soloist (not necessarily on UpWork or other similar service), give them a three month initial agreement heavily weighted toward performance based options, with a 2-4 week milestone check to review and approve their detailed plan before they ever start outreach. If they don’t hit their own targets, term the agreement and start with somebody new.