If you're targeting local businesses as an onshore BPO company, there's an inclination to criticize your offshore rivals. Now that can't be helped, competition inspires such actions but please be careful when that attitude closes you off from other offshore services like lead generation. Here are three factors that should explain why:
1. Process
Obviously, just because you don't think your process is advisable to outsource doesn't mean the same for every other business process. You offer financial planning so obviously the closer you are geographically, the more likely your prospects and customers will trust you. (On a side note, it would also please them to know that the won't have to book a flight just to meet with you.) Your close proximity implies easier accessibility.
However, you don't necessarily need that proximity in lead generation. Offshore lead generation firms with a global market have strictly secured online databases which only you can access, regardless of geographical location. Defining qualified leads (which will be tackled next) can be easily done via overseas communication unlike discussions on financial reports and other, more confidential business data.
2. Elements of qualified leads
Your salespeople might have a lot of specifications that define financial planning leads however, are those definitions enough reason to keep it onshore? Sure, you can say that some prospects might want to relay more sensitive information during the marketing phase but that's more of a sign to redirect the leads towards sales. It doesn't mean that your offshore marketers are required to do their job. (In fact, they might even oppose to that idea.) One of the advantages of marketers is that while they don't have as much problem-solving expertise as sales, their more general understanding makes it easier for them to bridge gaps between specialists and their market. You maybe able to suggest an effective and complex financial solution but marketers only need to know enough to make it understandable and appealing to your prospects. That doesn't mean they want to be privy to everything you do between yourself and your customers.
3. Results
The results of your offshore lead generator don't have any connection to their location either. You want leads? All you need to do is log in to their database and there you have them. Their quality will speak for themselves once your salespeople report their own results. None of this require geographical proximity nor an actual visit to your offshore marketer's office. Furthermore, many offshore marketing firms also claim cost-efficiency as their advantage. Should their leads prove beneficial, then why stop outsourcing them? Wouldn't it be better to generate them at a lower cost to help lower the bottom-line costs of your entire business?
These same facts should be considered even when comparing yourself to offshore financial planning firms. You will find a sharp difference between comparisons to them and comparisons to other offshore businesses who do other business processes like lead generation and marketing. In the case of marketing, the process is already different, its purpose doesn't warrant geographical proximity, nor does that proximity have any connection to the results required. You can generate your leads offshore even you're an onshore company.
