If Your Sales Team Is Struggling to Find Leads, Read This
Newer reps struggle because fuzzy positioning makes cold outreach harder than it needs to be. Fix the positioning for the reps you have before you hire another.
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Short answer
Your newer reps are struggling because your positioning makes their job far harder than it needs to be.
It isn't laziness or inexperience. Give the reps you already have a defined ideal customer profile and messaging that cuts through, before you hire another one.
Why are your newer reps struggling to find leads?
They don't have the network that built your business, and your positioning gives them nothing to replace it.
Most BPOs were built on relationships. Deals got done over dinners, conferences, and long-standing connections. If you've been in the game a long time, you probably still get the occasional "Hey, we're looking, can you help?" call.
But here's the part we don't talk about enough: your newer sales reps don't have that. They're not getting those calls. They don't have the same network. And they're out there every day trying to start cold conversations in a market full of noise.
It's not working, and not because they're lazy or inexperienced. The way most BPOs are positioned makes their job far harder than it needs to be.
Can your team explain why a buyer should choose you?
If they can't, they're not selling. They're scrambling.
Can your team clearly explain:
- Who you're really best suited to serve
- What makes you different from every other BPO out there
- Why a buyer should trust you with their business over someone else
If they can't, that's the generalist positioning trap that leaves sales teams scrambling to explain the difference. They burn hours on emails that don't get replies. They get ghosted after the first call. They spend half their pitch just trying to explain what you do.
It's exhausting. And avoidable.
How do you make the job easier for the reps you already have?
Give them a defined ideal customer profile, messaging that cuts through, and the clarity to break into better conversations.
You don't need to throw another rep at the problem. You need to make it easier for the ones you already have to succeed. That means narrowing to a micro-vertical and a repeatable workflow instead of chasing everyone.
When your rep hits "send" on that cold email, it shouldn't feel cold. It should feel relevant, specific, worth responding to. That depends on how the buyer's process has shifted, and what that means for outreach that actually lands. When that happens, your pipeline starts to feel less like a grind and more like momentum.
Next Step
If buyers compare you on price, we can talk it through.
Frequently asked questions
How long before reps actually feel the difference in outreach response rates?
Once the ideal client profile and messaging are locked, the same volume of outreach lands on the right people with a clearer reason to reply. The bigger compounding gains, referrals and inbound, take longer.
Our senior reps' relationship-based pipeline is still working fine. Do we need to change anything for them?
Not urgently, but that pipeline has a shelf life tied to their tenure and network, not to the business. Fixing positioning now protects the reps who don't have that safety net, and the ones you'll hire next.
Our client base is already spread across a lot of different industries. How do we even define an ideal client profile?
Look for the pattern in outcomes, not industry labels: where clients stay longest, refer the most, and need the least discounting to close. That pattern is your ideal client, even if it cuts across the industries you'd have guessed.
Is this a sales problem or a marketing problem?
It's a positioning problem that shows up in sales. Fixing it isn't about training reps harder. It's about giving them a defined ideal client and messaging that makes outbound land as relevant instead of cold.
Amanda Quinn is a Principal at Evostr. She is an independent analyst for Fourcasters, was named to ICMI's 2026 Top 25 Thought Leaders in Customer Experience, spoke at and judged awards at Matchboard BPO Exchange 2026, and co-hosts the Build a Better BPO podcast.
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