Outsourcing Sales: The Smarter Play in 2025’s UK Job Market

The UK jobs market in 2025 is sending mixed messages. On one hand, businesses are still chasing ambitious growth targets. On the other, hiring confidence has dipped to its lowest levels since 2009. With higher interest rates, rising employer National Insurance contributions, and increased scrutiny from finance teams, the cost of adding permanent headcount has never been higher.

For Sales Directors and Commercial leaders, this creates a dilemma: the board still expects revenue, but the traditional lever of building out a sales team feels riskier and more expensive than ever.

So how do you continue driving growth when permanent hiring slows down? More businesses are finding the answer in outsourced sales.


The Hidden Cost of Permanent Sales Hires

On paper, a new salesperson might look like a straightforward investment: salary, commission, tools. But the reality is very different.

📊 CIPD’s Labour Market Outlook shows hiring confidence at its weakest since 2009, with redundancy plans at a ten-year high.

  • Employer costs are rising: NI contributions increased from 13.8% to 15% this year, inflating the true cost of every hire.

  • Interest rates remain stubbornly high: the Bank of England’s base rate sits above 4%, making CFOs wary of fixed-cost commitments.

  • Recruitment and ramp-up take time: months can pass before a new hire is delivering meaningful revenue.

“Permanent headcount isn’t just expensive – it’s slow. And in today’s economy, slow growth is high risk.”


Why Outsourced Sales Is Winning Support

Revenue targets don’t pause just because hiring gets tougher. Boards still demand pipeline, meetings, and opportunities – and that’s where outsourced sales comes in.

📊 REC/KPMG’s June 2025 Report on Jobs recorded the steepest fall in permanent placements for nearly two years; while demand for temporary roles remained far more resilient.

An outsourced model gives you:

  • Variable cost instead of fixed overheads – easier to flex up or down with your budget.

  • Immediate access to experienced sales professionals – no lengthy recruitment cycles.

  • Proven processes, technology and data – already tested and optimised to deliver results.

  • Clear ROI – measurable outcomes you can take straight to your CFO.


A CFO-Proof Approach to Sales Growth

Sales and Commercial Directors need solutions that satisfy both growth ambitions and finance scrutiny. Outsourced sales offers exactly that: a lean, flexible model that reduces headcount risk while still delivering results.

📊 With UK redundancy intentions at a ten-year high (CIPD, 2025), finance leaders are prioritising variable-cost levers over permanent expansion.

“The strongest sales strategies in 2025 are the ones that keep the board confident and the balance sheet under control.”


The Air Marketing Approach

At Air, we partner with B2B businesses who need to strengthen sales performance without the burden of permanent headcount. Whether you need extra capacity to support your team, or a fully outsourced engine to drive pipeline, we deliver measurable results that prove value fast.

We build pipeline. You see meetings, opportunities and revenue.

Talk to us about your goals.

Sales Process Audit Checklist: 10 Things to Review Before Your Next Quarter

Sales Process Audit Checklist on an iPad

Sharpen your sales process before next quarter.

Most sales leaders know their process could run sharper – but spotting where it breaks down isn’t always simple.

Our Sales Process Audit Checklist highlights 10 areas to review before next quarter, helping you identify gaps, remove friction, and boost consistency across your team.

Fill in the form below to download your checklist and start turning process into performance.

Why Your AEs Are Failing at Prospecting – And What to Do About It

For many sales leaders, it’s an uncomfortable truth: your Account Executives (AEs) are great at closing deals but terrible at filling their own pipeline.

It’s not that they can’t prospect – it’s that in most organisations, the structure, priorities and culture set them up to fail. The result? A reliance on a handful of inbound leads, sporadic outreach and a dangerously thin pipeline.

Inconsistent prospecting is one of the most common and costly AE prospecting challenges we see. If your team’s success is heavily weighted on closing skills but the top of your funnel is weak, you’re building a revenue engine on a shaky foundation…

…the kind we break down and rebuild in our guide →  How to Fix Your Sales Pipeline Before It’s Too Late

Why AEs Struggle with Prospecting

Let’s get clear on the reasons first – and spoiler alert: it’s rarely just about “lack of effort”.

  • Conflicting priorities: AEs are judged on hitting monthly or quarterly targets, so they naturally focus on late-stage deals that are closest to closing. Prospecting gets pushed down the list until it’s too late.

  • Wrong skill focus: Closing requires a different skill set from opening. AEs who are brilliant negotiators might not have the same persistence, tone and timing needed for cold outreach.

  • Poor data quality: If they don’t have access to clean, segmented and targeted data, prospecting turns into a slow, frustrating slog. Take a look at → How To Increase Qualified B2B Sales Leads for insights on sharpening lead quality and pre-call readiness.

  • No consistent process: Without a structured cadence and clear metrics, prospecting efforts become sporadic and inconsistent.

  • Lack of accountability: If prospecting activity isn’t measured and coached, it becomes invisible – and invisible work rarely gets done.

The Impact on Revenue

When AEs aren’t consistently prospecting, the pipeline becomes dangerously dependent on marketing, referrals or luck. That’s not a strategy – it’s a gamble.

The lag effect is the real killer: a dry pipeline today is the result of prospecting gaps months ago. By the time you notice, the problem is already baked into your next quarter’s numbers.

What to Do About It: Effective Prospecting Strategies for AEs

The solution isn’t to simply tell AEs to “do more outreach”. It’s about creating the right structure, providing the right tools and instilling consistent habits that make prospecting part of the sales culture.

Here’s how to make it happen:

  • Separate responsibilities where possible: If resources allow, split sales into SDRs/BDRs for outbound and AEs for closing. If not, ringfence daily prospecting time that can’t be interrupted.

  • Block dedicated prospecting hours: 1–2 hours each day, protected from internal meetings or other distractions, ensures prospecting doesn’t get sidelined.

  • Create a repeatable cadence: Use a clear, multi-touch process that combines email, phone, LinkedIn and even voice notes to improve connection rates.

  • Lead with relevance: Personalise outreach with industry insights, role-specific challenges or trigger events such as funding rounds, leadership changes or product launches.

  • Follow up relentlessly: Build persistence into the cadence – most prospects need several touchpoints before they respond.

  • Measure activity and outcomes: Track calls, emails, meetings booked and conversion rates. Use this data for coaching, not just reporting.

  • Invest in skills training: Prospecting is different from closing. Equip AEs with tested messaging, objection handling techniques and the confidence to start high-value conversations.

  • Refine through testing: Experiment with subject lines, call openers and value propositions, and double down on what works.

  • Use tech to scale smartly: Sales engagement platforms can automate parts of the process without losing the personal touch, freeing AEs to focus on meaningful interactions.

The Bottom Line

If your AEs are failing at prospecting, it’s not just their problem, it’s a leadership problem. You can either keep asking closers to also be openers (and watch the pipeline yo-yo) or you can focus on managing AE prospecting performance in a way that builds consistency.

That means building a high-performing prospecting process that’s embedded in your sales culture, supported by training, and measured with the same rigour as closing performance.

A strong pipeline isn’t built in the last week of the quarter – it’s built every single day.

Written by: Ricky Hopwood, Head of Business Development at Air Marketing

Need to transform your sales performance?

At Air, we help businesses reignite growth by designing and executing outbound strategies that work in the real world. We uncover where opportunity is being missed — whether that’s in targeting, messaging, cadence or conversion — and build outbound engines that generate consistent, qualified pipeline.

Our approach surfaces what’s holding you back and unlocks faster, more predictable revenue.