Hybrid Sales Teams 2025: Blending In-House and Outsourced Talent into a Winning Sales Team Structure

Major Takeaways 

• A hybrid sales team structure blends in-house expertise with outsourced sales talent to boost performance, scalability, and cost-efficiency.
• Companies using a hybrid sales organization structure are up to 28% more likely to hit sales goals than those relying solely on in-house teams.
• Outsourcing top-of-funnel tasks like lead generation and SDR outreach can reduce sales costs by 30–40% and accelerate pipeline growth.
• A hybrid sales department structure offers unmatched agility—scale your team up or down without the delays and overhead of traditional hiring.
• Aligning your inside sales team structure with outsourced support ensures better lead coverage, faster prospect response, and improved conversion rates.
• Effective hybrid teams use unified CRMs, shared training, and performance-based incentives to create seamless collaboration between internal and external reps.
• Partnering with a proven Sales-as-a-Service provider like Martal Group helps companies access experienced sales talent and enter new markets faster.

Introduction

In 2025’s fast-paced B2B landscape, building a winning sales team structure often means blending in-house and outsourced talent. This hybrid model is reshaping how companies approach sales, allowing them to tap external expertise and scale quickly without overburdening internal teams. Below, we’ll explore what a hybrid sales team structure is, why it’s becoming so prevalent, and how you can leverage it. We’ll dive into the key benefits – from cost savings to faster growth – and offer strategic tips on designing and managing a hybrid team that functions as a seamless unit. Throughout, you’ll find eye-opening statistics and actionable insights to guide your strategy. By the end, you’ll understand how to structure your sales organization for maximum advantage, blending the strengths of your internal team with the firepower of outsourced professionals. Let’s explore the future of sales team building, step by step.

What Is a Hybrid Sales Team Structure (and Why It’s the Future of B2B Sales in 2025)

A hybrid sales team structure refers to a sales team composition that mixes your in-house sales staff with outsourced sales talent. In practice, this means some roles – such as lead generation, prospecting, or initial outreach – are handled by an external provider, while other stages – like nurturing major accounts or closing deals – remain in-house. The result is a blended team where outsourced SDRs and BDRs work alongside your internal sales reps as one coordinated unit. This approach is fundamentally changing the sales organization structure at many companies, and for good reason.

Why 2025 is the era of hybrid teams: Coming out of the pandemic and facing economic uncertainties, companies need to be agile. Hybrid sales teams offer agility by combining the control of internal teams with the flexibility of outsourcing. Recent data underscores this shift. An industry survey shows 60% of businesses now use outsourced sales support in some capacity, versus 40% relying exclusively on in-house teams​(1). In other words, the majority of companies are no longer choosing between internal or external – they’re leveraging both. This trend is only growing: the global B2B sales outsourcing market is booming at nearly 10% CAGR, on track to jump from about $105 billion in 2024 to $216 billion by 2033​(4). More businesses are realizing they can scale faster and cover more ground with a hybrid approach.

Hybrid = better performance: Adopting a hybrid team structure isn’t just popular – it’s effective. Blending in-house and outsourced talent can elevate performance beyond what either could achieve alone. HubSpot’s 2024 sales trends report found that hybrid sales teams outperform fully in-house or fully remote teams by 28% in hitting their targets​(2). The mix of perspectives, skills, and coverage that a hybrid model provides translates into greater sales success. No single approach (in-house only or outsourced only) has that advantage on its own. It’s the combination – for example, your internal product experts working with outsourced lead generation specialists – that creates a multiplier effect.

A new kind of sales department structure: Embracing a hybrid team fundamentally changes your sales department structure. Instead of a siloed, all-internal department, you get an extended team. Think of your outsourced partners as an extension of your sales department rather than a separate entity. They operate with your in-house team’s guidance and integrate into your processes and tools. For instance, your company might keep account executives and closers on staff, but outsource the top-of-funnel work (like cold outreach and lead qualification) to a partner. This way, your core team focuses on high-value activities while external experts keep the pipeline fed. Companies like Deloitte note that 57% of businesses view outsourcing as a critical enabler of business growth​(2)– it augments what your in-house team can do. In essence, a hybrid structure reorganizes your resources so that each part of the sales cycle is handled by the best-suited team (whether internal or external) for that function.

In summary, a hybrid sales team structure means you’re no longer going it alone. You combine the strengths of your internal team (product knowledge, customer relationships, and closing skills) with the strengths of an outsourced team (specialized lead generation, scalability, and often broader market exposure). This blend is fast becoming the future of B2B sales. As we move through 2025, companies that master hybrid team structures are positioning themselves to outsell and outgrow the competition. Below, we’ll break down the concrete benefits driving this trend and how to capitalize on them.

Cost Savings and Efficiency with a Hybrid Sales Team Structure

One of the most compelling reasons companies turn to a hybrid sales model is cost efficiency. Maintaining a full in-house sales team for every function can be prohibitively expensive – salaries, benefits, training, and overhead add up quickly. By outsourcing strategically, you can convert many of those fixed costs into variable costs and pay only for what you need. Let’s look at how a hybrid sales team structure can dramatically trim your sales budget without sacrificing results.

Up to 40% lower costs: Outsourcing parts of the sales process can yield substantial savings. According to a study by Deloitte, businesses that outsource their sales operations achieve cost savings of up to 40% compared to in-house teams​(3). This is a huge reduction in cost. Think about it: nearly half the expense can be saved by leveraging external providers for certain roles. Those savings come from several areas – you’re not paying full-time salaries during slow periods, you avoid recruiting and onboarding costs for roles that an agency or external team can handle, and you save on infrastructure (office space, equipment, benefits, etc.). Essentially, an outsourced partner can spread those costs across multiple clients and operate more efficiently, passing the savings to you.

Example – SDR cost comparison: Consider the role of a Sales Development Representative (SDR) who does prospecting and initial outreach. Hiring an SDR in-house means a full salary, plus benefits, plus paying them even when leads are slow. In contrast, outsourcing SDR work means you pay for the service (often a fixed monthly fee) and can scale it up or down as needed. Research shows most organizations report a 30–40% reduction in total costs when outsourcing their sales development function​(2). This aligns with Deloitte’s findings and reflects savings on training, management, and turnover. (Remember that in-house SDRs might have high turnover – another costly aspect. With an outsourced team, if one rep leaves, the provider covers replacing them, not you.)

Maximizing ROI on each hire: A hybrid sales team structure lets you maximize the return on investment (ROI) of each in-house hire by supplementing them with outsourced help. For example, your in-house account executives spend their time closing deals – a high-ROI activity – while outsourced reps handle the lower-level prospecting work. Without the hybrid model, your expensive account execs might waste hours cold calling or researching leads (tasks that could be done more cheaply externally). By offloading low-value tasks to an outsourced team, your internal team can focus on what they do best (and what you pay them for): selling and relationship-building. This division of labor is inherently more efficient.

Scale without the overhead: A key efficiency of hybrid teams is the ability to scale up quickly without major overhead. Need to accelerate lead generation campaigns for a big quarter? With a purely in-house team, you’d have to hire new reps (slow and expensive). But with an outsourcing partner already in place, you can simply increase your monthly contract or add additional outsourced reps for a period of time. You get more hands on deck immediately, without long-term headcount commitments. Conversely, if you hit a slow patch, you can scale down just as easily, avoiding layoffs or underutilized staff. This flexibility means you’re always operating at an efficient cost level for the sales volume you need – a huge advantage in managing expenses.

Proof point – why companies choose to outsource: Cost concerns are top of mind for businesses adopting hybrid models. In Deloitte’s Global Outsourcing Survey, 59% of businesses cited cost reduction as their primary motivation for outsourcing​(2). It’s the number one reason. By blending outsourced talent into your sales team structure, you are directly addressing this priority. You gain the variable cost model of outsourcing (pay for performance, pay-as-you-go, etc.) instead of the fixed cost model of full-time staffing. And thanks to global talent pools and remote work, outsourced sales teams can often operate from lower-cost regions or use technology to be more efficient, further driving down costs for you.

In short, a hybrid sales team structure lets you do more with less. You’re containing payroll and overhead by leveraging outside specialists exactly where they make financial sense. Every dollar saved on prospecting costs can be reallocated to marketing, product development, or other revenue-generating initiatives. And yet, you’re not sacrificing quality – the outsourced portion is handled by professionals whose business is to excel at that slice of the sales process. This synergy of cost savings + expertise is what makes the hybrid model so powerful. Next, we’ll look at how those savings translate into scalable growth opportunities.

Scalability and Growth: Expanding Faster with a Hybrid Sales Team Structure

Beyond cost savings, the scalability of a hybrid sales team structure is a game-changer for companies looking to grow quickly. In traditional models, scaling your sales efforts up or down can be slow and fraught with growing pains. But when you have a blend of in-house and outsourced talent, you unlock new levels of flexibility. Let’s explore how a hybrid approach enables rapid expansion, smoother scaling, and access to new markets – all crucial for driving growth in 2025.

Rapid ramp-up: One of the hardest parts of scaling a sales team is ramping up capacity quickly when needed. Hiring and training new reps can take months. However, with an outsourced partner in your hybrid structure, you can ramp up in weeks, not months. For instance, if your company enters a new region or launches a new product line, you can ask your outsourcing provider to dedicate additional reps or a specialized team to that initiative right away. Those outsourced reps already have the skills and tools to start prospecting or selling in the new domain. Research shows that leading outsourced sales development providers can deliver qualified opportunities within 45–60 days of program launch, far faster than the ramp-up for new internal hires​(2). This means your time-to-market is drastically reduced. You can seize opportunities when they arise – a critical advantage in fast-moving B2B sectors.

Scaling without constraints: In a classic B2B sales team structure, your growth is limited by how many people you can hire and manage effectively. There’s a natural ceiling to how fast you can add headcount and how many leads each rep can handle. A hybrid model lifts that ceiling. Because you can augment your team with outsourced talent on-demand, you can scale your sales efforts nearly on-demand as well. Need to double your outbound campaigns this quarter? Just scale up the outsourced portion – many agencies can quickly allocate more resources to your account. Conversely, if you need to pause or reduce efforts, you can scale down just as easily (try doing that with full-time staff without painful layoffs!). This elasticity means your sales capacity can closely match your growth goals at all times.

Access to new markets and expertise: Another growth benefit is the ability to tap into specialized expertise and market reach through outsourcing. For example, if you want to break into enterprise accounts or a different industry vertical that your in-house team isn’t familiar with, you could outsource that segment to a team with that exact experience. Martal Group and similar sales outsourcing firms often have teams specialized by industry or region. By including them in your sales team structure, you instantly gain that expertise and network. This hybrid approach helped many companies penetrate markets that would have taken them years to develop internally. It’s like having a branch of your sales team that already knows the local language – figuratively or literally – and can accelerate growth in that area.

Faster growth metrics: The proof is in the numbers – companies leveraging hybrid sales teams report faster growth. In fact, 79% of companies say that outsourcing sales helped them scale faster than expected​(5). That’s an overwhelming majority recognizing the growth acceleration from hybrid models. Here’s another striking stat: clients of one sales outsourcing provider saw 89% faster market expansion using a flexible staffing model compared to traditional in-house hiring​(5). In other words, nearly double the speed in capturing market share. The reason is clear – while competitors are stuck in lengthy recruitment cycles or constrained by the bandwidth of their small internal team, hybrid-empowered companies can flood the market with outreach and respond to opportunities immediately.

Real-world scenario: Imagine a scenario where a competitor suddenly exits a market segment, leaving many potential customers up for grabs. A company with a hybrid sales structure can surge its outreach by tasking its outsourced team to blitz those prospects within days, while its in-house team focuses on closing the most interested leads. This one-two punch can help the company gobble up market share before others even react. Scalability isn’t just about adding salespeople; it’s about executing faster on strategic opportunities. A hybrid team, with its mix of always-on external resources and agile internal leaders, is uniquely suited for this.

In summary, a hybrid sales team structure acts as a growth engine. It gives you scalable capacity – the ability to grow (or contract) your sales force in near-real-time. It also provides scalable knowledge – access to skills and markets that fuel expansion. Companies in 2025 that harness this will find they can enter new markets, handle sudden spikes in demand, or execute ambitious sales campaigns without the usual constraints. Next, we’ll examine another critical benefit: how hybrid teams can actually improve overall sales performance and productivity.

Higher Performance and Productivity: How a Hybrid Sales Team Structure Outperforms Traditional Teams

A well-structured hybrid team doesn’t just save money or scale fast – it can also sell more effectively. By leveraging the strengths of both in-house and outsourced members, hybrid sales teams often achieve higher productivity and better results than a traditional all-internal team. Let’s look at how dividing roles and collaborating in a hybrid model can boost key sales performance metrics, from lead conversion to quota attainment.

Focus on core strengths: In a hybrid setup, each part of the team zeroes in on what they do best. Your in-house salespeople, who deeply understand your product and customers, focus on high-value activities like building relationships, handling complex negotiations, and closing deals. Meanwhile, your outsourced team members, who are experts in prospecting and outreach strategies, focus on generating leads, booking meetings, and keeping the top of the funnel full. This division of labor means no one is stretched too thin or doing tasks outside their expertise. The outcome is higher quality work at each stage of the sales cycle – better-qualified leads from the outsourced side and higher close rates from the in-house side. It’s like having specialists at every position in a sports team, rather than asking one player to play every role.

Increased selling time: Sales reps often complain they spend too much time on non-selling tasks (research, list building, follow-ups, admin) and not enough time actually selling. A hybrid structure can fix that. With an outsourced team handling much of the groundwork, your internal reps get to spend more hours per day in front of customers or closing deals. This is huge for productivity. An internal study might show, for example, that your account executives went from spending 30% of their time on prospecting to nearly 0%, because an external SDR team now feeds them opportunities. All that reclaimed time is redirected to selling activities. The net effect: your team can hit higher quotas because they’re focused on revenue-generating work. Supporting this, HubSpot’s research noted that hybrid sales pros (who often have support from others for lead gen) find it “definitely beneficial for maximizing contact time” with prospects​(2). More contact time and more conversations eventually translate to more sales.

Blending perspectives to optimize approach: When you have both in-house and outsourced talent collaborating, you get a blend of perspectives that can enhance your sales strategy. In-house staff bring deep product and industry knowledge; outsourced staff bring cross-industry experience and outreach best practices learned from working with many clients. Together, they can share insights and refine messaging or tactics. For instance, your outsourced SDRs might experiment with a new email cadence or LinkedIn outreach technique that they know worked elsewhere, and upon success, that approach gets adopted across the whole team. Conversely, your internal team can train outsourced reps on nuanced product value propositions that resonate best, boosting the effectiveness of their outreach. This cross-pollination leads to continual improvement, making the hybrid team more effective over time than either team would be on its own.

Data-driven performance management: Many sales outsourcing partners provide sophisticated reporting and analytics on outreach, pipeline, and conversions. By integrating this with your in-house sales analytics, you get a holistic view of your sales funnel. You can see, for example, exactly how many calls and emails it takes your outsourced team to yield a qualified lead, and how those leads progress to deals by your in-house team. This end-to-end visibility allows sales managers to identify bottlenecks or opportunities quickly. You might discover that certain lead sources from the outsourced team close at a much higher rate, informing both teams to double down on those sources. Essentially, hybrid structures often come with enhanced performance tracking, which in turn boosts productivity because you can make data-driven adjustments on the fly.

Outcomes speak: hybrid outperforms: We already highlighted a striking stat – hybrid sales teams are 28% more likely to hit their targets compared to their single-mode counterparts​(2). That’s a significant edge. Why such a difference? Consider all the factors: more time selling, more specialized roles, a broader skill set across the team, and the ability to cover multiple channels at once. A hybrid team can, for instance, run parallel outreach campaigns: your internal team might focus on high-touch engagement with hot prospects while the outsourced team runs a high-volume cadence to nurture colder leads. The result is no lead left unattended and a higher overall conversion rate through the funnel. It’s like having two engines propelling one ship – you simply go faster and farther.

Another relevant figure: A LinkedIn study noted that companies with hybrid (in-office + remote/outsource) setups experienced 27% higher revenue growth on average than those with traditional setups​(2). Part of this is attributed to flexibility, but part is pure performance – hybrid teams tend to be more agile and responsive to buyer needs. For example, if a prospect prefers an in-person meeting, your internal rep can handle it; if another prefers a quick info call, your outsourced rep can take it immediately. The hybrid team covers all bases, providing a better buyer experience and thus closing more deals.

In summary, a hybrid sales team structure isn’t just an operational tweak – it’s a performance booster. By allocating the right people to the right tasks and fostering collaboration between them, you can see improvements in lead quality, conversion rates, and sales rep productivity. The team functions like a well-oiled machine with each component operating at peak efficiency. Now that we’ve covered the “why” of hybrid teams (the benefits), let’s move into the “how.” How do you actually design and implement a hybrid sales team structure? What roles should be in-house vs. outsourced? We’ll tackle that next.

Designing Your Hybrid Sales Team Structure: In-House vs. Outsourced Roles

Implementing a hybrid model requires strategic planning. You’ll need to decide which roles and responsibilities stay inside your organization and which can be handled externally. The goal is to create a cohesive team where everyone knows their part in the sales process. In this section, we break down a practical approach to structuring your hybrid sales team. We’ll identify typical functions to outsource, those to keep in-house, and how to ensure the pieces fit together seamlessly into one effective sales team structure.

1. Identify core competencies to keep in-house: Start by pinpointing the sales functions that are core to your business and benefit from deep internal knowledge. Typically, these include roles like:

• Sales leadership and strategy: Your VP of Sales or sales managers who set strategy, coach the team, and drive alignment should remain in-house. They’ll oversee both internal and outsourced team members to ensure everyone pursues the same objectives.
• Account Executives/Closers: The reps who conduct demos, handle negotiations, and close deals often perform best as internal team members. They require intimate knowledge of your product/service and close collaboration with other departments (like product or legal for custom contracts). Keeping closers in-house maintains control over the most critical stage of the funnel – closing revenue.
• Account Managers/Customer Success for upsells: Roles that manage existing client relationships and drive renewals or upsells are usually in-house because they need a nuanced understanding of client history and strong cross-functional ties (support, delivery, etc.).

These roles form the backbone of your sales department structure and are closely tied to your company’s IP and culture. They benefit from being employees who are fully immersed in your business.

2. Identify functions well-suited to outsource: Next, determine which parts of the sales process can be effectively handled by external experts. Commonly outsourced sales functions in a hybrid model include:

• Lead Generation & Research: Building targeted prospect lists, researching potential leads, and gathering contact information can be time-consuming. Outsourced teams or tools can handle this at scale, delivering lists of pre-qualified leads to your salespeople.
• Outbound Prospecting (SDRs/BDRs): Reaching out to cold prospects via email, phone, or LinkedIn – typically the job of Sales Development Reps (SDRs) or Business Development Reps (BDRs) – is often outsourced. An outsourced SDR team will specialize in scheduling sales meetings for your closers. They bring expertise in high-volume outreach and follow-up. By outsourcing this, you ensure constant pipeline activity without bogging down your own team. In fact, most organizations say outsourcing SDR/BDR work cuts 30-40% of the costs and often yields more consistent outreach​(2).
• Appointment Setting: Similar to SDR work, some companies specifically outsource appointment setting – ensuring qualified prospects get booked on your account execs’ calendars. Providers like Martal Group, for example, act as an external appointment-setting engine feeding your internal team.
• Inside Sales Roles: In some cases, even the full inside sales cycle (for simpler products or smaller deals that don’t require face-to-face meetings) can be outsourced. This means an outsourced rep might take a lead from initial contact all the way to closing a small sale, under your brand’s guidance. This is common in scenarios where you have a high volume of lower-tier leads that your core team can’t get to. (Your in-house team focuses on whale accounts, while outsourced reps close the minnows, for instance.)
• Sales Support/Admin: Functions like CRM data entry, proposal generation, and follow-up email sequences can also be outsourced or handled by virtual assistants, freeing your team’s time.

3. Establish clear handoff points and workflows: For a hybrid structure to work smoothly, you must clearly define when and how leads and opportunities flow between the outsourced and in-house team members. Clarity here prevents prospects from falling through the cracks or being contacted twice by different team members. Common workflow design looks like this:

• Outsourced SDRs initiate contact with cold prospects and qualify them using agreed criteria. Once a prospect meets the qualification (for example, attends a demo or expresses interest and fits your ICP), the SDR books a meeting for an in-house Account Executive and hands off the lead.
• The in-house Account Executive then takes ownership of that opportunity, conducts the sales meeting, and works to close the deal. They update status in the CRM which both teams share.
• If the prospect isn’t ready to talk to sales yet, the SDR might continue to nurture them or put them into a nurture cadence (sometimes in collaboration with marketing) until they are sales-ready.
• Post-sale, if you have account managers, the customer is passed to them (in-house team) for ongoing management. Meanwhile, the outsourced team goes back to sourcing new leads.

Throughout this process, communication is key. Both sides should use the same CRM or at least have access to it, so everyone can see the status and history of each lead. Setting up a unified system ensures the hybrid team functions as one. It’s wise to document the entire lead flow: who does what, when the baton is passed, and what follow-up occurs at each stage.

4. Choose the right outsourcing partner(s): The success of your hybrid sales team structure heavily depends on selecting reliable outsourcing partners that fit your needs. When evaluating a sales outsourcing agency or contractor, consider:

• Industry experience: Do they understand your market and audience? For example, if you sell a technical B2B product, the outsourced team should have experience in similar complex sales, or you’ll spend too much time training them.
• Services offered: Some companies specialize in top-of-funnel (lead gen, SDR) while others offer full-cycle sales. Make sure their capabilities align with the roles you want to outsource.
• Track record and references: Look at their case studies or ask for client references. You want evidence that they’ve successfully boosted pipelines or closed deals for other clients, ideally in your industry.
• Alignment with your tools: Ideally, the outsourced team can work within your CRM and communication tools. If they insist on using their own separate systems, integration can be a headache. The best partners act like an extension of your team, using your processes while adding value through their own prospecting tools and tech stack. 
• Cultural fit and communication: Since they’ll essentially join your team, even if externally, choose a partner whose communication style and professionalism match your company culture. During initial calls, assess their responsiveness and clarity – this often reflects how they’ll interact with you and your prospects.

5. Set KPIs and accountability: Finally, structure the engagement with clear metrics and feedback loops. Define Key Performance Indicators for the outsourced portion (e.g., number of qualified leads per month, meetings set, conversion rates of those meetings to opportunities) as well as for the in-house portion (e.g., opportunity-to-deal conversion rate, quota attainment). By setting these metrics, both your internal team and the outsourced team know what they’re responsible for. Review the SDR KPIs jointly in regular meetings. For instance, have a weekly or bi-weekly pipeline review call that includes both your internal sales manager and the outsourced team’s manager. This ensures transparency and allows you to address issues quickly. If, say, the volume of leads is fine but the quality is lacking, you can tweak the qualification criteria or targeting. Or if the outsourced team is setting plenty of meetings but the in-house team isn’t closing them, maybe the issue is in the sales pitch or the lead handoff timing – which you can collaboratively solve.

By thoughtfully designing your hybrid team structure in this way, you create a powerful sales organization structure that leverages the best of both worlds. Your in-house team stays focused on high-impact activities while your outsourced team provides muscle and reach. Both are coordinated toward the same goals. In the next section, we’ll discuss how to manage and align this blended team on an ongoing basis, ensuring that your hybrid model doesn’t just look good on paper but also functions smoothly in practice.

Managing a Hybrid Sales Team Structure: Tips to Align In-House and Outsourced Teams

Building a hybrid sales team is one thing – managing it effectively day-to-day is another. Since you’re dealing with a mix of internal employees and external contributors, leadership and communication become paramount. In this section, we’ll cover best practices for keeping your hybrid team aligned. From establishing a unified culture and communication cadence, to training and motivating all team members, these tips will help ensure your blended team operates as a cohesive, high-performing unit rather than a disjointed group.

1. Treat external team members as part of the team: It might sound obvious, but a common mistake is to treat outsourced reps as outsiders. Instead, integrate them into your team culture and routines. Invite outsourced SDRs or agents to your team meetings when appropriate, loop them in on big wins or company news, and make them feel valued. The more invested they feel in your success, the better they will perform. Many successful hybrid teams have the outsourced folks join the same Slack or Teams channels as the in-house team for quick communication. This breaks down any us-vs-them barriers. Remember, at the end of the day, your customers should feel like they’re dealing with one unified company, so your internal and external reps need to act as one team.

2. Maintain clear and constant communication: Communication is the lifeblood of a hybrid team. Set up a regular cadence for sync-ups. For example:

• Daily stand-ups or check-ins: A short 15-minute check-in each morning or several times a week can help align priorities. Outsourced reps can report on yesterday’s results (calls made, meetings booked) and plans for today, while in-house reps might share any updates from their side. This keeps everyone in the loop.
• Weekly pipeline review: As mentioned earlier, a weekly joint pipeline management meeting with the whole team helps ensure leads are moving properly and any friction is addressed. Use this time to review KPIs from both teams.
• Shared CRM notes: Encourage meticulous note-taking in the CRM that both teams use. When an outsourced SDR hands off a lead, they should log all pertinent info (e.g., what pain points the prospect mentioned, what content they’ve received). Similarly, when an AE picks it up, they should update status so the SDR knows the outcome. This two-way visibility prevents confusion and duplication of work.
• Real-time updates on hot leads: If an outsourced rep uncovers an extremely hot prospect (say a decision-maker wants a call ASAP), have a system to immediately notify the relevant in-house salesperson (e.g., a tagged message in Slack or a notification via CRM). Speed matters for hot opportunities.

By keeping lines of communication open, you avoid one of the biggest potential pitfalls of hybrid teams: information silos. In fact, research shows that many organizations are still figuring out how to best align hybrid roles – 85% of B2B organizations expect hybrid selling to predominate in the next few years, yet many are still working out responsibilities and alignment to avoid overlaps​(6). Regular communication is how you prevent misalignment and ensure smooth cooperation.

3. Unified training and resources: To have outsourced reps represent your company well, you must train them almost like you would a new hire. When your engagement with an outsourcing partner begins, invest time in product training, value proposition sessions, and sharing your ideal customer profiles. Provide them with your sales playbooks, battlecards, and FAQs. The more knowledge they have, the more effective and on-brand they’ll be in their outreach. Ongoing training is important too – if you roll out a new feature or adjust messaging, update everyone (in-house and outsourced) at the same time. Consider periodic joint training sessions or lunch-and-learns to keep skills sharp. Some companies even temporarily embed outsourced reps with internal teams during onboarding for deep immersion.

Likewise, ensure the outsourced team has access to the same sales enablement content as your in-house team – case studies, whitepapers, demo videos, etc. If you’ve invested in marketing content to support sales, it should be leveraged by all. For example, if your outsourced SDR finds a prospect interested in a specific use-case, they should be able to send the relevant case study from your library, just as an internal rep would. Maintaining one shared repository of resources (e.g., a Google Drive or an enablement platform) accessible to both teams is helpful.

4. Align incentives and goals: One challenge in managing hybrid teams is ensuring everyone is working toward the same goals, not just their individual tasks. It’s crucial to align incentives across the team. If your in-house AEs are compensated on closed deals, consider also rewarding the outsourced SDRs (via the partner agreement) for qualified leads that turn into deals. Many companies negotiate performance-based components into outsourcing contracts – for instance, a bonus for every meeting that leads to a sale. This way, the outsourced team is not just incentivized to set any meetings, but to set quality meetings likely to close. Similarly, your in-house team should value the outsourced team’s contributions; you might measure and recognize how well AEs follow up on outsourced leads in a timely manner (to prevent any “not my lead” attitude). Setting a team goal – such as a combined pipeline target or revenue target – and celebrating when it’s hit can foster a one-team mentality.

5. Monitor and refine the process continuously: Managing a hybrid structure isn’t “set and forget.” It requires continuous improvement. Use data to monitor how well the system is working. Key indicators to watch include:

• Lead response time: How fast does your in-house team act on leads from outsourced reps? If it’s slow, that’s a management issue to address – perhaps AEs are too overloaded or not convinced of lead quality. You may need to adjust workloads or re-emphasize the importance of prompt follow-up. A Harvard Business Review study famously found that contacting a lead within an hour makes you 7x more likely to qualify it versus waiting 2 hours or more – speed matters​(7).
• Lead quality and conversion: Track what percentage of outsourced-generated leads convert to opportunities and then to wins. If conversion is low, dig in: Are the leads off-target (outsourced team needs to refine criteria), or is the pitch faltering (in-house team might need to adjust approach)? Share feedback both ways. Perhaps the outsourced team notices that certain messaging isn’t resonating – relay that to marketing or adjust the script. The hybrid model allows for agile tweaks, but only if you’re monitoring.
• Communication logs: Keep an eye on whether communications are being logged and whether the teams are engaging. If you find missed updates or duplicate outreach (two people unknowingly contacting the same lead), that’s a red flag. Regular audits of CRM data can catch these.
• Team sentiment: Don’t ignore the human factor. Check in with team members on both sides about how they feel the collaboration is going. Do your internal reps trust the outsourced leads? Does the outsourced team feel supported and informed by the client (you)? You can even do quick surveys or feedback forms to gauge this. Address any tensions or misconceptions quickly – for instance, if an AE thinks outsourced leads are “weak” quality, provide data to show their outcomes, or work with the outsourced manager to improve criteria. If an outsourced rep is frustrated that AEs reschedule a lot of meetings, discuss scheduling expectations internally.

6. Ensure consistent customer experience: From the buyer’s perspective, interactions with your company should feel seamless, regardless of whether they’re talking to an in-house rep or an outsourced one. Managing a hybrid team means paying attention to consistency in messaging and professionalism. All team members should be on the same page about your value proposition, key differentiators, and how to handle common objections. One way to ensure this is through scripts or talk tracks – not to make conversations robotic, but to guarantee that important points are always covered. For example, if your policy is to never bad-mouth a competitor and always highlight value, both internal and external reps must adhere to that. Regular role-playing exercises across teams can help maintain this consistency (e.g., an outsourced SDR and an internal AE might role-play a handoff call to simulate the experience for a customer). Consistency builds trust and credibility with prospects as they move through the funnel.

By following these management best practices, you create an environment where your hybrid sales team structure thrives. Remember, leadership’s role is pivotal – you are the bridge between the in-house and outsourced components. When managed well, the two will operate virtually indistinguishably, each reinforcing the other’s success. Companies that report the best outcomes from hybrid models often say their external team “feels like an extension of our own team” – that’s the level of integration you’re aiming for. Now, having explored the design and management of hybrid teams, let’s wrap up with a look at the big picture and why embracing this model can be transformative for your sales organization.

Conclusion: Embrace a Hybrid Sales Team Structure to Drive Your Sales Organization Forward

Hybrid sales teams are no longer an experiment or a trend – they’re a proven model for building a high-performing sales organization structure in the modern B2B world. By blending in-house and outsourced talent, companies can enjoy the best of both worlds: control and culture on one side, flexibility and specialized expertise on the other. We’ve seen how this approach can cut costs, supercharge scalability, and boost sales performance. Perhaps most importantly, it allows your business to be agile and resilient in the face of change. Whether you’re confronting economic swings, entering new markets, or trying to outmaneuver competitors, a hybrid sales team structure gives you the tools and team to adapt quickly.

It’s clear that success in 2025 and beyond will favor those who can think beyond traditional org charts. Sales departments structured with a hybrid model are already outperforming peers, with faster growth rates and higher quota attainment​(2)(5). If your organization hasn’t yet tried this approach, now is the time to consider it. Start small if needed – perhaps outsource a portion of lead generation as a pilot – and measure the impact. You might quickly find that your internal team closes more deals when their plates are filled with well-qualified prospects from an external source. From there, you can scale up the hybrid model confidently.

The key is to approach it strategically: choose the right partner, align everyone to common goals, and maintain open communication. Do that, and you’ll create a unified team that’s greater than the sum of its parts. Your in-house and outsourced people won’t be in competition or siloed – they’ll be working side by side, each focusing on what they do best, each vital to the mission. This kind of sales team structure is built for sustainable success.

Ready to transform your sales results with a hybrid team? Don’t let your company fall behind by clinging to an outdated structure. By embracing a hybrid model, you’re equipping your sales department to be more efficient, more scalable, and more effective than ever.

Take the Next Step: If you’re considering blending outsourced talent into your team, why not leverage a partner that specializes in building these hybrid sales engines? Martal Group can help you do exactly that. We provide seasoned B2B sales executives and SDR teams on-demand, seamlessly integrating them into your workflow to create a powerhouse hybrid team. With Martal’s outsourcing services as part of your sales team structure, you get immediate access to top-tier sales talent and a wealth of experience in lead generation and outreach – all while your internal team stays focused on closing deals.

Book a free consultation with Martal Group to see how this could work for your business. In a no-obligation call, we’ll discuss your specific sales goals and challenges, and share tailored strategies to optimize your hybrid approach. You’ll learn how our team can plug into your organization as an extension of your sales department, filling your pipeline with qualified leads and appointments while you concentrate on closing them. Many of our clients have scaled their pipelines by 2-3x and cut their customer acquisition costs by adopting our hybrid model – you could be next.

Don’t settle for less when you can have the best of in-house and outsourced. Contact Martal Group today for a free consultation and let’s build a winning hybrid sales team structure that drives your business to new heights. Together, we’ll blend talent, strategy, and execution into a sales force that outpaces and outperforms the competition. Your future sales growth starts now.

References

1. linkedin.com
2. blog.hubspot.com
3. callin.io
4. marketstar.com
5. businessresearchinsights.com
6. martal.ca