Skyscraper Outsourced Attends Outsourced Sales Conference in Lisbon, Portugal

Newcastle Upon Tyne firm Skyscraper Outsourced attended an outsourced direct sales industry conference on Saturday 24th August, held at the exclusive Myriad Hotel in Lisbon.

Skyscraper Outsourced flew a member of senior management and two top-performing suppliers to Lisbon on Thursday 22nd August. Thursday and Friday were spent networking with local business owners, as well as professionals from 4 countries that had flown in to attend the conference.

The outsourced sales industry conference was held at the 5-star Myriad Hotel’s purpose built conference wing, the Crystal Myriad Centre. The event hosted a series of guest speakers who presented topics on sales, business development and team development, and included a networking session after the seminars. A representative for Skyscraper Outsourced said: “The conference was a fantastic opportunity to gain valuable information and international contacts - unfortunately in the UK we tend to be a little more insular than the rest of Europe! International networking is very important at Skyscraper Outsourced; in addition to attending events such as these we regularly hold conference calls with contacts in Portugal, Spain, Italy and the USA.”

Lisbon was chosen as the location for the conference due to the country’s growing outsourced sales industry. The decline in the country’s advertising industry means that companies are looking elsewhere to increase their customer base. Omnicom Group Inc. reported that advertising sales in Portugal are due to drop for the third consecutive year, after an 18% drop in 2012, dropping the industry to its lowest level since 1997. Portugal’s economy shrank by 3.2% in 2012 and is expected to shrink by 2.3% this year, according to government forecasts. However, Portugal’s BPO outsourcing market – business functions including sales, customer service, and HR – grew by 0.5% over 2012, and is set to grow by 1% this year and by 3% in 2014. The outsourcing industry contributed to 0.5% of Portugal’s GDP in 2012, which equates to 890 million euros.

Skyscraper Outsourced reports that the Portuguese outsourcing industry has been driven by the increasing trend of ‘nearshoring’ whereby Western European countries are bringing outsourcing back from traditional offshoring countries such as India, China and the Philippines. This is due in part to rising labour costs overseas, as well as complications with communication and regulation that can arise from offshoring. Portugal’s talent pool of multi-linguists and the country’s strong ties with the rest of Europe mean that it is a popular choice for French and German as well as domestic firms. A spokesperson from Skyscraper Outsourced said: “As an outsourced sales company, we understand the benefits that outsourcing can deliver to the economy. At Skyscraper Outsourced we provide our clients with cost-effective and results-based customer acquisition strategies, which ensure that they receive the highest quality customers at a fraction of the cost of using an in-house sales force.”

Skyscraper Outsourced is based in Newcastle Upon Tyne and provides direct marketing and customer acquisition services for national clients.

Sources:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-25/portugal-advertising-sales-set-for-third-consecutive-drop.html
http://myriad.pt/en/meetings-events/function-rooms/
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/bangalore-on-tagus--portugal-outsourcing-gets-reforms-boost/1114026/