--- title: "Hire an Offshore Sales Team in South Africa: Costs and Roles" description: "Hire an offshore sales development team in Cape Town or Johannesburg: typical labour cost savings of 30 to 50%, the roles that work and how we hire." image: https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/hubfs/blog/images/offshore-sales-teams-revenue-acceleratio-hero-1.webp --- [![footer-logo](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/hubfs/footer-logo.svg "footer-logo")](https://potentiam.co.uk) - [Solutions](https://www.potentiam.co.uk/solutions) [![Technology icon](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/hubfs/Images/Icons/Technology%20icon.svg) Technology Scale your team with a dedicated advisor who aligns architecture and performance 
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For a UK company selling into the UK, South Africa is where we would start: it is a strong choice for UK cold calling, with a deep pool of English-speaking talent familiar with the UK market, and, at one hour ahead of the UK in British Summer Time and two in winter, a 9 to 6 day there runs from 8am to 5pm UK time in summer and 7am to 4pm in winter. The case for building one rests on three pressures: what a UK sales hire now costs, how long it takes to make one, and how long they stay. We learned the model as operators. Our founders scaled EnergyQuote JHA to more than 300 people, about 60% of them offshore, before its acquisition by Accenture in 2015. The sections below set out what an offshore sales team does, what it costs, where to put it and how to hire one. Key takeaway Offshore sales teams work best for outbound prospecting, lead qualification, sales administration and the CRM and research work behind them. Keep closing and senior relationships with your UK sellers. For UK calling, start in Cape Town or Johannesburg; for multilingual European outbound, Iași; for CRM, lead generation research and sales operations that can be finished before your afternoon, Bengaluru, 4.5 hours ahead of the UK in British Summer Time and 5.5 in winter, where a 9 to 6 day runs from 4.30am to 1.30pm UK time in summer and 3.30am to 12.30pm in winter. In our experience labour cost savings typically run at 30 to 50% against the UK in Cape Town and Johannesburg, and we typically hire in four to six weeks from starting the search to the candidate accepting the offer. ## Why UK companies are building offshore sales teams The first pressure is cost. [PayScale puts the average UK SDR base salary at £29,462](https://www.payscale.com/research/UK/Job=Sales_Development_Representative_(SDR)/Salary) (98 salary profiles, last updated November 2025), with the middle 80% between £22,000 and £39,000 before bonus and commission. On top of that, [employer National Insurance is 15% on earnings above £5,000 a year](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rates-and-thresholds-for-employers-2026-to-2027) in 2026 to 2027, and [auto-enrolment requires an employer pension contribution of at least 3%](https://www.gov.uk/workplace-pensions/what-you-your-employer-and-the-government-pay), in most schemes on earnings between £6,240 and £50,270. The second is supply. [ManpowerGroup's 2026 Talent Shortage Survey](https://www.manpower.co.uk/en/insights/blogs/2026/03/05/uk-talent-shortage-2026) found 73% of UK employers struggling to find the skilled talent they need, down from 76% in 2025 but still close to three in four. We see UK hiring for commercial roles take six to twelve weeks or longer. The third, and for sales the one that hurts most, is retention. A UK SDR team that loses people as fast as it hires them never builds momentum, because every departure takes its pipeline knowledge with it. That was the problem In-Sync Group brought to us, and it is why the story later in this article turns on attrition rather than salary. ## What an offshore sales team actually does An offshore sales team is most effective where the work is process-driven and its output is measurable. These are the roles we build most often: - **Outbound SDRs and BDRs** who research accounts, run call and email sequences, qualify interest and book meetings for your UK sellers. - **Sales administration and sales operations support**: quotes, order processing, CRM updates, pipeline reporting and forecast preparation. - **CRM managers and lead generation specialists** who keep data clean, build and enrich target lists and manage sequences and lead routing. - **Pre-sales research**: account and stakeholder mapping before a first call, so your senior sellers walk in prepared. - **Marketing support** alongside the sales team: campaign coordinators, marketing analysts, content writers, graphic designers and SEO specialists. Closing complex deals and owning senior client relationships usually stays in the UK, with the offshore team feeding it qualified pipeline and taking the administration off it. That split is where offshore sales support earns its keep: your most expensive people spend their week selling, and the work that fills and maintains the pipeline happens in a hub built for it. Our piece on [offshoring sales and marketing for performance growth](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/offshoring-sales-marketing-for-10x-performance-growth) covers how that operational layer scales without the front line growing with it. ![A sales development representative in a headset on a prospecting call at her desk in a Cape Town office](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/blog/images/offshore-sales-team-sdr-cape-town-call-20260925-113000.webp?width=1200&height=675&name=offshore-sales-team-sdr-cape-town-call-20260925-113000.webp) ## How much does an offshore sales team in South Africa cost? Start with what you are replacing. On the UK figures above, a UK SDR on the PayScale average base of £29,462 costs about £33,800 a year before commission, recruitment fees, equipment and desk space. | UK SDR cost element (2026 to 2027) | Annual cost | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Average base salary | £29,462 | PayScale, 2026 | | Employer National Insurance: 15% of £24,462 (salary above the £5,000 secondary threshold) | £3,669 | HMRC rates 2026 to 2027 | | Minimum employer pension: 3% of £23,222 (salary above £6,240) | £697 | GOV.UK auto-enrolment | | **Total before commission, recruitment fees, equipment and office** | **£33,828** | Calculated | In our experience, labour cost savings typically run at 30 to 50% against the UK in Cape Town and Johannesburg and 40 to 50% against Western European rates in Iași. In São Paulo, operating costs for equivalent roles typically run 30 to 50% below the UK, and in Bengaluru salaries often run 40 to 70% below the UK, especially for mid-to-senior roles. Those ranges are measured on different bases, so they do not rank the hubs against each other, and where a role lands inside its range depends on seniority, languages and the CRM experience you need. They are not a discount to apply to the £33,828 figure above, which leaves out commission, equipment and premises: a fair comparison puts the same cost components on both sides. Pricing is agreed with each client. We price every role before you commit to a hire, and set it against your UK cost built up the same way, including commission, equipment and desk space, so the comparison is like for like. For a team of several SDRs the saving usually funds more headcount rather than simply reducing spend, which is how an offshore team grows pipeline capacity inside the same budget. If you would like a role-by-role cost for your own team, [book a discovery call](https://www.potentiam.co.uk/contact-us) and we will build it with you. ## Which offshore hub suits which sales role? For sales, the location question is who the team will talk to, in what language, and at what hour. The table sets out the working day in each of our five hubs in four countries, converted to UK time for a 9 to 6 local day. | Hub | Offset from the UK | 9 to 6 local day in UK time | Strongest for sales | Time to hire | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | **Cape Town and Johannesburg** | 1 hour ahead in British Summer Time, 2 in winter | 8am to 5pm in summer, 7am to 4pm in winter | UK outbound SDR and BDR teams, sales admin and operations | 4 to 6 weeks | | **Iași, Romania** | 2 hours ahead all year | 7am to 4pm all year | Multilingual European outbound, sales operations support | 4 to 6 weeks | | **Bengaluru, India** | 4.5 hours ahead in British Summer Time, 5.5 in winter | 4.30am to 1.30pm in summer, 3.30am to 12.30pm in winter | CRM management, lead generation, pre-sales research, marketing operations | 4 to 6 weeks | | **São Paulo, Brazil** | 4 hours behind in British Summer Time, 3 in winter | 1pm to 10pm in summer, 12pm to 9pm in winter | Performance marketing, campaign coordination, customer operations, Americas coverage | 4 to 8 weeks | **Cape Town and Johannesburg** are where we build calling teams for UK markets. We recruit SDRs, BDRs and sales administration and operations staff there with UK CRM experience, and Account Executives, Account Managers and Customer Success Managers for teams that also carry accounts. [South Africa ranks 13th of the countries in the EF English Proficiency Index 2025](https://www.ef.com/wwen/epi/regions/africa/south-africa/), with a score of 602, inside the index's "very high" band. South Africa is one hour ahead of the UK in British Summer Time and two in winter, so a 9 to 6 day there runs from 8am to 5pm UK time in summer and 7am to 4pm in winter, so the team is dialling when UK decision-makers arrive, and winter late-afternoon callbacks need agreed hours. **Iași** gives you the same calling capability plus the languages. Our Iași teams work in English and the major European languages, including French, German, Italian and Spanish, and bring EU market experience with them. [Romania ranks 11th in the same index](https://www.ef.com/wwen/epi/regions/europe/romania/), with a score of 605. Iași is two hours ahead of the UK all year, so a 9 to 6 day runs from 7am to 4pm UK time and covers European calling hours. **Bengaluru** is the engine room rather than the calling floor. Bengaluru is 4.5 hours ahead of the UK in British Summer Time and 5.5 in winter, so on standard hours its working day finishes around your lunchtime. That suits CRM hygiene, list building, lead scoring and account research that is ready before your UK team starts the day. **São Paulo** is four hours behind the UK in British Summer Time and three in winter, so a 9 to 6 day there runs from 1pm to 10pm UK time in summer. On standard hours there is no UK morning calling, which is why we build performance marketing, campaign coordination and customer operations there, and use it for Americas coverage, rather than for a UK outbound team. Our article on the [best offshore location for a sales and marketing team](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/best-offshore-location-sales-marketing-team) goes through each hub in more depth, including client services and marketing. ## How to hire an offshore sales development team ![A UK head of sales reviewing the weekly pipeline on a video call with his offshore sales team](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/blog/images/offshore-sales-team-uk-pipeline-review-20260925-113009.webp?width=1200&height=675&name=offshore-sales-team-uk-pipeline-review-20260925-113009.webp) Most of the work in building an offshore sales team happens before anyone is hired. This is the sequence we follow with clients. 1. **Define the role and the handoff.** Decide exactly what the offshore team owns (target accounts, sequences, qualification criteria, meeting booking) and where the UK seller takes over. Weak handoff rules can leave an SDR team producing activity without pipeline. 2. **Set targets and the commission plan.** Measure the team on qualified meetings and pipeline, the same way you measure UK sellers, and pay variable pay against those outcomes. 3. **Recruit to your specification.** We shortlist, and you interview and choose. We typically hire in four to six weeks in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Iași and Bengaluru, and four to eight weeks in São Paulo, from starting the search to the candidate accepting the offer. 4. **Onboard into your systems and playbook.** The team works in your CRM and dialler, with your scripts, call recording and enablement material, and joins your sales meetings from the first week. 5. **Manage it as your team.** The team reports to your head of sales, with weekly one-to-ones and a shared pipeline review. Local team leaders become worth appointing as the team grows. ## Who recruits and manages an offshore sales team? This is the question behind most first conversations, because there are several ways to put sales capacity offshore and they place control in different hands. A [recruitment agency finds candidates](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/recruitment-agency-vs-embedded-offshore-team) and steps away. An outsourced calling operation runs its own people to its own processes, often across several clients, and [the two models differ](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/bpo-vs-embedded-offshore-team) most on who owns the team. Under the [Embedded Offshore Team Model](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/embedded-offshore-team-model), the team is recruited to your specification, is dedicated to your company, works inside your CRM to your playbook, and reports to your sales leader. We employ the team in the hub, provide the office and equipment, and look after local HR, payroll, compliance and retention through an embedded HR business partner. You decide who joins, what they work on and how they are measured. That split keeps the commercial decisions with you and the employment and retention work with us, which is what makes a sales team hold together over years rather than months. ## What this looks like in practice In-Sync Group, a UK financial services business, already ran offshore teams with us in data, technology, operations and customer service, and was losing UK sales people faster than it could replace them. We built its sales team in Cape Town, chosen for talent depth, cultural fit and a working day that, at one hour ahead of the UK in British Summer Time and two in winter, runs from 8am to 5pm UK time in summer and 7am to 4pm in winter. The team grew to ten people within two years, with minimal attrition, overtook the UK sales team in size and boosted sales performance across the business. In-Sync's Commercial Director interviewed and chose every hire, and the appointment of local team leaders gave the team mentorship on the ground as it grew. The [In-Sync case study](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/how-insync-group-built-offshore-sales-team-cape-town-outperformed-uk) has the detail. The pattern we would take from it for any UK sales leader: start with a small team on a clearly defined outbound role, prove the handoff into your UK sellers, and expand once the pipeline numbers hold. You can read how our founders built EnergyQuote JHA's offshore operation through to its exit in [the EnergyQuote story](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/how-a-ceo-delivered-21m-of-value-and-an-exit-to-accenture-by-building-offshore-teams-part-1-of-6). ## Prospect data and calling rules ![A compliance manager reviewing a data processing checklist for an offshore sales team](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/blog/images/offshore-sales-gdpr-compliance-img-1-img-1.webp?width=600&height=600&name=offshore-sales-gdpr-compliance-img-1-img-1.webp) Where prospect records name individuals, such as the finance director at a target account, they are personal data, and two sets of UK rules apply before an offshore team makes its first call or sends its first email. This is general guidance rather than legal advice, and we recommend you take advice on your own setup. **Data transfers.** Where we employ the team on your behalf, it sits in a separate legal entity, so giving it access to personal data in your CRM is a restricted transfer under UK GDPR even if the data never leaves your systems. [Romania is inside the EEA and covered by UK adequacy regulations](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/international-transfers/adequacy-regulations/is-the-restricted-transfer-covered-by-adequacy-regulations/), so a team in Iași can be given access without an International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA) or a transfer risk assessment. Your processing contract, security measures and other UK GDPR duties still apply. South Africa, India and Brazil are not covered, so the ICO expects an appropriate safeguard, normally the [IDTA or the UK Addendum](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/international-transfers/a-brief-guide-to-international-transfers/), together with a [transfer risk assessment](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/international-transfers/international-data-transfer-agreement-and-guidance/transfer-risk-assessments/). South Africa's POPIA aligns with GDPR principles, which helps the assessment but does not remove it. Complete it before the first record is shared. **Calling rules.** For calls into the UK, the rules do not change with where the caller sits. [Under PECR, the ICO says](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/direct-marketing-and-privacy-and-electronic-communications/guide-to-pecr/electronic-and-telephone-marketing/telephone-marketing/) you must not make marketing calls to a number registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) or the Corporate TPS unless that person has specifically consented to your calls, so call lists are screened against both registers and against your own do-not-call list. Callers must also say which organisation is calling, allow a contact number to be displayed, and give contact details or a Freephone number if asked. A team dialling on your behalf is bound by all of that exactly as your UK team would be. Build the screening and number display into the CRM and dialler before anyone starts. **Email rules.** [The ICO's business-to-business marketing guidance](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/direct-marketing-and-privacy-and-electronic-communications/business-to-business-marketing/) explains that PECR's consent rule for marketing emails does not apply to corporate subscribers such as companies and limited liability partnerships, but you must not conceal your identity and must give a valid address to opt out, and you should honour opt-outs. Sole traders and some partnerships count as individual subscribers, so the stricter rules for individuals apply to them. Where the email goes to a named person, UK GDPR still applies, including a lawful basis and telling people how you use their data, and if that person objects to direct marketing you must stop using their personal data for it, keeping only what you need on a suppression list to respect the objection. Set up the sequences, opt-out handling and suppression lists in your own systems so the offshore team works inside them. ## Is an offshore sales team right for your company? Four questions settle it for most of the UK sales leaders we speak to. **Is the work repeatable and measurable?** Outbound prospecting, qualification, sales administration and CRM work are. If the role depends on a senior person's relationships, keep it in the UK and move the work around it offshore. **Who will the team talk to, and in what language?** UK prospects in English point to Cape Town or Johannesburg. European prospects in French, German, Italian or Spanish point to Iași. Work that never touches a prospect can go to Bengaluru, 4.5 hours ahead of the UK in summer and 5.5 in winter, where lists and research can be ready before your team starts the day. **Do you have a playbook to hand over?** An offshore SDR team runs well on defined target accounts, sequences and qualification rules. If none of those exist yet, write them first; the team will follow whatever you give it. **Will you manage it as your own team?** The results come from treating the offshore team exactly as you treat your UK sellers: same targets, same meetings, same CRM, same standards. If you are still deciding whether to build offshore at all, our [guide to offshoring, nearshoring and onshoring](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/offshoring-vs-nearshoring-uk-guide) is a good place to start, and our [location guides](https://www.potentiam.co.uk/guides) cover each hub in depth. ## Frequently asked questions **How much does an offshore sales team in South Africa cost?** In our experience, labour cost savings in Cape Town and Johannesburg typically run at 30 to 50% against the UK. For comparison, a UK SDR on PayScale's 2026 average base salary of £29,462 costs about £33,800 a year once employer National Insurance and the minimum pension contribution are added, before commission, recruitment fees and office costs. The percentage is not a discount on that partial figure, so we price each role against your full UK cost, built up the same way, before you hire. **How long does it take to hire an offshore sales development team?** We typically hire in four to six weeks in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Iași and Bengaluru, and four to eight weeks in São Paulo, from starting the search to the candidate accepting the offer. We see UK hiring for equivalent commercial roles take six to twelve weeks or longer. Multilingual sales hires sit at the longer end of the range. **Who recruits and manages an offshore sales team?** Under our Embedded Offshore Team Model, we recruit to your specification and you choose every hire. The team works full time for your company, in your CRM and to your playbook, and reports to your sales leader. We employ the team locally and handle the office, payroll, HR and retention. **Which sales roles work best offshore?** Roles with a defined process and measurable output: outbound SDRs and BDRs, sales administration and operations support, CRM management, lead generation and pre-sales research. Closing complex deals and owning senior client relationships usually stays with UK sellers, with the offshore team feeding them qualified pipeline and taking the administration off them. **Can an offshore SDR team call UK prospects during UK business hours?** Yes, from South Africa. Cape Town and Johannesburg are one hour ahead of the UK in British Summer Time and two in winter, so a 9 to 6 local day runs from 8am to 5pm UK time in summer and 7am to 4pm in winter. Later UK afternoon callbacks in winter need agreed hours. **Do UK data protection and calling rules apply to an offshore sales team?** Yes. Where prospect records identify individuals, giving a separately employed offshore team access to that personal data is a restricted transfer under UK GDPR: Romania is covered by UK adequacy, while South Africa, India and Brazil need a safeguard such as the IDTA plus a transfer risk assessment. PECR's TPS and Corporate TPS screening applies to calls made for a UK company wherever the caller sits, and its email rules apply to sequences sent on your behalf. If you are weighing an offshore sales team, [book a discovery call](https://www.potentiam.co.uk/contact-us) to discuss your sales strategy, the roles you want to build and which hub suits them. ## Sources PayScale, [Sales Development Representative (SDR) salary in the United Kingdom](https://www.payscale.com/research/UK/Job=Sales_Development_Representative_(SDR)/Salary) (2026). HMRC, [Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rates-and-thresholds-for-employers-2026-to-2027). GOV.UK, [Workplace pensions: what you, your employer and the government pay](https://www.gov.uk/workplace-pensions/what-you-your-employer-and-the-government-pay). ManpowerGroup, [UK Talent Shortage 2026](https://www.manpower.co.uk/en/insights/blogs/2026/03/05/uk-talent-shortage-2026). EF, [EF English Proficiency Index 2025](https://www.ef.com/wwen/epi/). ICO, [UK adequacy regulations](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/international-transfers/adequacy-regulations/is-the-restricted-transfer-covered-by-adequacy-regulations/), [transfer risk assessments](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/international-transfers/international-data-transfer-agreement-and-guidance/transfer-risk-assessments/) and [telephone marketing under PECR](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/direct-marketing-and-privacy-and-electronic-communications/guide-to-pecr/electronic-and-telephone-marketing/telephone-marketing/) and [business-to-business marketing](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/direct-marketing-and-privacy-and-electronic-communications/business-to-business-marketing/). Scroll ## Ready to scale your team? Discover how our proven model builds teams that drive performance, reduce costs, and multiply growth. 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screen](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/blog/images/offshore-teams-telecoms-hero-20260925-101527.webp?length=750&name=offshore-teams-telecoms-hero-20260925-101527.webp)](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/offshore-teams-telecoms) [Sales & Customer Service](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/tag/sales-customer-service) #### [Offshore Teams for Telecoms: Customer Service, Technical Support and Back Office](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/offshore-teams-telecoms) [![Sales team members on headset calls in a bright office while their team leader looks on and encourages them](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/blog/images/insync-sales-team-calls-hero-2026-09.webp?length=750&name=insync-sales-team-calls-hero-2026-09.webp)](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/how-insync-group-built-offshore-sales-team-cape-town-outperformed-uk) [Sales & Customer Service](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/tag/sales-customer-service) #### [How In-Sync Group Built an Offshore Sales Team in Cape Town](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/how-insync-group-built-offshore-sales-team-cape-town-outperformed-uk) [![Cybersecurity operations centre in Cape Town with diverse team of security analysts monitoring network dashboards](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/blog/images/grove-cybersecurity-hero-hero-1.webp?length=750&name=grove-cybersecurity-hero-hero-1.webp)](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/how-offshoring-to-cape-town-fuelled-groves-rise) [IT & Software](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/tag/it-software) #### [How Offshoring to Cape Town Fuelled Grove's Rise as a 3x Deloitte Fast 500 Cybersecurity Leader](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/how-offshoring-to-cape-town-fuelled-groves-rise) [![Two IT engineers reviewing a monitoring dashboard together in a managed services operations room](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/blog/images/msp-m365-offshore-team-hero.webp?length=750&name=msp-m365-offshore-team-hero.webp)](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/offshore-m365-managed-services-teams-uk-msps) [Blog](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/tag/blog) #### [Offshore Microsoft 365 and Managed Services Teams for UK MSPs](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/offshore-m365-managed-services-teams-uk-msps) [![Software developers collaborating in modern Bangalore India tech office](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/blog/images/oem-developers-bangalore-office-20260510-164051.webp?length=750&name=oem-developers-bangalore-office-20260510-164051.webp)](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/how-open-energy-market-accelerated-development-offshore-team-bangalore) [IT & Software](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/tag/it-software) #### [How Open Energy Market Accelerated Its Software Roadmap With an Offshore Development Team in Bangalore](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/how-open-energy-market-accelerated-development-offshore-team-bangalore) [![footer-logo](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/hubfs/footer-logo.svg)](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/) We strategically build offshore teams that integrate seamlessly into your business. ##### Solutions - [Technology](https://www.potentiam.co.uk/solutions/technology) - [Finance & Accounting](https://www.potentiam.co.uk/solutions/finance-accounting) - [Marketing & Design](https://www.potentiam.co.uk/solutions/marketing-and-design) - [Data Analytics](https://www.potentiam.co.uk/solutions/data-analytics) - [Sales & Customer Success](https://www.potentiam.co.uk/solutions/sales-customer-service-solutions) - [Energy Consulting](https://www.potentiam.co.uk/solutions/energy-consulting) ##### Locations - [Cape Town](https://www.potentiam.co.uk/locations/south-africa) - [Johannesburg](https://www.potentiam.co.uk/locations/johannesburg) - 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[Privacy Policy](https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/privacy) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/a-revenue-acceleration-engine-why-offshore-sales-teams-make-more-sense#article", "@type" : "Article", "author" : { "@id" : "https://www.potentiam.co.uk/#organization" }, "dateModified" : "2026-10-14", "datePublished" : "2024-06-25T07:13:59Z", "description" : "Hire an offshore sales development team in Cape Town or Johannesburg: typical labour cost savings of 30 to 50%, the roles that work and how we hire.", "headline" : "How Offshore Sales Teams Accelerate Revenue for UK Companies", "image" : "https://5804539.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/5804539/blog/images/offshore-sales-teams-revenue-acceleratio-hero-1.webp", "keywords" : [ "offshore sales team", "hire offshore sales development team", "cost of offshore sales team South Africa", "offshore SDR team", "offshore sales support", "embedded offshore team" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/a-revenue-acceleration-engine-why-offshore-sales-teams-make-more-sense" }, "publisher" : { "@id" : "https://www.potentiam.co.uk/#organization" }, "wordCount" : 3400 } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://www.potentiam.co.uk/#organization", "@type" : "Organization", "address" : { "@type" : "PostalAddress", "addressCountry" : "GB" }, "description" : "Potentiam is a London-based strategic offshoring consultancy that builds embedded offshore teams for UK and EU mid-sized companies in five hubs in four countries: Cape Town and Johannesburg (South Africa), Iași (Romania), Bengaluru (India) and São Paulo (Brazil).", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://www.potentiam.co.uk/hubfs/logo.svg" }, "name" : "Potentiam Ltd", "sameAs" : [ "https://www.linkedin.com/company/potentiam-ltd" ], "url" : "https://www.potentiam.co.uk" } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/a-revenue-acceleration-engine-why-offshore-sales-teams-make-more-sense#breadcrumb", "@type" : "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement" : [ { "@type" : "ListItem", "item" : "https://www.potentiam.co.uk", "name" : "Home", "position" : 1 }, { "@type" : "ListItem", "item" : "https://blog.potentiam.co.uk", "name" : "Blog", "position" : 2 }, { "@type" : "ListItem", "name" : "How Offshore Sales Teams Accelerate Revenue", "position" : 3 } ] } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "https://blog.potentiam.co.uk/a-revenue-acceleration-engine-why-offshore-sales-teams-make-more-sense#faq", "@type" : "FAQPage", "mainEntity" : [ { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "In our experience, labour cost savings in Cape Town and Johannesburg typically run at 30 to 50% against the UK. For comparison, a UK SDR on PayScale's 2026 average base salary of £29,462 costs about £33,800 a year once employer National Insurance and the minimum pension contribution are added, before commission, recruitment fees and office costs. The percentage is not a discount on that partial figure, so we price each role against your full UK cost, built up the same way, before you hire." }, "name" : "How much does an offshore sales team in South Africa cost?" }, { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "We typically hire in four to six weeks in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Iași and Bengaluru, and four to eight weeks in São Paulo, from starting the search to the candidate accepting the offer. We see UK hiring for equivalent commercial roles take six to twelve weeks or longer. Multilingual sales hires sit at the longer end of the range." }, "name" : "How long does it take to hire an offshore sales development team?" }, { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "Under our Embedded Offshore Team Model, we recruit to your specification and you choose every hire. The team works full time for your company, in your CRM and to your playbook, and reports to your sales leader. We employ the team locally and handle the office, payroll, HR and retention." }, "name" : "Who recruits and manages an offshore sales team?" }, { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "Roles with a defined process and measurable output: outbound SDRs and BDRs, sales administration and operations support, CRM management, lead generation and pre-sales research. Closing complex deals and owning senior client relationships usually stays with UK sellers, with the offshore team feeding them qualified pipeline and taking the administration off them." }, "name" : "Which sales roles work best offshore?" }, { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "Yes, from South Africa. Cape Town and Johannesburg are one hour ahead of the UK in British Summer Time and two in winter, so a 9 to 6 local day runs from 8am to 5pm UK time in summer and 7am to 4pm in winter. Later UK afternoon callbacks in winter need agreed hours." }, "name" : "Can an offshore SDR team call UK prospects during UK business hours?" }, { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "Yes. Where prospect records identify individuals, giving a separately employed offshore team access to that personal data is a restricted transfer under UK GDPR: Romania is covered by UK adequacy, while South Africa, India and Brazil need a safeguard such as the IDTA plus a transfer risk assessment. PECR's TPS and Corporate TPS screening applies to calls made for a UK company wherever the caller sits, and its email rules apply to sequences sent on your behalf." }, "name" : "Do UK data protection and calling rules apply to an offshore sales team?" } ] } ```