External sales team for food and beverage manufacturers
An external sales team detects which importers, distributors, retail chains and restaurant groups are ready to buy, opens the conversation with the decision-maker in their language and books the meeting in your calendar. At Hurus we do it with AI agents and people. You do not hire or train anyone: you take the meeting, negotiate and close.
What an external sales team (or external SDR team) is
It is a team that handles the most time-consuming part of selling: finding the right company at the right moment and getting the decision-maker to accept a meeting. The role is usually called SDR (sales development representative).
The difference from hiring an SDR is who carries the start-up. With an in-house SDR, hiring, training and management are yours. With an external team they come ready: Hurus brings the process, the language and the judgment, and your sales leadership keeps negotiating and closing.
What Hurus does and what you do
The split is clear from day one.
| Task | Who does it |
|---|---|
| Choose countries, channels, product lines and exclusions | Hurus with your leadership |
| Detect companies with a dated buying signal | Hurus |
| Identify and verify the decision-maker | Hurus |
| Open the conversation in the buyer's language | Hurus |
| Answer replies and call | People at Hurus |
| Meeting with the decision-maker, with a one-page brief | Your team |
| Samples, export price list, negotiation and closing | Your team |
Nothing to install, no access to your internal systems and no change to your CRM.
Who we open doors to in food and beverage
- Importers and distributors, by country and category.
- Supermarket chains and hypermarkets.
- Specialist retail: wine shops, gourmet stores and delis.
- Restaurant groups and food service (HORECA).
- Brands without a factory looking for a producer, if you have spare capacity.
We talk to the person who decides, not just the company: purchasing director, category manager, menu manager, co-founder or CEO, depending on your ideal customer.
The signals that tell us when to reach out
A database tells you who exists. A signal tells you who is deciding now.
| Buying signal | What it means |
|---|---|
| Trade show in the next 90 days (SIAL, Alimentaria, ProWein, Gulfood…) | Calendar open to meet suppliers |
| Opens a category or launches a product | Needs listings, ingredients or a channel |
| Hires in purchasing or sales | A new person reviewing suppliers |
| Expands a plant or opens a site | New purchases and new suppliers |
| Expands to another region | Needs a local network from day one |
Comparison: five ways to get meetings in another country
There is no single best option. This table sums up what you get with each one and when it fits.
| Option | What you get | Who gets it running | When it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| In-house SDR | A person of yours who prospects | You: hiring, training and management | A defined process and a steady volume of accounts |
| Own or part-time export manager | A person who runs one or more markets | You, with their schedule and network | Markets already open that need developing |
| Sales agent or distributor | Sales through their portfolio, on commission or margin | The agent or distributor, with their priorities | Markets where that partner already exists |
| Contact lists | Names and emails | You: filter, write and follow up | An in-house team with time to work them |
| External sales team (Hurus) | Meetings with decision-makers and a brief for each | Hurus, built on your company's know-how | Opening countries or channels without building a team |
Food and beverage cases
Hurus client cases, shown without names for confidentiality.
Spanish beverage brand · France
Nine waves to 675 decision-makers: wine shops, hospitality, retail and distributors. 77% open rate, 23.76% reply rate and a Paris store that asked for samples and an export price list.
Ready-to-drink beverage maker · Hong Kong and France
Lost a buyer worth about €600,000 in a large Hong Kong chain. We kept the channel with an equivalent buyer and, with that profile, opened France in hypermarkets.
Kombucha factory · Spain
With the plant at 30% capacity, we stopped chasing a large chain and looked for brands with demand and no factory. The plant went to 70%.
Natural cocktail brand · Thailand
A meeting with a distributor and a one-page brief. Market opened without travelling.
Craft winery · Spain
Restaurant groups chosen by cuisine and average ticket, with one goal: getting the menu manager to taste the wine. Result: the wine made it onto restaurant group menus.
How we start
- Diagnosis: a session with your leadership on goals, countries, lines, channels and exclusions.
- Design: the agents learn your company: brand, ideal customer by country, signals and decision-makers.
- Activation: first market in supervised mode. Every message and every reply reviewed.
- Scale: new countries and lines with what was learned.
To make the most of the meetings, have your spec sheet, an export price list and capacity for new orders ready.
Markets and languages
- Languages
- Spanish, Portuguese, French, German and English
- Markets already opened
- More than ten, including Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand and Sydney
Further reading
Frequently asked questions
What is an external SDR team?
An external team that finds the right companies, opens the conversation with the decision-maker and delivers meetings. At Hurus, AI detects the buying moment and our people open the conversation in the buyer's language. The meeting and the close are yours.
How can I replace my in-house SDR team?
With an external team that brings its own process: Hurus detects companies in a buying moment, opens the conversation with decision-makers and books meetings in your calendar. You do not hire, train or manage anyone; your sales leadership negotiates and closes.
Is it the same as buying a contact list?
No. We do not sell lists: we open markets. We choose whom to write to based on their buying moment, open the conversation with context and deliver meetings with decision-makers, not unfiltered names and emails.
What exactly do I get?
A meeting in your calendar with the person who decides and a brief with the account context: why we reached out, what was discussed and what they are interested in.
How soon do the first meetings arrive?
The first meetings arrive within weeks. The exact timing depends on your market, your product and how hard it is to reach the decision-maker in your sector. We set it for your case on the kick-off call.
How much does it cost?
It depends on your market, your goal and the volume of meetings you want, so we do not publish a price. We go through it on a call and compare it with what a sales payroll costs you today.
Talk to the team