Inside Sales vs Outside Sales: How to Structure Your Sales Team

This enables companies to retain high levels of productivity and efficiency while saving money on overhead expenses. When an inside sales rep calls new prospects and brokers deals, they need to be able to get ideas across clearly. This includes displaying their knowledge of customer pain points and explaining how their offering is the solution to these challenges. The best reps are bold, authoritative and highly knowledgeable about their product. It is a vital part of being able to persuade prospects to purchase.

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That way, account executives spend their time with the most qualified leads. It should also guide the ongoing sales training, sales enablement, and coaching you deliver to ensure your inside sales reps are set up for success. They should be able to explain how their product works in detail, including workarounds, integrations, and the nuances of key features. It’s a major bonus if your sales reps can use your product or service in their day-to-day responsibilities, making them go-to product experts. So before you attempt to use inside sales, ensure you understand what you’ll need to succeed.

Inside Sales Representative Education and Experience

It consists of sell a product or service remotely rather than meeting prospects or customers physically. Inside sales can help you increase sales while building valuable relationships with customers through personalization. With the right tools like phones, email, social media, and robust CRM software, you can start to close more sales online. Inside and outside sales reps use similar tools, and many sales jobs overlap, with inside sales reps going outside the office to meet with customers and outside sales reps working from their desks. Outside sales reps should be comfortable with public speaking, leading presentations, and answering questions on the spot. They also must be willing to travel and work effectively while on the go.

This principle applied to inside sales shows that the greatest sales reps sell without actually selling – and as cliché as it sounds, this begins with information. The importance of carrying out research to learn and understand as much as you can about your prospect, long before any interaction cannot be underestimated. All of which may prove useful when contact is finally established, offering insight into passions and habits which might be best catered to. Additionally, the inside sales model simplifies transactions between sales reps and customers, eliminating the need for in-person meetings, presentations and laborious payment regimes. Collaboration is streamlined between teams, and timely feedback can help to quickly re-engineer the sales process.

1. Using an array of powerful tools and CRM systems, businesses can effectively keep a finger on the pulse of their results and targets, gaining a well-rounded understanding of their ROI and ROE.
2. The inside sales process can vary by industry and target audience, but it’ll generally follow the same overall structure.
3. Your inside and outside sales teams need digital communication tools to meet the customer where they are.
4. Most organizations won’t have the experience, technique, personnel or benchmarking data to build from scratch.

Inside sales happen remotely, whereas outside sales happen in person. However, they must also be great listeners and know what questions to ask to get prospects talking. When a rep expertly navigates objections, the prospect is more likely to purchase. However, certain characteristics are required for just about any rep to make their sales quota. Reps sell from a corporate or home office rather than in the field. Cost savings Inside sales reduces costs compared to outside sales, which requires travel expenses including lodging, dining, and client-related costs.

Requirements and skills

We’ve also seen how inside sales has changed with the rise of new tech like AI. A strong sales manager is essential to coach and mentor the team, offering feedback and guidance for performance improvement. You could be forgiven for mistaking the term “inside sales” for an exclusive sales club for exchanging contraband. In reality, however, “inside sales” refers to an emerging sales method which can be more efficient, more sustainableand even more profitable than traditional sales methods. The concept of Inside Sales is based on 7 stages, corresponding to the buying journey that the latter goes through. They are clearly different from each other., and each time require the intervention of one or more Inside Sales divisions.

This message should include the name of your business, yours, and the purpose of your call. Moreover, the concept of floating ideas is possible due to feedback. Getting the customer’s reactions is critical in keeping ideas malleable. Additionally, asking for the customer’s perspective demonstrates the seller’s commitment to a collaborative, consultative process. Becoming attuned to the details of the customer’s responses is central to a consultative approach because it clarifies needs.

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Today, inside sales uses every remote sales channel, including phone calls, email and social media. Inside sales reps will need to gather insights into prospects and their businesses. To achieve this, reps will use directories, search engines and other forms of networking.

Two top benefits of choosing an inside sales model are a faster sales cycle and significant scalability. Inside sales is also more cost-effective since it uses technology (like a CRM) to track sales tasks and automate sending notifications and qualifying leads. While inside sales reps can be found easily, highly specialised, effective inside sales reps are not so easy to come by. However, with the right set of tools and mindset, it is possible to set yourself apart as the Ronaldo of inside sales in your industry. Being a successful inside sales rep isn’t easy, but it is possible with the right resources and skillset. Whether you’re a first-time rep or you’re looking to improve your craft, building these skills will go a long way towards increasing the number of closes you achieve.

Lead generation software

Whether your teams are inside or outside, lead generation tools like  UpLead  can help you find highly qualified leads and their contact information. Inside sales reps rely on technology and virtual meetings to build relationships. Outside sales reps, aka field salespeople, rely on travel and in-person meetings to share demos, explore objections, and build face-to-face relationships. Empowering your inside sales reps with the work environment and toolset they need to convert potential customers is crucial to building a successful inside sales team. Key performance indicators (KPIs) can include the number of qualified leads, meetings booked, opportunities created, deals closed, and revenue generated.

1. Based on social selling practices, Inside Sales uses LinkedIn as a way to communicate with potential prospects while being an ambassador for their company.
2. Despite this, they are still proactive about contacting potential customers and may engage in cold calling.
3. It’s also gaining popularity in B2C sales, especially for high–priced, big-ticket items.
4. It logs the conversations in a unified agent workspace, giving you the context you need when following up with your leads.
5. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance degree from Bridgewater State University and helps develop content strategies.
6. This equips the seller with valuable feedback to shape the final solution.

Start by dividing the products you need to sell in person from the ones you can sell remotely. Determine what is inside sales how many of each product type you need to sell per month and how many salespeople you will require to achieve that goal. Outside salespeople, however, need to understand body language—both their own and their leads’.

Despite this, they are still proactive about contacting potential customers and may engage in cold calling. However, a company may also designate incoming calls from prospective customers as inside sales. In addition, a company may outsource its inside sales duties to a third party instead of conducting sales in-house. After completing their education, incoming sales professionals often begin their careers as inside sales representatives. Those who excel in the position may become senior inside sales representatives. After five years in inside sales, reps can become sales executives and eventually pursue a sales manager role.