What is Inside Sales? Business vs Commercial Technique

It’s a model in which reps do their jobs from “inside” an office rather than face-to-face in the field. Some reps work from a company office, some from home, and others from both “inside” locations. Gartner predicts that by 2025, 80% of B2B sales interactions will occur via digital channels.

Sales Leadership

1. This means that businesses are no longer limited to hiring only people who live inside, or close to, their region of business.
2. Unlike outside sales, inside sales reps depend on technology for success, using CRM systems, email tracking tools, social selling tools, and more.
3. In addition, since your customers already know their sales reps, they’ll be easier to sell to in the future because they’ve already built trust with your business.
4. With hybrid, sales floors can work through their pipeline remotely, while handling higher-value, priority prospects in the field.

They work smarter, and make the hours worked count – and adjustments don’t have to be drastic. They could be as simple as posting on social media during ‘high engagement hours’, persistence and commitment to following up conversations. Whether you sell products or services, you may need a sales team to help find prospective customers and convince them to spend their money. Unfortunately, many small businesses find it difficult to sell products through their websites, especially high-ticket items, to businesses and individuals. Inside sales reps need to be able to form connections and build relationships with customers without meeting them face to face. Unlike telemarketers who read from scripts, inside sales reps are highly trained, creative people, who determine a sales strategy for selling products and services to customers.

1. It includes just about every type of digital communication available.
2. In fact, the friend/foe bias tells us that all people make this quick assertion.
3. As with any role, salary depends on factors such as experience and education.
4. As technology evolves, businesses worldwide are finding new and innovative ways to demonstrate products and close complex deals through multiple channels.
5. However, in the race to reach more customers, sellers cannot afford to sacrifice quality for volume.
6. Our study revealed the average base salary for inside sales account executives in the US is $42,833, with an average on-target earnings (OTE) of $96,299.
7. Often, sales leaders believe outside reps bring more experience to a role, so they demand a higher base salary.

The sales process specifies expectations at each stage and the relevant metrics to gauge success. The sales process also defines what constitutes a “sales qualified lead,” and when and how sales reps should reach out, engage, and pass leads to account executives. Finally, an inside sales process also includes which channels – such as email, social media, phone calls, video conferencing, text messaging – to engage remotely with prospects.

How much do inside and outside sales reps make?

Most organizations, at some point in their growth, will have an inside sales team. For many businesses, especially in technology and software development, this is the standard model of closing new customers. The sales process for startups and small businesses can sometimes be fluid, depending on business size and budget, and there are sometimes advantages, like lower costs, to outsourcing their sales teams.

Mindtickle empowers winning inside sales teams to close more deals

With attentiveness, an inside sales rep can glean as much information over the phone and video as they would in a face-to-face meeting. Nothing discredits an inside sales professional faster than using vague generalities. These make the customer feel like they are on the receiving end of a cold call. Often their response to this competition is the aggressive promotion of their products and services. When a seller appears self-serving or even manipulative, customers identify them as a foe and discredit their message. They must do their homework, be relevant, and understand needs before discussing the product.

Hubspot’s 2024 sales report found that compared to in-person sales, 21% of sales representatives believe that remote sales are somewhat more successful. Social media has changed the world we live in, and one of the greatest skills for inside sales reps to have is the ability to identify, nurture and build relationships through social media. Social media platforms also provide a great platform for learning about your prospects, but it also goes the other way. If you sell expensive products to other businesses, retailers, or individuals, you may need a dedicated sales team to help convert interested parties into paying customers. While your website can be an effective sales and marketing tool, it’s sometimes not enough to build relationships with prospects and convert them.

What Are the Tasks and Duties Required of Inside and Outside Sales Representatives?

Today, inside sales (also referred to as remote sales) have become the dominant model of B2B sales, especially in industries such as technology and software as a service (SaaS). It’s also gaining popularity in B2C sales, especially for high–priced, big-ticket items. Inside sales is simply the act of identifying leads, nurturing them and closing sales remotely. When sedentary salespeople focus only what is inside sales on making a sale, they ignore the human element of the interaction. An Inside Sales team should strive to build a relationship with each and every customer they interact with.

Service Hub

Outside sales reps should self-manage and motivate themselves since they spend most of their time working independently. Outside sales is considered the more “traditional” sales approach, like door-to-door sales. In addition to face-to-face meetings, reps connect with customers across their preferred communication channels—live and asynchronous. These communication tools include smartphones and other mobile devices, allowing agents to connect with customers wherever they are. Inside sales is the process of selling remotely over various communication channels, like phone, email, messaging, or social media. Sometimes inside and outside sales personnel and practices work together for greater efficiency.

The sales representative would carry along a laptop or tablet to demonstrate how the product functions and its potential benefits. They might make several such trips to different prospects, spending a lot of time and resources on travel and face-to-face meetings. Inside sales refers to the process of selling products or services using remote communication channels, such as phone, email, InMail, or video conferencing, instead of in-person visits.

Luckily, you can use several sales strategies to build more personal relationships and increase sales. Unlike outside sales, inside sales reps depend on technology for success, using CRM systems, email tracking tools, social selling tools, and more. Inside sales goes hand-in-hand with inbound marketing; therefore, inbound software can help marketing teams to drive traffic, collect leads, and measure results. An inside sales representative is someone who drives sales for the business by communicating remotely with prospects and customers. Many inside sales reps work in an office or from home and have experience in customer support or telemarketing.