When confronted with the question, “what is inside sales?” several professionals become perplexed. If you’re one of them, keep reading because we’ll go over inside sales in-depth, as well as its different tactics. This will also include job descriptions, salary, and jobs for inside sales representatives.
Overview
In the last two decades, technology has changed a lot of things. It has altered our perceptions of reality and our hopes for the future. But more importantly, it has unquestionably altered the way we conduct business.
Businesses have pitched their tents in a new location known as the internet. Technology has changed the face of sales, just as it has any other critical aspect of our lives.
Both businesses and consumers have become accustomed to transactions taking place inside the confines of an office. Companies have begun to develop a workforce that looks for opportunities from the comfort of these four walls. Customers, on the other hand, are fairly relaxed about it!
Businesses put more money into inside sales than simply selling their goods. They want to consider their customers’ problems and desires in order to make them happy.
At the same time as inside sales increased in importance, customer service grew in importance as well. And o f course, as technology advances, the face of sales will evolve as well.
So, what exactly is the term, “inside sales”? What are the job decriptions and salary for inside sales representatives? Keep an eye on the pages that follow to learn everything there is to know about inside sales. We’ll also go over some pointers and strategies for improving the inside sales team.
What is inside sales?
Inside sales is the practice of engaging with prospects or clients over the phone, through email, or via other online platforms, rather than meeting them face to face as in the past. Technology and the means of communication are critical in inside sales.
Inside sales teams/representatives are the first to engage with customers, learn about their needs, respond to their questions, and qualify them as leads.
The inside sales team takes marketing leads and ensures that the prospects are a good match for their product.
What are the difficulties that Inside Sales Representatives face?
Inside sales is unquestionably difficult. If you get the hang of it, you’ll notice that almost every salesperson faces the same problems and overcomes them. Several factors serve as roadblocks for inside sales representatives in carrying out their job descriptions, making it almost impossible for them to fulfill their targets.
But, as the saying goes, where there’s a will, there’s a way! There is no obstacle that you, as an inside sales representative, cannot overcome. We’ve compiled a list of some of the obstacles you could face in your inside sales career/jobs and how to conquer them.
Dealing with a growing number of competitions
It’s a lot easier to start a company these days. Furthermore, as the number of new companies grows, so does the level of competition.
Inside sales representives are finding it difficult to secure new clients and maintain them as a result of this change in the working climate, particularly when everyone else in the market has something better to give.
How to tackle this roadblock: Study the rivals and figure out what they’re doing to gain a competitive edge. Then evaluate your own USPs and present them in the most effective way possible. Do it in a way that will be difficult to ignore in order to capture their attention.
Limited Time to complete all tasks
Every salesperson has been heard claiming that they don’t have enough time.
Inside sales reps consume a lot of time during the day nurturing leads, following up with customers, making cold calls, arranging meetings, and entering data into the system.
How to address this issue: Companies should invest in a CRM for their sales team. This will help to minimize manual labor as it covers automation and other important productivity tools.
Assuring that they are receiving high-quality leads
It’s no surprise that sales representatives deal with a large number of leads on a daily basis. However, not every lead shared by the marketing team is the best lead. Prospecting the right leads is one of the most time-consuming activities for any salesperson, and it can become a major roadblock to closing deals.
How to solve this: Having quality leads requires good coordination between the sales and marketing teams. Request that your management schedule meetings between the two departments so that you can discuss your concerns with them and try to persuade them to understand and cooperate with you.
Staying inspired in a confined space
Unlike outside sales, which always involves a change of scenery and work climate, inside sales could be monotonous because you must work in the same office with the same people every day.
In such a scenario, inside sales representatives are prone to losing motivation. They are also open to distractions by the factors listed in the second point.
How to address this challenge: Because of the routine activities along the way and the predictable environment, sales reps must view each customer encounter as a unique opportunity. They would need to concentrate on what they can do to improve their client’s experience. This way, they’ll have something different to do every day, and you’ll be able to adapt accordingly.
Inventing new ways to reach out to people
No doubts, clients have grown resistant to the standard, so-called personalized emails that only use their first names to personalize them.
On the other hand, inside sales reps struggle to come up with innovative ways to personalize customer experiences.
How to conquer this obstacle: Enlist the help of automation and optimize your emails and texts. Use models to include more than just the client’s name, and demonstrate how thoroughly you’ve researched them and their company before closing the deal.
Three Vital Inside sales mediums that may boost a representative’s salary
Emails, Phone Calls, and Meetings over the internet
Let’s look at the significance of these three mediums in today’s sales:
86 percent of business professionals prefer email over other forms of communication.
Email has become a huge tool for anything from marketing to customer service. The marketing team runs different campaigns to identify potential buyers, and the inside sales team follows up with them to ensure that they are a good match for their product. Or rather, if their commodity is a good match for these prospects.
About 73 percent of 18-24-year-olds check their email on their tablets/phones.
Customers tend to meet only during working hours while dealing with outside transactions. Emails, on the other hand, have no bounds. Prospects can be contacted at any time by inside sales professionals. It’s much easier to contact prospects now that emails are available on mobile devices as well.
Phone Calls
The use of Phone Calls have experienced an unprecedented growth over the past two decades.
In the past, people used to cold call prospects to see if they were available in the office so they could talk face to face. In recent times however, it’s all about marketing the products during conversations over the phone.
Isn’t that a significant shift?
But there is more. After the introduction of VoIPs, companies have been able to go global without ever leaving their offices. Simply having virtual phone numbers allows you to make business calls from anywhere in the world.
Virtual phone systems make it easy for companies to reach out to international customers and extend their operations. Every day, CEOs spend 25% of their time on calls, according to CBS!
And for the most part, you could have an entire virtual phone system built-into your CRM system, such as Salesmate. This means you won’t have to switch between systems to make calls or handle data.
Meetings over the internet
Visuals are conspicuously absent from phone calls and emails. Video conferencing has exploded in popularity in recent years.
As I previously said, companies have become more global, and the resources have evolved as well. Video conferencing applications like Zoom, GoToMeeting, or Adobe Connect have been extremely beneficial to inside sales representatives.
With screen sharing, reps can digitally send demonstrations to their prospects and demonstrate how their product operates. This is the simplest way to ensure that the prospects fully comprehend the commodities.
Inside Sales Representative’s Job description Responsibilities
What exactly does an Inside sales representative do? What is the job description of an inside sales representative? Well, when it comes to achieving a company’s customer acquisition and sales growth targets, he or she plays a critical role. They make a dozen or more calls per day in the hopes of meeting the company’s quarterly quotas by closing deals with eligible prospects.
Other tasks, according to popular sources, include the following:
Inbound leads and outbound cold calls and emails to find new sales prospects.
Identifying key players and generating interest through account research
Maintaining a database of prospects in one’s allocated territories that is continuously growing
Building a pipeline and closing deals by collaborating with other networks
Demonstrating to prospects through the internet
Qualified leads are routed to sales reps for further production and closure.
What is the average salary for an Inside Sales Representative?
In the United States, the national average salary for an Inside Sales Representative is around $42,926. On the other hand, there are several platforms that could give you first-hand information about Inside sales representative salary, which is a factor of the general job descriptions though. All you need is just type a location and the job title.
A good start to get this information is GlassDoor. Other sources for inside sales representative salary include; Payscale.com, Indeed.com, Salaries.com, and so on.
The 5 Most Successful Inside Sales Tools
You’ll need a good range of tools as an inside sales representative or manager.
Tools to help you keep track of data and boost your overall productivity.
For your convenience, we’ve listed some of the best inside sales resources. The goal is to identify conditions where these resources can help you work better. For example, 6sense can be used for analytics. You can, however, choose a better option.
Customer relationship management (CRM)
This is an obvious tool because handling prospect data without one is a nightmare.
Communication management, pipeline management, and deal management are all aided by a string CRM. The tool will help you figure out where your opportunities are in the process.
It clearly demonstrates where you can focus your efforts in order to close further deals.
Depending on the company’s needs, there are a plethora of choices available. However, if you work for a small business or a startup, Salesmate is the best choice.
Salesmate is simply the best CRM for small businesses and entrepreneurs, with features including built-in calling, pipeline management, deal management, and handy integrations.
LinkedIn outreach automation tool
LinkedIn is a great place to find new leads. It is responsible for 80% of all B2B leads produced via social media.
You may want to use a LinkedIn outreach automation tool to bring new leads into your CRM from Linkedin. Some good choices are Lead Connect, Zopto, and Alfred.
Tool for video conferencing
One of the most important job descriptions you have as an inside sales representative is to describe your product to prospects. The best way to do it is to use a video conferencing tool.
Video conferencing tools enable you to share screens, make calls, and chat with prospects visually. Some of the best conferencing apps are Zoom, join.me, GoToMeeting, and BlueJeans.
Business proposal tool
You should send out a proposal when deals have reached the point that prospects are almost sure of your offerings.
This is where a business proposal tool can be extremely useful. Proposify, PandaDoc, and Bidsketch are some of the most common tools for sending proposals.
You can also keep track of your ideas, customize pricing, create beautiful models, and avoid having to enter data manually.
Appointment scheduling tools
When you fail to call your clients, it reflects poorly on your brand. To avoid this, you can use appointment scheduling software. It practically saves you from having to encounter such dreadful events.
Calendly, Doodle, and SetMore, for example, sends you updates so you don’t miss an important meeting. These tools also account for time zones, ensuring that all parties receive notifications at the appropriate times.
What Are Examples of Inside Sales?
Internal sales refers to the sale of items or services by employees who communicate with clients by phone, email, or the internet. The terms “remote sales” and “virtual sales” may also be used to describe inside sales. It is named “inside” because these sales people remain indoors, generally at a call center or company office.
What Is Outside Sales vs Inside Sales?
Inside salespeople offer products or services to customers over the phone, internet, or through other remote means, whereas outside salespeople sell products or services face-to-face.
Is Inside Sales Cold Calling?
Telemarketing is an overall sales technique that involves making a large number of cold calls, however cold calling is also employed in inside sales. To put it another way, while all telemarketing calls are cold calls, not all cold calls are telemarketing calls.
What Is Another Title for Inside Sales?
Business Development Manager, Account Executive, Operations Manager, Business Development Specialist, and Account Manager are careers and job titles comparable to those of an Inside Sales Representative.
The bottom line
Inside sales is a vast ocean of numerous tips and techniques. In this sector, there is never a shortage of things to learn. All you have to do is pay careful attention to your behavior and reactions. There are countless opportunities waiting for you once you find your speed.
Still, I hope you find these inside sales tips, tactics, techniques, and resources to be extremely beneficial to your business.
