What is Inside Sales—and Why and How You Should Do It

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Who better to define inside sales than the foremost thought leader on it? Inside sales evangelist Ken Krogue explains inside sales in the simplest and best way and we’ve broken it down for you:

What is Inside Sales?

Inside sales is professional sales done remotely or virtually.

Inside sales is not telemarketing. Telemarketing is a scripted, single-call-close, almost always targeting a small-ticket, business to consumer (B2C) model.
Inside sales is not scripted. It requires multiple calls or "touches" to create a sales close, involves medium or large ticket goods and services, and targets business-to-business (B2B) or high-end business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions.

Inside sales uses power dialing technology that moves the more sophisticated "predictive 2.0" technology into the data using predictive analytics, big data, and machine learning to improve on the older technology by removing the stigma of abandoned calls of the overused technology.

Krogue’s bottomline? Inside sales is remote sales.

And in today’s highly dynamic and mobile environment, inside sales is… sales.

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Today’s buyer is becoming more and more comfortable in the virtual world. Email, messaging, and CRMs that integrate mobility, automation, artificial intelligence, and power dialer are also available to sales representatives these days. For these reasons, inside sales is steadily growing.

Indeed, inside sales is a healthy and profitable complement to outside sales. In outside sales, reps—called field sales reps—travel or go “out the field” to meet prospects face to face.

Note that we say “complement.” Inside sales is not poised to overtake or replace outside sales. Human interaction in sales is still very critical to a sales team’s success. We see the two supporting each other, not contradicting. In fact, there’s a position for the sales representative who does both inside and outside sales: the hybrid salesperson.

Why and How You Should Do Inside Sales

In 2017, a study showed that inside sales was increasing to 30.2% projected for next year and that large companies surveyed were aiming for an ideal inside sales mix averaged at 40.3%, so more growth is forecast.

That was two years ago.

That is enough reason for companies, especially start-ups in B2B, tech, SaaS, and some B2C, to integrate inside sales into their processes and strategies.

But how should you do inside sales?

As mentioned, inside sales is sales. So you still use the best sales practices. You do not forgo the best learnings from your trainings and coaching sessions. They all still apply—and even more so—in inside sales. You still need to be savvy in closing deals, mindful of common sales mistakes, and have the key skills in sales.

Sales managers should still implement best sales management strategies, the right sales metrics, and have pipeline systems in place.

But there’s one component in inside sales that makes all the difference: technology. In inside sales, you have to use the right technology.

The keywords in inside sales are remote, virtual, mobile. The technology you use should support these.

CRM technology provides quick access to insight and relevant data on prospects, helps boost productivity, and streamlines your team’s overall sales process—and when working remotely, these are things you will need. You can dial calls to leads or keep your call tasks ongoing, wherever you are. You can send and receive emails, messages, and notifications anytime, anywhere.

A CRM like Lucrativ even helps you harness the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Lastly, use technology at its full potential. Use it to upsell, cross-sell, and do social selling. Because everything you need is right at your fingertips, you can make use of all known best sales techniques easily.

Photos from Pexels

What is Inside Sales—and Why and How You Should Do It