Introduction
Inside sales are the process of remotely identifying, cultivating, and converting leads into customers. Inside selling has become one of the most common business models in high-value industries in recent years, as consumers have become more comfortable purchasing and working remotely.
The advancement of technology is in several ways what made this possible and provided companies with the opportunity to accept in-sales.
The Evolution
There are two major directions in which sales developed within. Firstly, it's becoming more prevalent. In reality, many assigned field reps also spend time closing deals in the office, returning phone calls, and sending emails. And in that regard, as the business world shifts away from conventional hours, many internal sales reps close deals after hours from their mobile devices or homes.
Another way that has changed inside sales has to do with technological advancements that allow sales reps within to communicate with more leads and have better conversations based on real-time contextual prospect data.
Understanding Inside Sales
In comparison to outside sales staff, typically salespeople will not move inside. They are still involved in approaching potential customers despite this and can indulge in cold calling.
An organization can, however, also mark incoming calls from prospective customers as in-sales. Also, a company can outsource its internal sales duties to a third party, rather than conducting in-house inside sales.
The idea of the telephone as a sales tool gave birth to the distinction between inside and outside sales. The term "inside sales" was created in the 1980s to differentiate telemarketing or telesales from high ticket phone sales common with business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) sales practices.
Advantages
Here are some advantages that the internal sales model provides over an external sales model:
- Cost-effective
- Prefered by customers
- Enables better collaboration
- Offers rep tools that increase productivity
