Know How Inside Sales Strategies Effectively Develops your Sales Pipeline
There are many niche types of sales but in general you can split sales roles into either inside or outside sales. Outside sales refers to a role where salespeople set appointments and meet in person with their prospects. These meetings can take place at their office, at dinner, or even on the golf course. Typically, these salespeople are responsible for local territories so that they can easily meet with prospective clients. Others are traveling salespeople, but the costs here can add up quickly.
With all the technology at our disposals, more and more organizations are turning to the other area here, inside sales. Inside sales is done by selling over the phone and or over the web. This type of selling allows you to sell to people all over the world in an extremely efficient manner. Emailing and setting virtual appointments and then meeting without any travel allows inside salespeople to make 100 or more reach outs to prospects every day.
How Inside Sales Develops your Sales Pipeline
The best salespeople guard their time with a ferocity that can’t be rivaled. Any time spent during the day that isn’t helping move them towards more sales is time not worth spending. Inside sales eliminates wasted time on travel and allows you the salespeople the chances to just sell all day long.
Let’s look at some important inside sales statistics that help make the case for a shift towards going inside for all organizations.
Every sale your business makes should be looked at through the lens of cost of acquisition, and when it comes to inside sales versus outside sales, it isn’t even a competition. The cost of business for an outside sale is over $300. For an inside sale, it costs around $50. That alone makes a compelling argument for inside sales.
When you are looking to become the best and brightest in your industry it is never a bad idea to look at what the established industry leaders are doing.
“37% of high-growth companies have made inside sales the primary focus of their total sales strategy”
Statistics can vary, but on average, it is believed that it can take between 15 to 20 contact attempts to reach the buyer. This means that you don’t want your salespeople wasting time out on the road, you want them inside your office attempting to make contact with these prospects.
Lastly, moving past the basics of cold calling or meeting, you want your sales team working on email marketing and social selling. Those are way more valuable sales tools as we head to 2020.
“Prospects want to buy but they do not want to be sold too
Consider this example. You need a pair of dress shoes for an upcoming formal event. For the sake of argument, let’s say you wind up going to a retail store as opposed to ordering online. So, you need these shoes and now you are in a store specifically to buy them. As you walk up to displays shelves, a courteous associate approaches and asks, “Hi, can I help you find anything?” The truth is, yes, they can help you find something. But what do you say? “No, I’m just browsing, thank you.” You say this because your defense goes up as you don’t want to be sold to. This is the challenge that salespeople are now face with every day.
Why Managing Your Sales Pipeline Matters
Pipeline management is official for both an organization and its individual salespeople. Your pipeline is basically the bloodline for your company and sales organization. Mismanaging it means you won’t be effectively managing your business. Inside salespeople never have the issue of being too distracted out on meetings to remember to properly handle their entire book of business.
A sales organization or department is a living growing thing. It takes care and attention, and it requires that you constantly make sure it is on the right path. Managing your time properly is one of the most important skills any good salesperson has. Transitioning your sales process to an inside one allows you to focus on the behaviors that will move you and your book of business forward.
“Inside sales provides a way better return on investment than outside sales”
Additionally, your free up time for your salespeople to focus on social selling and email marketing. Inside sales gives you optimal sales pipeline health and will set you on a major growth path.
