The Ultimate Guide to Inside Sales Versus Outsourcing

Inside sales vs. outsourced is a hot topic of discussion right now. Is one approach superior to the other? Which one is it? No one-size-fits-all answer exists because it depends on who you're talking to, their history, prior experience, and how they prefer to market.

I will let the cat out of the bag: inside Salesforce isn't better than outside sales, and vice versa. Both approaches have the potential to produce incredible results. The goal is to recognize the differences between the two, so you can select the best option for your company. So that's what we'll be talking about today!

Continue reading to learn more about inside and outside sales and establishing each team.‍

What's the difference between outside and inside salesforce?‍

You won't be able to resolve your company's inside salesforce vs. outside sales argument until you comprehend the critical contrasts between the two strategies. So what's the difference?‍

What is an outside sales team?

Outside teams often demand a great deal of travel, independence, and emotional intelligence. Outsourced teams make 25 percent more calls and send over 50 percent more emails, according to the Xant.ai report for 2021.

I often regard outside salesforce as superstars because they deal with more extensive and more expensive accounts and items than inside salesforce. They may do a substantial percentage of the task from the office using today's sales enablement platforms, such as Skype and Zoom. Adaptability and eagerness distinguished outside salespeople to make sales in person.

What is an inside salesforce?

Any team can employ inside sales. It's one of the most popular sales strategy plans in B2B, mainly for SaaS and tech. There's a frequent notion that inside salesforce is just telemarketing that's slowly vanishing. The opposite could not be further from the truth. Telemarketing differs from other forms of marketing because it is scripted.

Anyone, including a computer, can accomplish it. Inside Salesforce necessitates the use of a professional salesperson. They might do it via phone, Skype, email, or a web conference. It makes no difference. Inside Salesforce also works remotely using a CRM platform and outbound tools.

Inside salesforce account for around 45.5 percent of the 5.7 million professional salespeople in the United States, according to 2019 estimates. Outside salesforce account for 52.8 percent of the total.

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What does an inside salesforce do?

Inside salespeople work remotely with potential clients to guide them through the sales process, ensuring that they identify a suitable product or service to answer their problem.

Inside salespeople primary responsibilities:

• Demonstrating outstanding product expertise to address customer questions and inquiries.

• Establishing trust and rapport with potential customers.

• Nurture leads to turn them to customers and keep track of customer referrals.

• achieving their monthly quota objectives.

• Completing customer agreements.

• Reporting on sales data that is relevant.
  

Inside salespeople use phones, email, video, and virtual meetings to engage with potential customers because they rarely meet face-to-face. This group has a more predictable schedule, and they commonly set a daily goal for the number of tasks they complete (e.g., number of calls, meetings booked, proposals sent).

If you want to work as an inside salesperson, you'll need to know everything there is to know about your product. Inside salespeople, unlike outside salesforce, who can conduct an in-person demo, must show the use and value of their products to prospects over the phone.

Let's look at the actions you can take to attract the most outstanding salesforce and establish a world-class sales team with that in mind.

How do you build a strong inside of Salesforce?

1. First, consider an internal hire.‍

Bad hires are costly, so take your time and do it right the first time. The best place to start is with your inside sales agent (ISA) candidates when developing a salesforce. Internal hires are usually the most successful. Why? 

These folks are already familiar with your company's brand, policies, expectations, and return on investment. They're already familiar with your service and product; therefore, the learning curve is significantly shorter than if you hired someone from the outside.

Before looking outside the organization, advertise the position internally. Ask around for recommendations if you need to. Perhaps someone in operations would like to try their hand at sales. If someone doesn't have direct experience, don't dismiss them. The best salespeople are sometimes those who can be trained from the ground up.‍

2. You Should Know Who You Want

You must clearly understand what you want your salesforce to do for the organization before hiring someone. Yes, you want them to market your product and turn leads into loyal clients. But, do you like this new salesman to be visible, or do you want them to only work with significant accounts? Understanding your requirements will assist the team in establishing a baseline.‍

3. Create a Hiring Process

Create a consistent hiring process that can be used across the board. This will make each person's judgment equal, allowing you to compare prospects more effectively. Consider the questions you'd like to ask to receive the information you need to make an informed decision, and don't be afraid. Consider administering a personality or skills exam to your candidates.

Some businesses are unable to fill positions due to a lack of resources. They collaborate with a headhunter or recruiter from outside the company to save time. Recruiters are well-versed in the vetting process and have access to an extensive database of prospects.‍

4. Coach and Motivate 

Engagement is the key to developing a capable salesforce. You must keep your employees enthused and motivated. Set aside the time and resources required to actively learn the profession and explicitly define goals and benchmarks. Creating key performance indicators (KPIs) reviewed weekly or monthly also aids in team motivation.

You might also try to make your workout more fun. This is a fantastic approach to getting a group of people to learn new skills. It incorporates many gaming aspects, such as a points system or leaderboard, to encourage rivalry. It empowers Salesforce to take ownership of its education and implement new training tools.‍

5. Use time-saving and efficiency-enhancing tools.

As previously noted, salespeople used to sift through the Yellow Pages for contact information. Those days are now gone, and you should set your team up to use all of the incredible software that is now accessible.

Personal email sequences, for example, send an automated series of template emails to your contacts and disengaged representatives even at critical times, which does exactly what it says: Whenever you click a phone number in your database, the call will be automatically made and recorded. When the call is finished, it is recorded for future reference.

Today's salespeople may use automation tools, collaborative software, remote access to sales materials, and cloud-based CRMs to make their tasks easier and faster than in the past, thanks to ever-improving technology. Make sure they have the equipment for the job!‍

6. Offer incentives.

Sales can be a difficult job, and if you've worked as a sales manager after starting as a salesperson, you're well aware of this. Some days are just plain wrong, full of rejection and stumbling blocks. So, why do individuals continue to report to work? Why would you continue to show up for work?

Even when confronted with constant hurdles, humans want inspiration to keep pushing ahead. Offering incentives to reach and exceed goals, go above and beyond, and uncover new lead sources for their pipelines will help motivate your Salesforce.‍

7. Progress and success should be measured.

How can you tell how well you're doing in sales if you're not keeping track of your progress and results? If you don't measure and optimize your processes regularly, all the calls in the world won't result in more sales. But here's the twist: You should be tracking actual numbers rather than just "how many calls were made today?"

There are a few things to bear in mind:

- Calls do not generate income. Which is a better indicator of how well your salespeople regularly perform: calling 1,000 people and making one sale or calling 100 people and making five?

- Leads aren't all made equal. Make sure you give your sales staff a healthy sales funnel with real potential clients, not just a list of names. Spend money on targeted advertising, purchase lead lists of contacts in your target industry, or use an inbound marketing campaign to produce leads organically.

- Existing customers can make sales easier. What happens once a sale is completed? Is the client going to vanish, never to be seen or heard from again? Or did your salesman build a rapport with them that encouraged them to return whenever they needed something? Keep track of your client retention rate to see how your Salesforce is doing well.‍

8. Create a Positive Workplace Culture.

No one wants to work in a windowless room with yellow lighting, at desks shared with five other people, for a horrible boss, and for less money than they could earn elsewhere. So, what can you do to foster a workplace culture that motivates employees to show up and give it they're all?

You can give them some essential items, such as:

• Work from home options.

• Salary increases regularly.

• Disengagement.

• Classes for professional development.

• A culture of open communication at all levels of the organization.

• Encouragement and feedback.

• Recognized their accomplishments.

• Events, tournaments, and games for the entire company.
  

Good corporate culture begins at the top, and you are at the helm. You're the one who wants to build a successful Salesforce, and you'll be the one in charge of assisting them. If you have to hire constantly and onboard new employees, a regularly lousy business culture can lead to higher-than-average staff turnover, affecting your sales and company dynamics.

According to Glassdoor's 2019 Culture Survey, more than half of respondents believe that corporate culture is more important than money regarding job happiness.

Why is the typical process of growing a salesforce failing?

Many of us avoid the hiring process while putting up a Salesforce. We take it for granted and don't devote the necessary time and effort to completing this crucial stage properly. Rather than being assured that they're in the correct role and being accountable during the interview process, we hope that a recruit will "get it" and flourish as soon as they've struck the ground running.

It's challenging to integrate new salespeople successfully. Less than half of new salespeople meet quota in their first year, according to 31% of sales managers.

Fortunately, there are ways to optimize your hiring process, keep your top-performing salespeople, and build a cohesive team that consistently succeeds. And while it may appear complicated at first, putting together a winning team is critical to your company's success. It's not something that can be put off until later.

Statistics on Inside and Outside Sales

• According to a 2017 Xant.ai research, field sales reps led big firms.

• Small businesses with less than $50 million in revenue, on the other hand, had the most significant percentage of inside salesforce, at 47%.

• The 2021 Sales Enablement Survey, conducted by HubSpot and including over 500 sales leaders, demonstrates how much has changed in five years.

• According to the survey, in 2021, 68 percent of sales leaders predicted they’d use a hybrid or entirely remote selling style.

• Virtual meetings, according to most CEOs (63 percent), can be just as effective as in-person meetings., according to the report.

• Finally, according to the report, 64 percent of sales executives who switched to remote work sales in 2020 met or exceeded their sales targets.

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ALSO READ - Sales Enablement Vs. Virtual Enablement: What's Most Effective for 2024?

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The Final Note

You'll need to assess your existing situation to choose the optimal arrangement for your organization. You might outsource you inside Salesforce to reduce overhead costs in a start-up or small business. However, an in-house team can be a wiser investment if you're a larger company.

Let's imagine your sales force is currently concentrating on generating new leads rather than closing agreements. Prospecting, cultivating connections, and qualifying leads take up a lot of time for sales reps. It can be worth it to hire an inside salesforce and focus your in-house team on leads who are already qualified and ready for conversion.