Why Inside Sales is More Relevant than Ever

Whether you are entrepreneur looking for ways to better market your products or a salesperson who wants to remain relevant, there’s no getting past the fact that inside sales has changed radically over the past ten years. Thanks to the widespread availability of technology and other virtual tools, inside sales is now outpacing traditional field sales by 300% in terms of job growth. Here are just four reasons why inside sales is now a more suitable choice for most for organizations.

Saving Money with Inside Sales

In business, success still comes down to bottom line results. Paying for the hotels, meals, and mileage expenses of outside sales representatives isn’t as easy to stomach as it was in the past. One estimate figures that just one outside sales call can cost as much as $400, while an inside sales call might top out at $75. While perks from sales people probably aren’t a thing of the past, there are significant cost savings to bringing sales in-house.

Focus on Work-Life Balance

For companies that truly care about the work-life balance of their associates, inside sales just makes more sense. These hard-working sales reps can forget about costly travel and instead be home for dinner each night with their families.

Addressing Different Buyer Behaviors

Most buyers today have changed both their shopping and buying habits over the past decade. When building an inside sales team, today’s companies recognize that most buyers will conduct extensive online research into a company and its products. A natural extension of this is to continue the sales process online as opposed to having a salesperson knock on their door.

Inside sales is now a preference for most busy buyers today. One study by Sales Benchmark found that 70% of customers prefer contact and completing transactions with inside salespeople versus an outside salesperson.

The old belief used to be that outside salespeople were the only ones who could build and maintain rapport with clients. This is no longer ringing true as a new crop of talented inside salespeople are continuing to produce impressive results and show that they can build relationships from a distance.

Technology Trends That Help Boost Inside Sales

The main catalyst for the growth in inside sales is various innovations in technology. The growth of web and video conferencing tools have made it possible for inside sales representatives to conduct effective virtual meetings and remain in close contact with both clients and prospects.

Technology has also proven indispensable for inside sales in developing and pursuing leads. The use of LinkedIn and other social media profiles can help a salesperson learn as much as possible about a prospect’s needs, which can aid in building relationships.

Virtual reality and augmented reality (VR/AR) are also both coming into use in the sales process. An inside salesperson can use VR to place a client inside a project or let them demo a product in the virtual world. The salesperson can also step into the VR world to continue the pitch.

Finally, artificial intelligence (AI) is the inside salesperson’s go-to tool of the future. Already in use in a few companies, these programs will look for new prospects on their own as well as act as personal sales assistants to simplify the process.

The tremendous growth in inside sales presents opportunities for both companies and professional salespeople who can adapt to selling at a distance.  The technology tools available and benefits of inside sales ensure that this will continue to be a growing trend.