Technology has transformed the way we do business in many ways. Sales is one of them, with the role of inside sales growing over the last decade as a result. You only need to look at new job listings to see how in demand these roles are. It's clear businesses value their inside sales teams — and understand the impact it can have on profits.
Here are five reasons why you should be investing in your inside sales team:
1. To Reduce Staff Turnover
Onboarding new members of staff is an expensive business. It can cost up to $15,000 to hire a new inside sales team member. But businesses still fail to invest in the development of their existing staff. Many spend no more than $2,000 on training to grow the skills of their existing team.
Not only does this restrict their skillset, but it also reduces employee satisfaction and increases staff turnover. This may go some way to explain why staff turnover in this sector is so high. Invest in your current team. Show them you value them, and you'll reap the rewards of a loyal sales force. Not only that, but you will also save money on those unnecessary rehiring costs.
Here are five reasons why you should be investing in your inside sales team:
1. To Reduce Staff Turnover
Onboarding new members of staff is an expensive business. It can cost up to $15,000 to hire a new inside sales team member. But businesses still fail to invest in the development of their existing staff. Many spend no more than $2,000 on training to grow the skills of their existing team.
Not only does this restrict their skillset, but it also reduces employee satisfaction and increases staff turnover. This may go some way to explain why staff turnover in this sector is so high. Invest in your current team. Show them you value them, and you'll reap the rewards of a loyal sales force. Not only that, but you will also save money on those unnecessary rehiring costs.
2. Improve The Efficiency Of Your Field Sales Team
While it's possible to sell some products and services using an inside sales team alone, many sectors still require a fields sales team too. Field sales agents are typically more expensive than their inside sales colleagues. This means their time is best spent doing what you employee them to do — selling.
Your sales team should work together to increase efficiency. The inside sales team can qualify leads and have the initial conversations. This saves your field sales team a lot of time — leaving them to work on closing big deals with prospects who are already warm to the business.
3. Generate More Leads, Faster
The internet puts a world of information at our fingertips. It's never been easier to find information about prospects. While field sales teams have access to this information too, they travel frequently. They have less time to browse LinkedIn or other platforms to generate leads. Your inside sales team can make several calls in the time it takes to travel to a customer meeting. This makes it easier for your business to generate leads consistently — keeping the pipeline full of high-quality leads, ready to convert.
Buyers habits have also changed. Most people research the products and services they want to buy online. This means they're much more comfortable communicating (and buying) via email, social media and even live chat platforms.
4. Improve Customer Relationships, Especially For Smaller Customers
A field sales team typically focuses on larger customers. It's expensive and time-consuming to acquire customers in this way, so it's essential their activities are worthwhile.
This means it's easy to overlook smaller customers — at least, without an inside sales team. Transferring the management of these customers to your inside sales team improves relationships and promotes customer retention. Whether it's acquiring smaller customers directly or encouraging them to re-order, an inside sales team can add a lot of value to this process.
5. Improve Lead Conversion
How do you deal with incoming leads?
A study published in the Harvard Business Review found that:
- 24% of businesses took more than 24 hours to respond to an online query.
- 23% didn't respond at all.
Incoming leads are highly valuable to any business. They are people coming to you and telling you they're interested in what you have to offer — so it's important to follow up in a timely fashion.
Think about it.
A potential customer submits an enquiry to your website, and an inside sales agent calls them back within 15 minutes. This customer will be much more likely to convert — or at least take the next step — than a customer that hears from you after 24 hours.
Where do i start?
While it's clear investing in an inside sales team can bring a lot of value to your business, we understand it can be hard to know where to start.
We've put together a sales training package specifically to help you with this. Check it out here
While it's clear investing in an inside sales team can bring a lot of value to your business, we understand it can be hard to know where to start.
We've put together a sales training package specifically to help you with this. Check it out here
