It doesn’t matter if you’re new to sales or a seasoned pro. It’s always good to become acquainted with a few top strategies to be more effective as a seller. The sales industry is continually changing, and new technologies pop up all the time to offer greater advantages than ever before in sales.
Inside sales jobs are evolving at an even greater pace than outside sales. Just one example is PCI, a company that is often looking to hire for inside sales jobs.
If you’ve wanted to learn more strategies to implement in inside sales jobs for 2021, you’re in the right place.
First, Let’s Get a Better Understanding of What Inside Sales Are
Inside sales is a selling model that is done almost entirely from the office, whether at your home office or a place of business. It avoids face-to-face contact with the customer and relies more on communication tools and technology to help with inside sales.
This includes doing sales work from your computer, telephone, website, or another remote avenue. It’s one of the most utilized business-to-business (B2B) sales models in our modern culture.
Inside sales jobs are constantly adapting to trends in technology and consumer behaviors. Becoming familiar and staying up to date with these shifts can make the sales process more comfortable and empower you to become a better salesperson.
How is Inside Sales Different from Outside Sales?
The old way of attracting new business was done almost entirely through outside sales, a process where you had to meet people outside of the office. This was often a more expensive process that cost up to 90% more than inside sales, as per the Harvard Business Review.
That’s because, with outside sales, you have to be concerned more about transportation, entertaining prospects, meals, and sometimes even hotel costs. But perhaps the biggest disadvantage to outside sales is that it wasn’ttime efficient. So much time was lost traveling, and after all, time is money. Probably the worst part of outside sales was that there was so much cold calling, that is, approaching prospects that you weren’t even sure would be interested in your product or service.
On the other hand, inside sales representatives perform almost all of their job remotely. And in a world that is moving faster than lightning towards remote work, inside sales job workers are at an advantage.
Other Benefits of Inside Sales Jobs
Each sales professional who works inside sales probably has their own idea of what the benefits are to their career. But here are some commonly agreed-upon benefits:
Casual Environment
You often had to wear a suit or other uncomfortable and stuffy attire with outside sales, and you always had to be very presentable, without a strand of hair out of place or a crease in your pants or shirt. Inside sales jobs have the advantage of being much more casual.
In fact, today’s inside sales jobs have a casual work culture compared to outside sales. Even when inside sales reps work in an office, dress codes are much more relaxed. Overall, whether at a home office or a business office, inside sales jobs are much less stressful.
Teamwork
Even though many sales agents are working from home these days, there’s still a sense of teamwork and accomplishment for many in the industry. With outside sales, you kind of had to go it alone.
With inside sales, you have many sales members on a team working for one common goal. Whether it’s for more revenue for a business or perhaps even a fundraising goal for donations for a university, each salesperson understands the common denominator — more success for the cause.
Incentives
The inside sales job industry often offers incentives outside of the usual compensation. Many sales companies have contests that allow their inside sales reps to “cash” in on.
They do this to motivate their salesforce, which drives more revenue for the companies while helping their sales professionals strive for excellence and have more success than ever in their inside sales careers.
Strategies for a Successful Inside Sales Career
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Compile a Profile of Your Target Customer.
Think of the type of customer or target that is ideal for your product or service. Consider any potential objections ahead of time and come up with counter thoughts or solutions to help move them to action.
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Understand Your Product or Service.
You have to believe and understand your product or service before you can convince anyone else. Understand your product and the benefits it serves to convey the confidence to sell your product effectively. This might mean that you have to consult other professionals in various departments. Perhaps you can achieve this even better by meeting with more seasoned sales reps and ask them to do a bit of role-playing to help increase your confidence.
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Build a Rapport with Your Targets.
Even when you’re not meeting with someone in person, it’s entirely possible to build a rapport still. When you take the time to get to know your targets, it helps you connect with them better and establish a more personal connection. Try to discover what they like and what they don’t. Become acquainted with their pain points and translate everything you learn into an email that helps them know you understand them.
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Understand Your Competition.
Consider your competition and understand that you both have the same goals. That should motivate you in an instant. It’s a race to see who can win over your target customer first. You can learn more about what your competition is up to and even study what others say about them. Then use the information to your advantage to get a leg up on your competition.
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Don’t Neglect the Power of Social Selling.
Potential clients respond up to three times faster to a LinkedIn InMail than they do a regular email. Make connections with your targets through social media. Again, you’ll want to possibly research to learn more about them. Another good idea is to turn the tables before hitting the “send” button. As yourself, “Would I respond positively to this email if I were getting it from someone else?”
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Don’t Forget to Follow Up.
Follow-up emails are vital in the inside sales industry. You might initially feel like you’re bugging someone, but situations and minds change. It also helps to understand that 70% of insides sales reps give up after the first email. Follow-up contact is vital if you want to stand out and get results. We live in a busy world. Sometimes, a contact means to reply back to an email but gets distracted and forgets. Reconnecting could be just the thing to win them over.
2021 Could Be Your Year for Inside Sales Success
Inside sales jobs are growing by leaps and bounds. All you need for success in 2021 is to understand your prospect and get to know them better while becoming an expert on your product or service. By the help of computer software you can maintain monitoring software for employees.
Realizing what you’re up against with the competition doesn’t hurt either, and building a social circle with your contacts are good strategies to implement as well.
Persistence is key in the inside sales industry, and the rewards are plenty for the taking. 2021 could be the year of great success for you as an inside sales representative.
