The DriveSales™ | Inside Sales vs. Outside Sales: How to structure a sales team!

Often when we are thinking of excelling in the sales domain, this doubt always pokes in our mind that whether inside sales are better or outside sales. We really immerse ourselves in this confusion and try to conceptualize these two strategies to find the better one.

What we don’t realize is that the current market is diverse and undoubtedly has a lot of opportunities. With such heavy competition and comparatively limited clients, you need to understand the fact that gone are the days of picking one approach.

In the present scenario, you need to blend your sales strategy with various sales methodologies and themes and then bring out the best possible mixture. This step has become an essential one to ensure that your client loves your recipe enough to hand over the project to you.

Let us understand briefly what does inside and outside sales mean.

Inside sales vs. Outside sales:

Inside sales is the process in which you sell your product or service remotely, i.e., via a call, email, video-conferencing, text messages, etc. You don’t meet with the client face-to-face. This method is an essential one in B2B sales, especially referring to the tech industries.

Outside sales is the process in which you spend the majority of your time travelling and meeting with the prospects and connecting with them regarding your product or service, or in general, networking and building relationships with your clients.

Now comes the question that what is the difference between the two? This is probably self-explanatory, now that you have read the definitions above.

Inside sales reps generally sell their product or service from their office or in recent times, from the comfort of their homes. On the other hand, outside sales reps travel client to client and try to broker deals face-to-face.

This does not necessarily mean that the outside sales reps go to the offices of their clients directly. The process of appointment is usually followed. Also, nowadays, the trend is to meet at seminars, business conventions, or company parties.

How to structure your sales team:

Now, everything said, you might have fallen into the peril of what to choose? Here, you need to understand that both the sales strategies are working for your benefit. The activities of the inside and the outside sales reps are fairly similar. The only change is in the method of their sales — one does it remotely and another physically.

Sales activities of inside and outside sales reps:

1) Gaining and demonstrating extreme and superior product knowledge to tackle customer questions and queries of any kind.

2) Networking and building relationships with current clients and prospective clients.

3) Establishing trust and a good rapport with the clients.

4) Converting loose leads into definite sales.

5) Achieving monthly targets by successfully closing the deals.

6) Following up with the team and updating them about the sales.

You might be able to understand now that the activities and functions of both the sales strategies are the same. They only differ in the approach. Thus, to structure your sales team, you need to gauge your own business needs.

Try to determine the way through which you bag the majority of your clients. For example, if your client base is generally based out of your country, you definitely need an inside sales team. However, for this very reason, you also need an outside sales team, in case of personal visits.

Therefore, look at your business needs and then take appropriate action to categorize which sales strategy would suit your business. Also, keep in mind that you can definitely mix and match both strategies to develop an efficient structure for yourself.

Now, as an effective SALESPERSON! We can do three things from here.

1. Not ignoring the opportunity and blaming the situation for revenue loss.

2. Taking important notes and going back to revisit your sales strategy with the growth mindset.

3. Reaching out to The DriveSales™ if you need any specialized help for sales.

To conclude, what you choose to think also provides some idea of your development as a consultative salesperson. It is something like Ron Willingham quotes “A salesperson’s ethics and values contribute more to sales success than do techniques or strategies.”

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