Inside Vs outside sales: What is the difference?

Will you make more sales selling face-to-face, or through digital communication? That is a common question when businesses are strategizing the best ways to boost revenue. Zety shares that on average, sales representatives that do outside sales make 14% more sales than their inside sales counterparts. However, this does not mean you should just focus on outside sales, as many factors can affect which one is best for you. In this article, we will look at inside vs outside sales, and what selling method will work best for you.

Inside sales vs outside sales – what is the difference?

Inside vs outside sales is a complicated topic. Firstly, let us understand the difference between inside and outside sales is:

Inside sales – Sales representatives will sell their products or services over multiple different remote channels such as phone calls, emails, internet or other digital ways. This method of sales is particularly popular in the B2B market. For example, businesses that sell SaaS products will pick this sales method.

Outside Sales – Sales representatives will sell their products or services to consumers face-to-face.

What does an inside sales representative do?

An effective inside sales representative will:

• Demonstrate clear knowledge of the product or service they are selling and map it to a customer’s pain points
• Create strong relationships with customers to establish trust
• Nurture leads through multiple follow-ups to convert them into a customer

What does an outside sales representative do?

An outside sales representative will spend their time meeting clients face-to-face. The majority of their day will be spent travelling to nurture prospects and build relationships. Furthermore, an outside sales representative will commonly communicate with clients through phone calls and emails as they schedule meetings and nurture prospects.

The benefits of inside sales:

Gain invaluable benefits such as:

Increased collaboration – Inside sales can have multiple sales representatives involved with a deal. This increased collaboration will help your sales team stay on the same page, share their knowledge about customers and work collaboratively towards your goals and objectives.

Reduced sales costs – The Harvard Business Review highlights that inside sales reduce a business’s sales costs by 40-90% compared to outside sales.

More efficient sales – Create an efficient sales process by using remote channels to communicate with prospects and remove the need for travel time.

The benefits of outside sales

Outside sales will bring your business these key benefits:

Strong customer relationships – Due to face-to-face meetings being a more personal form of communication, outside sales will result in your business creating strong customer relationships.

Higher win ratio – Outside sales give businesses better results, with them winning 40% more deals than inside sales representatives, highlighted by InternalResults.

Software access on the go – By adopting CRM software, like TEB, you will be able to grant your sales representatives software access on the go. While travelling, team members will be able to access customer data and sales information using this software.

Can you adopt both sales strategies?

The answer is yes! You can adopt both sales strategies for your business, and it is a great way for businesses to maximise both sales and productivity. If the size of your business allows it, having different teams that specialise in inside and outside sales will allow your business to get the benefits of both strategies.

Should you outsource your inside sales team?

If your business does not have enough sales representatives to use both approaches, outsourcing your inside sales team can be a great option for maximum efficiency. If you find an out-of-house partner that has a proven track record of good results and transparency with what they will bring, they can be a great addition to your team to drive your sales. Read about how you can outsource your cold calls to boost revenue.

Which sales strategy should you adopt?

Every business has different needs and requirements that need to be met, meaning depending on what your needs are, the best method for you may differ.

Inside sales - If your business has geographical limitations with a team that can not travel to their customers, and wants to try and acquire as many leads as possible with a fast sales cycle, then the inside sales model should be your choice.

Outside sales - If you want to focus on nurturing and converting leads, do not have geographical limitations and do not mind a longer sales cycle, then you should adopt an outside sales model.  

Watch your sales boom with TEB

Whether you make inside or outside sales, TEB will help you see exactly how well your business is performing by increasing your data visibility to give you a great understanding of what is working in your sales strategy.

Inside sales model benefits:

• Leave notes on clients – Attach notes to clients for team members to see so sales representatives have access to the information they need to win deals.
• Discover your most valuable lead source – Use TEBs lead funnels and filters and discover your most valuable lead source to guide your strategy.
• TEBs customer storyboard – View your customer’s entire buyer journey in the form of a storyboard to get a better understanding of their needs and requirements.
• Get a holistic view of your sales activity – View how well your team is performing, how efficient your sales pipeline is and how successful your product or service is with a holistic view of all your sales activity.

Outside sales model benefits:

• Track your sales representatives’ performance – See how well your team members are performing, viewing how many deals and being won and lost by each person.
• TEBs meeting tracker – Keep track of the meetings your team members have with customers to stay up to date on the progress of deals.
• TEB teams – Organise your sales representatives into different teams that specialise in different areas. E.g., an inside sales team and an outside sales team.
• Use TEB on the go – Your sales representatives can use TEB on the go to stay connected with your business as they travel to events and meetings.

Want to see these features for yourself? Easily book a quick demo and see first-hand how TEB can boost sales, drive revenue and grow your business.