HARDISON’S TIPS – NOVEMBER 2, 2020 – INSIDE SALES VS. OUTSIDE SALES (PT.1)
Outside (or Field) Sales reps work outside a formal office and formal team environment. They travel to meet customers face-to-face, spending the majority of their time meeting clients and prospects in person.
Inside Sales vs. Outside Sales
How does outside sales compare with inside sales? The ultimate objective is the same… to close the deal, of course. However, the way it is done between the two have some significant differences.
When looking at outside sales, you’re working autonomously most of the time. The area around you is your “office” – in that you meet with people all over the place – and you spend quite a bit of time driving around in your car.
With inside sales, you are more likely to be in a team environment in an office setting working set hours, depending on the industry you are in. You will likely make many more contacts with prospects in customers in a day since you are not spending any time driving around to an appointment.
A top performing sales strategy will include elements of both inside and outside sales strategy”, and then include a call out box that has a brief statement and link to the dedicated article on inside vs. outside sales.
What Does An Outside Sales Rep Do?
A day in the life of a sales rep can be broken up in the following ways:
Prospecting For Leads
According to a poll done by Hubspot.com, when salespeople were asked what they struggle with the most, 42% said it was prospecting. It doesn’t matter how good you are at selling, if you have nobody to talk to, that skill won’t matter.
Field sales reps need to be able to easily grab and use a variety of demographic and customer data to prospect efficiently. With a tool like Lead Machine, reps can pull valuable data as it relates to a prospects income, credit capacity, age of home, houses square footage, whether they’re a renter or owner… and that’s just for starters.
Being able to harness accurate data means that reps are able to engage with the right prospects and avoid working poor leads.
Sales Territory Mapping
How many people that are a prospect for your product live or operate a business in a given area? How close together are they? How many of them are near an existing customer that you could introduce yourself to in case your appointment cancels or ends sooner than you thought?
This is where sales territory mapping comes in.
As I mentioned before, spending too much time in your car zig-zagging across town all day will minimize the efficiency of the time you spend out in the field.
Knowing where to go, with minimal travel between engagements, is a great way to maximize your time and energy during that day.
END OF PART ONE
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