Inside sales staffing is outpacing traditional salesperson growth by more than 50%, according to our recently completed study in inside sales trends. As expected, participants in our recent study (senior sales and sales operations managers) said inside sales’ lower cost structure helped drive headcount growth. However, even more important is inside sales’ impact on team productivity. Inside sales functions are making other firm sales resources more productive; their impact on total sales organization productivity appears to be the most compelling justification for increasing inside sales investments.
The findings should dispel assumptions that firms are mostly replacing “outside†salespeople with inside sellers. Instead, firms are reconstituting the mix of sales resources in their go-to-market approach. Inside salespeople are ideally placed to coordinate teamed colleagues, or to respond quickly when the opportunity for customer interaction presents itself. For our study participants (predominantly mid-to-large enterprises), inside sales’ value is chiefly associated with better coverage of customer opportunities and more responsive account management, in addition to the collaborate benefits already noted.
Missing from our findings: much enthusiasm for inside sales’ effectiveness in winning new customers (or winning back customers who’ve defected). While cold-calling is the most frequently assigned inside salesperson responsibility, management gives low marks for inside sales’ effectiveness in this area.  Same goes for customer win-back sales efforts.
Click here to learn more about our Inside Sales Trends study.
