Inside vs Outside Sales – Which of The Two is Your Best Bet

Are you wondering how the two terms, inside sales and outside sales different? If you could invest 5 minutes reading this informative write-up, you won’t bother researching them again. Difference between inside and outside sales is more like it is between the two words, inside and outside. Precisely, the remote selling of goods and services is inside sales. Whereas selling face-to-face or using any traditional mode is outside sales. This is getting more interesting, isn’t it? So, keep on reading! 

Inside vs Outside Sales – Under the Microscope 

Let’s discuss the two concepts in some details

What is ‘Outside Sales?’

As the name indicates, outside sales mean when an agent physically goes out to meet a potential customer. 

What is ‘Inside Sales?’

When an agent remotely handles the sales, it is termed inside sales. 

Expanding on The Outside vs Inside Sales

Now you are comfortable with the fundamental difference between inside and outside sales. We can rightly say that ‘inside sales‘ is a modern way of selling. A business will probably rely on it to sell contemporary products like software and others. Comparatively, outside sales use traditional means like face-to-face meetings and more. As you can guess, a large percentage of businesses rely on this. It seems like your curiosity is accumulating as you read more about the inside vs outside sales tactics. Hence, it is the right time to let you know which one should you prefer. 

Which of The Inside Sales and Outside Sales is a Better Option? 

Well, it depends on the nature and circumstances in which your business operates. Plus, other factors will also influence your decision to go for one of the two. Don’t worry; we are listing them all for you below:

What are You Selling? 

Is it the physical product or the digital product you are selling? ‘Inside sales’ suits the selling of digital products more. Because an agent can quickly email its features to thousands of prospects almost instantly compared to visiting them all. He can also provide a quick demo of the product if required. We can say the same for services, as clear information and reviews will be sufficient for a potential customer to decide. On the other hand, companies are better off selling physical products using outside sales strategies. This one allows a potential customer to get the real feel of a product, so he’s more likely to buy. 

It doesn’t mean we can’t use outside sales strategies for selling digital products or services. Similarly, we can apply inside sales methodologies to sell a physical product. In fact, large businesses are relying on a blend of both inside and outside sales tactics for a better outcome. And yes, this blend works more often than not! 

What is Your Budget? 

You can argue that the traditional outside sales approach is always the best option. Because the agent can actually meet a prospect, gets to know his interests better, and pitch to him in the way he likes. No doubt, it will work but do you have enough budget to hire and train people to carry out these responsibilities? Maybe you can’t afford to do it now since your business is finding its feet in the industry. Comparatively, using inside sales strategies will cost less. All it requires of an agent is his time in front of a laptop from anywhere he likes. 

Yes, a call center can provide both inside and outside sales solutions. Of course, they’ll charge more for employing outside sales tactics because this will need specialized agents who have strong interpersonal skills, can physically visit the customers, and can convince them in a face-to-face conversation. 

What are Your Business Goals?

Do you want to base your sales team efforts on the overall conversation or sales? Then you should go for inside sales. The sales rep here must have targets on display that’ll also evaluate their overall performance. On the other hand, if you can invest in an excellent system to schedule tasks for your team, which will record their meetings, territories, and more. Then you can go with implementing a whole outside sales strategy. 

Are You Willing to Adapt?

Both the inside and outside sales have their own challenges. Hence, very few organizations have successfully implemented a full inside sales or outside sales model. Therefore as a business owner, you should also take advantage of both these strategies. Keep a remote inside sales representative team for some time and evaluate their overall outcome. Then hire an outside sales agent and check what good they bring to your revenues. Hence, you should use both tactics for your business growth. 

Best call centers have skilled staff to handle an organization’s inside and outside sales. Check this blog if you are on the hunt for finding the top call center USA has. 

Some Tips for The Inside and Outside Sales Representatives Working in Contact Center Services 

Enough is now said about inside vs outside sales; let’s now read some tips the agents can use to get the most out of each. 

• An Inside sales agent must be a good researcher, while the Outside sales agent must have excellent problem-solving abilities. 
• Outside sales agents should focus on improving their interpersonal skills. 
• An outside sales agent has to meet the prospects in person; therefore, he must be well-dressed. The inside sales agent should ensure the availability of a fast internet connection. 
• Inside salesperson must be able to write proficiently 

Take Away

‘Outside sales’ focus on traditional means of selling a product or service. Whereas ‘Inside Sales’ representatives sell a product or service remotely. An organization can either incorporate one of the two strategies. Or, you could even go for the blend of both for a better outcome. Since there is some confusion about both terms, therefore we felt the need to discuss them in this very interesting blog. 

We hope this 5-minute write-up about ‘inside vs outside sales’ was worth your time. Furthermore, if you think we have skipped including something here, please comment or write to us at our official email address.