Inside Sales Models Need To Be Efficient

We learned so much from doing this and turning our “marketing focused” company into a “sales focused” organisation. It also paid dividends in terms of financial gain and exceeding our sales targets.

When our focus turned to technology, we did away with our largely international inside sales executives to fund building smart technology that would help our business long-term.

There lays a big mistake and one which I regret. Being an entrepreneur means that we are empowered to make big decisions and sometimes we get it wrong. Instead, we should have gone outside to raise capital and keep growing the Marketing Eye business globally. If only we had a time machine!

As the business landscape is changing and businesses are getting more confident in establishing a ‘new normal’, we too are rethinking our business. I re-processed a marketing strategy for my technology company Robotic Marketer yesterday and today, I am sitting with a new Business Development Manager who will drive our business forward.

Inside Sales is a popular model for B2B companies especially if you are in the technology, SaaS or professional services industries. During COVID, this model became increasingly essential to businesses that remained in growth model.

Why is Inside Sales beneficial for small businesses?

• The efficiency of inside sales models creates cost benefits
• Companies can leverage technology
• More predictable outcomes when it comes to revenue
• Once trained, anyone can do this role (but they need to have passion!)
• Gives small businesses the ability to scale

The process for inside sales is simple:

Technology Stack
Getting the right technology stack will determine how efficient and effective you are at implementing a powerful inside sales model.

We use Nimble as our primary tool to manage the database, send emails and interact on social media with prospects. It’s affordable for all small to medium sized businesses and some of the most successful companies on the planet use it.

Other tools that you may like to add to your stack is Adobe’s Marketo or Hubspot.

Content Creation
Content is king! I know you have heard this many times, but it’s true. Ensure that your inside sales team have all the content they need to be successful.

This includes:

• Direct messages across all industries/solutions/pain points
• Knowledge of customer pain points (document this information)
• Key selling points
• Key messages to be used in association with your brand
• Q and A for all scenarios
• Objection points and how to answer
• Email marketing letters: 1-5. Remember personalisation is essential.
• Social media content: Direct messages as well as open communications

Inside Sales Process
Every person in the inside sales team should have clearly defined roles and responsibilities.

In larger teams, you might choose to break up your team according to market segment, product/service, stages of customer journey and/or geography.

Once everyone’s roles are established and their key responsibilities are defined, it’s important to ensure that everyone is trained and role playing is part of a weekly routine, constantly giving feedback based on performance and allowing the inside sales team to reach their full potential.

The process is terms of basic fundamentals is standardized across most inside sales models.

Breaking process can create inefficiencies across the entire inside sales model. Keeping true to the model, and leveraging systems, processes and technology will catapult the success of the organisation driving more leads and converted sales opportunities as a result.

Marketing Eye helps small to medium-sized businesses choose the right technology stack for their organisation based on sales goals. Inclusive is developing the right content, processes, systems and technology. We show inside sales teams how to communicate value to senior management and what the next level in inside sales looks like for their company.