In the age of mobility, invest in inside sales representatives!

So how do you do it?

Why not simply step back and take a fresh look at your sales activity? In the current environment, with the social tools available, do all salespeople necessarily need to be in the field? Aren't the costs of visits prohibitive? Can't we make the strategic choice of a sedentary sales force? Asking the question is already answering it. A choice already made by many sales managers. Moreover, the real question is rather about "how?"

In this approach, we're not talking about an offshore call center or an inexperienced hotline. We're talking about real, experienced sales representatives, trained in remote sales techniques, who know the product inside and out and use high-performance tracking tools.

We're talking about men and women with solid field experience, bringing real added value, knowing how to understand the client's needs, provide answers, and make a difference.

Of course, there are many upstream questions, as it is not only a matter of creating a new team with different methods, but also of redefining the distribution of roles between field and office-based sales representatives, and even with the marketing team:

• • Do inside sales representatives support field sales representatives or work independently?
  • Are they focused on the prospect base or the customer base?
  • Are they only doing account monitoring or also sales?
  • Are the current tools suitable?
  • How to determine team size?
  • How to position it?
  • The manager...?

It's to prepare the ground well and to respond pragmatically to all these questions that we support sales managers in this upstream phase of definition and construction. Initially, to estimate the ROI of such a project, then to define its operational dimensions and, sometimes, to ensure its implementation.

Also, if the equation seems complex, don't hesitate to reconsider your assumptions about salespeople: being present in the office can make them extremely profitable!