What is outside sales?
Outside sales is selling activity where a rep physically meets potential customers. While outside sales reps can use digital mediums for contact, the final sale is almost always concluded in person.
What is the history of outside sales?
The act of selling, or the exchange of value for value, has been around for most of human history. However, the modern version of sales as we know it began emerging in the 19th and 20th century. The popular Attention, Interest, Desire, Action (AIDA) sales formula was created in 1898 by E St. Elmo Lewis. From there, the field of sales has grown and evolved into what we see today. Outside sales reps make up only 52.8% of all sales professionals in the U.S.
Types of outside sales
The types of outside sales are B2B and B2C. B2B is selling products or services to other businesses that are used for commercial purposes. On the other hand, B2C is selling products or services to individual customers who are not necessarily companies.
What is the benefit of outside sales?
The benefit of outside sales is the personal touch it gives to the sales process. As a result, the client relationship and sales conversion rate is typically better. Outside sales is also beneficial in the case of complex products that require an in-person explanation or demonstration. Another benefit of outside sales is that they can generate new business by physically visiting locations.
What are examples of outside sales?
Examples of outside sales are the following:
- Door to door sales
- Medical device sales
- Engineering project sales
- Local business to business (B2B) sales
What does outside sales team do?
Outside sales teams usually operate as a selling unit, visiting different local areas in sequence. Depending on the product, they might visit the areas alone, and remain in contact. The job entails visiting clients, educating them on the benefits, and directly handling new orders for them.
Which companies should use outside sales teams?
The companies that should use outside sales have more complicated products or services. This is important because it helps the salesperson educate the customers, and close more deals. Additionally, the 1:1 interaction helps salespeople focus on the lead and give them high quality service.
What is outside sales representative?
Outside sales representative is a sales representative who works outside of the company’s building in order to close sales with customers.
What do outside sales representatives do?
Outside sales representatives sell their product in a way that is outside of the confines and restrictions of the office. They are able to create a personal connection with the customer so that they feel more comfortable with making a purchase.
What is outside sales experience?
Outside sales experience is demonstrable experience that a sales rep can include on their resume. Some sales roles require outside sales experience if it’s a complex outside sales position. Some inside sales roles mark it as required or as a “nice to have” since outside sales can be very challenging.
How are outside sales reps paid?
Outside sales reps are paid depending on the job. The three ways they can get compensated are the following:
- Salary or hourly base-pay
- Commission
- Bonuses
If base-pay is not a part of the role, typically the sales reps will have a higher commission potential. Additionally, if they perform well and surpass their sales targets consistently, some companies offer a bonus structure.
How to recruit outside sales reps
To hire an outside sales rep, it’s important to make the role appealing to the talent you’re looking to find.
Here are the 7 steps to recruiting an inside sales rep:
- Define the outside sales role and your ideal candidate.
- List out the benefits, salary, and commission structure they can expect by joining your company.
- Target them on job boards, LinkedIn, advertisements, and other social channels. Also ask for referrals from trusted colleagues.
- When you have a large candidate pool, set up interviews.
- Compare them against your ideal profile, and against each other.
- Thank and remove unfit candidates.
- Finally, make a hire.
How to build an outside sales team
Inside sales team is a group of inside sales reps. Depending on your industry, follow the same steps for recruiting sales reps detailed above.
Here are the 7 steps for building an inside sales team:
- Create your sales letter.
- Build your sales process.
- Write sales scripts for each step (based on the sales letter).
- Purchase relevant software and tools.
- Test the above to get consistent results.
- Create a team playbook.
- Recruit inside sales reps for the positions you need.
After you finish, you can iterate and improve your recruiting process over time.
How to track outsides sales reps
Tracking outside sales reps can help with quality control and accountability. It’s important to note that there are two main data points to track; (1) sales performance, and (2) location. Ultimately, sales performance is most important to the role, but location data can help identify the cause of issues too.
For sales performance, the best way is to track their performance is with a CRM. The CRM should mirror your outside sales process, and demonstrate the sales reps pipeline value as well as total deals won. There are a growing number of mobile-friendly CRMs hat are easy to use and help with tracking. Alternatively, sales reps can also note their progress with paper and a clipboard.
For location tracking, there are GPS apps that show where they are and how much time they spend at certain locations. With that, the expectation is that the sales rep will be in their designated territory with intermittent stops at prospect locations.
How do you create an outside sales process?
Outside sales process is the steps and activities a sales professional will use to close new prospects. The process will start with getting the prospect’s information, qualifying them, negotiating, following-up and closing them. Your outside sales process is the plan that your sales team has to follow to close future deals.
Here are the 5 steps for creating a good outside sales process:
- Create good outreach and introduction scripts.
- List qualifying questions that relate to your product or service.
- List each step that your salespeople should walk prospects and leads through.
- Create an evolving list of if-then scenarios (i.e. if lead is disqualified, remove them from your sales pipeline).
- Test and refine your process over time.
The better your sales process and lead management is, the higher conversion rate you’ll get. The result will be more sales, more revenue, and more growth for the organization.
What is the relation between outside and inside sales?
Outside sales is all selling activity done in direct contact with prospects and leads. However, inside sales is all selling activity done in an office or remote location. They relate in that the principles and methods of selling are the same.