3 High Performance Inside Sales Qualities to Look For

It used to be that outside sales people ruled the roost. That’s where the sales training investments went and where the prestige and the high salaries lived. Things have changed.

Now, inside sales reps handle the big deals too. Many buyers no longer have the time to visit with a sales rep in the office. They are perfectly comfortable relying upon the phone to close even multi-million dollar deals. That is why today’s businesses rely more and more on inside sales to boost and sustain their business opportunities at a greater level of profitability.

So hiring well for your inside sales team matters more and more. Here are some of the high performance qualities you should look for in candidates and to build into your inside sales team:

• Inside Sales Attitude
You want inside sales reps who are hungry, who love the challenge of selling and are passionate about the solutions they sell and the customers they serve. They should have the courage of their convictions so they are authentic when they talk about the services they provide. They should be highly motivated to win and know how to overcome objections.

• Inside Sales Communication Skills
They need to be great communicators who adjust their style to the style of the customer on the other end of the line. And they should be willing to listen even more than they talk so they fully understand the customer’s situation before they advocate a solution. Their emails should be correct, clear and concise. They should know how to follow-up effectively as they bring insight and value to each interaction. And they should have the knack of persistence in tracking a potential client without being annoying.

• Inside Sales Independence
The best inside sales reps work fairly independently. They don’t like to have anyone looking over their shoulder. But they do need clear and relevant leading and lagging success metrics to keep them focused and on pace. Decide what would work best in your situation as a measure to evaluate their performance. It may be the revenue they generate, the degree of satisfaction of their customers, repeat business, or the number of calls per day that produce real business.

Take a good look at your existing Inside Sales team. If they are missing good communication skills or an inside sales process that works, a quality inside sales training program with the necessary coaching, reinforcement and process alignment may be the answer. What is most critical, however, is the attitude…and that you can’t often teach.

For more information about inside sales training best practices, please visit: http://www.lsaglobal.com/inside-sales-training-coaching/

4 Unique Tips for Staying at the Top of Your Inside Sales Game

If you are in an Inside Sales Role, do you ever get the feeling that the phone is attached to your body? 

Do you go a bit crazy with the stress and demands of your job? Can you ever spend too much time on the phone? We believe you can absolutely overdo it. And when you do, you can sacrifice your health, your wellbeing, your performance and even your opportunities.

From our many years of observing inside sales training and helping inside sales folks be more effective and successful, here are our tips for staying at the top of your game:

1. Be clear on the day’s objective.
Spend a few minutes when you first get to work by clearing your desk, organizing your thoughts and focusing on what specifically you hope to accomplish. Set achievable, realistic and relevant goals for your work day so you can concentrate on the most important tasks before you. 

2. Take periodic breaks.
Stand up, stretch and clear your mind at least once an hour. You need to keep the blood flowing and your brain working. Too much time on the phone or on the screen reduces your effectiveness. Take deep breaths, stretch your limbs, clear your thoughts. Then you will be refreshed when you resume your work. Your voice and your attitude (which, by the way, can be “read” by the person on the other end of the line) will be much improved.

3. Pay attention to your overall health.
No matter what your role in an organization, the basic rules of maintaining good health make a difference in your performance. It matters that you get sufficient sleep, that you eat nutritious meals (and not at your desk), that you get adequate exercise and that you keep a judicious balance between your work and your life outside of work.

4. Don’t get into a rut.
Using the same scripts over and over can be incredibly monotonous and your listener will sense you are repeating words you’ve said a million times. Customers like to think they are special. Stay up to date on the latest news in your industry, on your offerings, and in your profession. Keep learning and growing. That’s the way to sound fresh and approach your customers with confidence. 

Make the time you DO spend on the phone count. It’s not the quantity of hours you put in but the quality that brings results.

For more information about inside sales training best practices, please visit: http://www.lsaglobal.com/inside-sales-training-coaching/

Does Your Inside Sales Team Match Your Sales Strategy?

The difference used to be easy to describe: outside sales involved face-to-face interaction with clients and inside sales referred to telephone-based sales. But the distinction between the two approaches is blurring these days…and so are the skills needed to succeed at each.

If you are in charge of inside sales training, you had better fully understand what type of inside sales your business success relies on and what specific sales skills and competencies are needed to successfully execute your sales strategy.  You need to know how your inside sales team typically interacts with customers. And you need to be clear on what your inside team is selling, how they sell, and who is buying.

As best you can, fit your team into one of the following three categories. From there you can determine what inside sales skills, knowledge and behaviors will be most relevant to meet your sales targets.

1. Outbound Door Openers
These inside sales reps make numerous outbound calls per day looking to get meetings with target buyers. Door opening inside sales teams make the initial contact and then hand off to a teammate with a different skill set to handle the next stage in the selling cycle. Successful door openers are typically friendly, courteous and helpful.  They leave a good impression of themselves and the company no matter the outcome of the call.  The best have an innate ability to catch a prospect’s interest in 30 seconds or less.  Their success is typically measured by the number of calls made, contacts reached, appointments made, appointments kept and deals closed.

2. Inbound Call Takers
These inside sales reps answer incoming calls from potential buyers. Most often, they manage simple purchase transactions and answer straightforward questions. Your inbound sales team should handle calls with the same polite and helpful manner as your prospectors, but they should also be efficient, equipped to handle any customer service needs, and prepped to ask the questions that could potentially lead to up- and cross-selling opportunities.

3. Hybrid
These inside sales reps handle whatever combination of inbound, outbound, simple and complex sales that make sense.  For example, some inside sales teams can handle average complex deals with short to medium sales cycles.  This typically requires both inbound and outbound skills combined with a proficiency at identifying what the customer truly wants and needs.  Then, depending upon your sales structure, they often must be adept at providing a compelling solution and then either following the deal through to its conclusion or passing it along to the right person in a way that keeps the customer happy.

Depending on the type of sale, from the more complex to the relatively simple, you can determine what level of skill is needed. But all your salespeople, regardless of the buyers they talk to and their role, need to be well schooled in how to listen, understand and effectively communicate value. 

Is your sales strategy clear enough to win?  Download sales strategy whitepaper now.

For more information about inside sales training best practices, please visit: http://www.lsaglobal.com/inside-sales-training-coaching/

The Growth of Inside Sales Continues

What are you likely to see as you peer into the future of your sales strategy? The growth of the importance of inside sales.

As customers get more sophisticated and more comfortable with buying online and researching options on their own, there is less of a call for field sales reps and more need for inside sales reps. Current stats reveal that inside sales folks are being hired at a 3 times greater rate than external sales experts. And the trend is likely to continue.

Of course, field sales expertise will always be a part of a successful sales strategy when complex sales are concerned or when face-to-face interaction is required to build trust when a long-term purchase is proposed. It depends on what you are selling. Consider that a field rep can be limited by time and geography with only a certain number of on-site meetings possible per day. The inside sales rep has no such limitations. The phone is just an arm’s length away and can be utilized 24/7.

However you configure your team, the key is to have a clear sales process and the best sales reps you can build and buy. While inside sales teams were once given only perfunctory training on how to answer the phone and on company products, today’s teams need much more in-depth inside sales training if they are to be effective and carry the bulk of your opportunities.

You need inside salespeople who have a deep understanding of the business and the product line. They need to know how to interact with customers in a courteous, helpful manner and move the sales cycle forward with each touch point. Give them the technological tools they need to be successful. But over and above the high-tech support, they need to have learned the attitudes and behaviors that win over customers and guide them to a purchase.

To be ready for the inevitable shift toward inside sales, take a close look at your current sales team. Are they as well-trained and effective as they could be? Do you know what sales competencies matter most? Do you focus on those critical few job and cultural competencies as you hire? Ask these questions and come up with answers so your sales future looks as bright as the one above through the cartoon character’s telescope.

For more information about inside sales training best practices, please visit: http://www.lsaglobal.com/inside-sales-training-coaching/

The Two “A’s” Required to Consistently Shine at Inside Sales

If you want to succeed at inside sales, you need the two A’s: attitude and activity. And you certainly need to know how to use the phone as your major selling tool…not to avoid opportunities to interact as above, but to invite and welcome them.

Activity
Inside sales training teaches that getting appointments and follow-up conversations is still a numbers game. You need to put in the time and effort. Lots of activity is necessary to garner those critical few second chances. You should count on making at least 100 calls per day. With each one, you need to open politely and persuasively and sound as if this were your first call of the day.

Attitude
Success is mostly up to you. If you nurture an entrepreneurial spirit and are eager to learn and grow, you can create your own good fortune. Develop excellent communication skills, follow a disciplined plan, demonstrate a genuine wish to help potential customers, and show your willingness to work hard.

Inside sales can be a great career option for those with the “right stuff.”

For more information about inside sales training best practices, please visit: http://www.lsaglobal.com/inside-sales-training-coaching/

How Curiosity Can Generate Inside Sales Success

If you really want to educate your prospects and maybe even change their perception of your offering, you need to ignite their interest and spark their curiosity so they want to learn and hear more. How? By causing them to ask questions. This is a technique from inside sales training that really works.

Here’s an example. We are a consulting and training company that has been in this very competitive field for over 20 years. It can be difficult to grab the attention of a new prospect unless they have already heard about us. But we often make a statement that captures their interest.

We state that training is often not the answer and, by itself, does not work. In fact, on average it only changes the behavior of 20% of the participants.  The reaction is always surprise…What? But aren’t you in the “training business”?  This gives us the opportunity to differentiate our approach and share what we have learned about what is needed to truly change behavior and get higher performance results. This allows us to re-position what we do, how we really help our clients succeed and bring measurable value to their organization.

If you can get your prospects to wonder about how you might help them and how you are different from competitors, you have engaged their curiosity and their desire to have a more productive and differentiated conversation.

For more information about inside sales training best practices, please visit: http://www.lsaglobal.com/inside-sales-training-coaching/

3 “Must Know” Tips for Overcoming Customer Resistance and Growing Sales

Many customers cannot get over the stereotype of salespeople as inappropriately aggressive or overly self-confident. So before the conversation even begins, they “defend” themselves by shutting down emotionally and resisting any attempts to share the information we need to help them. This is one of the major obstacles we talk about in our inside sales training program.

Here are 3 tips to put the customer at ease. Your objective? Overcome their resistance so you can learn how to best serve them and grow your sales.

• Give them a choice.Rather than bully them into joining the sales process, increase their receptivity by asking permission to explore ways you can help them be more successful in a way that makes sense for them. 
• Get them to talk about their situation.Display genuine interest in learning more about their needs, challenges and goals. This is the way to earn their trust and show that you care.
  
• Listen truly and completely.Be fully in the present as they share their story. Only then can you begin to help find a solution or make a recommendation that truly works for them.

For more information about inside sales training best practices, please visit: http://www.lsaglobal.com/inside-sales-training-coaching/