Five Challenges Of Being An Inside Sales Manager

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Being an inside sales manager comes with many challenges and effectively dealing with those can be the difference that leads to success.

1. Interviewing

Just like any position that a manager looks to fill, selecting the right resources for inside sales positions can be challenging. This is because cold calling and selling over the phone takes a particular type of person and you never really know how a sales resource is going to work out in terms of results and length of employment.

By improving the interview process, a manager can create a tremendous improvement on the overall sales operation and results. Using tools and processes to effectively screen applicants to identify the best matched applicants will help with the interviewing challenge.

2. Training

Once the inside sales resource has been hired, they will need to be trained. Telesales can be a challenging job for a sales person for many different reasons that just simply come with the job. As a result, there is likely a need to give sales training, product training, and company system training to every new inside sales person.

With a level of turnover being present with every sales position, an inside sales manager does not want to spend too much time and money training a new inside sales rep as you do not know how long they will be around. To improve the area of training, a manager can try to automate as much as possible through e-learning. From there, there can be a division between upfront training then additional training that can be delivered later as the rep gets going.

3. Productivity

Inside sales resources are fairly expensive when you add up compensation, overhead, and the opportunity cost for their position. As a result, it is key to get as much productivity out of each resource as possible.

An inside sales manager can use quantitative metrics like dials, calls answered, talk time, number of hits, etc. to manage and increase inside sales productivity.

4. Effectiveness

It is important to make sure that inside sale reps are on the phone and making dials, but that is only half of the equation. The other half, and actually the more important half, is the level of effectiveness that they are having while talking to prospects. They can make 100 dials per day but if their messaging is off, that effort (and that expense from the company) could all be for nothing.

Using tools like role-playing, call monitoring, and sales coaching can help an inside sales manager to ensure that inside sales resources are embracing the sales training concepts and following the plan and strategy that has been developed.

5. Retention

Turnover can be high in the sales profession and it can be even higher in the area of inside sales. This is a result that selling over the phone and making cold calls can be very challenging from a mental standpoint. This can create an environment where inside sales reps find themselves frustrated and unhappy in terms of job satisfaction and motivates them to quit and try to do some other form of work.

This cost of sales staff turnover is very high so an inside sales manager can create positive results by minimizing this challenge. Managing and leading with clear goals, sufficient training, recurring coaching, and an attention on results can help in this area.

Direct Sales Is One Of The Best Ways To Make Big Money

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There are many ways to make big money on the Internet. I personally have found direct sales to be one of the best ways to make money online and make alot of it. Why do I say that?

1. Higher commissions. Companies are willing to compensate you for your efforts at a higher commission rate than you can make in other ways.

For example, Primo Vacations is a big ticket direct sale opportunity. You earn $500 on every $697 sale you make. This works out to over a %70 commission rate.

Some companies will cut checks directly to you. In the Primo Vacations example you are your own business owner and the money is paid directly to you on a completed sale.

There are examples of high commission rates in other business models such as affiliate marketing. In many ways selling other people’s products as an affiliate marketer is a direct sales approach.

ClickBank is an example of an affiliate program where you can earn up to 75% commissions selling ebooks. The downside to this is these are not really big ticket items, so you have to make more sales to really make big money.

2. You are in control. People who want to have control over their income love direct sales opportunities.

When you go to work your boss tells you how much are going to make. Generally every Friday you get a paycheck and you know exactly what it is going to be.

In direct sales the more you sell the more you are going to earn. For people who are self-motivated this is an excellent way to make a lot of money.

Unlike other business models such as network marketing, you are not relying on a downline to earn you money. This is why so many people fail in network marketing.

Unless you are in an MLM program that offers products that pay a high commission, many times people never make enough money to justify staying in business. Therefore they quit.

3. Easy to focus. This is one of my favorite things about direct sales.

Your focus is strictly on selling your product. You may need to do marketing on the Internet to drive traffic to your website.

You might need to follow up with people via phone or email to answer questions. However, your focus is on generating leads and selling your product.

You are not worried about blogging every day. You are not worried about adding new web pages. If you can get focused on selling direct sales is the way to go.

There is no doubt the direct sales is one of the best ways to make big money if you promote the right product. Look for big ticket items that will pay you commissions of $500 or more and you can make a lot of money.

What Is Sales Recruitment And Who Conducts It

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Recruitment activities are sometimes conducted by the organization itself, or it can be outsourced to an external agency that specializes in sourcing and screening candidates.

The recruitment industry operates through four main types of media: (i) employment agencies, (ii) “head hunters”, usually for executive level sales recruitment roles, (iii) in-house recruitment, usually via an internal Human Resources department, and (iv) passive candidate research firms.

The stages involved in sales recruitment can vary depending on the needs of the organization and the type of sales role in question. Generally, recruitment for most types of jobs involves several steps and includes sourcing candidates by advertising or “head hunting”, followed by screening and selecting candidates using tests and interviews.

Agency Types

There are four main types of agencies who conduct recruitment, with some agencies specializing in certain job markets, for example sales recruitment or hospitality recruitment or secretarial recruitment.

The recruitment agencies are usually paid by the companies wanting to fill a position, and not the candidates.

Traditional Agency

Traditional agencies are also known as employment agencies. Candidates can and do approach them directly, either by responding to an advertised vacancy, or to register onto the agency’s books. Recruitment consultants then work to match their pool of candidates to their clients’ vacant positions.

Those candidates who best meet the selection criteria of the vacancy are short-listed and put forward for an interview with their clients.

Recruitment agencies are usually paid a contingency fee by the client once a recommended candidate accepts a job with the client company.

Typically, the fee is 20% to 30% based on the appointee’s first year base salary and usually comes with some form of guarantee (30 to 90 days is standard). Should the appointee fail to perform or leaves the company during the guarantee period, the agency would normally offer a replacement candidate at no further cost to the client company.

Headhunters

A ‘headhunter’ is a term used to describe a recruiter who seeks out candidates, often when the usual recruitment processes (e.g. advertising through an agency) fails. Headhunters usually have extensive industry experience and source their candidates through their contacts. There are headhunters who specialize in the sales recruitment industry.

However, because headhunters typically charge more than agencies (often more than 30% of the candidate’s annual compensation), they are usually employed to fill more senior sales management and executive level sales roles.

In-house Recruitment

Larger employers often will undertake their own in-house sales recruitment, usually through their human resources (HR) department. In-house HR staff either (i) co-ordinate external recruitment agencies who have been commissioned to find staff for the company, or (ii) conduct the end-to-end recruitment processes themselves, from advertising through to interviewing and hiring.

Passive Candidate Research Firms / Sourcing Firms

These firms conduct research to identify potential candidates and generate information about them. Often these research firms uncover candidates that cannot be found using other, more traditional methods. These firms usually charge a per hour fee or by candidate lead.

Sales Training-short Term Expense For Long Term Profits

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This is particularly pertinent when you consider how much it will cost to train each individual member of staff compared to how much more revenue they could bring to your business after training.

All businesses should look to the long term when they are thinking about sending members of staff on sales courses. If you have found that your staff are not achieving the kind of sales figures that you are hoping for there could be a clear sales training need. It is unwise to assume that you can allow long-term members of staff to impart their sales knowledge to newer individuals in the workplace. While these people can have a lot of sound experience that they can use in order to inform newer members of staff they are not training professionals.

By employing the services of a sales training company you will have peace of mind of knowing that the sales course of sales programs that they will deliver will get you excellent results. After going on a good training course all of your members of staff should have the confidence and abilities to convert even more calls than previously. They will also be able to handle objections from customers without having to involve a manager and they will be at ease with creating a rapport with individuals on the telephone. Having a wide range of skills to draw upon means that each and every member of your sales staff will be able to be more successful in their individual roles.

In addition to the obvious benefits of increasing profits you will also find that investing in sales training can help you to create a much happier workforce. By ensuring that all of your staff are highly trained you will be showing them that you are willing to invest in them. This will make your staff feel as though there are truly valued and not simply a number on your wages sheet. When you have staff who are happy and satisfied in their role this will show in the way that they behave in work. There will be much more dedicated to doing their best on every call and this can result in increased sales.

As you can see from a short term expense spent on sales training any business can have long-term profits as a result. If you are a business who have never used this kind of training before it is something that you need to carefully consider. By spending a little money now on the right training you could soon be reaping the benefits as your staff are able to achieve even more sales than before.

Is A Sales Job More Interesting Than An Office Job

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There are only three variations of sales jobs. These are known as “Outside” sales, “Inside” sales and Retail. Without doubt, the individual with the ability to understand the mechanisms that make up a good sale is crucial to how fulfilling a sales job will be. In a very fundamental way, most people have sales skills. However, to succeed in sales, resilience and a progressive attitude are necessary. Experienced sales people never allow a rejection to stand in the way of their initiatives. In this respect, a sales job can be more fulfilling for those with the fortitude to continuously push forward, than an office job. Sales, unlike an office job, has its ups and downs. It’s never dull or boring since it lacks the routine of most office jobs.

Outside, Inside and Retail Sales Outside sales jobs are for the individual who finds working behind a desk isn’t to their liking. Outside sales means working out in the field by surveying and prospecting in a specified sales territory. Inside sales usually refers to sales initiated and completed by phone or email. Retail sales are those related to sales in large department stores where a particular product, such as clothing or furniture, are the main focus of sales. In this type of sales, unlike others, most of the customer traffic is via shoppers.

Office Jobs Many jobs that fall into the category of “office jobs”, such as management, accounting, personnel or inventory control as well as administrative. While office jobs often require interaction with other staff members, in most cases an employee with an office job is presented with a specific area of the product or service of the company for which they are responsible.

Defining The Fulfillment Factor When it comes to making a choice between sales jobs or office jobs, a lot depends on the employee’s personality. Each employee has preferences for the variation of work that is most fulfilling on a long-term basis. There is one advantage to sales jobs. Sales staff usually work a pipeline until it becomes depleted and move on to the next sales job with ease. This isn’t necessarily the case with office jobs. An office job, predicated upon routine and the system mandating workflow, may be fulfilling in the sense that employees achieve upward mobility if they are stellar performers. From this achievement is derived fulfillment.

Consider Sales If An Office Job Isn’t Your Cup of Tea Sales jobs aren’t for individuals who take each rejection of their sales pitch personally. There is also another factor inherent to sales jobs. Working a specific sales territory grants the ability to control sales commissions. The territory effectively belongs to the sales person. Therefore, it can be mined for sales commissions to best advantage. The savvy sales person is always looking for new sales and devises resales based on their talent and skills for closing a sale. Closing a sale is undoubtedly the most difficult part of sales jobs. After the initial introduction to the product or service takes place, closing the sale has to be managed properly and with professionality to secure adequate sales commisions. This is generally what defines the success and fulfillment of sales jobs: the ability to increase sales quotas that earn solid sales commissions as well as creating a confident customer base.