The New Inside Sales Hiring Buzz
As I walk down the aisles of many inside sales organizations, it’s pretty quiet these days. Is the sales buzz gone or just a distant memory? The cacophony of the phone has been replaced with keyboards clicking as email continues to dominate throughout the sales cycle. Call activity is reaching an all-time low as email marketing and prospecting efforts continue to escalate.
Another reason for the silence is cubicles are empty. Every inside organization is sitting on open headcount and most managers are spending at least 40% of their time interviewing and recruiting new talent. The list of hiring perks and incentives gets longer while high revenue territories sit idle lacking attention.
The Sales 2.0 revolution continues to challenge our sales traditions and skills. We must revise our standards for excellence and redefine the sales buzz. Today’s sales buzz is viral, fast, technically potent and sprinkled with lots of marketing wisdom.
Most inside organizations have about 10-20% of their workforce based in remote locations with most of these being working from home. It is estimated that 41 million corporate employees globally are spending at least one day a week teleworking and another 100 million will work from home at least once a month.
With the increase high-bandwidth access, web-based CRM and sales tools, pressure to go Green and demand for more life/work balance, everything points in the direction of structuring inside organizations with more remote employees.
But wait, this cannot be done the same way as before. It requires both the managers and the team members to carefully review their skill portfolio. Here are some ideas to think about:
For Managers: Forget old misconceptions and perceptions about remote team members being the weakest links on your org chart. Just because you don’t see them walking around doesn’t mean they are working. Yes, they probably left to pick up their dry-cleaning but they started working way before you walked in. Managers must take a hard look at their MBO’s and compensation packages designed from a time-based approach to a objective-based approach. That means managers who are still monitoring who shows up late to work and how many calls they make are falling way behind on understanding the bigger picture.
For Teams: The talent is different too and the inside sales winner today that will make it in the sales 2.0 model must have some freedom to run. They are the defensive lineman who clears the field for the quarterback to run so they can make a touchdown for the rest of the team. This individual contributor is not confined to a cubicle and don’t start or end their day at a specific time. Their work surrounds them, they have time control, they are fast and fearless with dedicated discipline, they are resourceful, curious, tenacious, motivated, maintain great work/life balance, know how to forge partnerships, exceptional writing skills and a tough marketer.
TeleSmart 10 –Exclusive inside sales skills methodology
Our 2-day program covers results-oriented skills from the TeleSmart 10 system, the only methodology designed exclusively for global inside sales teams that also complements field training programs already in place. Companies such as Agilent, Apple, Cisco, EMC, Harte-Hanks, HP/Mercury, Microsoft and VeriSign have all received training on our methodology. For more information on the program, contact us at getsmart@tele-smart.com
Technology, Tools and TeleSmart- New Hire Curriculum
On-boarding expectations are higher and ramp-up time is shorter. The TeleSmart 10 skills promises to get your new hires up to speed faster.
Please contact getsmart@tele-smart.com to register for our upcoming webinar on this topic and receive our Top Interview Questions for Hiring Remote Inside Sales Employees.
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Sales 2.0 Conference- A Huge Success- Check out the recorded archives and listen to the TeleSmart and Phone Works panel discussion titled "Sales 2.0: A Report from the Front Lines."
Josiane is one of the contributors.
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