What is Inside Sales – Vocab Definitions to Know
Here at the Insider, we understand that for new followers some of the words we use might go completely over your head – especially for some of you newbies. So to help out in understanding what we are writing about we have created a list of 10 words we use everyday with short explanations of what they mean.
Inside Sales – Best described, inside sales is virtual sales done remotely. Inside sales can be B2B or B2C. Most people contacted have expressed interest in the product or services. With inside sales, it is not a one time call, it’s not scripted and the sales reps have continual contact (phone calls, emails, faxes) with the prospect as they work with them through the sales process.
Outside Sales – The traditional field sales model, outside sales is sales done face-to-face or door-to-door with potential customers.
B2B – Used as a way to define a companies primary client base, B2B stands for business to business.
B2C – The opposite of B2B, B2C stands for business to consumer.
Telemarketing – Inside sales is NOT telemarketing. Telemarketing is B2C and is usually a one time call where something is sold and is a done deal. There is no continual contact involved.
ELF – Also known as a Response Loop, Electronic Labor Force is a type of sales technology that allows for multi-media drip marketing. ELF is a lead management software that creates automatic actions for leads we have in our system. The product can do anything from calling someone, send an email, voice broadcast, fax, direct mail, and even work with in the CRM and take action with items like tasks, events, and callbacks.
CRM – Customer Relationship Manager. The purpose of a CRM within the inside sales world is to keep information about clients, leads, customers, and others organized within a database. The Insidesales.com hosted CRM is a software for sales that is cloud based.
Leads – Usually gathered from a webform or tradeshow, leads are people who have shown interest in the products or services offered. They are usually a little more educated about what the product or service is and have a expressed need. Because they already have expressed a need, this will increase sales reps lead response.
Lists – A list is exactly what it sounds like – a list of names. What makes it an inside sales term is the fact that the lists are purchased from various list providers that have been specifically targeted. In general, when calling on an outbound list through a dialer, the sales rep will need to inform the person about the product or service and why they need it.
Lead generation – There are many different ways to generate leads. Probably the most common is to gather leads from a webform. By placing all valuable content behind a webform, the prospect is more likely to give their contact information to gain access to it.
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