OVERVIEW: INSIDE SALES IS A HIGH STAKES GAME
Inside sales is the new black. Companies across all economic sectors are adopting and integrating inside sales models in record numbers. The scalability, measurability, and predictability of inside sales have made it the new preferred sales channel for companies that have a mandate from stakeholders to grow sales and revenue quickly and within budget constraints.
As such, companies seek to hire inside sales leaders who can help their organization reach revenue goals set by the executive team.
ASSESS YOUR INSIDE SALES INITIATIVES
Are you just starting? Is your process mature, proven, and ready to scale? Are your numbers where you need them to be or are they stalling? What inside sales model do you have/plan to use? How will it be configured and integrated with the other sales and marketing channels within your organization? How will/do you track, measure, and report performance? What skill set is needed to get the job done? What components of your inside sales process need optimization? Who can do the job? Why can they do it?
HIRE AN INSIDE SALES LEADER WITH EXPERTISE IN YOUR INDUSTRY (IF YOU CAN)
If you can find a candidate who knows your business, and they are viable, consider that individual a front-runner for the open role. The faster you can get someone to hit the ground running the better. Someone with industry-specific experience will be able to install an inside sales infrastructure and process faster than someone from the outside. They will know what will work, why, how and will likely have metrics from past roles they can lean on for insight.
THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE FOUR INSIDE SALES LEADERSHIP ROLES: SUPERVISOR, MANAGER, DIRECTOR, AND V P INSIDE SALES
To oversimplify, generally speaking, Supervisors and Managers oversee an existing team, process and sometimes report to a higher-level inside sales executive. Directors and VPs of Inside Sales are often tasked with installing, optimizing, and/or scaling inside sales initiatives. When hiring an inside sales leader here is what your internal or external inside sales recruiter should look for:
INSIDE SALES SUPERVISORS AND MANAGERS GENERALLY:
- Hire and train staff
- Design sales tools and support materials for reps
- Monitor metrics and rep calls
- Manage and motivate team members
- Develop training materials and modules
DIRECTORS / VPS OF INSIDE SALES BRING A BROADER RANGE OF SKILLS AND SCOPE OF THINKING ABOUT INSIDE SALES AND HAVE:
- The ability to plan, implement, optimize, and grow inside sales process and infrastructure (from ground zero). This is a crucial skill set if you plan to scale.
- Forecasting ability. This dovetails into everything: staffing, infrastructure requirements, sales revenues, and more.
- The skill set to help your company realize its revenue numbers by executing a plan based on rationale and insights gleaned from the company’s marketing/sales data.
DIRECTORS / VPS OF INSIDE SALES BRING A BROADER RANGE OF SKILLS AND SCOPE OF THINKING ABOUT INSIDE SALES AND HAVE:
- Understanding of testing. If your company offers a portfolio of products and plans to innovate new ones, testing is a crucial skill set. Testing will provide validation that in fact, your new offering can be viable in the market in which you plan to compete.
- The capacity to devise the overarching inside sales strategy and tactics within the strategy.
- An ability to interface with other teams which will be an integral part of inside sales such as marketing, outside sales, IT, and C-level execs.
- A nuanced understanding of list selection (who to call/why/with what offer) is of paramount importance.
- The ability to extract insights from metrics and use them to calibrate inside sales initiatives. The saying goes “If you can’t measure it, you can’t fix it.”
CONSIDER ENERGY, CULTURAL FIT, AND MANAGEMENT STYLE
You will be working closely with your newly hired inside sales leader. Do they have the character and values that align with those of your company? Do they fit in culturally? What is their energy like?
At certain compensation thresholds, skill sets equalize and character, values, work ethic, and management style become crucial differentiators.
DO YOU NEED A SPECIALIST OR A GENERALIST? CONSIDER THE DEPTH AND BREADTH OF EXPERIENCE
A candidate who has executed a large number of campaigns for a wide portfolio of products will have a broader range of skills (breadth) than someone who has just sold one thing or one category of things (depth). Ask yourself, do I need a specialist or a generalist? A valve company will need a specialist, an office supply distributor will need a generalist.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMPENSATION, SKILL SET, AND JOB TITLE
It helps to understand the relationship between compensation, skill set, and job title. Simply put candidates with broader skill sets, more experience, and higher-level job titles cost more money to hire. There is no way around this immutable fact.
THINK COMPENSATION RANGES RATHER THAN A SPECIFIC NUMBER
Companies who pigeonhole themselves into a specific compensation number (e.g. we are offering $98,500) automatically hobble their own recruitment efforts. Instead, think in terms of compensation ranges (e.g. $95-$105,000) and be prepared to move outside your original range if you see a candidate who is the right fit.
Avoid the worn-out recruiting tactic of telling a candidate “A person can earn big money here if they hit their numbers”. A sophisticated inside sales professional will simply reverse engineer your projected sales/compensation numbers to see if they match up and if they are even achievable. Overstated promises will cause candidates to run away (think Forest Gump).
To gain perspective on nationwide compensation ranges for inside sales leaders, please refer to the Inside Sales Salary Guide here.
IN CONCLUSION
Inside sales is a high-stakes game. Unfilled leadership roles can have insidious effects on sales and revenue performance. Hiring the right inside sales leader is of paramount importance. Understanding the relationship between the job title, skill set, and compensation, before you start recruiting, will help you avoid wasting time, energy, and resources.
Inside Sales leaders need to be able to install, manage, and optimize inside sales initiatives that deliver predictable revenue using a repeatable and scalable proven process.