I hate to break it to you, but when it comes to inside sales training, you’ll spend less time reading and more time interacting with people. Investing in your company's effective inside sales training system can pay amazing dividends.
The key is to ensure that your system has smooth onboarding and consistently supports your team. And remember:
You can never be too senior for a bit of training and coaching.
The greatest athletes don’t stop practicing because they’re great; they keep practicing to sustain their greatness. As you think about empowering your team, remember the impact inside sales training can have on YOU.
This guide will share everything you need to know about inside sales training.
Let’s start from the top.
What is Inside Sales?
And sales technology has made this all possible.
Basically, technology runs the show for inside sales.
An inside salesperson can build relationships with people all over the world from their computer and can reach dozens of prospects at once through email automation.
Research shows that inside sales roles are growing 15x faster than outside sales.
Harvard Business Review recently wrote:
"Inside sales has muscled its way into serving larger customers with complex needs. Also, inside salespeople, who once performed only simple tasks (generating leads, getting renewals) are doing more complex steps, including assessing customer needs, crafting solutions, and closing sales."
So, What is Inside Sales Training?
Inside sales training is different from traditional sales training as it focuses more on outreach, data and sales tools.
B2B and SaaS salespeople rely on this training to become more successful.
Let's talk about the benefits of sales training…
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Close More Deals
One of the biggest gains from sales training is the ability to close more deals. Most sales professionals like to dilly-dally on strategies that aren’t effective for them or their business.
A sales training program can help you develop best practices that lead to better performance, higher morale and ultimately greater success.
Strengthen Employee Retention
Sales training can give your team the skills they need to be successful and the support they need to grow. And guess what? Equipping and supporting your employees will make them more likely to stay with your organization.
Create a Stronger Sales Culture
A healthy sales culture can help your team close, and sales training can provide that. When everyone on the team is focused, involved, and comfortable with the sales process, you’ll see a lot of happy prospects and customers.
The Fundamentals of Great Inside Sales Training
A vast array of sales training tools are out there to help you equip your team, boost their productivity, and close more deals.
The must-have tools include:
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
CRM software gives you an overview of all your sales activities and helps you stay on top of your tasks. From monitoring deals and managing customer relationships to automation and better reporting, a CRM can bring a ton of value to your business.
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There are many kinds of CRM systems out there—make sure to choose one that your sales people actually like to use, since they will be the ones who actually spend most of their time using it.
Way too often, upper-level management selects a CRM that best suits their needs, but they almost never use it. Instead, they rely on others to generate reports for them.
If you want your sales team to be productive and effective, make sure to choose one that suits their needs first and foremost.
Phone (or a CRM with Integrated Calling)
Even with video conferencing tools becoming more ubiquitous, phone calls are still important to inside salespeople—in particular, the cold call to set up an appointment and the follow-up call.
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With Close, calling prospects is easy because you can do it within the CRM. And recently, more sales professionals have started to text, so we’ve integrated SMS into our CRM, too.
Reporting Tools & Software
Sales reporting tools help you stay organized. Whether working alone or on a team, you can manage your accounts in one place.
Email is becoming the preferred method of outreach in inside sales. Email tracking software lets salespeople see when their emails are opened and know when to follow up. With Close, you can send and receive emails directly and track all sales interactions.
How to Deliver Great Sales Training
There’s no one right way to conduct inside sales training. Instead, you may need to experiment to determine which methods work best for your team.
Some of the formats for delivering sales training include:
- Courses: In-person or online courses are a great way to give your team the knowledge they need on a schedule that works for them and the company. There are plenty of online course platforms available that fit every budget and use case. You can also check out our free resource section where we offer email courses, books, checklists and more inside sales training materials for your team.
- Workshops: Workshops give your team a break in their day to build up the skills they need to close more deals—though you want to make sure you book an instructor who provides value to you and your team.
- Outside consultants: When you can’t provide in-house training, bring in an expert. An outside consultant can offer value in the form of sales tools, experience, and market information.
- Industry events: These events are great for networking but also for allowing your team to learn from the best and find out what’s trending in your industry.
- Internal testing: Doing an audit of previous sales cycles is an excellent way to train your team about the fundamentals of the job.
- Databases: Set up a wiki or database with commonly asked questions and relevant resources. This will equip and encourage your team to help themselves.
Why Effective Inside Sales Training is Your Ultimate Competitive Advantage
Inside sales training is key to closing more deals; you just need to put in the effort.
Want to see how Close does sales training? Create a predictable and repeatable sales model for your company in 30 days with our online course. Enrollment is free!
