After months of job hunting, you finally landed what you think is a good sales job. No more interviews. No more sending out resumes. No more writing cover letters. No more attending network events. No siree Bob, you finally arrived and are now ready to start earning serious money and move on with your life.
But after working at your new job for a few months, you begin to see a pattern.
High turnover.
At first, you don’t notice it because you’re too busy learning about the products and services, getting to know your co-workers, and adjusting to your new work environment. Plus, you wanted to find out where the best coffee shops and fast-food restaurants were located near your company.
But then, about every other week or so, you start reading emails that begin with “Joe Smith is no longer working at this company. He has moved on to other opportunities.”
And then you notice the guy who helped mentor you leave. And then the sales manager, who you thought was a good guy, is no longer coming to work. He’s been replaced by an outsider who is clueless about what your company is doing or what you’re selling. You see small groups of other salespeople meeting quietly, talking in whispers, and glancing over their shoulders to ensure no one is listening. The HR director is always meeting behind closed doors, and rarely makes eye contact when you walk by.
Employees come. Employees go. It’s a swinging door.
Congratulations. You have stumbled upon the classic high turnover sales department.
Now what?
Most salespeople stay where they have a good opportunity to earn a good living. But when there is high turnover among a sales staff, it’s usually a bad sign that something is wrong. Unlike most employees, the sales team is serving on the front lines. That means if something good or bad happens to a company, they are the first ones to feel the impact.
High turnover occurs for several reasons, including
1). The products or services are bad, or little improvement has been made in recent years. This could occur because the company isn’t reinvesting in product development, or there is too much infighting within the development team.
2). The compensation package is lousy. Every other month, you receive a new comp plan, or “adjustments” are repeatedly made.
3). Management is terrible, which usually turns into a serious moral problem. The managers could be incompetent, lazy, too demanding, etc. You get the picture.
4). The Marketing Department isn’t providing you with enough good or qualified leads. For example, inbound marketing is nonexistent, or the department is not effectively using social media to enhance better branding and name recognition. There could also be cutbacks in attending a key trade show or other events.
4). The company isn’t doing a good job of hiring and qualifying candidates or isn’t setting the right expectations about its sales positions.
To learn more about the causes of high turnover, please read the following articles –
Some companies may tell you that turnover occurs because they have “high expectations” of salespeople; if they don’t achieve their goals, they are asked to leave.
What they are really telling you is that the quotas are extremely or unrealistically high, and frankly may be out of reach for most salespeople. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Some companies are looking for the crème de la crème. If you can’t hack it, don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Selling is hard work. Maybe they are not looking for glorified order takers, but real hunters and aggressive closers. Maybe they are looking for salespeople to work late hours or be road warriors and travel to all parts of the country or world. Just know that if you accept this job, you had been warned upfront about the high turnover. Be prepared for a major sales workout.
But is high turnover always a bad thing? Not necessarily.
High turnover may open up room for quick advancement, or a chance to grab some large accounts or good sales territories. Just be prepared for the stress and anxiety that may follow in a high-turnover situation. If you can ride the storm and come out ahead, more power to you.
I once knew a woman in sales who had worked for a small family-owned business that was struggling financially and had high turnover. In fact, the entire sales staff left except her. She was the last woman standing. The other salespeople who left the company were dumbfounded when she decided to stay on. To make a long story short, the business slowly turned around, and the owner made her the sales manager. He was grateful that she had stuck it out through the bad times. As you may now guess, as the company grew, she acquired most of the larger accounts and earned a commission based on both her own sales and those of her sales team. Financially speaking, she was on top of the world. All because the other sales reps left, she was able to take advantage of a very chaotic situation, and earn herself a good living for several years. (The company was later acquired by a large competitor and the entire sales team was laid off).
High turnover is not for the faint-hearted. But if you can endure the ride, you may turn chaos into your success.
If you want to take a gamble and find a company with high turnover, make a habit of reading the help-wanted ads about once or twice a month. Look at the “sales jobs” column. If you find a pattern of companies advertising for the same position repeatedly throughout the year, chances are you found a high-turnover company. You may also want to regularly read Glassdoor.com, which provides anonymous reviews of companies. If you read a lot of negative comments from salespeople, that’s usually a good sign of high turnover.
Once you found your high turnover sales department, enjoy the bumpy ride.
However, for most of us, a high turnover rate is too nerve-wracking to deal with. If you can’t stomach the pressure and anxiety, don’t waste your time. Move on.
A Maryland start-up came up with a unique idea. Lacking funds, the company decided to hire sales interns during the summer rather than a full-time salesperson. Since the co-founder was spending most of her time handling inbound leads, she thought it would be a good idea to hire interns to help. (Note, the co-founder was rarely making any cold or prospecting phone calls. Instead, she was relying on email campaigns or inbound marketing to acquire leads).
However, the company ran into some problems. Most of the interns they hired didn’t like doing sales. Quickly bored or turned off by the idea of calling strangers, they began asking for other assignments. Frustrated, the co-founder would quickly dismiss the insubordinate intern after a few days and begin a new search to hire more interns.
Eventually, she ended up acquiring a hard-core group of sales interns who stayed for the summer. After the Labor Day weekend, she and her partner finally hired their first full-time salesperson.
But let’s back up a bit.
First, should you even consider hiring a sales intern?
Why not? Marketing, law and engineering firms, among others, hire interns all the time. Nonprofit organizations and government agencies hire interns too. So why shouldn’t a company or organization hire sales interns? Now, I know what you are thinking – well, isn’t a salesperson supposed to make a long-term commitment to a company. Why waste time hiring and training an intern to do sales, if they are only going to stay during the summer before they return to school?
Good question.
It really depends on what you want your sales intern to actually do.
Of course, you want your intern to steer clear of large prospects that could generate a lot of revenue for your company. But depending on what you’re selling and the industry you are in, what harm can you do by allowing interns to follow-up on initial calls and ask qualifying questions. And what harm can occur if an intern is allowed to do a short demo or webinar of your products and services? With the proper training and oversight, an intern could actually do well and help your company. You are also creating the classic win-win situation – if the intern does well and likes your company, you could be grooming him for a full-time job down the road.
The challenge is finding the right interns to do the job.
But how?
You hire sales interns the same way you hire any intern.
First, you clearly outline the duties and responsibilities of the internship.
Second, you conduct interviews to ensure that you are hiring great students to do the sales internship.
Third, you go through the usual motions of checking references, academic records, etc.
But how do you avoid the mistake the Maryland start-up made when they were going through a high turnover of sales interns?
I would do the following –
1). Have the intern make a fake sales call and leave a voicemail. They could be selling any product or service. The key is are they actually following your instructions and how do they sound over the phone.
2). Invite the intern to come in and actually sit in on some sales calls for an hour or so. Let them see and hear how you interact with prospects and clients. Look at their body language. How are they reacting? Are they asking you good questions between calls? Do they show interest or are they just seeking an internship as a resume filler? Are they seeking a sales career or a paycheck to tie them over during the summer?
3). Offer them not just a small base salary but a bonus or small commission for their services. That’s right – real money. I recently met a college professor who complained to me about how many companies kept sending him lengthy emails with long job descriptions for interns – but no pay. No pay!?! I mean, are you kidding? Regardless of whatever type of internship you are trying to fill, pay your interns. While not technically employees, they are not serfs either. Treat them the same way you want your kid should be treated.
4). Does the prospective intern have any sales experience? Telemarketing? Fundraising for his college? Any retail work? Any sales experience can help.
Below are a couple of helpful articles on how to hire interns –
More college graduates than ever are entering sales as a career. Some are doing it because they can’t find work in their field. Others are doing it either as a last resort or a fallback position until they can find “better” jobs. Offering sales internships will allow some students to realize if they have the potential and drive to pursue sales after college. We owe it to them, and our society, to make that reality happen.
You just started your new sales job. Your sales manager has introduced you to the rest of the sales team and maybe some key employees.
If you are lucky, your manager may even take you out to lunch on your first day. He may also have created an agenda outlining your training for the next week or two before you hit the phones.
Finally, after your training, your day has come. It’s time to make sales calls and start generating some money. Like most new salespeople, you probably begin by reviewing your existing accounts or leads. You want to get the lay of the land, prioritize your top accounts, begin making introductory calls, and start building up your pipeline.
But as you review your accounts in your CRM (Customer Relationship Management), a sickening feeling begins to develop. At first, you don’t see it, but as you start examining your accounts and leads more carefully, you begin to see a disturbing pattern. You discover that a lot of salespeople over the years have been contacting or managing the same accounts and leads. But where did they go?
Some are now working in more lucrative sales positions in your company. But most are no longer working with your employer at all. In fact, you notice that some salespeople only worked your accounts or leads for a few months before moving on. Others a little longer, but not much. You go on LinkedIn, and track those former salespeople down. You discover they are now working in other companies, and that their tenure in your position was short.
Then it dawns on you. You have inherited an orphan sales position.
What is an orphan sales position? It’s a position that has been abandoned by several salespeople over the years. In short, there has been a lot of turnovers. It is also a position that is not well supported by the company for a variety of reasons. Maybe the company feels its sales and marketing budget should be allocated to more profitable positions. Maybe the company feels that sales will only pick up when they hire the “right” salesperson.
Maybe the company feels it’s a “starter position,” i.e., one where they know little revenue will be generated, so there is no risk for the company to hire a new salesperson to season him up for greater challenges in the future. (We all have to crawl before we can walk). Or maybe the company is waiting for the sales fairy to come along, and wave her magic wand and the orders will magically appear.
Sometimes an orphan sales position was created by accident. For example, a company may have bought another company, and then allocated most of the best accounts to senior salespeople, while giving less experienced salespeople smaller accounts. The thought may have been that the smaller accounts would eventually grow. But to date, that has not been the case, thus the cycle of high turnover and abandonment begins.
Frustrated, a company keeps hiring new salespeople to turn things around, but to no avail. Promises are made, but not kept. Prices are adjusted but don’t work. Salespeople keep abandoning the position, and soon it becomes an orphan.
However, from your point of view, your greatest concern right now is should you even consider staying in an orphan sales position or start seeking a better job.
After all, you would like to make a long-term commitment to your job. You don’t want to be seen as a job hopper. But on the other hand, you don’t want to be seen as a loser either. There is nothing worse than starting a new sales job, only to have your colleagues taking pity on you, or avoiding eye contact because they feel you got a raw deal. Sure, your colleagues may be professional, and even downright friendly, but you can’t shake that “you’re a loser vibe” every time they glance your way. Hell, for all you know, some of your co-workers may be taking bets on the side on how long you still stay around. (This actually happened on a regular basis at one of my previous jobs).
Soon, you become a running joke in the office, and you have to endure the daily facades of plastic smiles and chirpy “Good mornings” as you head towards your desk. When you arrive at your desk, all you want to do is hide underneath it.
You see, with an orphan sales position, your biggest challenge is convincing existing accounts and prospects to order from you. But from their point-of-view, why should they even bother? If you are the fourth or fifth salesperson to hold your position in two years, how confident are your accounts and prospects that you’re even going to be around long enough to care about them? How motivated do you think they are going to be in offering you referrals if they feel you’re going to leave the company soon? Why should they accept your phone calls or respond to your emails if they think you’re going to run when the first good opportunity comes along?
On the other hand, an orphan sales position may put you in the catbird seat. Unless you are working for an extremely conservative or stuck-up company, your employer may be more willing to listen to your suggestions. They may be more willing to go out on the limb and experiment with new sales or marketing methods. While your colleagues are sitting at their desks making sales calls, your employer (or sales manager) may invite you in the conference room, where you can sit with some of your company’s major players, and hash out a game plan to increase sales. In short, your employer may appreciate you more because they realize the challenges that you are facing.
So what should you do?
1). Do your homework before accepting a job offer. The best way to avoid landing in an orphan sales position is to do your homework and ask the right questions during your interview. First, go on LinkedIn and find out how many past salespeople worked in the same position you are applying for. If you notice a large number, that should give you pause. Second, contact some of those previous salespeople through LinkedIn and ask them why they left. You will be surprised – sometimes they will give you an honest answer. Third, go to Glassdoor – do you see a pattern of negative reviews from anonymous current or former salespeople about the company? While not completely scientific, seeing a lot of negative reviews should also give you pause. And finally, ask the interviewer why the position is open. Sure, he may lie, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.
2). You did your homework, but you still got screwed. OK, you did the above, you thought everything was alright, but to your astonishment, you still ended up in an orphan sales job. Now what? Don’t panic. If there is high turnover in your sales department, chances are you will land a better sales position within 6 months to one year in the company. If you can hang on that long, hunker down, be patient, go through the motions, and wait for your turn to move up the ladder.
3). Maybe things will turn around. The company may realize that they have created an orphan sales position, and not wanting to see more turnover, will invest more in your position. They could provide better leads, improve the marketing efforts, or if you are lucky, enhance the product or services that you are selling. And if you are extremely fortunate, the company may decide to increase your compensation plan in an effort to lure you to stay and stick it out.
4). The position was orphaned too soon or too much. The position may not be as bad as you think. It could be that due to a strange set of coincidences, the position was orphaned before anyone really had a chance to profitably work the accounts and leads. It’s not unusual for leads to remain dormant for a long time, and then suddenly, without warning, you start seeing a flood of orders. The trick is to ensure you continue to see a steady flow of orders.
5). Talk to your sales manager. Look, your sales manager may already know you are in an orphan sales position, and he is tired of seeing high turnover. Unless your sales manager is a wimp or idiot, if he’s smart, he will bend over backward to help you. Talk to him. Pick his brains. Get some ideas on how both of you can be successful. Notice I said “both of you” – that’s because your sales manager is also earning commission or bonus based on your success. Come up with a shortlist of ideas or reasonable requests. Brainstorm with him. Maybe together both of you can turn things around, and create a win-win situation for everyone.
An orphan sales position may not be as bad as you think. With a little nurture and care, your position may blossom. Be patient. Be persistent. Work smart. Work hard. But don’t be taken for a fool either. Give an orphan sales position your best shot, but after you have done all you can if you still feel you are fighting a losing battle, quit and move on.
You are sitting at your desk trying to compose an important email to send to a client. You are on a tight deadline. You are trying to concentrate. Suddenly, your co-worker sitting next to you in an open space office loudly blows his nose. Or, another co-worker sitting across from you in the same open space gets into a heated conversation with his girlfriend over the phone. Or, another co-worker walks over an employee two desks down and starts up a conversation about weekend plans. Or, another co-worker two rows down is shouting at the sales manager to gain his attention.
Distractions. The price some of us pay for working in an open space office.
Is an open space environment a good or bad idea?
This question came up recently in my head while I attended a panel discussion on “What Can We Learn from Billion Dollar Startup Workplaces?” The event was sponsored by WorkDesign Magazine and it was held at a semi-open space office of WeWork Wonder Bread Factory in Washington, D.C. (I say semi-open space because start-up companies actually work in small offices with glass walls. Yes, you can see people working when you walk by, but the offices do reduce some noise and offer some privacy. In addition, I notice phone booths available for people to make personal calls).
It appears that the trend these days for start-ups and some well-established companies is to adopt open space. For example, during the panel discussion, Emily Hollan White, Senior Director of Talent & Culture at Optoro, showed us a layout and photos of the new open space for her company. Optoro, a company that helps retailers sell their excess and returned inventory, moved into its new location last year. Ms. White explained that the open space environment encourages more collaboration among their employees.
I have worked in open space, semi-open space (with high cubicles) and close space environments where I had my own office. I even worked in my home office.
Let’s outline the pros and cons of working in an open space –
Pros of Open Space:
1). Collaboration – working in an open space encourages collaboration and teamwork among employees. Lack of walls and secrecy generates more camaraderie and increases information flow.
2). More space – from an employer’s point of view, he is saving money by not having to build offices; thus, he can hire more employees and increase his usage of floor space. This is a win-win for everyone – open space encourages more job growth for employees, and employers benefit by increasing their profit.
3). Big brother is watching you – from your employer’s point of view, he can make sure you are doing your job and not playing Solitaire or reading porn sites on your computer. (And frankly, if you have so much time on your hands to be playing computer games and reading x-rated sites, you are in the wrong job).
4). Cost savings – again, from an employer’s point of view, he is saving money by reducing heating and cooling costs. Also, there is a more communal atmosphere where the company can save money by having employees share resources, e.g., copiers, printers, fax machines (yes they still exist) and office supplies.
5). Sales pitches – from a sales point of view, you can listen to each other’s sales pitches and lines, and adopt or tailor them to your own needs. For example, here is a video clip from the “The Wolf of Wall Street” where Jordan Belfort (played by Leonardo DiCaprio), pitches a penny stock to an unsuspecting and naïve investor –
You notice that several salespeople in the background are listening to Mr. Belfort’s conversation. That actually happens more often than you think in sales. If someone is using a good line or phrase, you make note of it and use it with your clients.
(However, for the record, I don’t recommend that you lie or mislead your clients).
Cons of Open Space:
1). Distractions – too much noise can make it difficult for employees to concentrate on their work, thus hurting productivity and increasing stress.
2). Lack of privacy – computer screens are easily visible and phone conversations are likely to be overheard. (However, my rule is this – always assume that your employer is monitoring your computer and phone activity, even if they claim that’s not the case. Sure, there is no harm in you checking the weather or the lunch menus at the local restaurants, but avoid sites that you know your employer will frown upon).
3). Germs – open space can encourage the spread of disease, especially colds, which could adversely affect attendance and actually hurt productivity for the company.
4). Not attracting good employees – some potential good job candidates may be discouraged from working in an open environment because they don’t feel it’s a good fit for them.
There have been several articles written in recent years discussing the open space working arrangements.
They reported that “the open layout has increased productivity, energy and connectedness.” But they admitted that “the journey from a traditional office to this new space where everyone shares workbenches, tables, lounge areas, and first-come-first-served private rooms took careful thought and planning.”
After much planning and design, they created an open space that included an open café, several small seating clusters for small group conversations, glass-walled conference rooms, and lockers for employees to keep personal items.
However, they did offer rooms for employees to use for private meetings, phone calls (but no private offices for management), and background noise masking, “so that conversations in the open are heard as mild hubbub rather than distinct, distracting words.”
The last two points are worth exploring more because I believe that The Bridgespan Group may have found a possible compromise and solution to make open space more tolerable for everyone.
1). The need for private offices – sometimes you need some privacy. Maybe you need to discuss something personal with your manager, or you need to meet with your HR manager. Based on my experience, all open space companies that I’ve worked for have provided private offices for those reasons and more.
2). Background noise masking – I went on a job interview recently where my potential employer told me that their company uses white noise to reduce the noise level. I think that’s a great idea. I only wish that some of my previous employers had adopted the same practice.
Below is a list of some companies that provide background noise masking tools and systems –
Here are some other suggestions for improving working conditions in an open space environment –
1). Give potential employees a tour of your office – Do a “show and tell” of your office space with all potential employees when they arrive for an interview. Make sure they know upfront what type of office they are required to work in. Or better yet, have them sit with a salesperson for a few minutes to get the feel of the office. Better to learn early if a new employee can handle and adjust to an open space than to find out later that he can’t and have him quit. Let’s face it, not everyone can work in an open space. No shame. It happens.
2). Earplugs and Headphones – In sales, you can’t function wearing earplugs and headphones when you are trying to make calls. However, there are times when you need quiet in order to compose or respond to an important email or write a contract or RFP. In those situations, yes, I would recommend wearing earplugs and listening to music of your choice while writing. (Personally, I can’t concentrate while listening to music, so earplugs are my solution).
3). Enough space – there is space, but then there is too little space. I’ve worked in an office where I felt the salespeople were sitting on top of each other. In addition, you were sometimes required to get up out of your chair to open the office door for deliveries or visitors, answer tickets, and do live chats – all while trying to make and receive sales calls, and sending emails to your clients. At one job, I actually had to sit next to the company printer and got distracted by the constant churn of printing, while employees would walk to and from the machine. And to make matters worse, some employees would treat the printer like it was the proverbial company watering hole and stand around shooting the bull.
While I understand that some start-ups are running on tight budgets, you need to ensure that your employees have enough space to actually do their jobs. If not, the money you save on offices and utilities may be lost with high turnover.
4). If you’re sick, go home – While I admire dedicated employees who are willing to come to work even when they are under the weather, you must be considerate of others – this is especially true in open space environments. No one expects you to be a martyr for the cause – while falling on your sword is noble, you may end up slicing your co-workers in the process. Maybe employers need to give sick employees more leniency when it comes to docking their sick time or offer employees the flexibility of working from home when ill.
5). Encourage Employee Feedback – if you are moving into a new office, or switching from a traditional closed office to an open environment, seek employee feedback and comments. When employees feel their opinions are being considered, this encourages high morale and retention.
6). Enforce good manners – sure, we are all adults, but sometimes we need to be reminded of that. That means if someone is speaking loudly or hovering over you while you are working, take them aside and politely tell them to knock it off. Of, if things are really going badly, speak to your manager.
However, speaking to your manager may not always be possible.
I once worked in a semi-open environment at another job that was so tense for me that I actually quit a week after I joined the company. I was sharing a small office with the sales manager and a senior sales rep. I found myself sitting in a corner with a nice window view overlooking a beautiful small pond and park. At first, I liked the arrangement. But after a couple of days, I began regretting my decision. My manager was a good ol’ Southern boy who talked incessantly all day long. He would talk about cigars, his car, his former jobs, his former sales reps, his wife, and basically everything under the sun except work.
Being a veteran employee, he had a solid pipeline, great contacts and he could squeeze sales to meet his monthly quota with no difficulty. However, being a new sales rep, I knew I would have to work hard during my first year to build up my pipeline. I had to concentrate and stay focused. But my manager just wouldn’t leave me alone. Being a new employee, I couldn’t just tell him to shut up. Finally, frustrated and angry that I couldn’t do my job, I quit.
(I found out later that other salespeople quit for the same reason I did. One guy actually sent my manager a video of Donald Duck to drive home the point. The manager was so dense, he didn’t take the hint).
Conclusion: Whether you think that open space offices are a fad or not, more companies than ever are adopting the plan. While I believe that most employers want their employees to be productive, they need to adopt some common sense approaches when considering office arrangements. No employer wants to see high absenteeism or turnover of employees due to poor working conditions. While the bottom line is earning a profit, you still need to attract and retain good employees who will help you achieve that goal.
I believe open space is here to stay. I believe the pros outweigh the cons. Just make sure your employees will have a say in office arrangements, or the only open space you will be seeing are vacated desks and chairs.
What do you think? Please let me know if you have any comments to share.
There are literary hundreds of books offering sales advice these days. Some books are good, some are bad and some are mediocre.
But to paraphrase Will Rogers, “I never read a sales book that I didn’t like.”
That’s true. No matter how bad a sales book is, I always receive some good nuggets of information.
But there is one book that offers you a ton of nuggets. So many in fact, that I’m surprised that the book is actually free. I’m referring to “The Big Book of Sales,” by Alan Gordon.
Mr. Gordon, a sales coach, has written a 151-page book offering “nuts and bolts” advice on how to sell. Written in plain English, he covers such topics like how to find the right decision-maker, needs development questions, how to get appointments, cold calling, and closing techniques.
Why is his book so important? From Mr. Gordon’s website, he makes the following points –
“Half of all salespeople struggle to make a living.”
“Three out of four salespeople are not following a framework or sales process.”
“7 out of 10 small businesses express concern about finding and retaining good quality salespeople.”
I would also add that many companies offer little or no sales training or coaching. In fact, many new salespeople are constantly complaining on LinkedIn sales discussion group boards about the lack of sales training or coaching from their employers. Sure, new salespeople can learn about the products and services they are selling, but they receive little training on how to sell. As a result, new salespeople become frustrated. They quit. Employers are faced with high turnover and the cycle continues until someone finally suggests that training and coaching could stop the bleeding, as well as boost the bottom line.
Along with his book, Mr. Gordon has more than 50 videos on YouTube. His presentations are clear, concise and extremely instructive. Unlike some sales training videos, Mr. Gordon gets to the point quickly. While he plugs his book at the beginning of each video, he quickly jumps into the topic of the day. He doesn’t waste time telling you about his life’s story, or how he got into sales. He wants to help you become a better salesperson, and he demonstrates that in each video presentation that he offers. Mr. Gordon is a true sales professional.
Now, why is his book free? Simple. He wants you to download the book and share it with others. You see, Mr. Gordon realizes that he’s not going to earn a lot of money selling his book. Instead, his goal is for you to hire him as a coach.
While I’ve never used him as a coach, if Mr. Gordon’s book and videos are any indication of how he can help you, I would strongly recommend that you use his services.
Below is Mr. Gordon’s first video from YouTube –
(Special Note: I have not received any payment to endorse “The Big Book of Sales”. In fact, I was so impressed by Mr. Gordon’s YouTube videos, that I actually paid $10.00 for his publication. I felt so guilty about downloading his book for free, I decided to pay him).
As any new job hunter out of college will tell you, one of the most difficult things to determine when pursuing a sales career is what is the difference between Inside Sales and Telemarketing. Many job postings seem to use those words interchangeably and the job descriptions appear to be the same. Frankly, I don’t think even some employers even know the difference between both terms.
First, there definitely is a difference between Inside Sales and Telemarketing.
Telemarketing is a quick and dirty sale. You make tons of phone calls every day, do a quick sales pitch and see if the prospect will bite. No real sales techniques are used. No qualifying questions. No establishing rapport. No building relationships. Before the prospect can even get a word in, the telemarketer is blasting away, speaking a mile a minute in hopes you will listen before you hang up.
Telemarketers usually use scripts and are required to stick with them. There is no improvising. It’s simply a cold calling technique used to make a transactional sale. Very short sales cycle. You either get a yes or no answer. If it’s no, you move on. If it’s yes (which is rare), you then expand more on what you are selling, obtain the credit card information, thank the new customer, and move on.
No lead generation required on your part. All the leads are provided in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM). If the phone number is bad, or if the contact is bad, you quickly move on to the next call.
On the other hand, inside sales require a more long-term and strategic approach to selling. You use all the basic sales techniques that you have been taught – asking qualifying questions, determining needs and problems, being an expert in your field, finding the right decision-maker, handling objections, asking trial questions, and closing the sale.
Inside sales require a lot more patience and discipline because the sales cycle can be long. You may be required to do some research before calling on prospects. You have to take good notes, schedule follow-up phone calls, and stay on top of your game.
While you may not make as many phone calls as a telemarketer, you still have to hit the phones. But besides making calls, you also need to send good emails and maybe even some direct marketing material. Also, unlike a telemarketer, you are required to update and correct your customer/prospect files in your CRM. That means not just correcting contact information, but entering good notes too.
Inside sales require a lot more thought and planning. You are usually working more closely with your sales manager and marketing team. Depending on what you are selling and the industry you are in, you may not have a large pipeline compared to a telemarketer. In fact, a telemarketer really doesn’t have a pipeline per se; instead, he just has an endless list of prospects he calls on based on time zone and geography.
So when seeking a new sales position, if you see the terms “telemarketing” and “inside sales”, you now know there is a difference. Just make sure your employer knows the difference when you go on a job interview.
After months of job hunting, you finally landed what you think is a good sales job. No more interviews. No more sending out resumes. No more writing cover letters. No more attending network events. No siree Bob, you finally arrived and are now ready to start earning serious money and move on with your life.
I once knew a woman in sales who had worked for a small family-owned business that was struggling financially and had high turnover. In fact, the entire sales staff left except her. She was the last woman standing. The other salespeople who left the company were dumbfounded when she decided to stay on. To make a long story short, the business slowly turned around, and the owner made her the sales manager. He was grateful that she had stuck it out through the bad times. As you may now guess, as the company grew, she acquired most of the larger accounts and earned a commission based on both her own sales and those of her sales team. Financially speaking, she was on top of the world. All because the other sales reps left, she was able to take advantage of a very chaotic situation, and earn herself a good living for several years. (The company was later acquired by a large competitor and the entire sales team was laid off).
There are literary hundreds of books offering sales advice these days. Some books are good, some are bad and some are mediocre.
