Category Archives: Sales Profession

Is Inside Sales the same as Telemarketing?

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telemarketerAs 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.

telemarketerOn 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.

The courage to sell

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the courage to sellFor most of us who have been selling for a long time, it’s almost second nature to us. We don’t even think about it when we make cold calls, or give a presentation or conduct a webinar. You just do it. It’s part of the job.

But take a step back. Do you remember that first cold call you made? Do you remember the first time you stood at an exhibit booth waiting for prospects to walk up to you and ask questions?

How did you feel? Nervous as hell.

Think about for a minute. It takes courage to pick up the phone and call strangers. It takes courage to knock on the doors of strangers. It takes courage to stand at an exhibit booth at a trade show and talk to strangers. I know some people who would rather be unemployed than go into sales. Next, to death and public speaking, selling is probably ranked up there as one of the top things that people are scared of the most. I know one newly hired salesperson who was humiliated by a negative response he received while speaking to a prospect over the phone. It was his first call to a prospect at the company. For the next couple of hours, he didn’t make any more calls. Noon rolled around and he went out to lunch and never returned to work. He didn’t even call his manager and tell her he was quitting. The salesman just disappeared!

And let’s be honest here. Sales professionals are not the most popular people in the world. How many times have you hung up on a telemarketer? How many times have you been interrupted by cold calls from salespeople at work? When you are sitting on a plane and someone next to you says he sells insurance, do you quickly look out of the window and stare at the wing for the rest of the flight? When you see someone standing on a street corner asking for donations for a charity or selling products, do you avoid eye contact and quickly walk away? And don’t you love having a salesperson knocking on your door on a Saturday morning asking if you need energy-efficient windows?

While many of us may love our jobs and the companies we work for, sales professionals are not always…well, treated professionally. In fact, some of us don’t even want to admit that we are sales professionals. We use euphemisms like “consultant” or “account manager.” Or we quickly change the subject. I actually received an email from a contact on LinkedIn who praised me for calling myself a “sales professional” in my job title. He wrote “Nice to see someone with sales still in the title. Also nice to see it teamed with professional. Too many Account Directors or Category Advisors out there. We are all salespeople and some are professionals.”

Be proud you are a sales professional. Because if nothing else, it takes courage to be one.