Come on Board with Inside Sales

Recently I read an article regarding Inside Sales in a supplement to a popular selling skills magazine. It positioned insides sales as a new discovery - something that many companies are recognizing as a revenue enhancer. These companies are just realizing that inside sales is a great way to increase productivity and profits. It's a good article. Discussing the various uses for inside sales and how companies can make best use of the function, it makes for a good read.

However, I can't help but think that if I search through my older files, I'll find articles with similiar sentiments - written 20 years ago.

When I first began working in a telemarketing department while in college, it wasn't seen as anything new. We were cold calling homeowners to gauge interest and schedule appointments for the field sales staff. It became fashionable in the late 80's and early 90's for larger companies to formalize their inside phone efforts. During the recession of 87-88, people were looking to cut costs and inside sales was a great way to do that. During the early 90's, particularly during the Gulf War, people wanted to eliminate air travel where they could and turned to phone sales.

The article briefly touches on reactive customer service centers which became popular during the 1980's. The advent of inbound "call centers" became a tidal wave as stricter legislation made it nearly impossible for companies to continue calling people in their homes. (An area I agree with totally but a subject for another day.)

So here's my gripe: why are we still talking about inside sales as though it's new? It's not. It's been around a long time and used by many organizations effectively. Companies not using inside sales aren't doing so because it hasn't occurred to them to do so. They're not using inside sales because it hasn't fit into their business model yet. Someday it may, but it won't be a new discovery. Just an option whose time has come.