Inside vs. Outside Sales - Part 1

When you are looking through sales job advertisements it can be difficult to get a clear idea of what the job would entail. Job listings in most advertisements for openings in sales careers can read like a commercial, listing great pay, flexible hours and high job satisfaction without really saying what it is that the employee will be expected to do. Often, however, the ad will list either inside sales or outside sales. So what is the difference?

Inside Sales-

Inside sales jobs typically require an employee to work from an office. A day on the job with an inside salesperson would typically be spent at a desk, following up on sales leads by phone or internet. They may also be likely to handle question and complaints from customers.

One of the benefits of inside sales, is that you can be more efficient in meeting your sales goals. Because you are doing everything from on location, you can contact more leads in the course of a day that if you were actually visiting the clients. Because of this, inside sales reps often handle cold calling and initial contacts. Because of the nature of the job, clients do not see the inside salesperson, so often there isn't a dress code or the dress code is more casual. As long as you are able to handle the phone calls and sound professional, is doesn't matter much what you look like. Also, there is typically little need to invest in marketing tools such as business cards and client lunches.

Depending on what type of job you prefer, inside sales can be fun and challenging and still allowing you to spend your work day indoors at an office. Some people find a day of inside sales to be boring and repetitive while others find that the nature of the job helps them meet their sales numbers more consistently.

Stay tuned next time for a look at outside sales.

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.