Inside Sales: The Unsung Heroes of Distribution

Building on the Skills of Inside Sales Staff

After conducting dozens of distributor Voice of the Customer surveys and interviewing their key customer contacts, I have discovered one eye-opening discovery. Customers place a high value on inside sales – perhaps higher than most believe. I can still remember the words of a VP of Engineering for a mid-sized OEM: “Tell your client this, despite our primary salesperson’s personality and product knowledge, we depend on the quick answers and problem-solving skills that come from [their inside salesperson] Scott.” 

 

Comments like this reinforce the words of one of my colleagues many years ago. “A good outside sales guy makes the phone ring, and a good inside salesperson keeps it ringing.” In an age of instant gratification, with overflowing product information on the internet, e-commerce everywhere, and customers dealing with a fast-paced work schedule, the necessity for a strong inside sales presence has only increased.

 

For clarification, many distributors confuse inside sales with customer service.  Over the years, I have heard the terms used nearly interchangeably. This is a mistake. Both positions are important, but realizing the difference will be critical in the future. Let’s contrast the skill set of an experienced person in both positions.

 

Customer Service versus Inside Sales

Relative Skill Strengths (1 low – 10 high)

Skillset	Inside Sales	Customer Service
·       Computer (Order Entry)	5	5
·       Computer (Availability)	5	5
·       Catalog Skills (identify part number)	5	2
·       Catalog Skills (part number from description)	5	2
·       Product Knowledge	5	2
·       Application Knowledge	3	1
·       Troubleshooting skills	3	1

 

Summarizing these differences, both experienced customer service personnel and similar inside salespeople have a firm handle on the use of the company’s ERP system. Both can enter orders, determine price, and delivery, and other routine tasks for the customer. However, the groups begin to differentiate as the customer issue focuses on product and technology. 

 

The primary role of the customer service person is to move incoming orders from emails and occasional phone calls to the distributor’s ERP system and to answer questions based on information contained in the system. The inside salesperson provides guidance and advice based on knowledge of the products and services provided by the distributor. These “advice and guidance” issues often require a judgment call based on this understanding. 

 

Returning to the customer service person, experts tell us that many of their duties will soon be automated. For example, many distributors are currently using an AI program from Conexiom which automatically converts orders sent from the customer via email into orders in the distributor’s computer system. Other organizations have developed systems that automatically provide order acknowledgments, delivery times, and other basic information back to the customer. E-commerce systems further cut into the work done by customer service departments by providing customer-specific pricing and availability whether the customer uses the buy button or handles the order in a more traditional email fashion.

 

Looking further at the situation, distributors struggle to find people. The automation of customer service tasks will at least, in part, solve manpower issues. Good people are hard to find. As they say in my part of the country, qualified candidates are as rare as hen’s teeth.  If a distributor has good, dedicated people, there is a need for change – a need for us to develop skills for the future. 

 

For customer service teams, we should be looking for ways to move them to true inside sales positions. For inside salespeople, we must create a career path that secures their future. Quality inside salespeople appears to be a bottleneck in our industry's growth. 

 

The sad case with inside salespeople is many distributors are losing folks with the right inside sales skillset. In a nutshell, there are three main drivers of this loss of human capability:

·       Status - Our industry often grants greater status to outside sales and similar employees. Even if this is not the case internally, most suppliers perceive it this way.  Nearly all your competitors place a higher status on outside roles than inside – and they actively attempt to poach your team for, you guessed it, outside sales positions.

·       Compensation - The pay scale for outside salespeople tends to be higher than those serving in an inside role. Within many organizations, a new outside seller, especially if they hold a technical degree, makes as much money as a senior inside salesperson with years of experience. 

·       Lifestyle – Whether right or wrong, many see an outside role as providing more freedom and flexibility than an inside position. There might also be a company car, and other perks tossed in as well.

 

A fourth important reason exists and should be immediately addressed. Inside sales is seen by many of our employees as a dead-end job. How do the inside sellers feel? If they do a good job for ten years, what does it get them? Ten more years as an inside salesperson. They receive slightly better pay, but no improvement in status. 

 

Experience demonstrates that if an experienced inside sales guy isn’t moved to outside sales within their current company, they become attractive targets for the recruiters of other companies. 

 

Harkening back to the bestseller book that I have recommended for over two decades, First, Break All the Rules, we learn that employees who can answer the affirmative to these questions are more likely to stick with their employer: 

·       In the last six months, has someone at work talked about my progress?

·       Over the past year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?

 

It is imperative to determine ways to create additional career paths to retain these inside salespeople. To that end, we will soon be publishing a white paper detailing three growth slots that better employ and build upon the existing skills of inside salespeople.

 

Stay tuned!

Frank Hurtte, Founding Partner of River Heights Consulting, shares his personal experiences with 28 years of "in the trenches" training and 18 years as
a consultant.  He serves as a personal coach to industry leaders across many lines of distribution.  He has authored 6 books (with another in the works) and has written hundreds of articles for national trade magazines, including IMARK Now Electrical Magazine.

Frank is also a sought-after copywriter of marketing materials for technology companies.  His charismatic, yet laid-back, easy-to-follow manner makes him a favorite among public speakers.