Inside Sales Blog

From the customer implementations that I have worked on directly and indirectly through InsideSales.com, I have not seen a great deal of reduced complexity in implementation (and specifically the configuration stage of a new system setup).  However, I have seen significant advantages and savings in the installation (or lack thereof with the hosted solution), and the decision making process.  Let me explain what I mean.  For both small and large businesses, hosted solution offer advantages (though they are often different for the two types of organizations). 

For smaller companies, a hosted solution allows them to have an enterprise class solution for a relatively small monthly fee.   More importantly, a hosted solution generally does nor require any IT resources in the form of people, hardware, etc.  It can be up and operational within minutes, and can be paid for with the corporate credit card.

Larger businesses find advantages in hosted solutions differently.  They are able to make decisions and try solutions without requiring CAPEX approval.  They too can institute a hosted solution on a company credit card and not need to get corporate IT involved because no set up or install on hardware is required.  However, this works only for small division or department solutions, not corporate wide.  It is a way a sales manager can get a solution they want without having to cut through corporate red tape or involve other decision makers. 

Additionally, an advantage for both small and large companies is that contracts can often be negotiated to be monthly with a relatively low setup fee making the decision making process easier due to lower commitments.

So decision making, payment and setup are much easier, faster and cheaper.  However, once a system is installed and functioning, both premise based and hosted solutions require relatively the same amount of thought, planning and work to be configured to reflect what each business needs.  This is where I see the greatest failure rate.  People purchase a solution like ours, excited to get started, not realizing that there is still work to be done.  Generally, if a company can get through 2-3 months of an implementation, they are ok.  However, during the two months of pulling abstract ideas out of a sales managers mind and having a solution reflect, require and automate those ideas, companies (more specifically, the sales manager) will sometimes give up.

It is this reason that without executive “buyoff”, or more importantly, executive driven initiatives, managers have very little reason to stick with a solution after they run into some bumps and problems in the configuration process.

On-Demand software and services have the potential of changing the way software is used and implemented.  I believe in this fact so much that I founded and am now the CEO of InsideSales.com, a provider of an on-demand CRM application with integrated dialers and telephony tools.  Despite all of the advantages that come with on-demand solutions, on-demand software faces one of the same major challenges as does premise based solutions - executive driven implementations. 

What I mean by this, is that unless an implementation of a CRM application (or almost any new software implementation) is dictated, driven and defined from the executive level of an organization, it is likely to fail.  Why is this? – No software will fit your needs exactly (neither premise based nor on-demand).  When this happens (and it always will), the only way to save an implementation is to work around the problem.  There are usually ways to make a solution do what you want, just not necessarily the way you want it to do it.  However, at this same point, the person who just selected the produce or service is looking like they made a mistake.  What’s more, these issues in the software will often become the scapegoat for employee underperformance.  At this point, the organization will usually either fight the product of service and not accept a different way if doing things for a while then scrap it, or just scrap the implementation at that point.

Most people forget that even within the CRM category, there are many products that service specific niches.  I work for a hosted CRM application provider (InsideSales.com) that focuses on providing a product that focuses on companies that have inside sales organizations and outside organizations, and the interaction between those two groups.

We often have companies use our product for purposes it’s not most effectively used.  We see almost all of our attrition from these companies.  When looking and evaluating products - find the products that focus on the niche that matches your company best. 

For example, do you focus on lead gen, sales, or customer support?  Are your reps inside or outside reps.  Where do your leads come from.  How many prospects do sales reps work with on any given month.  Without answering those kinds of questions, you cannot answer your question effectively.

I work with a Hosted CRM application provider the focuses on the inside sales space (InsideSales.com).  Our entire application is build and designed to help sales reps (not necessarily telemarketers) effectively sell over the phone.  This includes cold calling.  I agree with the masses, cold calling is not fun.  If done effectively, it can generate effective and somewhat cost effective leads. However, I have found that leads generated by cold calling are on average between 2x to 4x more expensive that a company or sales rep can generate via the web (if also done effectively).   This is not the whole story though. 

An example:

We have a customer that uses our system to power dial a list to generate leads.  They were able to generate around 1 lead every 1.5 hours.  Considering the cost of employees, systems and overhead, they were paying around $100/lead.  From the web (using PPC, SEO, and lead providers) they were paying around $20/lead.  This seems pretty straight forward, go with the web leads.  What’s more, the cold call leads seemed to be less qualified than the web leads.  The web leads generated actual buyers.  The leads generated from cold calling identified companies that were at the beginning of the interest cycle.  Thus, in the short term the web leads closed better and seemed more effective.  However, they saw an unexpected reversal of value in lead sources.  Even though the web leads were smaller opportunities and they closed faster and more often.  The leads generated from cold calling we very targeted to the industry and size that that worked for this customer.  This customer began to close deals greater than the sum of the smaller deals that came from the web from the same time frame.  So in the end, cold calling generated more revenue and held its own compared to web leads.

Why have vendors to the sales industry ignored the inside sales space? 

I often see people attempt to find CRM tools that service both inside and outside sales organizations.  I am a partner in a Hosted CRM Application provider that had focused on creating a CRM for these types of companies.

The inside sales space is a space that has been largely ignored by most providers in the market.  However, it’s a space larger than most people realize.  To get an understanding of the size of this industry, google the term ‘inside sales’.  You might be surprised to find anywhere from 5,000 to 15,000 job listing.  However, you will notice very few vendors providing services or product to companies with these types of sales organizations.

I believe that there is a lack of understanding of what inside sales is.  Many people incorrectly assume ‘inside sales’ is telemarketing preformed by seven dollar/hour students.  More accurately, inside sales is preformed by seasoned experienced sales reps, primarily over the phone.  The reason that inside sales has come about is not because of any new technology relating the phone systems.  Rather, it is the internet has enabled telesales to be effective.  Tools like web-ex/go-to-meeting, email, chat, web sites, etc. have made it possible for a sales rep to meet with 3-8 customers/day rather than 1 customer every day or so via flight.  Because of the internet, there is a complete change in the sales industry with out most people even realizing it.

For companies that sale using both inside sales and outside sale, InsideSales.com is a Hosted CRM that caters specifically to their needs. Usually, CRM providers focus on organizations that use only outside sales. 

InsideSales.com provides services for inside sales teams and outside teams.  For the inside sales teams, InsideSales.com has a full CRM/lead management system similar to most CRM applications.  However, unlike most CRMs, InsideSales.com offers a full suite of tools that cater to inside sales reps specific tasks  - power dialers, predictive dialers, inbound screen pop, inbound/outbound blend, message lay down, click to dial, click to fax, click to message, auto actions, lead routing, triggers, etc.  Additionally, InsideSales.com offers the usual tools included in most Hosted CRM Applications for outside sales reps.  However, unique to InsideSales.com, companies with both types of sales teams can seamlessly work together.   

Companies with inside sales organizations unfortunately do not have a lot variety in products and services today because of the ignorance to the industry.  We actively proselyte companies to this industry.  If you are aware of more companies that are servicing inside sales organizations, please comment or let us know.