Cold calling and cold emailing are fast becoming a thing of the past. B2B inside sales, however, is more popular than ever before. The number of positions in inside sales has grown at a much faster rate. If you’re looking to grow your team, we’ve written about how to hire for inside sales. 

Inside sales is a more strategic and targeted approach to selling, and the outcomes are pretty amazing. Before getting to impressive results, however, talent and skill are required. Developing selling talent and skill will require practice, taking risks, making mistakes, and learning from them.  

There are several basic mistakes that practically everyone makes during their profession. We’ll walk you through three common inside sales mistakes and how to avoid them.

Mistake #1: Telemarketing instead of targeting

The majority of B2B enterprises send their message to the entire globe through a telemarketing style, hoping that some of it will stay. However, your sales team will get better responses and see better results from clients that are a better match if you adopt a targeted prospecting method. 

Inside sales representatives should collaborate with a marketing team to generate a lead list. Ascertain that your prospects are likely to purchase your product or service and classify leads as excellent, average, or weak. Remember that prospects aren't usually interested in what you have to offer. Instead, they want to know what your product or service can do for them. Identifying problems and proposing solutions are the most significant ways to approach your sales talks. If you know what they need and focus on the benefits your products will provide, the prospect will likely be more interested. 

Although your goal is quality, not necessarily quantity, keep your presentation brief and straightforward. Your prospects should immediately comprehend what you can accomplish for them and why they should do business with you. Through this targeted prospecting method, your inside sales representatives should be able to focus on the most promising prospects and produce more business.

Mistake #2: Sounding like robots instead of humans

Isn’t it infuriating to receive a call and hear someone read a script to the tee? Don’t make this mistake. Inside sales representatives should sound human and not sound like robots. A call script is only effective if it is appropriately written, thoughtfully used, and regularly updated. In addition, the person on the other end of the line may be unable to speak up if a rep reads verbatim from a call script. 

By being flexible with the call script and by doing your research on prospects, you’ll be able to understand their needs and have an idea of possible concerns or objections.  

Use your call script as a reference but don’t recite it. Discuss with other inside sales staff to know which parts raise concerns and which ones are effective. Then, incorporate this information into future call scripts. Constantly improve outbound communication by analyzing and revising the call script. Make the call flow more natural and sound more human in the process.

Mistake #3: Relying on cold calls and emails

On their own, cold calls and cold emails rarely add value as they are devoid of context. Inside sales reps cannot identify a prospect’s level of interest if the individual does not state it over the phone or include it in an email.  

Using tools that allow you to monitor a prospect’s digital body language or digital activity will be valuable to closing. For example, each email opened or clicked, each website visited, each piece of content downloaded, and each social network referral contribute to a prospect's digital body language. 

Although there has been a significant shift in B2B sales toward cold calls and cold emails, this can be effective and beneficial in some situations. However, if you're offering an expensive, high-end product or service that demands a significant expenditure, you simply cannot avoid meeting in person. You'll significantly boost your close rate and the ability to close large deals at large firms if you sit across a valuable prospect. 

If you’re still limited to cold calls and emails, here’s a guide for cold email templates to win new business.

Conclusion

Although challenging, it is not impossible to establish and manage a revenue-generating inside sales team. The success of the team will be contingent on the foundation you prepare. All the effort you put in building an effective inside sales team will result in exceptional returns. 

You must also understand that dealing with challenging clients and constantly encountering sales roadblocks can sap a team's inspiration. You have to motivate your staff appropriately by encouraging them to embrace rejection, celebrating tiny victories, and considering the best approach  to visualize their sales performance. It might be helpful to employ real-time tracking for a continuous feedback loop or a broader weekly/monthly performance evaluation. 

In any case, if you avoid the three common mistakes mentioned, you'll be on your way to success. Do it right, and you should be able to identify your prospects, understand their priorities, and choose the most effective way to communicate with them.  

Want more info on how inside sales mistakes? You can read here about other blunders of inside salespeople.

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