Inside sales professionals that work for B2B or medtech companies take on a lot of roles. Their jobs entail much more than scripted cold calls to a prospect list or sales database. Savvy organizations know how crucial inside sales professionals—also known as business development representatives (BDRs)—are to meeting sales goals and revenue targets.
Each of the following responsibilities falls within the B2B inside sales function:
Pre-sales
Sales don’t happen magically. Inside sales professionals spend time conducting pre-sales activities that make it much easier to advance a sale when the timing is right. Before your business development representative or B2B inside sales rep ever makes a call, they take time to learn. This preparation on your company story, the features of your product or service and your competition equips them to conduct conversations naturally (rather than script reading). It also helps them handle potential objections.
Key pre-sales activities include:
- Learning your company story and unique value proposition
- Understanding the job duties and pain points of your product’s buyers and users
- Role-playing sales calls until conversations flow naturally
Lead generation
Once your inside sales reps are confident in your market and product knowledge, it’s time to hit the phones. The intention of an initial sales prospecting or “cold” call with a potential buyer isn’t to close a sale. Instead, it’s about gathering information that can help identify qualified prospects. This means sorting and prioritizing which companies should advance to the next stage in your sales cycle. Asking the right questions and actively listening are key.
During initial outreach an inside sales professional should:
- Identify decision-makers, influencers, and others who will be involved in the sales process
- Determine whether the organization is a good fit for your product or service
- Assess if the company has an active need for your solution
Selling
Once your inside sales team generates a number of qualified leads and sales opportunities, you can take a more active sales approach in the next round of phone calls. At this point, it’s important for your inside sales team to build rapport and establish trust with potential B2B buyers.
At this stage, many companies leverage their inside sales team for both selling and setting appointments. Appointment-setting is particularly beneficial for complex solution sales—like SaaS technology, medical devices or manufacturing equipment—where multiple individuals need to support the purchase. An appointment-setting call advances the sale and sets a time and place for an in-depth discussion, product demonstration, or Q&A session with stakeholders.
When you do give your sales presentation, it should be:
- Engaging and persuasive, with plenty of time for questions and dialogue
- Personalized to address the challenges and pain points identified during the qualification process
- Full of benefits relevant to each potential buyer’s specific needs
Service
Once you’ve inked the contract, an inside sales professional doesn’t disappear. Business development representatives can also participate in customer service, account management and implementation activities. These duties ensure your organization maintains a positive relationship over time.
B2B inside sales professionals may also be responsible for upselling or cross-selling ancillary services, additional licenses, consulting, or other solutions that complement your initial product. These follow-on sales help cement your company’s value and create a long-term satisfied customer.
Post-sale duties for inside sales reps can cover:
- Acting as a first point of contact to answer questions and help resolve potential issues
- Managing a smooth onboarding process, including hand-offs with your installation or training teams
- Creating additional sales opportunities as your customers grow over time
A well-run, efficient, and effective B2B inside sales team is extremely important for support at all stages of the sales funnel. However, it’s not essential to maintain 100% of these duties in-house. A professional outbound contact center like Volkart May can help you add capacity, handle special projects, test new market segments, or even outsource your business development duties entirely by acting as an extension of your internal B2B sales team.
Contact Volkart May for examples of inside sales roles we can fill for your company.
