The term, Inside Sales, refers to the process of closing deals remotely without the live, face-to-face engagement of the direct sales approach. The onset of the pandemic made all selling remote, so this is no longer an accurate distinction. Today, the better definition is to describe Inside Sales as the use of lower cost sales strategy leveraging people who do not need the selling skills of Account Executives combined with a robust digital marketing lead generation program. The marketing campaigns generate contact information of potential customers who demonstrate interest through some behavior such as attending a webinar or responding to a call to action message. The objective of these marketing campaigns is to increase brand awareness and further customer education to move respondents closer to a sale. The Inside Sales representative then reaches out to each interested customer and attempts to move them to a paid subscription. The Inside Sales strategy is successful if the combination of the digital marketing campaigns and the Inside Sales Representative (ISR) results in greater sales efficiency than either a Direct Sales or an all-digital marketing strategy.

The average ISR has 2 years of work experience. They work for an average base salary of $60,000 with an average On-Target-Earnings (OTE) of $120,000. The percentage mix between base and variable is roughly 50/50.

The ISR’s work is far more predictable and regulated than that of an AE. Each day the ISR has a set of targets to accomplish. These include sending emails and making phone calls to potential customers on contact lists. Each month the ISR is measured on opportunities created and opportunities converted to paying customers. Variable compensation is often based on meeting daily and month activity targets and sometimes in lieu of commission on new deals.