what are inside sales 
inside sales refers to the sale of products or services by personnel who reach customers through phone email or the internet other ways to define inside sales are remote sales or virtual sales it is called inside because these sales reps remain indoors often at a call center or company office inside sales may or may not be outsourced to a third party vendor inside sales can be contrasted with outside sales where people physically go out and meet potential customers understanding inside salesunlike outside sales personnel inside salespeople traditionally do not travel despite this they are still proactive about contacting potential customers and may engage in cold calling however a company may also designate incoming calls from prospective customers as inside sales in addition a company may outsource its inside sales duties to a third party instead of conducting sales in house the advent of the telephone and its use as a sales tool gave birth to the distinction between inside and outside sales the term inside sales was created in the 1980s to differentiate telemarketing or telesales from high ticket phone sales common with business to business b2b and business to consumer b2c sales practices unlike telemarketers who read from scripts inside sales reps are highly trained creative people who determine a sales strategy for selling products and services to customers by the late 1990s or early 2000s the term inside sales was being used to mark a difference between inside and outside sales sometimes inside and outside sales personnel and practices work together for greater efficiency for example an inside sales individual within a department may handle the legwork of creating and organizing sales appointments for outside sales personnel otherwise known as lead generation in some cases inside sales personnel may be used to upsell incumbent customers by adding ancillary products or services to their order the inside sales segment is among the fastest growing segments of sales and lead generation advantages of inside salespurchasing goods and services online or by phone is popular among consumers looking for ways to simplify their lives it even has its own industry association the american association of inside sales professionals aa isp meanwhile the ways most inside and outside salespeople operate are converging increasingly outside salespeople are making more sales remotely and inside salespeople are occasionally going out in the field this convergence is aided by the adoption of new sales facilitating technologies as well as changing customer buying habits and attitudes about how products and services are sold this has led to a new moniker for inside sales sales in the cloud the role of the inside sales representativeinsider sales reps often earn a modest base salary followed by sales commissions and performance bonuses because inside sales will take place online over the phone representatives may want experience in telemarketing or customer support and develop a pleasant demeanor when calling strangers one perk of inside sales is that you can often do the job remotely or from home in 2021 according to payscale com the median base salary for an inside sales representative is about 45 000 with 10 receiving a maximum salary of 66 000 however salary differences can vary greatly among companies for example oracle corp pays its inside sales reps an average salary of 50 565 while state farm insurance company offers its sales reps an average salary of 29 661 according to payscale s data it is common for companies to outsource inside sales to third party specialists like call centers telemarketers or online sales specialists 