Inside Sales vs. Field Sales: Which should you choose?

Knowing the differences between inside sales and field sales can help you determine which one will suit your needs best. To learn more, read more here.

Shoaib Ahmed
3 min read
June 2, 2023
 Inside Sales vs Field Sales

What's On This Page?

  • Inside sales vs field sales
  • benefits of inside sales
  • benefits of outside sales
  • When should one choose inside sales?
  • When should one choose field sales?
  • What’s better: inside sales or outside sales?

Inside Sales vs Field Sales

Inside sales are the process of selling to a customer remotely. Representatives here operate through calls, emails, and other digital channels to reach new prospects. They may also receive inbound leads generated by marketing depending on the company structure. If your organization sells something that can be sold remotely, such as software, then an inside sales team will have a range of benefits.

If you're a sales or service professional, you definitely need to know the difference between Inside Sales and Outside Sales. In this article, we're going to do just that. Let's get started.

Benefits Of Inside Sales

  • Faster response time to leads
  • Reduced cost of sales
  • Easier to scale the team

Now coming to field sales, It is the process by which companies visit leads and sell to them in person. Representatives here work mostly for B2B and wholesale organizations whose sales processes rely on relationship-building and long-term contracts

Benefits Of Outside Sales

  • Develop stronger client relationships
  • Higher close ratio
  • He commission can be motivating

When Should One Choose Inside Sales?

Well, one should go for inside sales when they want their sales team to make the best use of the limited time that companies have. It no doubts increases sales productivity. Since no drive or travel time is required to get from meeting to meeting. There are also other factors to look at. It provides flexibility to quickly and affordably scale up or down the size of the sales team based on changes in market conditions or business strategy. Better predictability and forecasting of revenue is also easy.

When Should One Choose Field Sales?

Just before you choose anyone, consider the fact that companies who have a majority of outside sales representatives have a 30.2% higher close rate than companies who have a majority of inside sales representatives. Deals worked by outside sales representatives tended to be 130.2% bigger on average than those worked by inside sales teams. There could be many reasons for this such as personal customer interaction etc. Field sales agents are likely to have a higher close rate.

What’s Better: Inside Sales Or Outside Sales?

There’s still plenty of opportunities available on either side of the fence. Therefore you should have enough knowledge of both. There are key differences between inside sales and outside sales. A few factors highlighting them are:

  • Sales Tools - The tools used by inside and outside sales representatives are very different. The reason is simple. Representatives in the field need additional technology. Field sales teams need tools that can help them build and manage territories, map routes, and monitor rep activity, etc. Though automation platforms like Fieldproxy reduce all the stress and do these things for you. In short, it is an all-in-one tool to manage your field team's operations. From the time they step out of the office to the time they reach home.
  • Variety & Flexibility - Outside sales representatives have increased their remote selling time in recent years by 45%. This might look like they’re shifting more toward inside tactics but the truth is they’re demonstrating unique flexibility. Outside sales take the cake when we think about the variety available to hook customers. Inside sales representatives aren’t nearly as strategic. Field techniques can comprise various things to impress the prospects such as presentations, displays, and samples. However, technology is part of the reason for the shift as inside sales teams now can do live product demos thanks to web conferencing tools and other online strategies.
  • Quantity Vs Quality - Outside and field sales teams are significantly limited in the number of prospects they can touch daily, giving inside sales a huge advantage. Inside sales stay away from major challenges of logistics and travel. They can hammer calls for hours on end. Being that the price point is typically lower. Inside sales representatives don’t have to emphasize the same quality as outside sales teams do.
  • Prospecting Challenges - One of the biggest contributing factors to finding the right prospects is having the correct tools. This is valid for both inside and field sales teams. Prospecting will always be a time-consuming task, but automation platforms like Fieldproxy will drastically increase the productivity of your Field agents.

The truth is that both have different roles. Some organizations rely on nothing but an inside sales team and find success, whereas others adopt a more blended approach with wonderful results. It all comes down to how much your product costs, and how much you’re willing to spend on sales.

Once you’ve understood your customer, determine which sales approach makes the most sense for you. Be sure to choose the correct tool and the apt sales team to make that approach work. If you decide to embrace field sales, you should look for the best Field sales management software such as Fieldproxy.

If you are still confused it provides you with an option to start your free trial. No credit card is required. No strings attached. It is a product that helps managers and teams of retail, consumer goods, construction, real estate companies, etc to collect data from the field in a structured format. Managers can create tasks through a web dashboard and assign tasks to agents on the field. It allows the servicing team to operate with the same efficiency as the bigger organizations

There are also many prospect opportunities that your sales representatives need to seize. Therefore, field sales CRM software like Fieldproxy helps you create and optimize a streamlined workflow. Not only that it will provide you with so many added features to manage your on-ground field sales team efficiently. To name a few...

  • Quick searching and sorting leads
  • real-time live location tracking
  • prioritize and rationalize follow up activities
  • follow up on sales opportunities systematically on time
  • optimum lead distribution
  • You can also find all the field data in a single place.
  • The most useful feature is to reduce downtime with efficient scheduling

A Little Bit About Fieldproxy

As businesses expand and operations grow more complex, managing field teams can be a daunting task. From managing tickets to scheduling jobs and everything in between, keeping track of everything can be time-consuming and inefficient. That's where Fieldproxy comes in - an end-to-end field team management solution that aims to simplify these tasks and streamline operations.

Ticket Management Solutions

One of the key features of Fieldproxy is its ticket management system. With this feature, businesses can create, assign, and manage tickets, ensuring that issues are resolved quickly and efficiently. This means that customers get the service they need, and businesses can maintain their reputation for quality customer support.

Schedule Jobs For Field Agents

Another important aspect of Fieldproxy is its job scheduling feature. With this tool, businesses can schedule jobs and assign them to field teams in real-time. This helps ensure that the right team is on the job at the right time, which can save businesses time and money.

Generate Quotes And Estimates

Fieldproxy also offers a mobile application that allows field teams to generate quotes and estimates on the go. This feature is particularly useful for businesses that operate in industries where quotes and estimates are necessary, such as construction or landscaping. With this feature, businesses can provide accurate quotes to their customers quickly and easily.

Raise Invoices And Collect Payments

In addition to generating quotes and estimates, the Fieldproxy mobile application also allows businesses to raise invoices and facilitate payment collections through integrations with popular payment gateways. This can help businesses get paid faster and with less hassle.

Collect Valuable Customer Feedback

With features like customer happiness index, and historical customer data, ensure your customers are always satisfied with your products and services. Know exactly how your customers operate and provide better quality services.

Dashboards And Reports

Fieldproxy’s easily-presentable data dashboards and reports allow managers to make sense of all the data their field teams collect, in real time.

Create, curate, and manage different dashboards and reports to help make better data-backed decisions for your service teams.

Make a data-backed decision today. Fieldproxy is trusted by 170+ clients and used by over 50,000+ agents all over the globe Click Here To Get Free Demo
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Closing Thoughts

So why should businesses consider Fieldproxy? With its comprehensive set of features, Fieldproxy can help businesses save time, streamline operations, and improve customer satisfaction. And with a free demo available, there's no reason not to give it a try.

If you're looking for an end-to-end field team management solution that can help you manage tickets, schedule jobs, generate quotes and estimates, raise invoices, and collect payments while also providing customer feedback support, then Fieldproxy might be the solution for you. Book a free demo today to see how Fieldproxy can help your business improve its operations and customer satisfaction.

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Field Sales

Inside Sales vs. Field Sales: Which should you choose?

Shoaib Ahmed
June 2, 2023
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