In transitioning from the news industry to the online sales world a few years back, I kept hearing how salespeople wouldn't embrace what then was called sales force automation because it might take them away from customers. Boy, has that changed!
From SFA, we went to CRM and then, for many, just plain Web tools. And at least for the inside sales sector, they're invaluable in achieving efficiency.
That's what I took away from a presentation by Steve De Marco, vice president of corporate sales for Xactly.com, who spoke at the inaugural meeting of the Colorado Chapter of the American Association of Inside Sales Professionals.
De Marco said Xactly's corporate sales team (its preferred name for inside sales) is the bread-and-butter of the company. It closes even the most complex sales of its compensation automation over the phone thanks to the right mix of people and tools.
Some of Xactly's tools of preference are, by category:
- Data: InsideView, Hoovers, Jigsaw. LinkedIn
- Communication: Chatter, Salwforce.com
- Marketing and prospecting: Marketo Sales Insight, ConnectandSell, Docusign
- Reports and metrics: Hoopla Scoreboard, Salesforce.com
- Process, automation: GotoMeeting, Readytalk, Docusign
- Quoting, propsals: Still looking
It might seem that De Marco hasn't seen a (hosted) tool he doesn't like, but in the video below he explains how the decisions are made.
In this second video below, DeMarco acknowledges working with Gen Y team members presents new challenges and expands on the "cockpit" he creates for his team.
Meeting host Lori Joy, a sales and technical talent recruiter in Denver, cited recent studies showing inside sales hires around the country outnumber outside hires 15 to 1. Inside sales workers have a strong resource in the AA-ISP, a 6 ½-year-old organization co-founded by Larry Reeves and Bob Perkins.