BOULDER, CO, USA, April 27, 2015 /EINPresswire.com/ -- CSO Insights, the leader in sales and marketing effectiveness research, has released the results of their Inside/Telesales Performance Study. The study findings are based on data gathered from CSO Insights' 2015 Inside/Telesales Performance study, an adjunct to the 2015 Sales Performance Optimization study. More than 250 firms responded to this study worldwide. Information was collected on over 100 sales effectiveness related metrics. As part of this broader project, we asked questions relating to the performance of the respondents' inside sales teams.The study's objective is to understand the current challenges inside sales teams face, why those problems exist, and to provide insights into how inside sales organizations can effectively increase the entire companies' overall sales performance. 

Some of the key findings in the study are:

• Win rates are 7% higher for those companies that have a formal sales methodology that is followed by reps.
• Reps are 26% more successful at prioritizing accounts to pursue when their company established a perfect prospect profile.
• Sales reps have a 12% better chance of making quota when firms do a good job of hiring.

"This report presents what we view as the top ten inside/telesales metrics, either because of their significant change over the past year, the discrepancy between inside/telesales' metrics and field sales', or changes we feel are trending in an important direction," says Barry Trailer, Managing Partner at CSO Insights.

One clear conclusion from the report is that inside sales has become more strategic in that they are less boiler room "dialing for dollars" and more of a partner with field/channel reps and/or an independent sales channel. This group is professional, skilled, better equipped, and focused on nurturing or advancing prospective opportunities—not simply making as many dials as possible each day. Also, this group continues to grow at a steady pace. With upward increases each of the past several years, companies' inside sales capacity is steadily growing, as are the areas of responsibility these teams are assigned. Given their more strategic focus and growth, inside sales is poised to substantially contribute to moving the revenue dial in a very positive way. 

"Up to five years ago, inside sales was seen to be siphoning off smaller/easier deals and circumventing rules of engagement (e.g., maximum deal size) by breaking larger deals into smaller components," says Jim Dickie, Managing Partner at CSO Insights. "Today, inside reps support a field counterpart (often teamed 1:1) and share the load of a larger quota. Today's field rep is relying on the inside counterpart to close as much business as possible and perform other critical tasks such as identifying additional key buying influences, additional new opportunities, and more."

There are a number of sales initiatives that companies can undertake to help improve overall performance for their inside sales teams and ultimately increase win rates and revenues. Study participants shared their top sales effectiveness priorities; the number one initiative is to improve lead generation effectiveness followed by revising their sales process. The second initiative is very promising in that companies that have a formal, adopted sales process and methodology outperform those that do not. 

Companies that are looking to take on a sales transformation project should download The CSO's Guide to Transforming Sales for a detailed roadmap of how to approach optimizing sales performance using a structured and field-tested methodology. This is available at no cost.
A copy of the 2015 Inside/Telesales Performance Study will be available April 23, 2015. Visithttp://www.csoinsights.com/publications/Shop/insidetelesales-performance-report.

A full list of the survey questions for the 2015 Inside/Telesales Performance Study can be obtained by contacting Kim Cameron at CSO Insights.

Details on industry benchmarks of the full study data can be obtained by contacting Laura Andrus at CSO Insights.

About CSO Insights

CSO Insights is a sales and marketing effectiveness research firm that specializes in measuring how companies leverage people, process, technology, and knowledge to improve the way they market and sell to customers. For over twenty years, CSO Insights' surveys of over 20,000 sales effectiveness initiatives have been the standard for tracking the evolution of the role of sales, revealing the challenges that are impacting sales performance, and showing how companies are addressing these issues.

Media

• To interview Jim Dickie, please email Jim.Dickie@csoinsights.com or call 303-521-4410 
• To interview Barry Trailer, please email Barry.Trailer@csoinsights.com or call 916-712-9621
• To obtain a PDF copy of the full report, please email Kim Cameron atkim.cameron@csoinsights.com or call 775-831-9013

Kim Cameron
CSO Insights
775-831-9013
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