What Is the Best Inside-To-Outside Sales Ratio? (2024)

The ideal ratio for inside sales to outside sales ranges from 1:1 to around 10:1. To find your ideal ratio, consider the current reality inside your company and that of others in your industry.

First, ask yourself some questions: How are outside salespeople spending their time, what is the value of those activities and how many of those activities are being done? How much of that can you offload to the inside sales team while still meeting customer expectations?

It also helps to look at benchmarking. Most trade associations offer reports that show the staffing ratio in that industry. Just remember that if you are innovating, which means finding ways to add value to customers that they are willing and able to pay for, you don’t necessarily want to copy what’s going on in the industry.

What does all of this translate to? In industries like industrial and construction distribution, the ratio of inside to outside reps may be somewhere between 2:1 or 4:1, depending on the role of counters and how you factor in those counters. In OEM, inside salespeople should often be running the organization, with a ratio of 10 inside salespeople to 1 outside salesperson.

Field sales reps in this 10-1 scenario are hunters that disrupt the competition, but they don’t serve. Because of this driver-style personality they can sometimes be high-maintenance employees, with others in your organization constantly having to support them. So you don’t want to have too many of them.

With inside sales doing so much of the heavy lifting in these scenarios, you may be asking yourself why you even need a field salesperson at all. You need field sales to displace the competition and to make you the distributor of choice, to make the phone ring for inside sales (or digitally, to get customers to visit your website).

Mike Marks is co-founder and president of Indian River Consulting Group.

This blog was originally posted by Indian River Consulting Group here

What Is the Best Inside-To-Outside Sales Ratio? (2024)

FAQs

What Is the Best Inside-To-Outside Sales Ratio? ›

The ideal ratio for inside sales to outside sales ranges from 1:1 to around 10:1. To find your ideal ratio, consider the current reality inside your company and that of others in your industry.

What's better, inside or outside sales? ›

Inside sales representatives are capable of contacting a greater number of leads in the same period of time, but they may sometimes experience lower closing rates. Outside sales representatives have higher operating costs for their transport and lodging when required, but they often garner higher salaries as well.

What is the inside outside sales model? ›

One of the most commonly used coverage models is the Inside/Outside paired model; this model couples Inside reps with Field counterparts in an effort to broaden sales coverage and more effectively align sales activity with the most appropriate resource.

What pays more inside or outside sales? ›

Inside & Outside Sales Statistics

Outside sales team will pay between 40% to 90% more than inside sales teams to gain new customers.

What is the ratio of sales operations to sales? ›

Most industry commentary has sales ops ratios at 15:1.

What should be the inside to outside sales ratio? ›

The ideal ratio for inside sales to outside sales ranges from 1:1 to around 10:1. To find your ideal ratio, consider the current reality inside your company and that of others in your industry.

How to answer the question "Why sales"? ›

Avoid generic or cliché answers.

Instead, be honest and authentic. Share your genuine reasons for choosing a sales career, whether it's your love for building relationships, your competitive nature, or your desire to help others succeed.

What is outside-in inside-out strategy? ›

With the outside-in strategy, you first observe what the customer wants, then find and offer the solution. In the inside-out strategy, however, you first develop the product or service, then you create desire for it in customers.

What is an example of outside sales? ›

Outside sales is when business representatives travel and meet with prospects in person, at business offices, conferences, and networking events. Outside sales is considered the more “traditional” sales approach, like door-to-door sales.

What is an example of inside sales? ›

With inside sales, the team structure often includes multiple people taking ownership of different stages of the sales process. For example, a sales or business development rep gathers and qualifies leads, while an account executive converts them, then a customer success team manages the onboarding/upselling process.

Can you make a lot of money in inside sales? ›

Mid-level inside sales representatives usually have between one and three years of experience. They can earn up to $68,214 per year.

Which type of sales pays the most? ›

  1. Enterprise Sales/Account Executive. Average salary: $75,000. ...
  2. Pharmaceutical Sales Representative. Average salary: $81,798. ...
  3. Realtor. Average salary: $54,451. ...
  4. Medical Device Sales Representative. Average salary: $60,138. ...
  5. Sales Engineer. Average salary: $72,953. ...
  6. Software Sales Representative. ...
  7. Major Gifts Officer.

What is the highest salary for inside sales? ›

Highest salary that a Inside Sales Specialist can earn is ₹8.5 Lakhs per year (₹70.8k per month). How does Inside Sales Specialist Salary in India change with experience? An Entry Level Inside Sales Specialist with less than three years of experience earns an average salary of ₹5.3 Lakhs per year.

What is a good sales ratio? ›

While the ideal ratio depends on the company and industry, the P/S ratio is typically good when the value falls between one and two. A price-to-sales ratio with a value less than one is better.

What is sales ratio with answer? ›

Sales ratio is a measure of how effectively you are converting leads into sales. It is calculated by dividing the total number of sales you make by the total number of leads you generate. For example, if you generate 100 leads per month and make 20 sales, your sales ratio would be 20%.

How to calculate sales ratio? ›

The company's financial team can find the cost of sales ratio by dividing the cost of sales by the total value of sales. 100,000 / 950,000 = 0.105They can then express the figure as a percentage by multiplying by 100. 0.105 x 100 = 10.5The company has a cost-of-sales ratio of 10.5%.

Which is better field sales or inside sales? ›

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.

Why do you prefer inside sales? ›

Inside sales is a 'high touch' sales cycle. You speak, email, and connect with prospects. Some inside salespeople make upwards of 100 daily calls. One key advantage of the inside sales process is engaging with customers remotely and connecting with many people.

Is outside sales a good career? ›

Outside salespeople are responsible for selling products/services in person. In many cases, the people in this job make a great living, get a good amount of autonomy and develop deep relationships with customers that are mutually beneficial over time.

What are the cons of inside sales? ›

Disadvantages: Limited Personal Interaction: The digital nature of inside sales can hinder the development of deep personal sales conversations, which are often easier to establish face-to-face.

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