I recently read an excellent post by Eloqua’s Steve Woods: Trust, Reputation, and Inside Sales. He argues that:
There is a significant shift underway in how we establish and build trust...
…. it is causing significant shifts in the way that people buy. While the general evolution of buyers is causing some challenges for field sales teams, the evolution of trust is opening up new opportunities for inside sales teams.
Steve presents that “historically" Inside Sales teams would close business with an average deal size under $20k. But that now "some organizations are seeing effective use of inside sales up to $100,000.”
I thought I would share a few findings from our 2010 Inside Sales Metrics & Compensation Report that back Steve up quantitatively.
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What is the average order size for Inside Sales?
| Average Order Size |
$54k |
Since 2007, the average order size has increased nearly 240%. Further, the percentage of respondents reporting their average order size of over $100k has more than tripled.
As one might expect, the average order size for Reps selling into the SMB is significantly lower (approximately 1/5th the size) than those for Reps selling into the Enterprise.
But what I found particularly interesting was the sharp increase in order size for Enterprise and Both SMB & Enterprise focused Inside Sales groups.
I think I’ll give the final words to Steve (note: emphasis mine)
.. the efficiencies of the inside sales model give it a significant advantage in smaller transactions. This efficiency win, combined with the new ability to build trust through means other than eye contact, are moving inside sales in many organizations from small transactions to much larger transactions. This trend is likely to continue as the communication tools and trust-building approaches continue to tip the balance in favour of the inside sales model.
What so you think? Does anything in the data particularly stand out to you?
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| Get the Full Report: 2010 Inside Sales Metrics & Compensation |
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Research Report: Focusing on the Inside Sales (revenue generation) function. Inside Sales Metrics & Compensation: KPIs & trends Based on 2010 survey of 115+ B2B companies. |