7 DIFFERENT TYPES OF SALES

1. Inside Sales
As an inside sales rep, you would be responsible for maintaining
existing client relationships. You are the main point of contact for
your company’s clients, and are expected to retain their business
and build a strong business relationship. In recent years, there has
been a significant shift in sales activity from outside—or traditional
—sales to inside sales, where inside sales are now considered more
effective and efficient when used in tandem with inbound marketing
strategies.
2. Outside Sales
Outside sales is considered as a traditional method in that it is
face-to-face, done primarily outside of the office in direct interaction
with their customers. An outside sales rep will typically spend more
time in their customers’ offices than in their own. In order to be
successful in outside sales, you’ll need to be self-motivated and goal
oriented in meeting your own deadlines with little to no supervision.
3. Sales Support
As team-based sales operations are becoming a more common
strategy, working in sales support does precisely what it’s title
suggests: you work to support the sales reps. Working primarily
“behind the scenes,” sales support takes care of the details to help
sales reps—those who perform client-facing roles like outside sales
—close their deals faster. This is a dynamic role, capable of cutting
time and costs from the company budget. Sales support can be
responsible for a number of duties such as investigating leads and
creating customer profiles, analyzing data, and performing
research.
4. Client Services
Working in client services is similar to working in inside sales. As
client services, your responsibility is to work with customers to
ensure their needs are met and to nurture a strong business
relationship. By ensuring customer satisfaction, client services
work to increase company growth through the existing client base.
If you like to go beyond what is asked of you, create real
relationships, and are always asking the right questions, then this
role may be the right fit.
5. Lead Generation/Development
Lead generation/development is responsible for conducting
research and networking to make new business contacts. The right
research could lead you to discover untapped sales potential. You’ll
also be responsible for assessing the viability of the connection and
to what extent it’s worth pursuing and forecasting potential results.
With growing technology, there are a number of ways to generate
leads through inbound marketing techniques such as eBooks or
blogs.
6. Business Development Managers
Business Development Managers bring in new business for your
company through a number of methods ranging from cold calling to
door to door. Like outside sales, they most often make their sales
face-to-face. To succeed in this role, you’ll need to be consistently
bringing new sales and clients to the company.
7. Account Managers
Account Managers are responsible for focusing on existing
accounts. In addition to ensuring the needs of their clients are met,
an account manager will find creative solutions and innovative
techniques to continue selling their company’s services. The main
goal for an account manager is client retention.
At this point, it is clear there are a number of different types of
sales roles. Now that you’ve done your homework, it’s time to think
about what skills and qualifications you have to determine where
you may fit in. If you’re still unsure, you may want to consult a
sales recruiter.