If your organization includes both inside sales and field sales people, building a seamless coordination and hand-off process between the two teams is essential. With collaboration between inside sales reps and field reps, the two teams can work together more efficiently, contribute more to each other’s success, and increase overall company performance.

To succeed in sales requires a team effort. Without effectively utilizing all the available resources, sales organizations aren’t operating at full power.

Inside reps can make a vital contribution to field sales through their industry expertise, says Ledi Imeraj, a senior sales executive with years of experience at industry-leading tech companies. “Inside sales reps understand the solutions being offered and can share deep customers insights – including details about a customer’s business structure, the products being used, and opportunities for upsell and cross sell,” said Imera.

But inside sales reps are frequently underutilized. How can sales organizations bridge the gap between inside sales and the field and start gaining more value?

The Key Building Blocks for Collaboration

According to Imeraj, companies first need to understand the three key building blocks that facilitate greater collaboration between teams.

#1. Executive Level Involvement

And it starts at the top! For inside sales and field reps to work well together, leadership must be closely aligned. There has to be a strong relationship between the leadership team to promote a collaborative culture. That requires ongoing communication between the executive leadership. Leaders need to have a clear vision about what’s required by both organizations to achieve goals – and share all of their expectations with their respective teams.

#2. Transparency

As you build sales teams, be transparent as early as possible. If your sales organization is just being built, you want to plant the seed of collaboration from the very start. Organizations need to define clear metrics on how you measure contribution and collaboration on both sides. Transparency always leads to greater trust.

#3. Visibility

The entire sales organization needs visibility into the different activities teams are doing to push deals forward in the pipeline. This requires systems and tools able to track prospecting and rep activities. A field rep wants to know the level of activity being done in his or her territory. When are their prospects being contacted? What conversations are being had? On the flip side, you want to be sure that field reps are following up with the leads on time. With systems and tools, organizations can set up protocol and accountability for both sides.

Communication is key to successful collaboration

As in everything, communication is key. To establish a process for collaboration, inside sales and field sales teams need to have understanding about the strategies and goals of their different teams. There should be an open line of communication between the field and inside sales reps – field reps need to make themselves accessible for any questions from inside sales reps.

Strong Relationships

Ultimately, everything in sales is about relationships. Inside sales and field sales reps need to build strong and trusting relationships with each other – just as they would with a prospect or customer. That requires that teams spend time together! Sales managers should set up team lunches and joint events for both inside sales and field sales. Create a fun culture where everyone is encouraged to work together as a team!

Joint Planning

Inside sales reps need to be included in strategy planning meetings. By being involved, the team can review the role of the inside sales rep together and ensure accuracy of messaging and set up a calling plan. In this way, inside sales people become more aligned with the goals on accounts and territories and have a roadmap for how they can best contribute. Goals should be coordinated across teams.

A Shoulder-to-Shoulder Approach

Delivering a unified front both internally and externally, a shoulder-to-shoulder approach has the best success. With a shoulder-to-shoulder approach, inside sales reps attend account review meetings and even customer briefings. With a shoulder-to-shoulder approach, customers understand what an inside sales rep does on the account – and they’ve had a proper introduction!

Traditionally, the field rep drove strategy and execution of the account, but there is so much more power when the collaboration between the field and inside reps starts from the beginning for a smooth joint execution.

“By demonstrating a shoulder-to-should approach, roles are also clearly defined for customers, and inside reps are better set up for success through increased visibility in the account,” Imeraj says. A shoulder-to-shoulder approach delivers a win/win for inside and field sales – as well as the company. With everyone marching in alignment toward the same end goal and with all of their efforts synchronized, teams will be better able to deliver better customer support for existing accounts and close new ones with a much higher success rate!

About the Author

Micheline Nijmeh is the CMO for LiveHive, Inc., whose award-winning sales acceleration platform provides deep engagement analytics and advanced automation to understand buyers’ interests, improve sales follow-up, and speed the sales cycle. A seasoned Silicon Valley executive, Nijmeh has served as Senior Director, Integrated Global Campaigns at Salesforce.com, where she led the market launch of Salesforce’s Chatter and Force platform.