Sales representatives are the personnel who deal with the existing and potential customers of the company with an aim to recommend and introduce additional products. These personnel are generally identified with fairly diverse titles based on the type of industry they are working with: account representative, account executive and sales associate are few examples of their titles. Generally, basic inbound sales representative responsibilities are similar for various industries such as insurance, pharmaceutical, Internet, retail and others.
Regardless of the industry, inbound sales representatives play a vital role in the growth and success of their companies. Their primary duty build up the interest of the agents and buyers in the services and merchandise of their companies and to address the concerns as well as queries of the customers; they have to perform this task regardless of the services and products they provide. These professionals have to demonstrate their products and convince or advise the customers on how particular a product is beneficial in terms of cost and efficiency. They have to attend the calls and provide information about the upgraded plans and services to the current clients and prospective buyers. One of their major task is to increase the revenue for the company by closing sales over telephonic communication. These representatives must be proficient to navigate multiple computer programs and database while conversing with the client. They use the data in the records to place orders, make recommendations to the customer and document the transaction.
Duties of an Inbound Sales Representative
A candidate with a bachelor's degree/high school degree or an equivalent course with excellent communication skills is eligible to work as a sales representative. Inbound sales representative may have to perform various tasks while dealing with a client.
Customer Service Responsibilities
After receiving a call, the service and sales representative may be answering questions, placing order or resolving issues of the clients. Customers may call in response to a promotion or advertisement they received through a mail or a phone call, but are unsure about the service of the product they want to buy. In this case, it is the sales representative's duty to not only answer the queries of the customer, but also to ask questions to the customer in order to understand their need. During this interaction, the representative asks about the basic account information of the client, overview the client's history in their database and analyze it to determine what to recommend.
Sales Responsibilities
Sales and service representatives often work on the basis of monthly targets. Their targets may be set for a particular product line or new orders. Once the sales executive analyzes the clients' data and finds out the exact requirement of the client, he or she may suggest certain services or products that may fit the client's situation. For instance, a customer who has some doubts and is not satisfied with his/her current cellphone plan may get benefited by knowing various upgraded plans.
Documentation Responsibilities
Inbound sales and service representatives have to perform certain administrative tasks. In regards to this, they have to note down the points discussed during the conversation with the customer along with the purpose of calling and the decision of the client. They must have knowledge of certain software tools that are helpful to track the order trends and calls. They initiate the ordering procedure as well as create new accounts. Inbound Phone Calls
Primary duty of these representatives is to receive the phone call from the existing customers. Most of their work is at the desk where they answer the waiting calls. Occasionally, they may have few brief breaks in between the call periods; in some case, they may need to make calls. They may sometimes need to transfer a customer call to another department, while in some instances, they may require extensive research and thus may have to agree to call the client with a resolution.
Routine Tasks
Improving sales and promoting new products and services by following the standard and maintaining the reputation of the company are some of the major tasks included in the inbound sales representative responsibilities.