Best Practices for Inside Sales Professionals: An Historical Analysis

Abstract

Big data analytics is an emerging topic that has the potential to significantly improve customer acquisition for inside salespeople, the fastest growing role in the sales industry. However, there has been limited application of Big data analytics in inside sales, especially in regard to the best strategies to engage customers through sales lead optimization. This paper intends to close this gap by providing a comprehensive and longitudinal study of the value of Big data analytics for both B2B and B2C inside sales. Data collected from 43 companies representing several industries through a leading provider of sales by phone software and containing about 47 million call history logs made to over 13 million leads from 2005 to 2016 reveal the best time and best way to optimize lead management practices. Theoretical and managerial contributions are highlighted.