What is an Inbound Sales Representative (ISR)?
If you’ve ever found yourself wondering… “What’s the difference between an ISR and an OSR?” We get it. There’s confusion and overlap between various sales titles used at different organizations. What’s more, titles are often changing and adapting to industry trends.
The fast-growing, competitive nature of the SaaS industry has created an environment where new titles are needed to accommodate for completely new positions. What’s more, (slightly) different titles – à la Sales Development Rep vs. Business Development Rep – are created to sound more relevant, modern, and in line with company values and culture.
If you’re new to all this sales jargon, look no further! We’ve got you covered. Keep reading to find out exactly what an inbound sales representative does, average salary for ISRs, career outlook, and available ISR jobs.
In sales, the acronym ISR generally stands for Inbound Sales Representative or Inside Sales Representative. Inbound Sales Reps work in inbound sales teams and speak to marketing qualified prospects, with the goal of encouraging them to purchase.
Inbound Sales Representative Definition
If you’re thinking to yourself, “What does an inbound sales representative do?” Keep reading! Inbound Sales Representatives (ISR) are key players in inbound sales, meaning they speak to prospects who are already qualified and know something about their organization. Often this qualification happens through marketing efforts, meaning ISRs speak with marketing qualified leads (MQL).
Each organization has a different set of criteria a lead must meet to be considered “qualified” or “marketing qualified” – for example, if someone downloads a PDF or signs up for a free trial, they may be considered a marketing qualified lead.
Unlike outbound sales representatives who may be prospecting and reaching out to completely cold leads, inbound sales representatives deal with warmer leads who have already found the company in some way - in that regard, they have come through an inbound channel - hence the title inbound sales.
Inbound sales reps have a challenging job - their chances of converting a lead to the next stage of the funnel decrease significantly the first 5 minutes after initial contact. If an ISR is doing their job effectively, hot leads who are excited about the product will be transferred to Sales or Account Executives to seal the deal.
Inbound Sales Representative Salary
The average base salary for Inbound Sales Representatives in the United States is $66,872 per year, with an average additional $18,000 in commission (source: Indeed).
ISR Career Outlook
With the abundance of automation, software, and online marketing tools available on the market today, it may be worth wondering if sales positions will still be growing in a few years.
If you’re looking to grow your career in the sales industry, don’t worry - as the market outlook for sales representatives is positive! An estimated 4.5% growth for sales representative positions is expected between 2020 and 2030 (source: US News and World Report).
Inbound Sales Representative Jobs
Looking for available ISR jobs? Here are a few resources to help your search:
- Inbound Sales Representative Jobs on LinkedIn
- Inbound Sales Representative Jobs on Indeed
- Inbound Sales Representative Jobs on Glassdoor
Which sales role is right for me?
The right sales role for you depends on your experience and expertise, but sales can be a good industry to get your start if you are entering the job market for the first time!
Some key characteristics of great sales and customer support professionals include:
- Excellent interpersonal skills
- Great communicators
- Passion for what they are selling
- Willingness to roll up their sleeves and get the job done
- No fear calling and following-up with potential clients
- Positive attitude
- Creative and passionate about helping others
- Ability to multi-task across different platforms and forms of communication
- Ability to work well under pressure and with a team
Does this sound like you? Kixie is hiring, and we’d love to hear from you! We are looking for jovial, hard-working colleagues to share our journey as we change the landscape of business telephony.
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