In steel and building materials sales, the relationship between inside and outside sales can make—or break—your revenue targets. When it’s strong, leads flow smoothly, follow-ups are seamless, and customer experience is consistent. When it’s fractured, deals slip, communication lags, and margins suffer.
For regional and territory sales managers who operate out in the field, managing the inside sales team often feels like steering a ship from shore. But make no mistake: how you lead your inside team—through communication, expectations, and collaboration—has a direct impact on your results.
Inside Sales: The Engine Behind the Curtain
Inside sales reps are more than order takers. They’re your frontline for:
Rapid quote turnaround
CRM accuracy
Customer service responsiveness
Order and shipment coordination
When aligned with your goals, they amplify your reach. When misaligned, they become a bottleneck. Your job as a field leader is to create clarity, consistency, and accountability across both roles.
Start With Shared Goals
It’s easy to assume inside sales knows what matters most. But assumptions lead to frustration. Start by aligning on shared success metrics:
Quote-to-close ratio
On-time response rate
Accuracy of job specs entered in the system
Customer satisfaction or renewal rate
When both inside and outside teams understand how their actions impact these metrics, collaboration improves. Inside sales starts to see themselves as more than a support desk—they become a strategic partner in revenue generation.
Set Clear Expectations—and Reinforce Them
Your inside team isn’t on the jobsite with you. They don’t hear customer complaints in real time. So if you want them to prioritize speed, detail, or flexibility, you have to make those expectations explicit.
Create a working agreement that spells out:
Response time targets for quotes and inquiries
Communication protocols for customer updates
Escalation paths for urgent or complex issues
CRM requirements (what gets logged, by whom, and when)
Then revisit this agreement regularly. Not as a punishment tool—but as a way to reinforce standards, share wins, and make course corrections.
Equip Them to Win
If your inside reps don’t have access to the tools, training, or context they need, performance will suffer.
Make sure they:
Understand key product differentiators and pricing logic
Have access to updated spec sheets, material availability, and lead times
Know who to contact for technical, delivery, or compliance questions
You’d never send a field rep into a pitch without support—treat your inside team the same way. The more equipped they are, the faster they can respond and the more confident they’ll be representing your brand.
Communicate Like You’re On the Same Team (Because You Are)
Your communication style sets the tone. If you only reach out when something’s wrong—or if your messages sound more like orders than updates—you’ll build a compliance culture, not a collaborative one.
Instead:
Share context behind customer asks or changes
Give heads-up on big deals in the pipeline
Celebrate when your inside team saves a deal, spots an issue, or turns a quote around fast
Recognition goes a long way. A two-line email or call saying “Nice work on that last-minute order” can shift someone’s entire mindset for the day.
Use the CRM to Create Visibility, Not Red Tape
Field reps often see CRM systems as a chore. But for inside sales, that system is their window into your world.
Make it a habit to:
Log customer notes after visits
Update stages and statuses promptly
Flag special requirements or urgency with clarity
This isn’t about admin—it’s about empowering your team to respond intelligently without chasing you down for details.
Coach to Win, Not Just Fix
If you want your inside sales team to level up, don’t just correct mistakes—coach toward excellence.
Use weekly check-ins to:
Review top opportunities together
Debrief quote outcomes and customer feedback
Spot where additional training or clarity is needed
When reps feel invested in, they invest more in the outcome. And when they know their input is valued, they become more proactive and engaged.
Final Thought: Two Roles, One Goal
The distance between inside and outside sales is only as wide as your leadership allows. By setting expectations clearly, reinforcing them consistently, and leading with transparency and respect, you turn two separate roles into one powerful, coordinated team.
Sales success in this industry isn’t just about what happens in the field. It’s about how well your support engine runs behind the scenes. Manage that engine well, and you’ll go further—and faster—than you thought possible.
