• Brokers knowing where their account executive is: In a centralized environment, 100 percent of an account executive's day can be focused on customer service. In an outside environment, on the other hand, as much as 50 percent of the typical day is spent on the road.
• Training advantages: All account executives can be trained superbly because they are in one location. Outside salespeople must be taken off the road and brought to a central location to be trained. Inside salespeople can be trained on an as-needed basis, thus allowing them to deliver better service to brokers.
• No voice mail: In an internal environment, phone chains can be used to ensure that a customer never hits voice mail during business hours. In an outside environment, the point of contact is usually a single account executive who can sometimes be hard to reach. The result is much wasted time because of phone tag. This delays closings and delays getting brokers the answers for which they are waiting.
• Built-in mentor system: New account executives working at a centralized operation instantly have a mentor system at their disposal. They can team up with existing account executives, and this facilitates an accelerated ramp-up period for product knowledge and excellent customer service.
• Sales-friendly attitudes: If the operations employees are located at the same location as sales staff, it is only natural that they will take on a more sales-friendly attitude. They likely will render decisions in a timely manner to meet the expectations that sales partners have set with customers.
• Quick problem-resolution: In an inside environment, account executives can get answers to their brokers' questions or resolve their problems by simply walking across the hall to consult with their operations partner. Many brokers have experienced the frustration of trying to contact field account executives who must contact their operations center for an answer -- this can take from two hours to two days. Inside sales can deliver answers in minutes.

Page: 1 2 3 Next