WHAT DOES AN INSIDE SALES MANAGER DO?

Published: Sep 10, 2025 - The Inside Sales Manager leads and develops a team of sales supervisors, leads, quality assurance, trainers, and representatives to achieve performance goals and foster a collaborative culture. This role focuses on process improvement, sales pipeline management, CRM reporting, and driving accountability while ensuring the delivery of consultative, solution-based selling strategies. The manager also emphasizes customer engagement, cross-selling, and providing best-in-class service to convert opportunities into sales and long-term growth.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Inside Sales Manager

1. Inside Sales Manager Duties

  • Research Skills: Researching new verticals, use cases, client profiles and target prospects that will support the growth of the APAC Enterprise business
  • Lead Generation: Generating new leads for Payoneer to pursue according to the profile of key clients and verticals
  • Pipeline Building: Building a pipeline through industry research, forums, channels, and in collaboration with the sales and marketing teams
  • Lead Qualification: Following up on and qualifying warm inbound leads arriving through the website or marketing events such as trade shows and webinars
  • Prospect Identification: Identifying and qualifying relevant prospects
  • Contact Identification: Identifying the right contact person from each company or enhancing data using external data sources
  • Prospect Engagement: Engaging prospects with an introduction to the Payoneer value proposition and further segmenting opportunities based on their size, potential and strategic relevance
  • Communication Skills: Communicating over phone, email and face-to-face and be able to convey the Payoneer story
  • Deal Closing: Selling directly to smaller or emerging clients, executing, negotiating and closing deals, managing internal processes to onboard the merchant
  • Sales Handover: Working closely with the Sales Team to ensure proper handover and follow-up of Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs)
  • Team Leadership: Leading, mentoring and coaching a team of inside sales representatives and 2 team leads
  • Culture Building: Exemplifying company culture and maintaining high sales and employee engagement
  • Revenue Achievement: Ensuring monthly revenue goals are achieved by all sales teams including inbound and leads teams
  • Forecast Creation: Creating long-term, interim and short-term forecasts in a high-volume contact center environment
  • Forecast Analysis: Understanding reasons for forecast variance and recommending changes to enhance forecast accuracy and effectiveness
  • Report Analysis: Ensuring the generation and analysis of daily, weekly and monthly reports to be used by management to assess and improve operations
  • Meeting Facilitation: Facilitating weekly sales and revenue meetings with the team and monthly long-term strategic discussions with the leadership team
  • Call Monitoring: Overseeing a well-executed call monitoring process that ensures a high level of call quality for mentoring insights to develop consultative sales skills
  • Talent Hiring: Hiring high-performing salespeople according to HR staffing guidelines

2. Inside Sales Manager Details

  • Training Management: Train and motivate employees on systems changes, sales etiquette and products
  • Reward Programs: Maintain employee award programs
  • File Maintenance: Maintain sales system files (i.e., pricing, lost orders, etc.)
  • Market Communication: Communicates market-relevant information to the inside sales department
  • Customer Feedback: Provide feedback from customers and outside sales representatives
  • Goal Alignment: Ensures that all personnel are aware of and understand established goals at the site, regional, and corporate levels
  • Contract Negotiation: Assist in contract negotiations
  • Report Management: Reviews and manages SAP Sales-related reports
  • Quality Support: Assists in the implementation and maintenance of quality system through, but not limited to, the completion of corrective/preventive actions, participation in management reviews
  • Audit Compliance: Review and analysis of sales returns and allowances, performance of audits and ensuring that personnel are adhering to the established procedures and work instructions
  • Lean Practices: Assists in lean-related practices (i.e., performance of 6S audits, AIW, and other Kaizen events)
  • Performance Tracking: Track employee performance against established goals and update employee files in preparation for yearly performance review and feedback sessions
  • Employee Programs: Determine, implement and track employee reward and discipline programs
  • Work Environment: Create/promote a positive and professional work environment
  • Safety Compliance: Ensure that safety rules and OSHA regulations are being followed
  • Talent Management: Hire or terminate employees
  • Issue Resolution: Assist sales with internal/external customer issues
  • Delivery Support: Work with the warehouse in resolving material processing and delivery issues
  • Competency Standards: Meets TKMNA Employee Attributes/Competencies

3. Inside Sales Manager Responsibilities

  • Sales Culture: Develops a professional sales culture
  • Role Modeling: Serves as a role model for the sales team in all aspects of the business
  • Goal Balance: Balances the urgency of meeting budget goals with a focus on team success
  • Team Building: Hires and builds a sales team that has the ability and resources to achieve sales and retention goals
  • Performance Coaching: Coaches, develops and manages the performance of the inside sales and/or retention sales staff to ensure they have the capabilities to meet targets for revenue growth, service, productivity, quality and optimization of customer satisfaction within the assigned area
  • Sales Approach: Ensures that each sales representative is using the IMPACT Sales approach and uncovering the needs of each customer to ensure the Cox Vision and Trusted Provider focus
  • Issue Resolution: Serves as a subject matter expert or advisor on selected customer sales and handles issues escalated by team members
  • Marketing Collaboration: Collaborates with CB Marketing Manager to ensure that effective planning and coordination between CB Sales and the overall marketing objectives of Cox is maintained
  • Strategic Planning: Facilitates segment-specific strategic planning to maximize market share and revenue and maximize the potential of the team’s account lists
  • Account Assignment: Assigns accounts to appropriate sales channels, and within outside sales
  • Representative Assignment: Assigns account representatives with consideration to share growth, cost of sale, and client potential
  • Goal Setting: Sets sales goals (quotas plus key sales objectives for inbound and outbound sales) and other defined sales metrics for inside sales representatives, based on corporate/regional sales goals for the assigned market
  • Territory Structuring: Develops appropriate territory structures for geographical and/or vertical markets

4. Inside Sales Manager Job Summary

  • Forecast Management: Develops account forecasts and manages the Sales team to achieve maximum revenue while maintaining profitability
  • Customer Communication: Communicates customer concerns, sales opportunities, implementations, and related issues within the sales team, across the local system, and across systems
  • Solution Coordination: Recommends and coordinates the implementation of solutions with various Cox organizations
  • Team Leadership: Leads sales team meetings to coordinate sales efforts and communicate changes in direction, products, policies, expectations, processes, and standards
  • Lead Management: Works with the Manager of Outside Sales to ensure customer leads received from their direct reports are passed to Inside Sales Representatives
  • Relationship Building: Coordinates and maintains effective working relationships with other Cox Business and Cox Communications departments to ensure high-quality customer service
  • Report Approval: Reviews and approves sales presentations, ROI assessments, commission reports, and other reports developed by Inside Sales Representatives within his/her approval authority
  • Expense Control: Prepares regular expense reports and controls expenses while meeting or exceeding corporate revenue goals and maximizing product margin
  • Data Accuracy: Ensures that direct reports update all required customer information in a timely fashion
  • Technical Training: Attends job-related training and informally remains current on technical information regarding Cox’s telephony, data, and video products and offerings, and sales through completion of the required/recommended training program

5. Inside Sales Manager Accountabilities

  • Inventory Planning: Plan and pipeline inventory for low to medium complex customer demand
  • Backlog Review: Review backlog and shortage reports to ensure an uninterrupted supply of inventory
  • Forecast Preparation: Prepare Arrow-generated forecasts for e-compass
  • Exception Management: Upload and manage the exceptions generated from the e-compass processing
  • Inventory Maintenance: Maintain manual bonds to ensure the uninterrupted availability of inventory
  • Team Leadership: Lead the regional sales team responsible for co-managing Small, Major and National Account clients in partnership with Field Sales staff
  • Business Solutions: Provide business solutions that impact performance within the customer's transportation needs
  • Field Collaboration: Daily interaction with Field Sales Leaders to achieve territory revenue goals and customer retention
  • Sales Coaching: Provide sales mentoring and coaching to Inside Sales Reps to enhance their ability to leverage the telephone and web for customer presentations and meet sales/quota requirements
  • Team Development: Develop a team environment, which will foster strong cross-functional and field relationships that will ensure support to maximize revenue growth
  • Account Education: Educate Inside Sales Reps in strategic account selling to penetrate existing accounts, buying process, solution design, decision structure, timing, budgetary process, contract terms, conditions, etc.
  • Account Planning: Lead and participate in regular sales and account planning meetings with Field Reps, Managers and the leadership team

6. Inside Sales Manager Functions

  • Platform Knowledge: Gain a working understanding of the Invoice Cloud platform and value proposition for the specific vertical markets
  • Tool Proficiency: Become proficient in the Invoice Cloud Sales tools and selling methodology
  • Demo Observation: Observe sales demonstrations conducted by current team members
  • Activity Knowledge: Develop knowledge of current sales activities
  • Org Understanding: Gain an understanding of the Invoice Cloud organizational structure
  • Pipeline Review: Review the sales pipeline and begin to gain an initial understanding of current opportunities
  • Stakeholder Relations: Build relationships with key organizational stakeholders
  • Rep Assessment: Assess competencies, weaknesses, and strengths of each Account Executive through 1v1s, observing demos and meetings, etc.
  • Partner Collaboration: Work with the IC partnership managers to understand the current partner landscape, GTM efforts, and how Invoice Cloud leverages partnerships to drive new business
  • Process Learning: Learn the Invoice Cloud implementation process and how the IC customer service team operates
  • Training Development: Collaborate with Sales Enablement on the development of improved rep training and coaching programs as well as metrics used to measure the effectiveness of those programs
  • Process Improvement: Start to make recommendations for improvements in Invoice Cloud’s current sales process and messaging
  • Development Planning: Create professional development plans for each rep, as well as metrics for evaluating the effectiveness of those plans
  • Gap Closure: Develop a plan for closing identified gaps in the IC sales team (personnel, strategy, selling skills, etc.)

7. Inside Sales Manager Job Description

  • Strategic Oversight: Oversees the strategic and sales objectives for their teams
  • Tactical Solutions: Creates tactical solutions to meet/exceed objectives
  • Talent Development: Actively enhances team through recruiting, hiring and creating personnel development plans
  • Talent Nurturing: Identifies and nurtures high-potential talent
  • Succession Planning: Plans succession for the team and strategically partners with a larger organization to build a talent pipeline for positions outside of the immediate team
  • Performance Monitoring: Monitors process, progress and results
  • Team Direction: Sets the team direction and priorities and is accountable for team performance
  • Strategy Support: Serves as the point person for the sales team for strategy opportunities, problem resolution and escalated issues
  • Deal Management: Drives large deals for their team
  • Negotiation Skills: Negotiates aggressively in the deal process
  • Decision Making: Keeps both excellence in customer service and company profitability in mind during decision-making processes
  • Problem Solving: Uses rigorous logic and methods to solve difficult problems with effective solutions
  • Opportunity Management: Develops a sales team to accurately enter and manage opportunities
  • Data Accuracy: Ensures information in the Opportunity Manager system is accurate and up-to-date
  • Data Review: Reviews information consistently and actively manages opportunities
  • Performance Evaluation: Measures performance against goals and evaluates results
  • Accountability Enforcement: Holds the team accountable for the information in Opportunity Manager and provides course correction
  • Partner Education: Educates partners on how to register opportunities and transact business with Arrow and the vendor
  • Tool Expertise: Serves as subject matter expert on Arrow and vendor tools and processes

8. Inside Sales Manager Overview

  • Team Leadership: Lead, manage, mentor and hold accountable a team of inside sales professionals
  • Team Management: Manage the day-to-day needs of the inside direct sales team
  • Work Environment: Create a high-performing, energized and rewarding work environment
  • Quota Achievement: Drive the team to full quota attainment
  • Pipeline Management: Manage pipeline, monthly and quarterly forecasts, and other key performance metrics
  • Strategy Development: Work with the leadership team to develop cost-effective strategies for managing and scaling the inside sales organization
  • Global Alignment: Work indirectly with the global SBS leadership team to align on a common approach to grow customers and revenue
  • Call Planning: Create strategic call plans to support sales activities
  • Data Analysis: Interpret data to identify opportunities for performance improvement and implement
  • Project Management: Ensure strong project management and communication with stakeholders
  • Talent Hiring: Drive hiring, interviewing and the success of new hires
  • Product Knowledge: Develop and maintain expert-level knowledge on the features and business applications of the Solera platform

9. Inside Sales Manager Details and Accountabilities

  • Team Management: Build, manage, and retain an inside sales and sales support team that meets and exceeds both sales goals and customer experience expectations
  • CRM Oversight: Ensure that the CRM process is followed and actively driven by the inside sales team
  • Productivity Monitoring: Monitor employee productivity and motivate the team to exceed daily/weekly/monthly quotas
  • Process Improvement: Evaluate inside sales strategies and processes and recommend improvements
  • Policy Compliance: Supervise team in accordance with company policies and procedures
  • Team Coaching: Provide coaching for inside sales team members and training for new team members
  • Interview Management: Conduct potential employee interviews
  • Performance Reviews: Manage performance reviews and develop employee development plans
  • Meeting Leadership: Schedule and lead department staff meetings and workshops
  • Metric Reporting: Report to senior management on sales metrics, opportunities, and risks
  • CRM Management: Manage and maintain CRM tracking, reporting, and sales tracking
  • Admin Tasks: Record and upkeep employee performance management and coaching files and other administrative tasks
  • Sales Strategy: Execute monthly/weekly sales strategies depending on the season to maintain consistent performance

10. Inside Sales Manager Tasks

  • Team Leadership: Leading and coaching a team of sales professionals in a lead generation (SDR) environment
  • Work Environment: Creating a high-performing, data-driven, results-oriented work environment
  • Goal Achievement: Meeting and exceeding daily, weekly, and monthly productivity and performance goals
  • Content Development: Building and optimizing talk tracks and email copy
  • Coaching Plans: Developing and executing ongoing coaching and development plans
  • Tech Management: Managing the SDR tech stack
  • Process Optimization: Analyzing workflows and presenting and implementing process optimizations
  • Talent Hiring: Hiring and onboarding new team members
  • Forecast Reporting: Directly report to the VP of Sales and be held responsible for weekly forecasting, training, and providing support, coaching, and feedback to team
  • Activity Management: Managing the day-to-day activities of the SDR team including live call coaching, mentoring, and pipeline oversight
  • Process Improvement: Identifying opportunities and providing recommendations to improve productivity and efficiencies on the team
  • Project Ownership: Managing and owning both team and individual projects to ensure optimal execution and adoption
  • Opportunity Development: Contributing to identifying new business opportunities and market segments for the SDR team to penetrate
  • Career Development: Conducting personal and career development discussions to groom and prepare high-performing SDRs for the next steps in their sales career

11. Inside Sales Manager Roles

  • Client Analysis: Conduct analyses to determine prospective clients
  • Lead Calling: Call leads and prospects and build rapport with potential accounts
  • Lead Generation: Generate and qualify leads
  • Product Introduction: Introduce and explain the product line and R&D capabilities
  • Objection Handling: Overcome objections and prepare proposals
  • Client Follow-Up: Send out samples, follow up with clients, and close sales
  • Relationship Building: Build relationships with existing clients and increase sales by encouraging reorders and introducing other products
  • Sales Forecasting: Prepare monthly, quarterly and annual sales forecasts
  • Sales Tracking: Monitor actual sales and leads, generate reports covering goals and results
  • Metric Reporting: Report on sales metrics and suggest improvements
  • Sales Administration: Manage the entire sales administration process
  • Process Improvement: Recommend and implement improvements
  • Event Planning: Plan and coordinate company appearances at trade shows and public settings
  • Booth Setup: Arrange for booth material, product display, and marketing material
  • Supply Maintenance: Maintain appropriate promotional supply quantities
  • Trade Show Follow-Up: Attend trade shows and follow up with leads and customer requests

12. Inside Sales Manager Additional Details

  • Database Management: Build and maintain a detailed client and leads database
  • Presentation Creation: Create PowerPoint presentations for sales staff
  • Sales Support: Assist the sales team with administrative and customer support throughout the sales cycle
  • Process Improvement: Recommend improvements to sales processes, implement changes, and monitor impact
  • Feature Development: Use customer feedback to generate ideas about new features or products
  • Customer Engagement: Research and discover methods to increase customer engagement
  • Customer Service: Answer customers’ questions and provide excellent service
  • Complaint Resolution: Route customers’ complaints to appropriate teams for investigation and resolution
  • Feedback Utilization: Solicit customer feedback and ensure department improvements
  • Brand Consistency: Liaise with Marketing and Product Development to ensure consistency and increase sales
  • Team Management: Manage all customer service activities including hiring, training, and motivating staff
  • Performance Measurement: Measure performance and ensure practices generate sales and customer experience

13. Inside Sales Manager Essential Functions

  • Team Leadership: Train, coach, motivate, manage and grow a team that includes Inside Sales Supervisors, Leads, Quality Assurance, Inside Sales Reps, and an Inside Sales Trainer
  • Process Improvement: Identify opportunities to improve effectiveness and efficiencies with processes, tools, product offerings, and employee development
  • Data Reporting: Use Salesforce.com and IC Business Manager to develop regular tracking and reporting of key performance metrics and translate these metrics into implications and recommendations
  • Team Culture: Be a respected and engaged leader while maintaining a collaborative and dynamic team culture
  • Goal Achievement: Work with VP Inside Sales on hitting monthly budget projections and goals
  • Accountability Management: Develop clear expectations and instill accountability for employees across all aspects of their performance
  • Idea Contribution: Encourage employees to contribute new ideas and solutions to problems
  • Sales Execution: Sell residential, commercial, and new construction Security and Home Automation products and services via incoming phone calls and outbound web leads through a first call close focus, coupled with highly organized pipeline management processes
  • Product Promotion: Promotes and accurately describes and sells the details of services or products knowledgeably, including upselling and cross-selling
  • Customer Contact: Contact new and existing customers over the phone to discuss current sales promotions on products and services
  • Document Accuracy: Complete sales documents accurately and completely to ensure Field Sales and Technicians have all the information they need to create a satisfactory experience for the homeowner
  • Consultative Selling: Actively listen to customers’ needs and desires and provide a consultative and persuasive sales approach that champions the CPI brand from start to finish
  • Customer Engagement: Engage customers throughout the sales cycle to convert inbound and outbound opportunities into sales or confirmed appointments
  • Lead Pursuit: Pursue customers in Salesforce and other CRM systems via outbound calls to further develop the customer base
  • Performance Excellence: Excel in a fast-paced, sales-driven environment where exceeding sales goals leads to long-term success
  • Customer Care: Provide best-in-class customer care in all customer interactions

14. Inside Sales Manager Role Purpose

  • Sales Closing: Close sales in the territory with the team
  • Client Relations: Manage and build deep, long-lasting relationships with key clients
  • Workflow Management: Drive video-based workflows to partners
  • Quota Achievement: Work with the sales team to meet quotas and drive projects
  • Product Introduction: Introduce new and existing products and services into the territory
  • Vendor Partnership: Work hand-in-hand with key vendor partners
  • Event Participation: Attend major industry events like NAB
  • Industry Networking: Network with Media-based companies to create opportunities
  • CRM Documentation: Document daily activities in the sales database/CRM
  • Time Management: Efficiently manage time to effectively generate revenue and accomplish the company's goals
  • Team Leadership: Lead and manage the sales team
  • Order Processing: Process customer orders, quotes, inquiries, and complaints/concerns
  • Relationship Nurturing: Nurture new and existing relationships with customers while maintaining sales volumes and margins
  • Data Analysis: Collect, compile and analyze actual vs. quoted data to determine profitability
  • Cross Collaboration: Work closely with scheduling, production, and shipping to ensure customers’ needs are met

15. Inside Sales Manager General Responsibilities

  • Strategy Development: Define and implement an organizational strategy to accomplish department goals and objectives
  • Role Definition: Define the staff roles and responsibilities to support the department’s strategy
  • Expectation Clarity: Clarify and communicate the roles and expectations of team members
  • Value Modeling: Model the company’s core values, principles, ethical behavior and decision-making
  • Performance Motivation: Create and sustain an environment that motivates high performance and commitment
  • Team Collaboration: Foster collaboration and team building effectiveness with internal and external team members
  • Tactic Execution: Develop and execute tactics to meet negotiated service level agreements
  • KPI Tracking: Track and report on the department’s key performance indicators
  • System Utilization: Leverage system enhancements to maximize service delivery
  • Customer Evaluation: Measure customer satisfaction and evaluate the effectiveness of service delivery
  • Process Improvement: Implement recommendations for improving service delivery
  • Feedback Mechanism: Establish mechanisms for leveraging customer feedback
  • Performance Evaluation: Track and evaluate individual and team performance results against defined objectives
  • Excellence Recognition: Recognize and reward the excellence of individuals and/or teams