Outside sales
Also called field sales
Reviewed by Dasha ShakovVP Marketing, Proton
Updated
What is outside sales?
Outside sales is selling done in person at the customer’s location, such as a job site, plant or office. Outside reps in distribution manage relationships with a territory of accounts, find new customers, and solve problems on site that are hard to handle by phone.
How it works
An outside rep can visit only so many accounts a week, so visits go where being there in person changes the outcome. Many distributors pair each outside rep with one or more inside reps, who handle the quotes and orders the visits generate.
Outside sales example
On a job site walk, an outside rep sees a crew cutting and threading pipe by hand and suggests a threading machine plus pre-cut nipples. His inside rep prices both that afternoon.
Further reading
Related terms
- Inside salesInside sales is selling done remotely, by phone, email, chat and video, rather than in person at the customer’s location.
- Sales territoryA sales territory is the set of accounts, or the geographic area, that a sales rep is responsible for.
- House accountA house account is a customer account that isn’t assigned to an individual sales rep and is managed by the company itself, often with no commission paid.
- Wallet shareWallet share is the percentage of a customer’s total spending on the products you sell that goes to your company rather than to competitors.
