How to hire an Inside Sales Representative

How to hire an inside sales representative, step by step

Here's a step-by-step inside sales representative hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write an inside sales representative job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new inside sales representative
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does an Inside Sales Representative do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the inside sales representative you need to hire. Certain inside sales representative roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   Determine Employee vs Contractor Status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   An inside sales representative's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, inside sales representatives from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   Here's a comparison of inside sales representative salaries for various roles:

   Type Of Inside Sales Representative	Description	Hourly Rate
   Inside Sales Representative	Wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives sell goods for wholesalers or manufacturers to businesses, government agencies, and other organizations. They contact customers, explain product features, answer any questions that their customers may have, and negotiate prices.	$13-33
   Business Development Representative	A business development representative's role is to find new business and client opportunities through market research and networking. They are primarily responsible for participating in creating strategies to enhance client relations, improve sales, and reach out to potential clients through calls, correspondence, and meetings... Show More	$12-39
   Inside Sales Coordinator	An inside sales coordinator is primarily in charge of overseeing a company's inside sales operations, ensuring efficiency and customer satisfaction. Their responsibilities include managing schedules and objectives, organizing meetings and discussions, performing research and analysis to identify new business opportunities, implementing solutions on problem areas, and maintaining an active communication line within different teams... Show More	$13-30

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common Skills:

   • Customer Service
   • CRM
   • Outbound Calls
   • Product Knowledge
   • Work Ethic
   • Sales Process
   • Salesforce
   • Customer Inquiries
   • Phone Calls
   • Excellent Interpersonal
   • Computer System
   • Account Management
   • Cold Calls
   • Business Development

   Check All Skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Coordinate commercial sales and manage projects with HVAC contractors for Georgia district.
   • Accomplish tasks in a timely manner.Skills UsedComputer, math, reading wiring schematics.
   • Generate leads through the use of Linkedin, firm websites and legal magazines.
   • Manage and develop a nationwide territory through cold calling utilizing LinkedIn?, DiscoverOrg.
   • Manage help desk support for company ERP system as well as employee hardware and software issues.
   • Manage a team of 15-25 ISE's through effective sales coaching, call monitoring and creating sales spiff programs.

   More Inside Sales Representative duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the inside sales representative job description is a good way to get more applicants. An inside sales representative salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for an inside sales representative in Iowa may be lower than in Wyoming, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level inside sales representative. Additionally, an inside sales representative with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average inside sales representative salary

   $44,413yearly

   $21.35 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level inside sales representative salary

   $28,000 yearly salary

   Updated May 20, 2025

   Average inside sales representative salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate
   1	Washington	$58,383	$28
   2	California	$55,367	$27
   3	Nevada	$53,945	$26
   4	Arizona	$52,699	$25
   5	Oregon	$52,578	$25
   6	Colorado	$51,888	$25
   7	Kansas	$51,196	$25
   8	Texas	$51,001	$25
   9	Massachusetts	$50,780	$24
   10	Minnesota	$48,492	$23
   11	Florida	$47,257	$23
   12	Utah	$46,895	$23
   13	New York	$46,658	$22
   14	Georgia	$46,456	$22
   15	Pennsylvania	$46,022	$22
   16	Oklahoma	$45,769	$22
   17	Maryland	$45,683	$22
   18	Missouri	$45,675	$22
   19	North Carolina	$45,391	$22
   20	Wisconsin	$45,353	$22

   Average inside sales representative salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
   1	Berkshire Hathaway	$106,456	$51.18	4
   2	Cisco	$102,734	$49.39	56
   3	Keller Williams Southern Arizona	$98,966	$47.58
   4	Google	$95,150	$45.75	102
   5	Neighborly	$94,153	$45.27
   6	Qorvo	$85,630	$41.17
   7	AbbVie	$85,281	$41.00	15
   8	Adobe	$85,062	$40.90	12
   9	Murphy-Hoffman Company (MHC Kenworth)	$84,455	$40.60
   10	KLA	$82,981	$39.89	1
   11	Elite Realty Services	$81,544	$39.20
   12	Riverbed Holdings, Inc.	$81,008	$38.95
   13	HP	$80,814	$38.85	2
   14	Morgan Stanley	$80,707	$38.80	2
   15	Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate	$79,006	$37.98
   16	Vista Equity Partners	$77,621	$37.32	11
   17	ORBCOMM	$75,148	$36.13
   18	VMware	$72,098	$34.66
   19	Dell	$71,980	$34.61	7
   20	Metro Brokers	$71,958	$34.60

4. Writing an Inside Sales Representative Job Description

   An inside sales representative job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. To help get you started, here's an example of an inside sales representative job description:

   Inside Sales Representative job description example

   **Must be at least 18 years old to be considered.**

   Overview:

   Position Overview

   The e-Commerce Sales Associate interacts with hundreds of customers - online, over the phone and in person - to help guide their vehicle purchase in our no-haggle sales environment. Responding to leads in a timely fashion, answering questions, providing information and helping guide customers effectively from phone and internet contact to an in-store experience while providing an exceptional customer experience is key. With your outstanding communication and listening skills, you'll help our customers select their perfect vehicle, negotiate terms to ensure that payment options meet their lifestyles, budgets, and expectations and close the deal. Our e-Commerce Sales Associates provide an exceptional customer experience both before and after purchase, driving loyalty by following up to ensure customer satisfaction and helping transition customers to the Service department to support their ownership experience.

   What are the requirements for this job?

   • High school diploma or equivalent
   • Proven ability to provide an exceptional customer experience
   • Drive to set and achieve targeted goals
   • Prior sales experience, retail preferred
   • Demonstrated communication, consultative, interpersonal and organizational skills
   • The willingness to follow up with customers
   • Experience and desire to work with technology
   • Valid in-state driver's license and an acceptable, safe driving record

   Why should I come work for AutoNation?

   • You want to work for a car dealer that has a strong moral compass and treats all of its associates with respect

   Pay Plan

   Getting Started: Months 1-3

   Earn a base salary or hourly rate depending on the store and location, with additional bonuses paid on units sold, customer service scores and more. You and your manager will review your sales results at the end of each month to help you understand how to maximize our incentive compensation plan.

   Accelerate Forward: Months 4+

   At the beginning of month 4, you will move to your store's commission pay plan, allowing you to control your financial destiny. You're now ready to benefit from competitive commission pay based on several components including gross profit and customer service.

   Copy This Example

   

5. Post your job

   To find inside sales representatives for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any inside sales representatives they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level inside sales representatives with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your inside sales representative job on Zippia to find and attract quality inside sales representative candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as salesjobs, salesheads, allretailjobs.com, sales trax.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with inside sales representative candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new inside sales representative

   Once you've found the inside sales representative candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new inside sales representative. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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