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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Inside Sales Support Representative

💰 $42,000 - $62,000

SalesInside SalesCustomer SupportSales Operations

🎯 Role Definition

The Inside Sales Support Representative provides high-volume, tactical sales support to inside and field sales teams. Responsibilities include lead qualification, quote and order generation, CRM data hygiene, pipeline reporting, customer follow-up, and cross-functional coordination with operations, finance and product teams. This role ensures a fast, accurate, and frictionless sales cycle from inquiry to order fulfillment and renewals.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Sales Development Representative (SDR) or Lead Development Representative (LDR)
  • Customer Service Representative / Client Support Specialist
  • Administrative or Sales Coordinator roles

Advancement To:

  • Inside Sales Manager / Team Lead
  • Sales Operations Analyst / Manager
  • Account Manager or Territory Sales Representative
  • Sales Enablement Specialist

Lateral Moves:

  • Customer Success Manager
  • Operations Coordinator / Fulfillment Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Qualify inbound leads and customer inquiries by conducting needs discovery, verifying purchase intent and budget, and routing qualified opportunities to appropriate sales reps to maximize conversion and minimize lead leakage.
  • Create, configure, and deliver accurate sales quotes and proposals using CPQ tools or Excel templates, including pricing, discounts, approvals, delivery terms, and product configurations to meet customer and margin expectations.
  • Enter and process orders in the CRM and ERP systems (e.g., Salesforce, NetSuite, SAP), ensuring correct SKU, pricing, billing information, terms, and shipping instructions to minimize order errors and expedite fulfillment.
  • Maintain CRM hygiene and territory data by updating lead/contact/account records, logging all sales activities, tracking opportunity stages, and reconciling duplicates to ensure reliable pipeline reporting.
  • Manage high-volume email and phone communications with prospects and existing customers to resolve order questions, confirm delivery timelines, provide status updates and support renewals or upsell opportunities.
  • Collaborate daily with field sales, channel partners and inside reps to schedule product demos, virtual meetings, technical callbacks and vendor introductions to accelerate sales cycles.
  • Generate routine and ad-hoc sales reports and dashboards (pipeline, open quotes, backlog, win/loss, lead conversion) using Salesforce, Excel or BI tools to measure team performance and inform strategy.
  • Facilitate price exception requests and discount approvals by preparing business cases, obtaining necessary sign-offs and documenting approval workflows to align commercial outcomes with governance.
  • Coordinate with finance and billing teams to resolve invoicing discrepancies, credit memos, payment terms and collections issues that impact revenue recognition and customer satisfaction.
  • Support contract administration by preparing standard contract documents, tracking renewals and expirations, and escalating non-standard terms to Legal or Sales Leadership for review.
  • Run territory and assignment updates, reassign leads/opportunities and support quota rollouts during rep transitions or organizational changes to maintain sales continuity.
  • Prepare and maintain sales collateral, product spec sheets, case studies, ROI calculators and pricing guides that sales teams use in customer conversations.
  • Conduct routine follow-up on open quotes and proposals, using email cadences and phone outreach to close outstanding opportunities and reduce quote-to-order cycle time.
  • Assist with lead enrichment and data hygiene projects (append firmographic or technographic data, remove duplicates, verify emails/phone numbers) to improve lead quality for outbound campaigns.
  • Participate in product and pricing training to maintain up-to-date product knowledge, positioning, and competitive differentiation so that responses to customers are accurate and persuasive.
  • Manage sample requests, product shipments and logistics coordination with fulfillment/warehouse teams to support demos, pilot programs and field trials.
  • Handle customer escalations related to order status, product availability or delivery issues—triage internally, provide timely updates and document resolution steps to improve future processes.
  • Support outbound prospecting campaigns in coordination with marketing and SDR teams by preparing target lists, personalizing outreach content and tracking campaign results.
  • Identify process improvement opportunities (order entry automation, template standardization, SLA creation) and lead small projects to reduce cycle time and manual work for the sales organization.
  • Maintain compliance with company policies and industry regulations around pricing, contracts, data privacy (e.g., GDPR/CCPA) and record retention for all customer interactions.
  • Assist in monthly and quarterly close activities by reconciling orders, invoices and sales adjustments, ensuring recognized revenue aligns with orders and delivery data.
  • Provide onboarding and training support for new inside sales hires, SLA documentation, and playbooks to scale consistent team execution and ramp time reduction.
  • Track and manage sample inventories, promotional materials and trade show assets; coordinate shipping and returns for events to support lead capture and demo readiness.
  • Participate in cross-functional weekly stand-ups with operations, product and marketing to escalate blockers, synchronize roadmaps and ensure alignment on customer-facing initiatives.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc cross-functional requests from marketing, product and operations to improve lead-to-cash processes and customer experience.
  • Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives by documenting current state processes, recommending automation solutions and piloting new tools for the sales team.
  • Assist with data pulls and exploratory analysis to answer sales performance questions or support executive reporting.
  • Help translate business needs from sales into technical requirements for CRM, CPQ and ERP enhancements.
  • Participate in sprint planning or project meetings for sales systems implementations and feature rollouts.
  • Act as a backup for order entry and renewals during peak periods or team absences to maintain service levels.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • CRM proficiency: Salesforce (preferred), HubSpot or Microsoft Dynamics—ability to create, update and report on opportunities, accounts and activity history.
  • Order management and ERP experience: NetSuite, SAP, Oracle or comparable systems for order entry and fulfillment tracking.
  • Configure-Price-Quote (CPQ) or quoting tool experience including creation of product configurations, bundles, and pricing rules.
  • Advanced Excel skills: VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, pivot tables, INDEX/MATCH, conditional logic and data cleansing for reporting and analytics.
  • Strong quoting and proposal construction skills including pricing math, discounting, tax/shipping calculations and approval routing.
  • Familiarity with sales enablement and engagement tools: SalesLoft, Outreach, Highspot, Seismic.
  • Experience generating dashboards and reports in Salesforce, Power BI, Tableau or Google Data Studio.
  • Ability to read and interpret contracts, NDAs, and standard commercial terms; familiarity with contract lifecycle management (CLM) tools is a plus.
  • Basic knowledge of billing, invoicing and collections processes; comfortable coordinating with Finance to resolve revenue issues.
  • Experience with email and calendar systems (Outlook/Gmail), VoIP/telephony platforms and virtual meeting tools (Zoom/Teams).

Soft Skills

  • Excellent verbal and written communication—able to write clear quotes, emails and call notes that maintain professional tone and reduce follow-up questions.
  • Strong customer service orientation and empathy to handle escalations and build trust with prospects and internal partners.
  • High attention to detail and accuracy, especially for pricing, order entry and record keeping to avoid revenue leakage.
  • Prioritization and time management skills to handle high-volume inbound requests while meeting SLA commitments.
  • Problem-solving mindset with the ability to escalate appropriately and propose practical workarounds when needed.
  • Collaborative team player who proactively coordinates across sales, marketing, operations and finance.
  • Adaptability and comfort with ambiguity in fast-paced sales environments and changing product/pricing models.
  • Analytical curiosity to interpret sales data, identify trends and recommend operational improvements.
  • Negotiation support capability—able to prepare supporting documentation and rationale for discounts and special terms.
  • Continuous learner attitude to stay current on product updates, competitive landscape and sales technology.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • High school diploma or equivalent required

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, Finance, or related field preferred

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Business Administration
  • Marketing
  • Finance
  • Communications
  • Information Systems

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 1–4 years in inside sales support, sales operations, order management, or customer service roles.

Preferred:

  • 2–5 years supporting B2B inside sales teams with demonstrated success in quote-to-order processes.
  • Direct experience with Salesforce, CPQ/quoting tools and ERP/order entry systems.
  • Experience supporting quota-carrying sales reps and working to tight SLAs in a fast-paced, revenue-driven environment.
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