Inside Sales – a growth strategy? : Can Inside Sales be used to grow businesses: Case study Hejco
Hirvonen, Mooses (2017)
Hirvonen, Mooses
Metropolia Ammattikorkeakoulu
2017
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2017112818700
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2017112818700
Tiivistelmä
This thesis and its purpose, as the heading indicates, is about the Inside Sales strategy and, if companies can grow their business by implementing it. The research question is researched with a case study conducted from a company called Hejco. Hejco is a workwear manufacturer, founded in 1954 in Borås, Sweden. The implementation of Inside Sales failed in Hejco, and the author or the thesis wanted to know the reason behind this and, if companies can benefit from Inside Sales.
Qualitative methods were used for the purpose of the nature this research. The qualitative methodology consisted of three in-depth interviews with professional in the fields of sales, marketing and management from Hejco. Furthermore, exploratory data gathering was made, because of this research forming more of a basis for future researches, rather than providing absolute data.
The results of both, literature review and interviews, indicated that an Inside Sales strategy can be implemented for the growth of a company, however some key tools and information need to be in place in the company, before the implementation can be done. The integration of marketing and sales is vital for the company to be productive. The key tool for a working Inside Sales strategy is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. Without a CRM software, the strategy cannot work in a modern company. Furthermore, thorough market research needs to be made, because the success of the implementation also depends on the business environment the company works within. The in-depth interviews brought out that, although the implementation was a failure in Hejco, a new effort cannot be ruled out and the first implementation effort taught the organisation greatly, on how to work in the future and what the company was missing, to be competitive in their market.
The author recommends every company that is thinking of implementing an Inside Sales strategy to first conducting a thorough market research, if their product/service can be sold remotely to the customers, or even better is a competitor doing so already. Furthermore, if a CRM software has not yet been implemented, they should do it as soon as possible, because before this, they cannot implement a working Inside Sales strategy.
Qualitative methods were used for the purpose of the nature this research. The qualitative methodology consisted of three in-depth interviews with professional in the fields of sales, marketing and management from Hejco. Furthermore, exploratory data gathering was made, because of this research forming more of a basis for future researches, rather than providing absolute data.
The results of both, literature review and interviews, indicated that an Inside Sales strategy can be implemented for the growth of a company, however some key tools and information need to be in place in the company, before the implementation can be done. The integration of marketing and sales is vital for the company to be productive. The key tool for a working Inside Sales strategy is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. Without a CRM software, the strategy cannot work in a modern company. Furthermore, thorough market research needs to be made, because the success of the implementation also depends on the business environment the company works within. The in-depth interviews brought out that, although the implementation was a failure in Hejco, a new effort cannot be ruled out and the first implementation effort taught the organisation greatly, on how to work in the future and what the company was missing, to be competitive in their market.
The author recommends every company that is thinking of implementing an Inside Sales strategy to first conducting a thorough market research, if their product/service can be sold remotely to the customers, or even better is a competitor doing so already. Furthermore, if a CRM software has not yet been implemented, they should do it as soon as possible, because before this, they cannot implement a working Inside Sales strategy.