How To Become A Director, Inside Sales: What It Is and Career Path

What is a director, inside sales and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Bill Thorne

The director, inside sales, is at the top of the sales representative ladder. He/She is responsible for the management of the sales representative team and ensuring the smooth operation of the company's sales department.

His duties include hiring, managing, directing, and coaching the sales team and customer service representatives, ensuring sales representatives meet their sales quota, managing major account activities such as sales quotas and support. He/She is also responsible for building relationships with existing and potential clients, educating them about services and products.

He is required to have skills such as analytical skills, good communication skills, leadership skills, and self-confidence. He/She must also have customer service skills, product knowledge, and an understanding of the sales process. He/She must be able to lead his/her sales team to success, which means he/she has to be a leader and have experience in guiding others.

He may advance in the career to a business development director. Between 2018-2028, the job is expected to grow by 5% producing 20,600 new jobs across the US. The average hourly rate for this position is $27.85 per hour, that's $57,925 per year.

What general advice would you give to a director, inside sales?

Bill Thorne

Executive Director of the NRF Foundation and Senior Vice President of Communication and Public Affairs of NRF, National Retail Federation

Retail is the largest private-sector employer in the country, directly employing 32 million people and supporting 52 million jobs overall - roughly one-quarter of the U.S. workforce. While COVID-19 has presented new and unexpected challenges, retailers have continued to showcase the industry's resilience and adaptability time and again. The safety and security of customers and employees remains our greatest priority. It is no doubt that the professional environment has changed this year, but retail continues to offer a plethora of career opportunities for graduates and seasoned veterans alike.

ScoreDirector, Inside SalesUS Average

Salary

4.5

Avg. Salary $57,509

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.4

Growth rate 5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.24%

Asian 4.07%

Black or African American 3.24%

Hispanic or Latino 9.82%

Unknown 4.41%

White 78.23%

Gender

female 33.85%

male 66.15%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress level

6.4

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.4

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a director, inside sales

Explore director, inside sales education requirements

Most common director, inside sales degrees

Bachelor's

67.3 %

Associate

15.5 %

Master's

7.0 %

Start to develop specific director, inside sales skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	23.26%
Product Knowledge	12.82%
Salesforce	4.83%
Purchase Orders	4.64%
Order Entry	4.35%

Complete relevant director, inside sales training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New directors, inside sales learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a director, inside sales based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real director, inside sales resumes.

Research director, inside sales duties and responsibilities

Manage job flow with Peachtree ERP.
Manage A/R to payment terms, including resolution of discrepancies
Manage inside sales team, implement best practices and conduct sales training as CRM administrator on SalesForce.com.
Full responsibility for all sales activities for a start-up electronic commerce company managing electronic data flow in the healthcare industry.

Get director, inside sales experience

Generally, it takes 6-8 years to become a director, inside sales. The most common roles before becoming a director, inside sales include inside sales manager, account executive team lead and inside sales representative.

Prepare your director, inside sales resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your director, inside sales resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a director, inside sales resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable director, inside sales resume templates

Build a professional director, inside sales resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your director, inside sales resume.