How To Become An Inside Sales Agent: What It Is and Career Path

What is an inside sales agent and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Kevin Buckley

The daily duty job of an inside sales agent is to prospect for new clients, respond to leads from internet sources and sign calls, and convert them to appointments for a sales agent. He/She makes cold calls and builds good relationships with existing and prospective clients. He/She measures and improves the company's lead conversion rate while also meeting performance goals. Additionally, he/she creates and maintains a database system for previous and prospective clients. Likewise, he/she develops new business opportunities and tracks all key business activities.

As an inside sales agent, you must have time management, organization, communication, adaptability, and analytical skills. Employers require a bachelor's degree in a related discipline with at least a year of sales experience. You will find work in real estate, finance, and manufacturing companies. Annually, you'll earn an average salary of $49,824, which is about $23.95 per hour. It ranges between $34,000 and $72,000.

What general advice would you give to an inside sales agent?

Kevin Buckley

Professor of Practice, Sales & Marketing, University of Southern Mississippi

The biggest factor in earning potential is performance - salespeople get paid based on their ability to hit and exceed quotas through revenue generation. With a sales career, you have a lot of control over earnings. My advice is to be metrics-driven and have a plan to intentionally grow your sales skills through training, mentors, and personal development. Build a reputation for consistent over-achievement. It's also important to do research and understand typical compensation benchmarks. Some may offer higher base pay, while others offer more earnings leverage through aggressive commission/bonus structures.

ScoreInside Sales AgentUS Average

Salary

4.2

Avg. Salary $53,956

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.7

Growth rate 10%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.21%

Asian 9.76%

Black or African American 5.75%

Hispanic or Latino 12.10%

Unknown 4.15%

White 68.04%

Gender

female 40.33%

male 59.67%

Age - 43

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 - 43

Stress level

6.7

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.7

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an inside sales agent

Explore inside sales agent education requirements

Most common inside sales agent degrees

Bachelor's

62.9 %

Associate

17.0 %

High School Diploma

11.4 %

Start to develop specific inside sales agent skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	17.39%
Health Insurance	9.12%
Life Insurance	7.22%
Work Ethic	6.25%
Schedule Appointments	6.23%

Complete relevant inside sales agent training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New inside sales agents 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 an inside sales agent based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real inside sales agent resumes.

Obtain the necessary licensing

Becoming an licensed inside sales agent usually doesn't require a college degree. However, you need to pass an exam to become a licensed inside sales agent in most of states. 38 states require inside sales agents to have license for their work. You can see the list of states below.

State	Education	Exam	License url
Alabama	-	-	Licensed Insurance Producer
Arkansas	Degree required	State exam required	Insurance Sales Producer (Agent)
Colorado	Specific course required	State exam required	Insurance Agent
Connecticut	Specific course required	State exam required	Producer License, Individual
Delaware	-	State exam required	Insurance Agent

Research inside sales agent duties and responsibilities

Schedule and meet individuals\groups for assign or self-generate leads, assist and enroll eligible individuals in suitable Medicare product.
Demonstrate strong understanding of Comcast products, promoting and selling offerings to individual customers by knocking every door within assign territories.
Communicate ongoing contact activity utilizing Salesforce.com.

Prepare your inside sales agent resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your inside sales agent 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 an inside sales agent resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable inside sales agent resume templates

Build a professional inside sales agent 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 inside sales agent resume.