A new professional body for inside sales directors has been launched in Dublin, aiming to explain the practice and push for more multinational business.

Called the Inside Sales Directors Network (ISDN), the venture is a joint initiative between The Sales Institute of Ireland (SII) and The American Association of Inside Sales Professionals.

According to Conor Morris, chairman of the SII: “Operating in its own right, the new professional body has a mission to maintain Ireland as the premier location of choice for multinational corporations establishing a regional EMEA sales hub.

“It intends fulfilling its mission by developing and promoting the national capability of inside sales leadership and advancing the inside sales profession in this country.”

Morris added that inside sales business – usually a B2B practice involves selling remotely, via telephone, email, social media and web conferencing – has been a big success for Ireland in recent years.

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“It represents millions of euro in new income for the economy and thousands of jobs, yet it remains one of the most unheard of aspects of this country’s recovering economy,” he claimed.

Members already signed up for the ISDN include BT, Intel Security, Microsoft and Oracle.

David Malone, co-president of the ISDN and director, Evolve Consultants, said: “Strategically, we see inside sales becoming an even bigger and more important aspect of commercial practice internationally.

“The launch of the ISDN is another incentivising reason for FDI business to locate here in addition to our skills availability, access to key international markets Ireland and our acknowledged track record of success in providing an environment for business to thrive.”

Among the events planned by the ISDN is an invitation-only gathering, aimed at “director to vice-president level”, taking place on October 15 in The Shelbourne Hotel, with gamification as the topic for discussion.

A separate series of events will be aimed at team leaders, sales managers and all other ISDN members in Ireland. The first event on the topic of pipeline generation will take place at the IDA, Wilton Terrace in Dublin, on November 6.

David Malone, co-president of the Inside Sales Directors Network and Lisa Dillon, vice president, technology sales, Oracle UK and Ireland