The easiest way to explain the significance of inbound sales is by contrasting it with outbound sales.
We’ll use two examples to illustrate this.
Example 1:
Brand: A software company with a platform for independent restaurants
Target market: independent restaurant owners doing $5,000+ per month in takeout and delivery business
Content habits: active on Instagram and Facebook, subscribe to trade magazines to monitor trends, and occasionally use Google search to find helpful content.
Example 2:
Brand: A managed IT services company for SMBs
Target market: founders of SMBs with 10-50 employees and between $2-$8M in annual revenue
Content habits: active in Google search, LinkedIn and online communities; occasionally attend industry trade shows
Let’s return to our two examples.
Example 1:
Target market: independent restaurant owners doing $5,000+ per month in takeout and delivery business
Preferred content: video testimonials, restaurant podcasts, quick tips videos, occasionally blog posts
Distribution options: social ads, paid and organic podcast marketing, youtube channel, blog, notably do NOT use email much
Example 2:
Target market: founders of SMBs with 10-50 employees and between $2-$8M in annual revenue
Preferred content: interviews, email, deep-dive blog posts, video
Distribution options: organic podcast marketing, blog post SEO into email marketing, youtube channel
Example 1:
Brand: A software company with a platform for independent restaurants
Distribution options: social ads, paid and organic podcast marketing, youtube channel, blog, notably do NOT use email much
Lead magnet ideas: downloadable guide to restaurant SEO, in-depth case study on how a restaurant doubled their delivery business in 6 months
Example 2:
Brand: A managed IT services company for SMBs
Distribution options: organic podcast marketing, blog post SEO into email marketing, youtube channel
Lead magnet ideas: checklist of critical IT concerns for SMBs and how to solve them, one-time systems security audit
Example 1:
Brand: A software company with a platform for independent restaurants
Target market: independent restaurant owners doing $5,000+ per month in takeout and delivery business
Nurturing method: leads only respond to calls but 45% will book a live sales demo over the phone
Example 2:
Brand: A managed IT services company for SMBs
Target market: founders of SMBs with 10-50 employees and between $2-$8M in annual revenue
Nurturing method: inbound reps proactively target the top 20% most qualified leads and follow up with another 10% who books a sales call directly via the welcome sequence
Ask great questions: provide inbound sales reps with a strategic list of questions that will help them identify the core challenges, pain points, benefits, and solutions that matter the most to prospects.
Listen: hire reps with great interpersonal skills and train them to really listen to prospects and adjust their pitch to fit the stated need rather than simply making space for the client to talk and then diving back into a cookie-cutter pitch.
Social proof: document the company’s most successful client case studies and train sales reps to reference real examples when citing features and benefits of the offer.
Create urgency: train reps with talking points that emphasize the real, tangible costs of going an additional month without the company’s solution.
Sales Navigator provides reps with high quality, first-party data to help them:
Research leads prior to outreach to identify mutual connections and interests
Identify buyer intent signals such as when prospective buyers are engaging with their content, visiting company page, etc
Identify the full buying committee and key decision makers who can be turned into allies to get the deal across the finish line