63% of marketers say that lead generation and driving traffic to their website are their top challenges. Bringing in leads and site traffic are critical aspects of boosting your company's sales. Two major types of sales generate revenue: inbound and outbound sales.
Each sale type offers its own benefits, but what is inbound sales? And how can your business benefit from prioritizing it? Read this guide to learn everything you should know.
What Is Inbound Sales?
Inbound sales strategies value customer interests, needs, and challenges. The primary goal focuses on fostering qualitative relationships with customers. Instead of valuing quantity-based metrics like revenue or the number of closed deals, quality of customer care is the priority.
Customer pain points are the center of the inbound sales methodology. With an emphasis on individual needs, catering to bigger potential clients is worth the necessary time. Most sales teams focus on quality over quantity because of the precious time required to support customer needs.
With the insights generated from inbound sales techniques, your sales teams can better personalize the customer journey. Studying clients' needs results in invaluable data about their habits. The more salespeople understand prospective customers, the better they can nurture leads.
Comparing Inbound vs. Outbound Sales
Before you can fully answer, "What is inbound sales?" you need to understand how it's different from outbound sales. Each sales type offers its own benefits and disadvantages. You should know why investing in inbound leads is more worthwhile than the old hat style of outbound strategy.
Outbound Sales
Outbound sales strategies often involve the tried and true tactics of experienced salespeople. When you think of cold calls, prospecting, and paid ads, you're thinking outbound.
Focusing on more customers with broader marketing and sales strategies uses assumption. The upside to casting a wider net means reaching niches you might not otherwise connect with. Unfortunately, your company likely misses ideal client types this way.
It may seem like a bigger business should only focus on outbound sales, but that's where you're misinformed. Outbound techniques cost precious time and ignore customer needs and wants. Personalization is the future of both marketing and sales.
Inbound Sales
The inbound sales methodology enables those who utilize it to create more personalized sales techniques for their customers and prospects. Before data-driven marketing and machine learning insights, inbound strategies were too time-consuming. But modern AI makes data-backed insights a reality.
Following the customer journey for specialty niches in your target market requires better insights. Inbound techniques segment your customer types, making it easier to support individual needs. Your salespeople can convert leads more easily with data insight.
Different client types need different sales funnels. Inbound selling techniques create custom funnels for personalized niches. And with the right data insights, your team can meet every pain point along each purchase path.
Inbound Sales Tips for Your Sales Team
If your current strategy isn't geared towards inbound sales, you might experience a few problems. Current obstacles for your company may include the following:
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Ineffective follow-up processes
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Wasted time on lead qualification
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Overly long sales cycle
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Lack of actionable or quality leads
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Unanswered sales and prospect emails
Any one of these concerns should push you towards exploring inbound strategies. The personalization and data-driven insights discussed above offer a variety of solutions. Below are a few sales tips to offset any obstacles you may run into.
Marketing Automation
Data-driven insights aren't applicable without the necessary tools. Your sales and marketing teams can't personalize the journey of multiple client types without marketing automation. Automation saves time spent prospecting where outbound strategies can't.
Implementing an automated process helps identity niches in your target market. It elevates sales teams' awareness, making it easier to connect with leads better. This opens new ways to personalize support along each customer's journey.
Lead Nurturing and Scoring
Automation also makes it easier to qualify and score leads. The simpler your lead qualification, the easier it is to nurture various lead types. With better-qualified leads, connecting with leads on a personal level is even more of a possibility.
Since inbound sales emphasize quality interactions, your salespeople can treat each lead with a personal touch. This elevates the customer experience and converts strangers into clients. Leads with this level of nurture are likely to remain loyal, long-term clients.
Applying the Inbound Sales Methodology
The emphasis on personalization and data-driven insights follow a dedicated path. Mapping niche customer journeys require a process, especially if you rely on automated CRM and enablement software. Following the ideal methodology for inbound sales is a straightforward process.
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Identify quality leads with data-driven insights. Respond to the highest quality, most responsive leads.
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Determine buyer persona(s) from data insights. Create forms, assets, and web pages for funneling each persona type.
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Establish a database to reference client types and score leads.
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Map the best way to connect with each client type based on their persona.
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Contact leads and convert strangers into clients.
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Boost your marketing strategy with qualified leads to explore new sales opportunities.
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Meet customers at every pain point through custom responses from focused salespeople.
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Suggest different solutions to customers to increase the chances of converted leads.
This method can help your sales teams through the entire inbound sales process: from identifying to connecting to exploring and closing leads. These steps can transform even the most outbound-oriented sales teams.
Explore Inbound Sales Advantages for Your Business With Mind and Metrics
You can finally stop asking, "What is inbound sales?" And that means you're ready to adapt your sales and marketing strategies to leverage better conversions. If you're ready to enable your salespeople, you're ready to work with Mind and Metrics.
Our industry expertise will help your business make the most of inbound sales strategies. Contact us today so we can start elevating your current strategies and improve your sales approach.
