To create a successful sales strategy, you need to consider inbound vs outbound sales tactics. This article will explain the importance of both and give great examples that will help you supercharge your sales.
You want to educate your audience on the benefits of using your product and services so that they reach out to you on their own. While you’re creating informative and helpful content like that, you will also want to reach out to your potential customers directly.
Think of it as having a problem and not being sure how to solve it. Outbound sales tactics will introduce you to the solution, and inbound marketing will close the deal on an already warm prospect.
Inbound vs outbound sales: What is it?
The main difference between outbound vs inbound sales is the first contact. In inbound sales, a potential customer reaches out to the company, while in outbound sales, the company tries to reach out to potential clients.
Inbound sales
In inbound sales, most prospects are warm because they have already researched a solution on their own and know what they want. Inbound sales are mostly internet-based since the places people visit for more information are usually social media, blogs, websites, and more.
Outbound sales
Outbound sales are based on cold outreach. This means that outbound sales tactics reach more people, guiding them into the company’s sales funnel. Popular examples are TV ads, banner ads, and such.
Tools for implementing outbound sales
Your sales team will have to take an active role in outbound sales tactics. The first step is to identify your most attractive markets via market segmentation. You need to know who you will target and thoroughly research those leads.
Once you do that, you will want to use these tools for implementing outbound sales.
1. Direct sales
Direct sales consist of phone calls, emails, direct messages on social media, and other ways to communicate with your customers directly. You need to present your offer in a short, informative, and interesting way to pique your potential customers’ interest.
The benefits are – being able to reach people you would not otherwise and having a quick sales process. The downsides are that people usually do not enjoy cold calling, so you have to have an exceptional offer or be a talented salesperson.
To be successful at direct sales, you need to understand your buyer persona. The thing about your buyer persona is that you should create more than one to cover all of your target customers.
Create customer profiles by including their interests, job titles, industry, and more. The more information you have on your audience, the better you can construct these profiles. One persona could be a freelancer just starting out, while another could be a CTO in a medium-sized company.
2. Commercials
Commercials made for TV, radio, and print are all outbound sales tactics. Even though these are all old media, these commercials have modern interpretations. You can invest in online advertising, like banner ads, sponsored ads on YouTube and other social media, and pre-roll ads on free versions of streaming services.
3. Social selling
Social selling entails selling your products and services on social media. The best example is LinkedIn, which lets you send direct messages to people interested in certain industries. The trick is to open the conversation with a free trial or a free ebook instead of going into “selling mode” immediately.
Think about creating a relationship with your customer base and engaging them.
4. Customer profiles
The better you understand your buyer persona, the better your sales strategy. The thing about your buyer persona is that you should create more than one to cover all of your target customers.
Customer profiles should include their interests, job titles, industry, and more. The more information you have on your audience, the better you can construct these profiles. One persona could be a freelancer who is just starting out, while another could be a CTO in a medium-sized company.
5. Account-based sales
Account-based sales are based on collaborations between sales and marketing. It entails creating a list of target account companies that resemble customer profiles. The end goal is to find more qualified leads and know who the decision-maker you should be targeting is.
6. CRM
Customer relationship management can easily double the productivity of your sales outreach while helping you manage a vast number of leads, prospects, calls, and emails. Your CRM could help you automate parts of your sales process and speed up the creation of reports.
They are excellent for managing the sales pipeline of individual customers and helping your team close more sales since everyone can access the needed information.
Pros and cons of outbound sales
Now that we have covered the most popular outbound sales tactics, let us see the breakdown between the pros and cons of this sales strategy.
Pros
The two most significant benefits of outbound sales are the speed and the number of people you reach. Inbound sales are about leaving a breadcrumb trail and waiting for customers to find you, while outbound sales talk directly to the customer and have a quick turnaround.
Outbound sales let you have more control over the sales process since you are choosing who to target and very quickly know if that direction was fruitful or not.
Cons
Customers do not usually enjoy or look forward to outbound sales efforts. They can find these kinds of campaigns invasive and too aggressive. Another significant disadvantage is the cost. You have to have a pretty sizable budget to conduct these tactics.
Tools for implementing inbound sales
Inbound sales focus on creating content for your customers to find and learn about your brand, products, and services. Inbound sales are more focused on marketing than they are on direct sales.
That entails creating content like blogs, social media posts, video tutorials, etc. With so many competitors for your customer to choose from, you want to make sure they make an informed decision.
1. Smarketing
Smarketing stands for combining the forces of your sales and marketing teams. Since they have the same goals, they are natural to work together. The most famous example is working together on the sales pipeline.
While the sales team qualifies leads, the marketing team creates content for the different pipeline stages and runs campaigns to keep the lead funnel flowing. The key is communication since both teams need to know what the other is working on and how it ties into the big picture.
2. Website (forms) and landing pages
Landing pages and website forms are essential for converting leads into customers. Since you are not a salesperson knocking on doors, you need to refer your clients to an appropriate place where they can finish their purchases. Landing pages short, long, search-driven, PPC-driven, and otherwise are all designed to convince visitors to take a certain action—to convert.
Over time, through SEO, your landing pages will be generating leads. The key is creating engaging content that sparks interest in your potential clients.
When it comes to web forms, you need to keep them short and ask the right questions. Try to ask only the necessary questions without adding any questions that will not give you added value. For example, asking for an email address is enough. You do not need to ask for a phone number.
3. Social media
Social media is great for spreading brand awareness, creating a loyal fan base, and informing your clients about new products and services. Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Facebook work amazingly at attracting new clients and providing next-level customer service.
The more content you give your audience, the better are the chances they will be interested in your brand and purchase something from you. Teach them how to use your product and services and make specialized content for people in different situations.
If your service can be used in different ways to provide different results, create social media posts that explain those situations. Freelancers will be more interested in additional content than CMOs. Make sure everyone is covered.
4. Lead nurturing
Lead management is the process of capturing leads, tracking, qualifying, and engaging them until they purchase your product. The key is choosing the right lead nurturing software.
Lead nurturing is most commonly done with email sequences and retargeting ads. Once you choose your platform, you need to segment your leads and find the tone and speed your audience will respond to favorably.
5. Live chat
Live chat is a staple in inbound marketing. Many websites offer live chat with AI or real salespeople, which is a great way to lead your customer on their buying journey. You can help them out in real-time with any issues they might have and encourage them to buy something when they are on the fence.
6. AI
Artificial intelligence works amazingly in sales because it speeds up the sales process and gives you insight into swiftly driving deals to closure.
According to an IBM study, around 88% of all spreadsheets contain at least one error. In fact, the London Olympics infamously ended up selling 10,000 tickets for non-existent seats because of a spreadsheet error.
This goes to show how there is room for AI to step in, and help reduce errors and make sales more lean and mean.
With AI, you can find better leads, qualify them and engage them with chatbots. AI makes sure that no website visitor is left unattended.
Pros and cons of inbound sales
We have already mentioned some of the benefits of inbound sales, but let us dive deeper into the pros and cons.
Pros
Since writing blogs and social media posts is free, inbound sales tactics will not require a considerable budget. It also allows you to engage with your customers over and over again, securing you repeated purchases.
Inbound sales and marketing efforts require you to set a base of information, and from there, the content and loyal customers start working for you. The content reaches new potential customers and answers their questions, while the loyal customers become micro brand ambassadors.
Cons
When you consider inbound vs outbound sales, the downside of inbound sales tactics is that they take time to work and bring results. If you are starting from scratch, it will take time until your content reaches the right people, and it takes time to become an authority in your market, which is what people look for to build trust in a brand.
Inbound vs Outbound: Make your decision today
At the end of the day, you need to incorporate inbound vs outbound sales tactics to have a successful sales strategy.
The outbound sales strategy brings in revenue, no matter how negatively we might think people perceive those tactics. If you are just starting out, those tactics will be the ones to bring you sales while you set up your inbound strategy.
