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Fronting up to sales and marketing strategies can be scary – for any business. Especially, when faced with a bounty of both inbound sales and outbound sales channels – blogs, videos, emails, cold calling, newsletters, LinkedIn posts – the list goes on. Fortunately, business growth is not dependent on choosing one approach or the other.
In fact, for most businesses – B2C or B2B – a combination sales strategy of inbound and outbound tools is the winning ticket. Here’s the lowdown on how to squeeze the best out of both sales funnels – and the pros of outsourcing sales – to achieve business goals, directives and increase brand awareness.
Inbound sales – what does it all mean?
Simply put inbound sales are focused on pushing content out into the marketplace to create greater brand affinity and a build a loyal following. Inbound strategies have thought leadership at their core.
Instead of an individually targeted sales approach i.e. emailing customers or phoning a list of potentials, inbound strategies utilise the power of one i.e. an engaging blog post, or video, to reign in their audience and drive home those leads. Inbound sales rely on the ‘customer’ engaging with the sales content and then reaching out for more.
“Inbound sales rely on the ‘customer’ engaging with the sales content and then reaching out for more.”
Outbound sales – where are they at?
Outbound sales walk the individual sales line – not the all-for-one approach. Think cold calling, emails and customer specific campaigns that are tailored to an exact ‘type’ of person or audience.
Outbound sales rely on a business’s sales team reaching out to the customer first and foremost, planting a seed and then watching the leads unfold.
“Outbound sales rely on a business’s sales team reaching out to the customer first”
Benefits of both inbound and outbound sales
Inbound sales pros . . .
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Hit them with your best shot – One strong piece of content, strategically placed where potentially thousands of ideal customers will come across it, is a quick-smart way of engaging in one hit.
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Shine a light – If your business and services are in a highly sought after or searched for category i.e. garden sheds, inbound content that ‘solves’ ‘answers’ ‘meets a new edge’ will bring in those leads pronto.
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Big and small – You can go wide or niche with your solutions, scaling your content decisively in line with your target market and area of expertise, whilst simultaneously keeping your sales costs – and time expended – on the down low.
Outbound sales pros . . .
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Hit the bullseye – Individually targeting people via phone call or email means you’re taking out the guess work – you know who you’re channelling, why you’re reaching out to them and why they stand to benefit from an ongoing relationship with your business.
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The right angle – When you exclusively reach out to potential customer base, you can ensure your message hits all the right notes and emphasis in all the right places. No room for guesswork means leads hold fast and things stay personal.
Which sales approach should you tune?
The short answer is both. Inbound and outbound sales strategies both have their merits and will play to their strengths – so long as they’re reaching the right people and hitting the right solution markers. Bringing outsourced sales expertise into your business can help your business step up to both sales strategies – giving you a greater advantage in both playing fields.
Outsourced sales teams harness the expertise and marketing know-how to optimise both your inbound and outbound sales strategies – think SEO, paid advertorial, social engagement i.e. LinkedIn, partner promotions – to take your business to ‘next’ levels of engagement and leadership.
If you’re wanting to turn up the heat on your sales leads, reach out to our team
of sales experts:
