Inbound Sales – The Key to a Scalable Process & Closing More Accounts

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In today’s market, the buyer has a lot more power than in previous years. According to Hubspot research, 57% of buyers are less dependant on salespeople during the decision making process. Times have changed and so should your sales process if you want to keep up with the current buyer. Since the advancement of technology, information is now readily available at any time for a consumer. People generally like to do their research before they ask for help and Google+ is their best friend during the research process. This is where inbound marketing and sales come into play. When your marketing and sales are in sync, you just brewed a recipe for success. Inbound sales is a modern methodology that focuses on understanding your buyer’s pains, gains, wants and needs along the buyer’s journey in sales. Similar to inbound marketing, as a salesperson, you need first to understand who your ideal customers are before starting your own journey to attain more leads and close more accounts.

Where to start with inbound sales

Your goal should be to build a scalable process that is effective, not just passing by. Once your buyer’s journey is defined, your sales process should support that journey and your ideal buyer persona. Take time to research and work with your marketing team so that you can outline who your ideal buyer personas are. This step of the process is essential to understand and get right; otherwise, you will run into a domino effect of future mistakes with addressing the wrong personas. Here is a quick list to help guide your sales process in the right direction:

• Defining your buyer’s journey
• Developing a sales process that supports the buyer’s journey
• Identifying your ideal buyer person
• Leading with a helpful, customized prospecting message
• Crafting customized questions to uncover the prospect’s pains/wants/needs
• Giving a tailored presentation

Mapping out your ideal buyer personas will be the foundation of your sales process. Generally, it’s smart to map out at least three buyer personas and focus in on their pains, gains, wants, and needs. Your ideal buyer will go through three phases in their journey. They are as followed:

1. Awareness
2. Consideration
3. Decision

Essentially, you want to become adaptable with your sales process, but you will also need to have a solid technology platform in place to house all your leads and information the follows. You should be able to mold your process around the buyer personas and the phases they journey through because once you have a clear picture, you will be able to focus in on your target easier. If you are struggling with where to start, a few examples could be to create a survey with a small promotion to incite, internal or external interviews either over the phone, video, or in-person. Social media channels such as Linkedin job postings and descriptions can also help as well in wrapping your head about what the ideal buyer is going through.

Identifying your sales process

There are four parts to your inbound sales process that should know, and they are as followed:

1. Identify
2. Connect
3. Explore
4. Advise

These four steps will shape your sales process into a scalable cycle and will aid in closing more accounts in no time. When you’re able to identify your target audience, you’re able to turn that stranger into a qualified lead from content curated by your awesome marketing team. Content marketing through articles, videos, and landing pages are three of the best ways to attain leads. This is where sales and marketing meet. Once they’re a lead, you should work on different methods in connecting. Phone calls, email, and video chats are three ways to connect that have been effective with converting results. These messages when connecting to your lead should be about getting to know them on a deeper level. Listening to their pains and needs straight from the mouth is one of the best sources of information to better your sales approach. It’s smart to always keep in the back of your mind that inbound sales are not about selling your service right off the bat, but about aiding and helping your ideal customers with their problems and providing a solution. Sometimes, even though the lead went through your process effectively, they might not be the best fit once chatting and getting to know their needs. Timing is everything, and it’s your job to circle back and create a drip email if your initial connection was not entirely successful. If the lead is indeed a good fit, then the smart approach would be to advise and help your qualified lead in figuring out the best solution. These qualified leads are here to have their issues resolved, and they want you to be that service provider to help them.

Takeaways

Inbound marketing and sales can take a lot of time and resources from a small business. There are a lot of moving pieces that need to be approached correctly. But, when sales and marketing unite, you will be able to spearhead inbound sales effectively and close more accounts. Always do your research and stay up-to-date with the latest trends and technology for your market. Utilizing different platforms such as social media, blogs, community forums are a great method to attain more leads. Proactive research and analysis is always more effective and will help you stay ahead of the curve when creating your sales process. We are Responsify have helped many marketing and sales professionals reach their goals in attaining more qualified leads and turning them into happy customers through high-quality content. If you would like to learn more about how you can create a scalable sales process for you or your business, schedule a free 1-on-1 inbound sales strategy session with one of our specialists today!

Also Read – Inbound Marketing Tools to Effectively Generate Leads