The differences between outbound sales and inbound sales are very important and it is important to know them. These two sales techniques are totally different. The first is based on a past selling style, while the second represents the selling method of the present and the future. While the former forces you to work hard to accumulate more customers and close every sale, the latter allows you to close your sales faster and easier while providing a more enjoyable experience for buyers than ever before. Let’s find out what the differences are between these two selling styles.
What is the outbound selling technique?
If your employer has ever tasked you with endless lists of leads they acquired through cold calling, you’ve dealt with the outbound sales technique. If you’ve ever responded to a vacuum cleaner salesman ringing your doorbell, you’ve dealt with the outbound sales technique. If you’ve ever emailed potential buyers you’ve never spoken to, who didn’t show the slightest interest in what you had for sale, and who probably didn’t know you existed, you’ve dealt with the outbound sales technique.
The outbound selling technique requires professional sellers to find potential buyers and seek to convince them to buy. This sales technique is often considered annoying, manipulative, and, above all, undesirable. Moreover, this technique is now ineffective.
It is not uncommon for retailers to be tied up on the phone or close the door to their eyes, or ignored when they try to talk to strangers in a mall to try to sell them a product or service. People do not like it when you try to sell them something. They do not want to be forced to buy or be persuaded. Times have changed. Consumers now control the sales process. And they want to be treated better. They want to buy what they want when they want it, in their own way.
The inbound sales technique
The inbound selling technique is the exact opposite of the outbound selling technique. Salespeople who use the inbound sales technique do not seek to communicate with strangers to sell them products and services, they do not seek to convince their potential customers to buy, and they do not use sales tactics manipulators to meet their quotas.
They let their potential customers come to them. The inbound sales technique fits perfectly with inbound marketing. In fact, the inbound sales technique is the missing piece of the inbound marketing puzzle.
Inbound marketing activities, such as blogging, search engine optimization (SEO), and developing relationships with potential customers aim to attract interested and qualified buyers to your brand. . Then, when a potential customer is ready to buy and is able to do so, it is the customer who approaches the salesperson to inquire, to request a consultation, or to close the sale.
The inbound sales technique is not about communicating with potential customers to try to convince them to buy products they don’t need. Rather, it consists of letting potential customers approach the seller. This strategy, therefore, aims to prioritize the customer experience, educate potential customers, offer advice and make recommendations, and help potential customers find the products and services that can meet their needs.
In the inbound sales technique, the salesperson’s role is no longer to sell, but rather to advise, help and guide potential customers in their decision-making process. This technique emphasizes quality communication, interpersonal skills, building trust, and developing a relationship, rather than a restrictive approach. And that is precisely what customers were looking to experience in a sales process.
What is the best technique?
In our modern digital world, the outbound sales technique simply has no place. Thanks to the arrival of the inbound sales technique, companies have the means to sell to qualified and interested buyers, without resorting to insistent methods. As you may have guessed, the inbound sales technique is the way of the future. By adopting the inbound selling technique, you can better tune in to today’s buyers and sellers by adapting to the way customers buy.
The difference between inbound and outbound sales
You can summarize the characteristics and differences between outbound sales and inbound sales in two words: push and pull. With outbound sales, you push or communicate your brand, message, and product/service directly or to the periphery of customers. For example, at Leadfeeder, I’ve created an outbound sales team that will find and email users who aren’t using us yet.
Inbound sales, on the other hand, refers to attracting or attracting leads through content marketing, SEO, viral content campaigns, and social media. At Leadfeeder, our Inbound Sales contacts you once you sign up for a free trial. Prospects find you, rather than you looking for them.
The advantages of outbound sales over inbound sales
A big advantage of outbound sales over inbound sales is that they allow sales reps to directly target prospects and close deals with decision-makers. Other benefits over inbound include faster lead response times.
This shortens the sales cycle and is a cost-effective way to generate sales compared to time-consuming and expensive inbound sales practices like content marketing. By focusing on just one aspect of the lead generation spectrum (inbound), you leave sales on the table. But if you have to choose between the two, the advantages of outbound sales over inbound sales are listed below to help you decide.
Get quick feedback
Outbound sales tactics have a faster feedback cycle. Unlike inbound sales, you don’t wait for prospects to discover, trust, and like, then take action and approach you. Of course, follow-up is an expected and necessary part of the process. But when you pitch a demo or ask for a sale, you’re often greeted with a yes or no answer. This real-time feedback allows you to develop and evolve every future call, email, and pitch you send.
