Are you looking to expand your investment portfolio or look to capture your market via inbound sales? Whether you are looking for a private equity investment company or more sales in your current business, this article is for you.
What is Inbound sales?
You may be reading this article and wondering what encompasses Inbound Sales. I really like how New Breed Marketing defined Inbound Sales as a methodology that prioritizes the interests, needs, and goals of buyers instead of focusing on a quick sale. New Breed describes it as a way to meet the customers where they are and then guide them throughout the buying process. By analyzing and understanding your customer, you can then personalize your approach for each individual, creating long term value.
You may be reading this article and thinking this is a mouthful. You would be correct. How I like to think of inbound sales is you truly understand who your customer is before trying to make a sale.
Here are three things I have learned about inbound sales that I hope will be helpful to you:
- Every User Is Different:
- The More Data The Better
- Your Users Know Sales Tactics
1) Every User Is Different
It’s too easy to make the mistake that every user is similar with similar needs. You may be speaking to someone who says that they’d like a glass of milk, so you provide a glass of cow’s milk, only to find out that they only like camel’s milk. This is a silly example.
The truth is that we all have different views on everything. We have different needs and goals and experiences. Trying to sell cow’s milk to someone who only likes camel’s milk will not work, so why do we continue to try? Why do we provide an individual’s one size fits all solutions when those solutions rarely exist? We shouldn’t. It’s not helpful, and it can lead them down the wrong path into a solution that is wrong for them.
Understanding that 100% of your users are different is the cornerstone to how you operate and how you build your inbound sales strategy.
2) The More Data The Better
The second vital lesson I learned when it comes to having an effective inbound sales strategy is the more information you have the better. In the previous silly example about milk, you would have made the correct decision if you had asked what type of milk that he liked? Does he like goat milk or cow’s milk or some other type of milk?
Too often as salespeople, we assume that we know information about the people we sell to because we compare it to our own interests. This tactic is wrong. As we know everyone is different, we need to collect as much data as possible to truly help the individual.
You may find that collecting more information will show the individual that your product is right for them. You may be fearful of losing customers by asking too much information, but what may be worse for that individual is taking your product and having a horrible experience. Why not collect the right amount of data initially by asking the right questions to guide your users to the right decision, regardless of whether that decision involves revenue for your business.
3) Your Users Know Sales Tactics
Have you ever spoken to someone who you know is trying to sell you something? My favorite example is timeshare salespeople. You are getting paid to go through a 2 hour seminar with benefits such as cash or free services. You also know that a 2 hour seminar without a strong sales pitch at the end would be too good to be true.
What’s important to understand is that your users are very bright and will know when they are getting sold to. You may not like being sold to, and most people do not like how this feels. The most effective inbound sales strategy may be to tell your salespeople that the goal is not to sell, but to help your user understand the users’ interests, needs, and goals in greater detail. Many of your users may be experiencing stress and not understand what those are for themselves. By helping your users fully realize their interests, needs, and goals, you are not only helping them along, you are also building trust in what you say and offer.
If the user does not purchase your product, you can still rest assured that you provided proper care for them on their journey.
Conclusion: Why Inbound Sales Is Better
What I have learned is that inbound sales is about caring for the individual regardless of whether you will ever make a sale. You want your user to fully understand why he/she came to your website in the first place and figure out how to best serve the pain point that your users experience. In return, you may not make any profit or make the sale, but you will earn their trust, and that is much more important than what any amount of money could buy you.