I ran across a blog article, Inbound Sales: Transforming The Way You Sell, that discussed the concept of Inbound Sales. It really struck me from the standpoint that in our world we market “Inbound Marketing” services. By the name, it suggests that it is all about working with the marketing department to develop the right strategies to get the right information in front of the right people at the right time…generating leads that can be converted to revenue. But, the whole concept completely relies on the sales team partnering with marketing in order to close the loop in the process.
As the article suggests, often times in many companies, marketing and sales have a disjointed relationship. Marketing is churning out sales tools to help the sales team be more effective in presenting the companies products and services to potential customers. As the power of the buyer has shifted, to the point where they are close to 60-70% further down the buying cycle by the time they decide to connect with a company to solve their problem, marketing departments are starting to shift their strategies to creating the right kind of content for the buyer to find as they do their research. That’s the good thing.
But, to make the whole process most effective, the sales team not only has to be on board with it, they have to know what to do when marketing passes over a marketing qualified lead. Marketing departments are in a very unique position to help sales teams be more effective. Here are 4 suggestions they can offer their sales counterparts to consider as they move down the road of Inbound Sales:
1. Transform the way sales targets accounts
2. Transform the way sales prospect accounts
3. Transform the way sales connect with accounts
4. Transform the way prospects perceive the sales team
Inbound Marketing is the first step an organization needs to take, but as marketing generates more effective leads, sales needs to take an Inbound Sales approach to generate more revenue. This is the essence of Closed Loop Selling.
If you have questions, feel free to contact us….