I never wanted to be a salesperson. No matter how well I knew my product, the thought of having to pick up the phone and call someone I had never spoken to before to convince them they needed whatever I was selling had me sweating worse than Gil on The Simpsons. And yet, since finishing university I’ve found myself in a few different sales jobs with varying degrees of success. Most of those jobs involved the exact activity I dreaded the most: cold calling. I managed to get the hang of it with some practice, but I never felt confident or that I was doing a good job, because for every successful call, it was surrounded by a hundred failures. With inbound, it’s a completely different story.
One of the biggest challenges I faced “pre-inbound” was prospecting. No doubt, many entrepreneurs and sales reps will admit that as well. Prospecting is tough, especially through cold calling and email marketing, and if not done properly is going to make your work less enjoyable and not produce the results you’re looking for. Inbound won’t necessarily eliminate your prospecting activities, but it will definitely make them a lot easier and more successful.
If you’ve read our blog before, you know that we’ve already discussed the inbound methodology – attract, convert, close and delight. The attract stage essentially becomes a big part of your prospecting strategy. You’re bringing qualified prospects to your site through social media, keywords, and your blog, who will convert to a lead through a call to action because of their desire to know more about what you do. They’ve identified their problem and are finding the answer with your business. By the time they’ve converted, half of your work is done. You’ve eliminated the task of finding the right person at the company, getting through the gatekeeper and convincing the prospect that you’ve got a solution to the problem that you’re trying to uncover for them. On top of that, because you’re being more specific in your targeting, you’re getting more qualified prospects in the first place, rather than trying to sell to people who don’t need what you have to offer.
A warm lead has been dropped in your lap waiting for you to make the next move. You can either call them right away if you think the lead is hot enough or continue to nurture them with some short and concise emails offering more content and information. You already know what brought the prospect to your site, so now it’s just a matter of uncovering the specifics of their problem and how your product or services will solve it for them.
The inbound method changed my attitude about sales because I now feel more confident going into the sales process. By the time I’m speaking to a potential new client, they trust my expertise because they’ve read our blog, downloaded our ebooks, and are now excited about the work we can do for them. Instead of spending hours on the phone struggling to make contact, I’m using my time more effectively to create content that draws leads in and researching their business to understand what we can do to help them grow.