You may already be aware of the term “inbound” and how it’s changing the way businesses market to prospective customers. Inbound Marketing has transformed how companies communicate: generating more traffic, leads, and yes - sales. Now we have Inbound Sales. However, traditional marketing and sales never seemed to align perfectly. Now with the popularity of the internet and social media in particular, it’s more important than ever that these two departments work together closely to nurture potential and qualified leads and convert them to lifelong customers and brand ambassadors.
In our last post we discussed the top 5 reasons why inbound sales works for B2B business. In this post, we are going to dive a bit deeper into the Inbound Sales methodology and how it works.
It’s hard to imagine what life would be like today without the internet. We use it for everything from research to shopping. We get our news and gossip on the web, chat with friends and family, and we also read reviews and testimonials about products and services we might be interested in. Yes, the world-wide-web has significantly changed a lot of things, but especially the buying process.
In the (recent) past, the power of the buying and selling process was in the hands of salespeople. The salesperson held the key to decision making. Questions such as: “How will your product benefit me?”, “How do you measure up to your competitors?”, and “How have your other customer’s liked your product/service?” made sure the power stayed with the seller, as the buyer depended on the salesperson for these answers. Now, these answers and more are just a click away. The buyer has become empowered and informed, now usually at a further stage in their Buyer's Journey before they even talk to a salesperson.
What is the Buyer’s Journey?
The Buyer's Journey defines the process that the buyer goes through before making a final decision to purchase. It is made up of 3 stages: Awareness, Consideration, and Decision.
Awareness Stage
At this stage the buyer is becoming aware of an challenge they want to overcome, or a goal they want to pursue. They may just be starting to look into possible solutions, but they are usually just at a point of deciding whether or not this challenge or goal is a priority for them.
Consideration Stage
At this point in the Buyer’s Journey we see the buyer taking steps to evaluate the options available to them. They have clearly defined their goal or challenge and want to find a solution that fits their needs. They are probably using search engines such as Google to extensive research on all of the available methods and solutions.
Decision Stage
The buyer has now decided on a solution category, and is researching the different businesses and vendors that offer the solution they are looking for. They may search for things such as reviews, comparisons, pricing, pros and cons etc.
So where does Inbound Sales fit into the Buyer’s Journey?
The Inbound Sales Methodology
Inbound Sales is founded upon the idea that buyers no longer want to be sold to, prospected, demoed, or closed. They want to be guided and helped. The Inbound Sales agent no longer cold-calls a prospective client without any knowledge about that client or where they sit in their Buyer’s Journey. The Inbound Salesperson must build their sales process around the needs of the empowered buyer. In other words, sales is not about you anymore.
When buyers have all the knowledge they need about your product or service at the their fingertips, you need to find a way to add value beyond what the buyer can find out on their own. Otherwise, the buyer has no reason to engage with you. This is where the Inbound Sales Methodology comes in. By understanding your buyers and where they are at in their journey, you can customize your sales process to them, from a place of helping them solve their problems or reach their goals.
Identify
An Inbound Salesperson will identify potential leads by finding strangers who have a particular issue, challenge, or goal they need help with.
Connect
Inbound Salespeople will connect with these leads and help them to decide if they need to prioritize their challenge. At this stage in Inbound Marketing, you would provide them with the information they need through content such as whitepapers, ebooks, blogs, etc. If the buyers decide to prioritize their issue, they become qualified leads.
Explore
Inbound Salespeople then explore the challenges and goals of the leads. At this point you determine whether or not your product or service is a good fit for the buyer. After building rapport and getting to know your prospect, if you determine what you’re offering is a good fit for the buyer’s context, the buyer then becomes an opportunity.
Advise
Now we get to the good stuff. At this stage you can advise the buyer on how your offering is specifically positioned to solve their problems to help them achieve their goals. You lay out the benefits (at this point you’ve built rapport and hopefully a positive relationship with your prospective client fostering TRUST), and if the opportunity agrees that what you have to offer will work for them - you have a customer.
Now that you understand the basics of the Inbound Sales methodology, you can position yourself for success. You understand that you serve a different function than your predecessors (the days of cold calling are OVER). No longer simply a conduit of information, you are now responsible for translating common information (available to anyone), into specific benefits for your potential buyer - not only making sales - but creating ambassadors who sing your praises.
If you want to step into the world of Inbound Sales, you can start with Hubspot's Free training here, or you can contact us here at THE BRIT AGENCY.
THE BRIT AGENCY is a B2B Inbound Marketing Agency providing Inbound Marketing, Inbound Website Design and Inbound Sales services to companies around the world. We're focused on growing website traffic, qualified leads and sales, using the Inbound lead generation and marketing automation process.
THE BRIT AGENCY is a certified Gold Tier Hubspot Partner, a HubSpot COS certified Inbound Website Design Agency, a Shopify eCommerce Partner, and a certified "Google Badged Agency Partner". We have offices in Toronto and Barrie, Canada, and Salisbury, UK.
