Outbound Sales Versus Inbound Sales: Key Differences and Fundamentals

Marketing and sales has undergone a complete revolution in the last few years, thanks to digital mediums. While some of the strategies from the olden times are still around, the world of marketing and sales has taken a complete digital turn. Salespersons still resort to cold calling to generate leads and deal with customers in the traditional ways. Salespersons are also embracing newer methods like LinkedIn or emailing, but it is nothing more than taking the old method to a new platform.

Though, one thing that has changed in the world of sales is the approach to sales. Salespersons now must choose between inbound sales and outbound sales as their preferred approach. These two concepts are quite different and one needs to have a deeper understanding of processes and major differences before selecting one. Read on to learn more.

What are inbound sales?

Inbound sales strategies involve companies pulling prospective customers towards the offerings and then determining if they meet the desired criteria. Inbound sales are focused on customer needs, and the salespersons must adjust as per customer preferences. The focus herein is on every individual customer’s objectives, needs, interests, and problems. Salespersons have a focus on guiding customers through the purchase cycle and not pushing to close the deal as soon as possible.

There are four key phases that define the process:

• Identify: First and foremost, the salespersons must recognize a prospective customer through defined actions that are activated when a visitor takes a desired action, like visiting a website or opening an email.
• Connect: Now that you have identified your prospects, it is time to interact with them. You must lead with a customized message to form a connection with them and better know about their objectives.
• Explore: This stage involves holding in-depth discussions with the customers to know more about their purchase intents and objectives. You must then assist them in learning how your products can solve their problems.
• Advice: This stage of the inbound sales process needs you to adjust your resources as per the customer persona. You must form a relationship with the customer to get in a position to advise a solution for their problems.

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What are Outbound Sales?

Outbound sales processes relate to the interactions undertaken by salespersons to decide on the best sales channels to approach prospective customers. It differs from the inbound sales process in the sense that here the salesperson initiates the conversations, whereas, in inbound sales, the buyer initiates a conversation. Though, in modern times outbound sales techniques might not yield desired results as it is no longer an efficient method to approach customers and goes against the natural buying cycle.

There are five key phases that define the process:

• Identify Target Customers: You must identify your target customers and learn more about how your products will solve their problems.
• Generate Leads: You may use suitable outbound sales software or other techniques to generate leads from the available data.
• Qualify leads: Through cold-calling or face-to-face meetings, you need to determine the leads that are more likely to turn into customers.
• Contact: It is now time to get in touch with prospective customers by contacting them with a sales proposition.
• Closing the lead: After you convert a lead into a paying customer, the outbound sales process is over.

Inbound Sales Vs Outbound Sales

Here are the key differences between inbound sales and outbound sales:

• Approach: In inbound sales, the prospective customer approaches the company looking for a solution to a need. Whereas in outbound sales, the salesperson must reach out to a prospective customer with a solution for their problem.
• Engagement: Customers are more engaged during inbound sales processes as compared to outbound sales strategies.
• Education: With inbound sales, the customers are already aware of the problem as they are actively looking for a solution. With outbound sales, the salespersons must educate the customers about the problem and the possible solution.

How Do Leading Brands Use Inbound and Outbound Strategies?

Here are some examples of how leading brands use inbound and outbound marketing and sales techniques:

• JC Penny’s: Many retail chains like JC Penny’s advertise on television, radio, or billboards to draw customer attention towards their offering. This is an outbound marketing strategy where the seller initiates a conversation even if the customer is not looking for a product or service.
• HubSpot: The leading digital marketing brand publishes great content around various issues that users face on the internet. When you start reading the article/blog, HubSpot will gradually present its services that can meet your needs.

In the present times, inbound sales have a distinct edge over outbound sales as customers are more receptive to messages when they are actively looking for a solution. This is the reason that most brands are focusing on creating a robust digital strategy that can power their inbound sales processes.

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