As we have said a few times here, the purchasing process has changed a lot in recent years, especially with the growth in the use of the Internet and its new technologies, in addition to increasing consumer confidence in shopping online and without the need to speak with a person to make a purchase.
However, combining the benefits of Digital Marketing, which is a powerful sales tool, with the work of qualified salespeople and much more time to serve a larger number of customers with higher quality, it is possible to achieve sales and billing results that may change your level company. That’s one of the top reasons why we recommend an Inbound Sales strategy.
In short, Inbound Sales is a modern and more profitable sales structure that leverages technologies that are available, but it is still proactive. It is a sales process that happens primarily in-house to Leads generated, qualified and prepared to buy through Digital Marketing.
And so? Why migrate to Inbound Sales?
According to a study conducted by Velocify in conjunction with Steve W. Martin, renowned author and professor on sales-related topics, 46% of respondents have already transferred in-field sales people (Inside Sales), a model that combines perfectly with Inbound Sales.
The companies interviewed cited the main motivators for this change:
60% report that this change directly affects profitability because the Inside Sales model reduces significant costs when compared to field sales, which incur travel, accommodation and productivity costs.
54% say that this transition is possible because of the technological advances, such as the possibility of holding meetings through online tools such as Skype or the Google Hangout.
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Still others point out that there is already better consumer acceptance of the remote sales process, and, of course, some social changes in online shopping behavior and cell phone usage.
What changes in the role of Sales?
Before, the salesperson’s job had very different and complex phases, such as picking up a list of prospects, making a first approach, and qualifying this list of prospects. The sales team was responsible for educating the buyer with all of their arguments, and this took enormous time from the seller, both in the persuasion and education as in the need for in-person visits to the customers.
Some of the sales models are better known and applied in the Brazilian market, and they all have some advantages and disadvantages. Which one of them works best for your company?
Word of mouth: it’s a great way to sell because it’s viral, organic, free of charge and the conversion rate can be very high, as people rely more on products when they get a referral. There is only one problem, it is neither scalable nor predictable, sales volume can remain very low.
Structured sale: in this model the prospection is active and it takes a great effort to evangelize the market. It is very effective, however, more and more expensive to keep travel costs to a large extent, as well as to waste a lot of time from the vendors on the way or in the customer waiting rooms, which is unsustainable in the long run.
Online sales: There are also Internet companies that think their products can sell themselves by being on the Internet, thinking that consumers will come to your site, buy and quit using it. It may even happen, but the conversion rate will not be very good and many opportunities will be wasted.
So how do I increase this conversion rate? With Inbound Sales. Large companies like Google, Linkedin and Zendesk, while having their products available to anyone who wants to buy and quit using them, also have entire floors with Inbound Sales teams because the consumer needs to be guided in the buying process so that their conversion rate is larger.
After Marketing has generated the Leads and delivered them qualified to Inbound Sales, the sales role is even more important as it becomes a consultant and understands better how the product fits into the customer’s problems and helps you solve it with much more ownership.
How to sell to Inbound Leads?
Selling to Inbound Leads is like net fishing, it brings quantity, but it also brings some disposable items together, so you need a lot of qualification.
The sale is advisory; the sales agent needs to make an assessment of the customer’s business to know how to offer really useful solutions to it.
Ideally, Leads should be contacted shortly after conversion in the early hours while the subject is still fresh for them. At this point it is also important to use the intelligence of Marketing to better understand the need for each Lead and be able to direct you to an attractive solution for your business, for example, what stage of purchase Lead is in and about which products / services he is interested in.
What if the Lead is not good, how should the sales team act? In that case, it is best to return the Sales Lead to marketing, and nurture that Lead, until it is more qualified to buy.
Key benefits of migrating to Inbound Sales
Also in the study cited above, the leaders who made the switch to Inbound Sales pointed out some of its main advantages:
- Ease of bringing in new sellers and sharing best practices between them
- Enables fast growth of sales teams
- Increases the productivity of the sales team (there are no worries about shifting and waiting on the client)
- Provides a better strategy for penetrating small and medium-sized markets
- Facilitates the training, development and promotion of professionals for field sales to large clients
Another important factor about Inbound Sales is that its growth is much more predictable and scalable as it is possible to have real metrics and know how much you need to invest and how big your team will be to achieve your goals.
For all of this to work, Marketing and Sales need to work very closely, speak the same language; have common arrangements, metrics in which one area helps another and continuous feedback.
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Other challenges in Inbound Sales
Here we present an overview of what is, and the main challenges of migrating to an Inbound Sales structure, but there are still several other topics that should be studied and evaluated very carefully to ensure the success of this process, such as:
- How to hire, train and train
- Individual and collective productivity
- Salaries and commissioning
- Management models
- Structure
- Processes
- Best Practices
Find some other tips on Inbound Sales in our Webinar presented by Eric Santos, CEO of Digital Results: ” Inbound Sales: How to sell more having Digital Marketing as an ally.”
A well-structured Inbound Sales area can triple your company’s sales in a predictable and scalable way. Think about it!
