In the B2B world, both inbound and outbound sales play a pivotal role in building a successful sales strategy.
Whether your team is answering the phone or dialing out, understanding the distinction between these two methods is crucial for long-term growth.
What is Inbound Sales?
Inbound sales occurs when potential buyers seek out your business because they already recognize a need. These leads often come from:
Online searches
Social media channels
Customer referrals
Direct website visits
These prospects are typically considered hot leads; they’re actively looking for a solution and may be ready to purchase. In fact, CallSource reports that 56% of inbound calls are viable leads.
What is Outbound Sales?
Outbound sales flips the process: your business initiates the contact with potential customers. This “cold” outreach might take the form of:
Phone calls
Cold emails
Paid ads
Direct messaging
SEO efforts to uncover and engage prospects
Outbound sales is more proactive, but also more complex. You’re targeting people who may not yet know they have a need. Success in outbound sales depends on a number of factors:
A consistent, repeatable process
In-depth understanding of your industry
Well-defined buyer personas
Quick, compelling messaging
Sales collateral to support the buyer journey
While it takes more time and effort, outbound sales is essential for generating consistent new business—especially when inbound leads slow down.
Why Businesses Outsource Inbound and Outbound Sales
Many businesses have an in-house sales team, however some choose to outsource their sales by hiring a company or sales force to make and receive their calls for them. Here are some benefits of outsourcing sales:
Cost effectiveness
Outsourcing can be a more affordable option than in-house hiring, due when the all-in cost associated with hiring, training, equipment, vacation, salary, commission, and other employee expenses are all evaluated. If you look at hiring an experienced team of salespeople, the salaries alone can typically be more costly than an outsourced hire.
Productivity
By hiring a sales team to take care of a part of your sales cycle, like the outbound lead generation part, you don’t have to worry about monitoring your sales team if they are meeting quotas in this area and figuring out what’s not working. You can instead focus on other areas of your business and leverage your outsourced partner’s experience to troubleshoot any issues to drive results.
Follow-Up
Following up can be one of the biggest differentiators of an in-house sales team versus a third party. With a smaller staff and less resources, it can be difficult for in-house teams to properly follow up with prospects, therefore increasing the risk of losing them as a potential customer. Outsourced teams typically leverage technology and process to follow up regularly with leads.
Things to think about for Inbound and Outbound Sales
Customer service is key
Whether a person has a problem, question, or requests more information regarding your offerings, you should always deliver your best customer service. Your interaction with that person can define their relationship with the business as well as build long-term customer loyalty.
Have a strategy
Having a strategy for your inbound and outbound sales can create a direction for your calling efforts. Without knowing what you are trying to achieve and how you will achieve it, you aren’t likely going to be successful in turning prospects to customers.
Be available
Inbound or outbound, being available, following up, and communicating with a prospect is essential to the relationship your customer has with your brand. Be available if a prospect wants to schedule an appointment or call back. Make sure to create an ongoing communication cadence whether through phone or email. CallSource states, “36% of prospect calls are missed opportunities.” Ongoing communication will help nurture leads and keep your brand top of mind when the time to buy comes.