5 ways inbound leads will impress your sales team

Trawling through brokered-in data looking for those few and far between prospects is tough. Coming into work in the morning, picking up that handset and rattling through your spreadsheets of data, speaking to people who didn’t expect your call, and probably don’t want to speak to you... it’s soul destroying.

Thousands of data records means thousands of calls. From the calls that do connect, there’s no intent from the prospect, you’ve called them, out of the blue. How could you possibly know if they're in market? Data does not equal leads, and that’s the problem with outbound.

Over the past two years, we’ve helped a healthy majority of our clients move from outbound calling to inbound lead generation. For each of them, it has been an out and out game changer. Sales teams are speaking to people who are actively pursuing, or at least actively searching the solution you product or service offers.

But… it’s a big shift in mentality and it needs buy-in across your sales team. It's also very easy for me to sit here as part of an inbound marketing agency and wax lyrical about it. So here’s five tangible ways you can woo your sales team into the new world (sales) order.

The times are changing, outbound is outdated and in some cases, can be potentially dangerous for your brand financially and in a reputational sense. With inbound, you can get the best from your leads. Read our blog 'How to create the ultimate inbound marketing strategy' for more information.

1. Warm, not cold

Where inbound lead generation differs from bought in data and other lead sourcing tactics is the intent.

You (or at least your company) have delivered a narrative around the solution to a problem the prospect has. The best inbound is genuinely helpful, useful or insightful on some level. By the time a lead hits your desk (hopefully in real time and through a centralised CRM), there is a genuine belief you know what you’re talking about and that you can help. You can also see there’s intent.

These inbound leads might not necessarily go on to buy, but at least they’ve signified intent.

2. Less time on the phone

Most sales teams/floors/call centres are marked not only on business in, but other metrics like “calls made” or “talk time”. I get it, it’s been a numbers game for a very long time. X amount of calls means Y amount of conversations, which means Z amount of customers. Nevertheless, there is an awful lot of wasted time calling people who don’t want to be called. But it doesn’t need to be like that.

If your sales team are calling warm leads, or even better, leads are calling in from your website, they spend less time have to crawl through numbers, dial at random and hope that someone answers. The amount of numbers they dial becomes far less important.

3. More time on the phone

Yes, I am fully aware this is in direct contrast to the point above. It’s supposed to be. The beauty of inbound lead generation is that when you do get a prospect on the phone, they want to talk.

Assuming your sales team are worth their salt, actually having a meaningful conversation with a prospect is a good thing, and in general, that what inbound gives you. So, your sales team is going to spend less time dialling and more time speaking.

4. Inbound lead qualification

When you generate a lead through your own site, there's a certain level of control and insight you have over other lead generation tactics. In our own sales process, much of the process of inbound lead qualification has happened well before a sales person picks up the phone.

Knowing what content a prospect has read, which pages they are viewing (pricing is always a good one) and how often they are visiting all help to signify intent. Once you have the intent, then it’s time to get them into the sales team. If there isn’t, keep them with your marketing team to get them there (this is where sales and marketing alignment comes into play).

The goal is to get “right fit” client with “high intent” in front of your sales team.

5. You can nurture inbound leads

Not everyone who is reading your content is ready to buy. Often, people are just information-gathering at the very start of the buying process. For a complex sale, that’s not the point they want to be spoken to buy a hungry sales rep.

For example, say a site visitor has read one of you blogs and on the back of your most excellent content, they’ve decided to subscribe. That’s not an indicator of high intent.

But, all is not lost… Now we can nurture them. Newsletters, content offers etc, etc. In short, nurturing is helping to drive more business from what you've already got in play.

Found this blog interesting? Want to learn more? No problem. Drop us a line, we're happy to chat.

The times are changing, outbound is outdated and in some cases, can be potentially dangerous for your brand financially and in a reputational sense. With inbound, you can get the best from your leads. Read our blog 'How to create the ultimate inbound marketing strategy' for more information.