How to make inbound sales work for you!

Along with the evolution of human beings and the technologies, evolution in the world of sales and marketing is taking place. In today’s era, consumers have more control over the purchasing of products along with more information and control over the entire marketing cycle. With this increase of power in the hands of the consumers, alteration in the strategies of the sales field is on rapid demand. Gone are the days, when salesperson used to persuade the customers into buying their products, now they need to figure out new inbound methodologies in order to sell the products.

What is the meaning of Inbound Sales?

Inbound sales method completely focuses on the needs, interests, and goals of each buyer. Instead of old school technique, when the salespeople would just convince, in the least cases change the mind of their potential customers and push them to buy their product; in inbound sales, the salesperson works hard enough to meet up to the demand of the customers and then further guide them through their purchase process.

In this article, we have listed for you some of the inbound sales techniques which you can use to increase the selling of your products:

Make a detailed study of the journey of your buyer: For making the inbound sales work, you need to talk to your potential client through every prospect starting all the way from awareness about the product to consideration about the product that you might be selling to the final decision about the purchase. To make the process easier you can make use of automated emails and then contact your client directly in the ultimate step (during their final decision stage). However, it very important that these automated tools are effective and not very intrusive. To make these tools effective you need to conduct researches and understand completely the procedure of buying products. Design them in a way that makes your probable clients feel like a real extended version of you and not some computerized robot blurting out pre-recorded messages.

Before making the sales call figure out your own strategy: In earlier times, a salesperson would call their potential client with the ultimate agenda of making a sale. However, the scenario is completely altered in case of inbound sales methodology, focusing solely on making a sale can create tension and will sabotage the call within a few minutes of time. Therefore, instead of focusing on convincing your clients to buy the product make sure you focus on how to help them learn about the product completely. It is important you get comfortable in playing the role of a mentor or an advisor instead of just persuading your customer. This is an upgraded version of “consultative selling technique” in which the salesperson needs to answer the questions of the clients and not their objections.

Develop the conversation in a way that your customer starts selling themselves: In the conventional method of selling “ask for the sale” has been one of the basic rules. However, in inbound selling techniques, this rule has been modified in a way for the betterment of the salesperson. More often than not you need to allow your probable client to ask themselves about their area of interest. This is a common scenario when people are more intrigued by the idea they have had themselves than the idea others possess. In Inbound sales, the salesperson must take advantage of this technique and accordingly supply their prospect with enough information which can justify the customer’s own decision.

Become an active listener: To make inbound sales work more efficiently you need to become an active listener. In today’s scenario starting from the web designers to the pros of the market, they are developing new methodologies to listen to the demands of their potential client’s way before making the first contact. Now it is the turn for the sales pros to make use of this technique to develop interactions with their audience. In the conventional method of selling products, it solely focused on the company’s ideologies, whereas in inbound sales the technique is completely altered where the entire focus shifts onto the prospect’s area of interest. Usually, when you are an active listener, it tends to lower the guard of the speaker and this is where the opportunity of sales is. Just by listening to your customer’s request, you are conveying the message that you value their time and they have your complete attention. Now this gives a positive impression to your customers about the service you will offer once they are done with the purchase.

Indulge in a conversation to correctly understand your prospect: Once you are done with being an active listener and have developed a comfortable air between your customer and yourself. It is time you started asking questions. However, make sure to shift the focus of questions from what are their plans of purchasing the product to what products they have already tried and what are they further looking for in their future purchase.

Indulge in Thought Leadership: “Thought Leadership” is an overused term in the field of sales and marketing. However, very few companies decode the real meaning behind this phrase. Thought leadership no way means to tell your customers that your way is better than theirs; rather it is about focusing on why your idea is better and what difference it will make in the purchase process. By spreading thought-provoking and innovative ideas, you will be able to gather more customers as compared to simply imposing your idea on them. This also has a complete dramatic approach to the sales process as you have already got the interest piqued of the customers that already connect with your brand. This will also help you in making a better approach and you can easily convince your potential clients about your company offering better quality products as compared to that of your competitors.

While making use of inbound sales there is one thing that you need to keep in your mind is sales is an ongoing conversation and there is nothing as the last conversation or the final contact with your potential client. You can continue the dialogue by using different means.