Why Inbound Salespeople Generate More Leads (Part 2)

If you missed part 1 of “Why Inbound Salespeople Generate More Leads (Part 1)”, you can check that out here.

In part 2, we’ll look at the differences between inbound and legacy salespeople as they both work through the buyer’s journey and the Inbound Sales Methodology.

Inbound Salespeople vs. Legacy Salespeople

Inbound salespeople and legacy salespeople have opposite sales tactics.

During the identify stage of the Inbound Sales Methodology, inbound salespeople work only with buyers that are active in the buyer’s journey. They conduct research on their buyers and use any additional material they can gather to decide who needs their offerings.

Additional material may include:

• Blog posts their buyers are frequently reading
• LinkedIn groups their buyers are members of
• Thought leaders buyers are interested in on social media

Identify

Inbound salespeople Identify buyers that are already in the awareness stage of the buyer’s journey. Here, the buyer is already a website visitor and has reached out to sales in some way.

On the other hand, legacy salespeople are completely blind as to which buyers are active in the buyer’s journey. They identify buyers that they think are a good fit for their product and service offerings, and then they solicit those buyers at random.

Connect

In the Connect stage of the Inbound Methodology, inbound salespeople start building trust with their buyers. They connect with them through personalized emails in the buyer’s context.

They show their buyers that they are interested in helping them, and they offer educational opportunities, which may include eBooks, guides, or free consultations.

Legacy salespeople are more concerned with whether the buyer can afford their services. They are not interested in spending the time to help or provide educational content to the buyer. Additionally, they focus their effort on cold calling and emailing an untargeted audience. The majority of the time, they are ignored and do not generate leads.

Explore

During the Explore stage of the Inbound Sales Methodology, inbound salespeople realize that they have an interested buyer and their primary motive is to gain an understanding of that buyer. They spark a conversation to uncover the buyer’s goals, and they start building a trustworthy relationship.

Unfortunately, legacy salespeople dive directly into a sales presentation or “pitch” when they spot an interested buyer. They share generic information with buyers. The presentation provided is nothing new and is easily researchable online. The buyers are already aware.

Advise

In the Advise stage of the Inbound Sales Methodology, both types of salespeople, inbound and legacy, use presentations to direct their potential customers. However, there is only one presentation that seems to work, and that is the inbound way.

Unlike legacy salespeople, inbound salespeople create presentations that are specific to their buyer’s needs. Each presentation is customized for the buyer. They are not generic nor given to every buyer that walks through the door.

The Bottom Line

Legacy salespeople fail to assist buyers with their challenges. Their primary concern is qualifying a buyer to see whether the buyer can afford his or her offerings.

The modern buyer wants to work with a reputable, trustworthy sales professional. By the time the buyer even speaks with sales, they have already conducted their research and know how to address their problems. Because of this, legacy salespeople will continue to fall behind and be ignored.

To learn more about the inbound approach to sales and how to update your legacy sales team’s skills, enroll now in our free 7-day eCourse: Go-to-Market Strategy 101 for B2B SaaS Startups and Scaleups.